Leg swelling on plane ride to Europe

Ellen,

Your first step would probably be to have a chat with your Family Doctor and ask for suggestions, as h/she will be most familiar with your medical profile. I've seen some recommendations to take Aspirin to minimize DVT, but I've never seen any information on whether it actually works.

Ellen,

I suspect that the compression socks you used were not adequate. The prescription ones that are effective are very, very tight to put on. Talk to your family doctor.

Pure and simple, you have a circulation problem - could be minor, serious, or something in between. If painful, that pushes it more to the serious side and doubt if it can be treated with a pill. If the socks were over-the-counter, calf high socks, then they were nearly worthless as you could need compression for the whole leg. Unfortunately both of us have had the problem of swelling (no pain) and now wear full length, medical Rx, compression stockings. It works and were very pleasantly surprise at how much better our legs at the end of the day.

This is potentially serious enough that I would encourage you to seek medical advice as soon as possible.

I would suggest talking with your doctor about Asprin regimine, also, they make full leg compression (similar to pantyhose). Don't forget you should be getting up and at least walking for about 5 min per hour! Foot pump exercises would help as well! I work in the medical field and this is what we would suggest to our patients!

Talk to your doctor... but the fact that you haven't suffered a pulmonary embolism and you experienced bilateral symptoms means that your leg swelling was not caused by a deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Thus, aspirin won't do anything to help the symptoms, except perhaps relieve some of the discomfort. It's probably edema, but not knowing your medical history, that's just speculation. Once again, talk to your doctor...

I am sure to get an isle seat where I can get up and walk frequently...also, in the rear galley area I will do some limited exercises involving toe stands, bending, etc. whatever I can do to stretch the legs. The stewards and stewardess have not had a problem with my doing this...I explain why.

I agree 100% that you should talk to your family doctor. But if the swelling affects both your legs equally, goes away soon after you land and resume normal activity, and isn't painful, it's most likely harmless. On the other hand, if it DOESN'T go away, and if it's one-sided and/or painful, you should seek prompt medical attention. If you have risk factors for blood clots, such as being on birth control pills or having had recent surgery, you should talk to your doctor BEFORE you fly.

When you see your doctor, you'll probably end up with a prescription for compression stockings. Plan on them costing $75-100. Don't make the mistake I made… Leaving them until the last minute to put on the first time. They're not easy to get on, and I suggest you practice a few days ahead of time. To preserve the compression, treat them gently. Use soap to wash them not detergent, which breaks down the material. And if you have any changes in weight, go back and have the fit checked.

Ellen, I didn't see any response from you, but thought I'd offer some info.
First, you can save some big money on compression socks by checking out http://www.compressionsale.com. I have used them to obtain both name brand and non-name brand socks to compare and can't tell the difference. Key is finding the right pressure of socks which a doctor/podiatrist should advise.

What you didn't mention is whether the swelling goes down soon after landing or if it takes a while after landing. Both could be clues to effective treatment. If it is relatively soon after landing then there is probably some relationship between the less ambient pressure in the airplane(s) as they reach altitude ( for airplanes that fly above 35,000 ft cabin pressurization can be between 7,000 and 10,000 feet depending on the type of airplane and airline policy if cabin pressurization). I also strongly suggest you alert the flight crew to your problem in case they have some control over how much cabin pressurization can be obtained.

Good luck & please share what you learn here so others might benefit.

I might add that it's not considered advisable to wear compression stockings without advice to do so from a doctor. Should you choose to consult a doctor, make sure to ask how soon you should take them off after the flight, and what do do if delays result in (say... ) a doubling of the time you expect to have them on. I'm not trying to alarm you, only to point out that people who practice medicine on themselves often have ( proverbially !) a fool for a patient. The fact that they didn't "work" on the last trip indicates that you need professional advice. I'd also comment, like Physical Therapy (for example), MDs don't always have personal experience on sizing, applying, and removing compression stockings. So at least, watch some YouTube videos of it. BTW, how high were your stockings? Maybe they were the wrong height or size.