I never really thought of this but I was going to fly on a plane to go watch my daughter play in a softball tournament and someone mentioned that I should call my doctor. After thinking about it, I flew about 6 weeks prior to my headaches and when the doctors found the dried blood from the leak from my AVM. Looks like i will be driving to Utah to watch my daughter.
Have any of you had problems with your AVM from the change in altitude? What about from the mountains? I am thinking of when your ears pop. Dont laugh I live in SE Texas we have no mountains! Well you know how your mind wonders once you you start...let me know if you have had any experiences with this..thank you for your time and comments
I have flown four times (2 roundtrips) since my slight bleed back in November and even flew a few days after the cyberknife procedure with no noticeable difference. Obviously the cabins are pressurized which helps slightly but I would double check with your doctors to be certain. I checked with mine and they saw no reason why I should be concerned with flying or high altitudes and mentioned that since I’ve most likely have had this AVM my whole life and flown before with no problems, it shouldn’t be too much of a concern now.
My docs are much more conservative about flying or other changes in altitudes. I was told not to do either for at least 6 months post op and even then to double check with them first.
My son’s doctors never thought this would be a problem, but when his AVM was very active (located in his face, mouth, neck) we had severe problems with bleeding when he flew. We had to have commercial airlines make emergency landings because Ryan was bleeding so badly! We eventually would only fly medical flights ordered by his docs with paramedics on board. Driving through mountains would sometimes cause the bleeding, too. Things are better now and we do fly without problems. But, I am forever traumatized from those trips. I am thankful we got thru it. Be cautious.