Ok to fly??

[sinnet78]

Hubby and I want to take the kids on a short (3ish hours) plane ride for a mini vacation, but I'm a little concerned about how my head will respond to the pressure in the airplane. Can anyone tell me if it causes more pain???

thank you

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

I am so sorry u had this occur with the LP procedure....and we do warn those with Chiari to be careful when having one as they can cause the tonsils to herniate further if the person doing the procedure is not informed of the chiari or knows what it is....they need to draw the fluid slowly to prevent what happened to u...but many times it is a needed procedure as many of us have other related issues and this is one way to dx some of them.

  May I ask when and where ur surgery is scheduled?

[Angela310]

I am totally against a lumbar puncture! Yes that's my personal opinion but get as much info as you can first. My experience was my chiari was 2mm before and now its at 8mm. I have had extreme issues since this LP. Now I'm having the surgery because my symptoms have gotten so bad.

[sinnet78]

Thank you...I appreciate your response. I put a call into my NS to question flying, but I won't get a response back from him until the end of the week probably.

I'm also thinking I must have intracranial pressure..... that's what my whole issue is-- throbbing and pressure like my head is going to explode upon certain movements. I thought all chiarians had pressure in the head. Is that not true?

All of this is so confusing.

Thanks again.

[selmaS]

  I have to ditto what  jen said above.....

[jenshead]

My doctors said no LP too...unless you have something extra special going on (which you may,so check with your dr), you can have an LP as long as it's done right.  I had an LP recently and am fine.

I would think though, and this is entirely my non-professional opinion, that your pressure would have to be pretty high to cause you problems on a plane.  And if your pressure were that high, you would have optic disk swelling.  Optic disk swelling is something that your NS and Neuro probably checked for, and something an ophthalmologist would always check for.

Like I said though...I'm no professional.

[sinnet78]

I can't remember everything I've been told by all the drs, there's just so much info I've been given... but both my neurologist and neurosurgeon told me I could not get a spinal tap done. That I would have issues. My neurosurgeon, I believe, is a chiari specialist having done lectures, etc on chiari, but I don't know the reason he said I couldn't get it done.

I've kind of done the tilt test on my own with a blood pressure machine and I do not seem to have pots.

[selmaS]

  Y can't u get a LP?...I know we r told with Chiari to avoid them, but for medical reasons it is necessary at times and as long as u know and the tech drawing the fluid is aware u should be ok.

But they also do tilt table tests for POTS...and it is for ur overall health that u should have this done if symptoms point to this possibility.

     "selma"

[sinnet78]

I haven't been diagnosed with ICP...  How do drs determine if I have it? I cannot get a spinal tap done...

(I'm still relatively new - diagnosed in june - to this whole chiari thing)

[jenshead]

For me it's overall not a big deal.  Sometimes I'm fine, sometimes I'm not.  The take off and landing pushes you into your seat and for me that hurts my head.  Any bumpiness can make it worse.  

Take any precautions you normally would to avoid a headache.  Caffeine or no caffeine (whatever works for you), stay well hydrated, bring a good travel pillow, etc.

I always think...this can't hurt any worse than most of the other days!

RE what selma said...I do not have ICP and I understand why that would be more concerning for a plane ride than just CM.

[selmaS]

  Hi...if u have an issue with pressure try earplanes....many that have pressure issues say these work great...Most drug stores carry them.

  I was on a plane the last time one month b4 my dx...and have not had an opportunity since...but, others that have  had no problem.

The issue is how much pain r u in now?And do u have ICP?

      "selma"