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DVT - more than just cramped legs
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Jasper Kelly Tuesday 21 September 2010 |
Max Fox added a comment to the earlier article DVT from flying. His views are interesting and we have thought it appropriate to republish his comments here:
Max has a theory that decompression and then recompression could be an important factor for DVT/PE following a flight. He wrote:
“I took my sons to China at Easter, came back and ended up with multiple PE within 10 days. The only warning signs were a dry cough and my chest felt light. Four days after that, I could not walk up or down steps without my heart racing wildly.
I went to a walk-in medical centre and was immediately referred for emergency assessment. If I had gone to A&E they would probably have ignored me and I would be dead from a heart attack.
I had multiple PE, clots all around the heart, with the right-hand part of the heart expanded and the base of the lungs collapsed.
I spent 15 days in hospital and it sems that I am very, very lucky to be alive. Even the consultant looked at me strangely when he saw the scan results.
Since, it nearly happened to me, I have heard about so many cases of people dying following flights.
What I do not understand is that you do not seem to get DVT from office chair work or coach travel etc. I am sure there is a causal link due to the specific conditions of flying and not just cramped legs.
For the record I had some history of bad veins inherited from my mother. I had had one superficial vein clot before so I knew what the signs were and how to deal with it. Hence, I was thrown by the unexpected symptoms.
Clearly not everyone will show the same precursor symptoms, yet people are still dying post flight.”
This is an area of interest to all air travellers. There certainly appear to be many more cases than I had first imagined.
Could Max be right about the compression / decompression issue?
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Andrew Bevan, Bristol 22 September 2010, 09:04AM | |
Is it not about time that the airlines came clean about this. They must have lots of evidence and there does appear to be more risk that I had expected. | |
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I have heard this argument before and, I believe, the American government did a big investigation. From what I can remember there was no direct link between pressurisation and DVT. My advice is that you have to move around and drink lots of water to avoid problems. | |
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As you get a little older, these things start to become a real worry. | |
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