Importance of Moving On Flights

TTT - Blood Clots
===

Meggan: [00:00:00] Hey everyone, and welcome back to Travel Tip Tuesday with the Travel Mug podcast. I am Meggan joined as always, by my podcast pal Jenn. How are you today, Jenn?

Jenn: I am having a good hair day, so I'm glad this is recording day.

Meggan: I couldn't have, I couldn't have dirtier hair, so if everyone just wants to tune into YouTube, you'll see my gym rat hair and Jenn's lovely hair. So,

Jenn: Uh,

Meggan: good for you girl.

Jenn: yeah, I mean, you gotta take it when you have it, I guess.

Meggan: That's right. It does look lovely. Um, well, I recently saw a video that was equal parts informative, although it was something I knew already, but also equal parts terrifying.

So today we wanna talk about that. So the video was of a Canadian woman who nearly died on a flight due to a blood clot. So she did live, and I'm super grateful for that. But it was a bit of a wake up call. Honestly, I have heard and been advised in the past that on long haul flights, it is important to get up and move around.

And of course it makes good [00:01:00] sense, but it isn't always something that I do. I find personally getting out of the aisle and making my way to the bathroom on a plane, frankly annoying. So I try to take care of business, uh, before boarding and I try my hardest to not get up because I don't want to be bothered myself or bother the people around me. Never once I have to. This is like confessions. Never once in my life have I gotten up just to walk around for the sake of moving. I'm embarrassed to say that 'cause I've been on some long flights. even while trying my best to stay seated, the thought it always linger that I probably should get up, but I simply don't want to. Um, Peter and I both once on one of our trips to Iceland, didn't get up one time, it felt like a victory. But now that I look back, it honestly was kind of foolish. And this harrowing tale I think has written a really good reminder for me, and I have now promised [00:02:00] myself that I would not do this again.

Like my life isn't worth not inconveniencing someone else. And if I don't have to go to the bathroom, like just take a stroll, it, it's, it's really worth it. And it's so simple. Um, is this something you think about when you fly? Do you always get up or do you try to beat the clock and like make it to your destination without getting up?

Jenn: Yeah, similar to you that I would rather not get up and because like I always sit in the window seat or I almost always sit in the window seat and I hate getting up. And as you'll remember from my, uh, recording the plane etiquette episode, I really hate the anxiety of like, inconveniencing someone or being in the way.

But yes, this is absolutely important. Uh, one of the people that, my husband and I traveled with to Scotland in 2022, they developed a blood clot after the flight there, and they're older and they ended up being okay, but they did require two [00:03:00] hospital visits on our trip, which obviously is not fun. And it was, you know, it was worrying one of those trips was by ambulance.

So it, it is scary. And of course this is top of mind for me as I get ready for a six plus hour flight from Halifax to Vancouver. Uh, I just, I wanna add a little bit to this. So, besides getting up to walk around, it's important to stay hydrated. Um, you can also like move your feet, like flex your feet up and down and that kind of like helps pump your calves to like help with blood flow as well.

And this is especially important for older folks, or people who are taking hormonal birth control with estrogen, that actually increases the risk of blood clots as well. So that is something to know if you are especially, um, I think over the age of 40 and taking hormonal birth control, that does increase your risk of blood clots.

So it is just something to know. And if [00:04:00] you are really concerned, please chat with your primary care provider to see what the options are. And it's also important to remember this is not exclusive to planes sitting on trains in cars, like et cetera. Just like periods of not moving pose similar risk laying in bed also, you know, for like extended periods of time.

Right. I know, but it's true. And I think it's important to realize what some signs of a blood clot actually are. So. Swelling. Uh, typically in your calf, it could be in your arm as well. Uh, the skin is typically red. It's typically warm to the touch and has like a pain and tenderness that you can't explain, not like, oh, I pulled my calf yesterday walking. It's just kind of, uh, unexplainable. , in addition, a blood clot can travel to your lungs, which is typically where the problems start. , it's called a pulmonary embolism, and that can cause difficulty breathing, faster or regular heartbeats, [00:05:00] chest pain, anxiety, lightheadedness or fainting, coughing or coughing up blood and

we're not telling you this to be alarmist. I don't wanna give you anxiety, but it is something that we should be aware of, especially as people who are often traveling, and so it's just something that we should all keep in mind.

Meggan: Yeah, I think this has been like a huge wake up call and sometimes that's how things go. Like, you know something, you can't be bothered to do it even though you also know that it's good for you, but then you're reminded of. What a small thing can make such a huge change, and you may not know it's saving your life,

Jenn: Right.

Meggan: very well could be.

So I intend to take this forward every single trip going forward. So I'm so glad she lived, but I'm also so glad that this particular woman shared her story as

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: So. you happen to listen to this episode. Thank you so much. Um, well that is it for this week's Travel tip Tuesday. Please for your health, especially on those long haul flights, get up and move [00:06:00] around.

No one wants a medical emergency in the air or a train or wherever, and especially one that could easily, uh, take your life as well. Um, on that note, uh, can find us as always on social media at Travel Mug Podcast on our website, travel mug podcast.com. Leave us a review on Apple or Spotify and until next time, be safe and bye.