Is 3 weeks post implant too soon to fly overseas?

Hi

by Bionic Beat - 2017-01-15 01:48:15

Well, you have your doctors opinion. He seems to have said it's not worth the risk.  Lead displacement while flying wouldn't be a good thing, IMO.

Respectfully, I ask if it's not pacing you why is it in your body?

Heart disease comes in many forms, electrical problems with the heart are, IMO, a form of heart disease although it's not a heart attack or blocked arteries.

Also, can you even qualify for travel insurance?  Any changes to your health can disqualify you for 3 or 6 months.

if your doctor is right and the leads become displaced, can you afford to pay for a second operation in Europe?

Planes are not pressurized enough for a wonky heart with a new implant, usually.  

Maybe Im just more cautious.....but you do have your doctors opinion.

Bionic Beat

I respectively beg..

by donr - 2017-01-15 02:21:43

...to differ on the altitude issue for wonky hearts!  If that were so, all the PM Hosts living higher than Colorado Springs. Colorade, USA would have to move downhill for a while fter getting a PM planted - Colo Spngs = 6.000+ ft elevation.  A whole bunch of people live at 11,000 + feet in Colorado ski country.

Check out the Medscape link in the previous thread for their guidance for altitude advice.

IMHO, the problem w/ flying for a prolonged period just 3 weeks later is NOT the physical threat to lead dislodgement, but the length of time you would be w/o adequate medical help for the dislodgement situation, were it to occur. 

Planes are pressurized to 6,000 - 8,000 ft altitude, FYI.

Donr

Planes

by Bionic Beat - 2017-01-15 03:23:10

yes, and they fly at 30000-40000 feet with inadequate oxygen for people with certain heart issues such as arrhythmias or heart failure.

Flying

by Guitarski - 2017-01-15 09:01:27

thanks. Makes sense. FYI It is not pacing which is the sinus nodes job. My sinus node is working. The pm picks up the beat from my working sinus node. This second electrical event occurs in the bottom chambers  

Your comments make sense  I am wondering though if it does dislodge say at home would I have more then five minutes to get help anyway?

Thanks for your comments

travel

by Tracey_E - 2017-01-15 09:10:39

I'm not going to disagree with your doctor and tell you to go against orders, but I will point out that many people travel to have their surgery done elsewhere, then they get on a plane a day or two later and go home. 

Flying itself won't dislogde a lead unless you decide to sky dive. If you want to do that, wait 8-10 weeks ;) 

If a lead is going to dislodge, the highest risk is the first 24-48 hours. After that, all restrictions are merely precaution. Worst case a lead dislodges and stops pacing, you'd feel like you did before implant. Not exactly an emergency, esp in your case when you rarely use it.

Me? I'd go. YMMV. 

Flying

by Guitarski - 2017-01-15 09:39:19

I got the pm bc I fainted. And then coded while having an investigational cardiac cath performed. So if something fails I wouldn't have much time anyway methinks.

i have to check with the doc. Wouldn't I be better off on a plane than home alone?  I have no warning with my symptomology. I just pass out and twice I've come back without CPR and once it was a Code Blue as mentioned above. 

Ps

by Guitarski - 2017-01-15 09:41:50

So far in a week pm has kicked in 27% of the time

Hmmm. Wish We Knew Your Diagnosis

by NiceNiecey - 2017-01-15 10:24:10

Welcome to the Club!

Doctors give advice all over the map.  My husband and I were told that I could travel overseas (about the same length of trip you're talking about) 1 week after getting a dual lead PM.  I WAS NOT feeling well and went against his OK and did NOT go.  So glad I didn't!  I got a blood clot and fell asleep wherever I went.  

Are you downplaying the severity of your illness?  I'm just younger than you and if I had coded, it would have scared me half to death.  

Honestly, I fly a LOT (over 100,000 miles a year).  I am in a hotel room right now having just gotten off a 17 hour flight from DFW to Hong Kong.  It  has never been a problem for me.  And I flew economy to boot.

I wouldln't hesitate going but perhaps there is something more that your doctor is concerned about that wasn't conveyed or wasn't heard.  You know what I mean?  Authorities claim a patient has to be told three times before he or she remembers it (whatever 'it' is).  Double check with him and you'll all feel a lot better about the trip, whether you decide to go or not.

Thanks

by Guitarski - 2017-01-15 10:33:30

Yes going to call doc and ask what symptoms are of lead displacement

Our comments are...

by donr - 2017-01-15 11:25:31

...all over the map - all valid.  Just like the info we are getting from the author of the OP!

My normal comment would start w/ "How about telling us the whole story?", since your complete diagnosis & reason for the PM was sketchy.

Tracey was correct in that spontaneous dislogemnt normally occurs quite early after implant.  There's enough slack in the leads that after a few days they won't come ou easily.  Note that your Cardio said the probability of dislodgement was only 1% after the three weeks.  That was only a SWAG.  I doubt that anyone can truly predict that probability on an event that occurs so rarely.  Lemee give you a datapoint - it happened to me 12 weeks out from a new lead implant.  Severe auto accident, broke 8 ribs & clavicle on right side.  Almost tore my Aorta loose at heart, leaving me w/ aneurysm.  New lead did not budge!  BTW: that new lead was a replacement for a lead that spotaneously fractured after only 4 yrs.  Leads are, indeed, the weak links in the system.

No, aircraft do NOT carry enough oxygen for supporting very many, or even a single patient in trouble for an entire flight.  They make that clear.  Nor do they even have adequately trained medics aboard any flight - especially for cardiac events - witness what recently happened to actress Debbie Reynolds on an intercontinental flight.  You have a known need for emerg O2, you are expected to take your own!

Sounds like Giutarski's symptoms are a bit dicey w/ respect to results if he loses a lead - potentialy catastrophic if he coded on one occasion.  Who knows how long he'd have, even sitting in the waiting room of the ER when it happened.

All of us say that you go back to feeling like you did just before implant - true - but that can be catastrophic in his case, since it is so unusual.  He has a tough decision to make. 

His case very clearly illustrates what WebMD says about cardiac devices & flying - the problem is the native heart, not the devices.

Donr

More on in-flight...

by donr - 2017-01-15 11:42:15

...O2 use.

I just found two articles pertaining to O2 use.

First is a United Airlines policy statement at:  https://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/specialneeds/disabilities/customer_oxygen.aspx.  UAL alows it at no additional CHARGE - but they require early coordination.

Second is an article talking about it in general terms, at:  http://www.uptodate.com/contents/supplemental-oxygen-on-commercial-airlines-beyond-the-basics.

For a long list of general articles, Google "requirements for portable O2 aboard aircraft," you will be inundated w/ hits.

Donr

Thanks everyone

by Guitarski - 2017-01-15 11:49:08

Thanks all. The trip does not seem worth the risk. Even though since my symptom is fainting and not waking up, if I were home alone the outcome would prob be death. And the doctor did not recommend that I never be alone. I am going to call him and and ask if there would be a precursor symptom to lead displacement other than fainting. Thanks again. Glad I found this forum.