Vansails
Member
can anyone please explain to me why flying with cfs/me causes such awful "crashes"??? no pun intended 
i used to take hyperbaric oxygen treatment - can't remember the pressure - but it made me very sick and ill each time, i now understand that is because my mitochondria cannot utilize the oxygen and so it probably caused a big build up of oxidative stress.
i think this is one general problem in cfs/me is that we cannot use oxygen correctly leading to oxidative stress. so does this mean less oxygen helps out? when i'm free diving i feel great.
lots of people suggest to bring portable oxygen but when i use pure oxygen i feel like crap almost instantly. if my mitochondria can't use the oxygen, what's the point?
flying makes me sick too, after an hour i'm done. but i need to fly because i'm hoping to get a VNS stimulator (vagus nerve stimulator) and might need a five hour flight.
could it also be related to POTS? if so, how?
following information source; http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-03-05-oxygen.htm
"
Do passengers get enough oxygen?
" There is plenty of oxygen in the air inside airline cabins. But because the barometric pressure is lower — equivalent to standing on an 8,000-foot mountain — not as much oxygen reaches the bloodstream to be carried to vital organs....
.But a new focus is emerging as scientists and doctors learn more about the threat that affects every airline passenger: hypoxia, the term for too little oxygen....
This lack of oxygen usually causes little more than a headache and a feeling of fatigue in the average healthy flier. But passengers who have an unerlying breathing, heart or circulatory problem — even one they don't yet know exists — can suffer... when the oxygen level drops.....
There is just as much oxygen in the cabin air at cruising altitude as on the ground, but because the atmospheric pressure is lower than at sea level, it is more difficult for the body to absorb the vital gas...
With less pressure, fewer oxygen molecules cross the membranes in the lungs and reach the bloodstream.
The result is a significant drop in the amount of oxygen in the blood — anywhere from 5% to 20% depending on the person, the plane and the length of the flight....
With less oxygen in the bloodstream, the vital organs soon get deprived.
The reduced oxygen supply to the brain is why some suffer headaches while in flight, one of the symptoms of hypoxia. When oxygen levels fall in the brain, the heart tries to compensate by beating harder and faster. Another symptom of hypoxia is fatigue."
(that sounds like POTS)^^^ (heart rate increase)
so basically what i'm reading is that flying causes symptoms similar to cfs because of hypoxia, which is likely a primary problem in cfs right? but we can't simply use concentrated oxygen because our bodies can't use it without major oxidative stress.
so i assume flying causes mini cfs like symptoms in the healthy bodies, and makes cfs worse in pwme. question is, what should i do to make the flight possible?
maybe some blood pressure pills and extra beta blockers? antioxidants? pain pills? salt and water? i'm hoping to get a reclined seat for POTS.
ideas? thanks in advance.
i used to take hyperbaric oxygen treatment - can't remember the pressure - but it made me very sick and ill each time, i now understand that is because my mitochondria cannot utilize the oxygen and so it probably caused a big build up of oxidative stress.
i think this is one general problem in cfs/me is that we cannot use oxygen correctly leading to oxidative stress. so does this mean less oxygen helps out? when i'm free diving i feel great.
lots of people suggest to bring portable oxygen but when i use pure oxygen i feel like crap almost instantly. if my mitochondria can't use the oxygen, what's the point?
flying makes me sick too, after an hour i'm done. but i need to fly because i'm hoping to get a VNS stimulator (vagus nerve stimulator) and might need a five hour flight.
could it also be related to POTS? if so, how?
following information source; http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-03-05-oxygen.htm
"
Do passengers get enough oxygen?
" There is plenty of oxygen in the air inside airline cabins. But because the barometric pressure is lower — equivalent to standing on an 8,000-foot mountain — not as much oxygen reaches the bloodstream to be carried to vital organs....
.But a new focus is emerging as scientists and doctors learn more about the threat that affects every airline passenger: hypoxia, the term for too little oxygen....
This lack of oxygen usually causes little more than a headache and a feeling of fatigue in the average healthy flier. But passengers who have an unerlying breathing, heart or circulatory problem — even one they don't yet know exists — can suffer... when the oxygen level drops.....
There is just as much oxygen in the cabin air at cruising altitude as on the ground, but because the atmospheric pressure is lower than at sea level, it is more difficult for the body to absorb the vital gas...
With less pressure, fewer oxygen molecules cross the membranes in the lungs and reach the bloodstream.
The result is a significant drop in the amount of oxygen in the blood — anywhere from 5% to 20% depending on the person, the plane and the length of the flight....
With less oxygen in the bloodstream, the vital organs soon get deprived.
The reduced oxygen supply to the brain is why some suffer headaches while in flight, one of the symptoms of hypoxia. When oxygen levels fall in the brain, the heart tries to compensate by beating harder and faster. Another symptom of hypoxia is fatigue."
(that sounds like POTS)^^^ (heart rate increase)
so basically what i'm reading is that flying causes symptoms similar to cfs because of hypoxia, which is likely a primary problem in cfs right? but we can't simply use concentrated oxygen because our bodies can't use it without major oxidative stress.
so i assume flying causes mini cfs like symptoms in the healthy bodies, and makes cfs worse in pwme. question is, what should i do to make the flight possible?
maybe some blood pressure pills and extra beta blockers? antioxidants? pain pills? salt and water? i'm hoping to get a reclined seat for POTS.
ideas? thanks in advance.
