prevent med before flying?

Hello All
I ust wanted to ask if anyone else with "chronic migraine" take a prevent med before taking a flight? Does flying trigger migraines? If anyone takes a prevent med before what one do you take?
thanks all
pain free wishes to all!!
Anthony

I haven't noticed much about flying itself that triggers migraines in me, other than a tendency to get dehydrated on jet liners. If you tend to get vertigo easily as I do, then the motions of the plane might bother you, but I find flights without a lot of turbulence a LOT better than being driven on buses and vans in this regard. The pressure changes don't seem to bother me at all.

That said, the PROCESS of flying these days is sure to be a trigger for some people. The whole rush, rush, wait, wait aspect can trigger a migraine in me, especially the way security is these days. Bit if I make it on board without a migraine, I'm generally good.

So in my case, I always eat some ginger before taking off, just in case I get vertigo and nausea, and I'm careful to hydrate during the flight. That said,I'm not the best person to ask as my migraines are under reasonable control these days. I would certainly have my migraine meds in my carry on when flying.

But YMMV!

since i rarely go anywhere, especially by plane, i have only one anecdotal piece of evidence. the one time i used my maxalt as a preventive DID work to keep me out of bed upon arrival at my destination.

normally, i would have been out of commission for at least a day. for me, the triggers are likely jet fuel and perfumey people and environments.

i've also used it on a few other occasions as well, when i knew i would definitely be exposed to smelly things in crowds. works for me; hope it works for you! dianne

A couple of advil for migraines for good measure. Make darn sure I stay hydrated the whole time. No booze. Always check my stress levels and stay calm. Triptan and codine in my pocket just in case.

I really don't think it is the flying that gets me going but the stress and twisting and turning my head all the time as I try to find my way and multi task in a strange environment. The next day I'm usually hurting bad.

Good luck, stay calm, and don't 'stay thirsty, my friend'

I almost always got a migraine from flying. I was never sure if it was the bad seats which put my neck pushed forward, the G forces, or the pressure changes, or maybe all three. Nothing helped. It certainly had nothing to do with hydration and I never drank alcohol on a plane or before flying. And as I needed to fly for business 2-3 times per month this was a real problem. Since I have been on the progesterone, magnesium, D, and iodine program I have not had so much problem with flying. I've flown around 10 trips with only 1 headache from a flight.

I'm thinking of giving it a go

When my migranes were really bad, I avoided flying (and really any long duration travel) as it was just miserable to be cramped in a little airplane seat while having a migraine. The flying didn't give me a migraine per se, I was just getting them all the time. Not being able to recline and the noise and trying not to disturb other passengers while I threw up was horrible.

A few things that helped when I had to fly:
1)I carried a little inflatable cervical pillow for my neck - this makes it easier to get comfortable even without reclining
2)some sort of ear plugs or noise cancelers
3)eye shades or whatever those sleep mask things are called

BTW - recently my wife finally convinced me to go to England. We flew British Air on one of the old 747 wide bodies. Even though the flight was 8 hours overnight and I didn't sleep at all, I was very comfortable and enjoyed their entertainment system. One of the nicest flights I've been on. Everything was done so well and the staff was exceedingly pleasant. I wish all flying could be like that.

If you decide to try it, It is:

50 mg natural progesterone 2x/day (can go up gradually if this is working for you)
5000 mg Vitamin D 1x/day
12.5 mg Iodine 1x/day
200 mg magnesium 2x/day
2 caps of Omega 1000 2x/day

Details on this plan are at www.migraine-headaches-information.com
I purchase the supplements at www.omega-1000.com, but you may also be able to get them from a healthfood store.

I went from 3-1/2 years of Chronic Daily Migraine (about 80-90% of my days with headaches) to now only about 1/month. It is a huge difference for me. All of the preventative medicines I tried either did not work or gave me even worse side effects (and did not fix the headaches). This plan is also helping my brother who has had severe migraines for the last 25 years following a car accident. He does not take the progesterone part.

My Migraines aren't chronic now, but flying will give me a Migraine every time unless I take an extra dose of Diamox about an hour before my flight. I take it anyway for idiopathic intracranial hypertension (pseudotumor cerebri). My doctor has several patients who use Diamox before flying. They don't have IIH, BTW.

About 75% of the time, that will prevent a Migraine from flying for me.

Teri

Diamox. Is this a sickness drug? See I dont get anything like that. I only get pain. Very occasional nausea, but never sickness. What could I take......an extra Triptan??

I have to attempt a 500 mile round trip to see my sick friend.
Going by road, but problem of travelling is the same....
Half an hour an the car starts my head off.

Pen

If you mean is it a drug for air sickness, no. It's a multi-action drug that's sometimes used for Migraine prevention. I has some antiseizure properties, some diuretic properties. You can find info at http://www.healthcentral.com/migraine/find-drug-52359-73.html.

Don't know about the triptans. I doubt that it would do anything if taken before a Migraine.

Teri

pen wrote:Diamox. Is this a sickness drug? See I dont get anything like that. I only get pain. Very occasional nausea, but never sickness. What could I take......an extra Triptan??

I have to attempt a 500 mile round trip to see my sick friend.
Going by road, but problem of travelling is the same....
Half an hour an the car starts my head off.

Pen

teri, i have taken my triptans before an exposure, and indeed, this does work for me. not only for flying, but for being unavoidably in a stinky (smoky, perfumey) environment.

i get less pain doing this. fortunately, i have an abundance of triptans, which were not obtained without a huge fight with my medicare drug plan, though. my doctors know that i've tried everything else, and nothing works but my two triptans. dianne

Hi, Dianne!

Thanks for sharing your experience. That's good to know.

You know, the fear of not having enough triptans has stuck with me from the days when I had them more often. Since my insurance company is one of those that limits them, I refill my prescription at every refill date, whether I need them at that time or not. Dr. Krusz told me that keeping tablets and capsules in the freezer and injectables in the refrigerator suspends the expiration date, so I have a good supply of Axert in my freezer.

Teri

dcook60 wrote:teri, i have taken my triptans before an exposure, and indeed, this does work for me. not only for flying, but for being unavoidably in a stinky (smoky, perfumey) environment.

i get less pain doing this. fortunately, i have an abundance of triptans, which were not obtained without a huge fight with my medicare drug plan, though. my doctors know that i've tried everything else, and nothing works but my two triptans. dianne

thanks for the tip about the freezer! i am putting some extras in there right now. dianne

You're welcome!

dcook60 wrote:thanks for the tip about the freezer! i am putting some extras in there right now. dianne

Thanks for sharing that Dianne. I need to try to do this trip. I am done agonising over Triptans.
As far the guidelines go I take too many already, so a few more to help a friend in need....

I too have been stockpiling them....just off to the fridge.....thanks Teri

I have flown long distance, Australia to US about 10 times in the past 7 years. My migraines usually occur a day or two after I get off the plane so I plan to do nothing but nurse a migraine the first 4 days.
It doesn't always happen however. I did get one when going the long way, Sydney Bangkok, London NYC. I took a zomig in the Bangkok airport and was okay the rest of the way. Other than getting migraine (sometimes) after a plane trip, there is little rhyme or reason to the timing of them. I have gone from Sydney to Tucson for a week and returned, with no migraine until I returned to Sydney. I think flying into summer will guarantee one at some point-maybe! Sorry I can't be of more help.