I Got a Blood Clot on a 6-Hour Flight From Iceland - Here's How to Keep It From Happening to You

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I Got a Blood Clot on a 6-Hour Flight From Iceland - Here's How to Keep It From Happening to You
By Lindsey Campbell/ Guide/ The PointsGuy/ thepointsguy.com

"There are a few things people warn you about when you travel: keep your money and your passport close, never leave your luggage unattended and make sure to get up and move around on long-haul flights.

As a travel editor, I’ve heard it all — mostly from the mouths of concerned friends and family members. But nonetheless, I’ve always taken the advice with a grain of salt. After all, I’ve worked in travel media for half a decade, and have written many articles offering that same advice to readers.

Unlike many travelers, I get excited (not stressed), when I enter an airport. I don’t at all mind living out of a suitcase, and long flights — even a previous 18-hour odyssey to Kenya — don’t bother me in the slightest.

Though I’m definitely not a nervous traveler, there is one thing that has always terrified me: the possibility of developing Deep Vein Thrombosis, or DVT....."


Richard

 

[Passepartout]

A baby aspirin a day, starting at least 2 weeks before travel, compression stockings, and following the above suggestions of rolling your ankles while in your seat, drinking LOTS of water (not alcohol or carbonated!) will have the added benefit of sending you to the rest room frequently.I

I had a DVT about 15ish years ago. It had me off work for 12 weeks on expensive blood thinners and legs elevated. At the time I said it was the sickest I'd been and felt so good. These are nothing to trifle with. DVT can and will kill or leave you with a stroke.

Jim

 

[PrairieGirl]

Note too that she described the pain as a "charley horse". Cramping type pain was the ONLY symptom my husband had of his blood clot (provoked - knee replacement surgery), the redness and swelling didn't come until he was already in the hospital. I had only known of the swelling and redness symptoms prior to this, but her story confirms that the cramping pain is often the first signal.

 

[silentg]

I wear compression socks on flights now.

 

[am1]

I could rent out my sons. They keep me getting up every half hour.

 

[bogey21]

A baby aspirin a day, starting at least 2 weeks before travel...

I believe in aspirin. About 10 years ago I had two mild strokes. I can't prove it but I believe the reason they were mild is because every day for the prior 25-30 years of so I took an aspirin, not a baby aspirin but a full size one. I believe the aspirin build up in my body diminished the severity of my strokes. Since then I have replaced aspirin with an anti-coagulant, Pradaxa and so far, so good.

George

 

[Passepartout]

I believe in aspirin. About 10 years ago I had two mild strokes. I can't prove it but I believe the reason they were mild is because every day for the prior 25-30 years of so I took an aspirin, not a baby aspirin but a full size one. I believe the aspirin build up in my body diminished the severity of my strokes. Since then I have replaced aspirin with an anti-coagulant, Pradaxa and so far, so good.

George

I think that's likely, George. Before my DVT, my blood was very 'clotty', I could cut or injure myself (I rode motorcycles and worked in construction with sharp tools) and when the inevitable mishap occurred, a little pressure for a short time on the wound and the bleeding stopped. Post DVT, and blood thinners, I gradually weaned myself off Warfarin to 325mg aspirin and finally down to 81mg baby aspirin. I still bleed pretty prolifically, so clotting is not an issue. Aspirin's anti-clotting effect is cumulative, which is why people are told to hold off aspirin regimen for a couple of weeks before surgery or dental procedures.

 

[clifffaith]

We've taken 81mg of aspirin every day for at least 20 years. Maybe 4 years ago we heard it was better to take it at night instead of morning, so that's what we do. I tried the compression stockings on our last trip to Europe, but ended up taking them off half way there because I found them uncomfortable. A friend of mine had a friend who flew on a business trip with a broken leg. After landing she threw a clot in the car as her colleague was driving them to the hotel, and she died. Not something to mess with and I'm surprised she was cleared to fly.