Flying with vertigo
March 21, 2022 11:46 AM Subscribe
A few weeks of respiratory crud (not Covid) and a course of augmentin left me with a bad case of positional vertigo. I’m due to fly in a couple days and don’t know what to expect or how to offset the symptoms. I have meclizine and have been doing the Epley maneuver. I’m mostly concerned with what flying will be like. Anybody flown with pre existing vertigo?
I had a very bad run with pressurization vertigo in my late 20s/early 30s, and the strategy that worked 95% of the time was to start taking Sudafed (real pseudoephedrine version) 12 hours before the flight. I tried to get my final pre-flight dose (taking the 4-hour stuff) down an hour before expected boarding time, and I also took 400mg Ibuprofen at that time. I chewed a Gas-X when I sat down in my seat because the revenge for the meds appeared to be incredibly painful trapped gas in my stomach and guts. I would sometimes take a children's chewable Benadryl for the anti-nausea properties and as a low-rent anxiolytic because I was a jittery mess between the Sudafed and fear of vertigo.
If my flight would still be in the air at the dosage markers, I would keep taking the Sudafed until I was covered for landing.
If I didn't do this, it was guaranteed barrel-rolls as soon as we got over about 26000 feet, often the entire flight until descent and occasionally through descent and for days later (this was before I figured out the Sudafed worked; pretty much ruined an entire vacation because I couldn't walk straight).
posted by Lyn Never at 12:50 PM on March 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
If my flight would still be in the air at the dosage markers, I would keep taking the Sudafed until I was covered for landing.
If I didn't do this, it was guaranteed barrel-rolls as soon as we got over about 26000 feet, often the entire flight until descent and occasionally through descent and for days later (this was before I figured out the Sudafed worked; pretty much ruined an entire vacation because I couldn't walk straight).
posted by Lyn Never at 12:50 PM on March 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Oh, I also used earplanes, and I never tried just using them without meds, but I did once get sick during a flight to China and did not have any with me and couldn't get them or any Sudafed in Shanghai and sure as fuck ruptured an eardrum in the air on the way home. I haven't flown without them since.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:52 PM on March 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Lyn Never at 12:52 PM on March 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
When I had to fly during a bout of positional vertigo my doctor prescribed a small amount of xanax in addition to the actual vertigo meds (I can no longer remember the specific meds/dosages, unfortunately; it was some time ago). The point of the xanax was mostly to short-circuit any anxiety from the vertigo and also to help me sleep on the flight, but i found it somewhat helpful with the vertigo altogether. Maybe just placebo or maybe I had not realized what a huge component anxiety was of my vertiginous suffering, but either way I had a much more manageable flight.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 1:01 PM on March 21, 2022
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 1:01 PM on March 21, 2022
When I have had vertigo-induced nausea I take the scoplamine patch. It's like $20 apiece without insurance, prescription-only in the US (other countries have pills, if that helps). But very effective. I get bad seasickness very easily, but when I have a patch, a meclizine, and a couple grams of ginger, I am in good shape. Definitely do a test run before you get on a plane, don't want to find out about bad side effects while trapped at altitude.
posted by wnissen at 1:26 PM on March 21, 2022
posted by wnissen at 1:26 PM on March 21, 2022
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posted by misanthropicsarah at 12:15 PM on March 21, 2022