Hydrate
Remember my Pradaxa and Bystolic
Stay where I can use my own kitchen in the hotel
Walk around on the plane
Try to forget the afib

Hi Chitta. I agree with Petey and travel medicine is one of my areas of expertise.
Hydrate; walk before the flight; get up and walk around the aircraft every couple of hours; many airlines allow you to request special meals in advance of the flight if you want sodium reduced; take your meds in your carry on luggage; take a letter with you outlining your medical history and meds in the event that you did need to seek assistance at your destination-it saves having to explain everything; use the entertainment systems in flight to take your mind off worrying about AFib., and if you did need medical assistance most airlines have contracts with telemedicine companies that use a radio/phone link to an ER specialist and can transmit your EKG from your seat in the aircraft to the ER on the ground; hotels with self catering is a good idea although any reasonalble restaurant should be able to make food to your specifications. Hey why not travel to Australia or New Zealand; we have very hi tech medical systems and can look after you really well! Paul

I flew from Tulsa to LAX last New Year's Eve for the Rose Bowl Parade and had afib the whole flight. It was extremely uncomfortable but I guess I wasn't educated enough about afib at that time to worry about dying, a stroke, etc. It was a night flight and I went straight to the motel and I was over it when I woke up the next morning, thank goodness.
Listen to Petey, he gives good advice.

its important too to stay calm and relaxed, esp. if an episode is coming on. When you're in a strange place , I think its easy to panic and make it worse. That's happened to me on a long flight but I'm used to it now and just try to relax.
Try some deep breathing or meditation of stretching exercises.

I agree with NYNM. I can't tell you how many times while I was flying I went into a-fib. When I did, I would just pop one of my "pill in the pocket' meds, take some deep breaths to calm me, then put on my ipod and listen to music.

Thanks for the replies: Just a few more questions....

Are most of you on an anti-coagulant (not aspirin) and does that give you a "safer" feeling of protection if you go into afib when you are traveling?

What is your critieria for seeking ER help? (Right now on just aspirin, my cardio doc said to go to the ER if my heart rate (in afib) is over 110-120 for more than one hour and it isn't showing signs of going down. He does not think I need a PIP backup. Not much wriggle room for a flight).

Any bleeding issues while traveling?

Yes, you can tell I am still in the novice, kinda anxious mode :)
And visiting Australia would be wonderful!

Ditto on all the suggestions above.
I am on Warfarin and it does give me a safer feeling stall times.
In addition I recently purchased a medical alert bracelet @CVS.
I wear 3 bangles so I just added it making it 4 when I'm out and about walking the streets of San Francisco, when ushering and plan to wear it when traveling.
Since being diagnosed with AF in July 2010 I've flown to San Diego,
Las Vegas, LA, London, Miami, and Cuba. Cruises to Hawaii and 2 to Alaska from SF and a train ride on the Orient Express London to Venice return. On the train I thought I was going into AF but realized I was shaking all over from the train over the tracks. GREAT TRIP!
re: flying. AF occurred prior to boarding the flight. I was Ok once on the plane
SEIZE THE DAY! TRAVEL
Annette



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Annette: I have a dog tag style medical ID also. I had a bracelet, but lost it in the riptide on the Jersey shore.

"...out and about walking the streets of San Francisco..."

Streets of San Francisco. Sounds like a great title for a TV series.

petey

I would take a Xanax, but that's just me. It has really helped me in the 2 years I dealt with A-fib and with flying. Now that I'm A-fib free, I will still continue to take one before a flight. If you truly like flying it's a lot easier to relax....

I was thinking that guy that jumped from 24 miles up, racing to earth, breaking the sound barrier, either was on xanax or now has afib. Just sayin.

petey

I flew on a 14 hour flight with one stop to Hawaii. I just did what they said on this post already. Drink a lot of water and walk around a lot. THe time change was tricky for meds, but you just work around it. I asked my doc how to take the meds ahead of time.

Thanks for all the helpful hints and support that my traveling days don't have to be over.

I'm not sure any of these treatments actually work ppl are talking about on this forum as I've travelled all over the place for work and holidays - remote areas of Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Zambia the Philippines, holidays in indonesia and Thailand and so on from Australia and I have never had AFib in flight, not even on the many domestic flights I have had within Australia some of the flights including transit time can be over 24 hours and sometimes a 9 hour drive to site off-road. One particular year 2006 - Id counted 70 international flights Id been on.
Its ALWAYS happened just as I am about to fall into a deep sleep or waking up with it.
I have had AFib since 2004 after I had a fairly serious rotator cuff operation on my shoulder where I was under a general for about 4 5 hours, cause being the wrong anaesthetic used. Now I am expected to live with the heart condition as I dont see it as a disease, no one dies from AFib, its the complications of AFib that is the issue such as causing a stroke due to blood clots.
It does not matter what preventative medicines I take - as if AFib wants to happen, it just will. The sinus node has a mind of its own as it is a part of the heart and the heart cannot be controlled by just thinking about it. Calming down is better said than done for me because there is another complication I am living with now after 2004 and that is anxiety and anxiety is a bloody hard thing to control. What helps with my anxiety attacks is half a tablet of 1mg of Alprazolam now and again when I need it.
The only treatment that works for me at the minute is (and this may not work for anyone else) as a preventative to the lead up to overseas trips I take 1 x 200mg of Amiodarone about 5:30pm and I take 1 x 100mg of Duentric coated aspirin in the morning with breakfast which I take all the time now to prevent a stroke. About two weeks after a trip I wean myself off the Amiodarone but keep on with the aspirin, I dont have any real issue with bleeding at all.
If an AFib episode happens, then I start with 2 X Digoxin at 250mg and then take one every half hour until the heart comes back into Sinus Rhythm how long does it take to come back into sync? That can vary from 2 hours to 5 and half hours and then the next day has to be a total rest day because the heats rhythm will not increase until the drugs administered is out of my system.
Since 2004 I have kept a diary of when AFib hits me and it is very infrequent and for some reason that even my cardiologist cannot tell me, the AFib episodes are seasonal Spring in Australia seems to be the worst time for me and I do not know why. I just wish someone would tell me why this is so because then I could manage it better during this time.
I am in Bali - Indonesia at the moment and had a big day out riding a mountain bike down from near Mount Ubud all downhill. In the early hours of the morning I had an AFib episode, woke up with it at 1:30am and it lasted 2 hours.
The old binge drinking will not help me either, so I know for me as a preventative measure, I do my best to keep off the alcohol when overseas as for me, this is a major contributing factor, after all AFib is not termed holiday heart for nothing. Binge drink on Monday and there is a very high likelihood an AFib episode will happen on Wed or Tues. Just have to stay off the plonk, oh and mixing drinks is the worst thing ever for AFib.
I just wish there was a way of ridding AFib forever so that no one has to ever suffer from this debilitating condition that simply reduces ones quality of life it is very, very annoying indeed.
If you know of anyone going under a general anaesthetic, please let them know that a particular type of anaesthetic they use can actually cause the onset of the condition of AFib as it happened to me and it happened in Australia in 2004. Can the anaesthetist be sued? No as they are insured against it when you sign against the disclaimer before they put you under. It is just Russian roulette.
What I do is have yearly medical check-up which the blood test comes up ALL clear, but I still have this AFib condition no one really understands. So this kind of forum of sharing our stories is a great help.
This is my story living with AFib and having to travel.

Oh and forgot to say, do NOT travel with ANYONE that would cause you and kind of stress. Travelling companions MUST understand your conditions and make serious compromises. For example... if you suffer stress from confined spaces or crowds, do not put yourself in such situations or have someone force you into an activity you are not confortable with (remain within your own comfort zone) as this can bring on an AFib episode. For me, I always find travelling alone is a lot less stressful as I only have myself to worry about.
Mediation only works if you are left alone to meditate.

Froggy- Thanks for sharing your Afib story. It really goes to show that even though we all have a similar condition, we all have different ways we treat it and different ways to manage/cope with the emotion side of it. I really enjoy reading how others feel and how others cope with symptoms whether it be every day events or travel. I appreciate this forum so much and feel lucky that we have this great resource!