HealthCareMagic is now Ask A Doctor - 24x7 | https://www.askadoctor24x7.com

Suffering From Temporal Arteritis. Taking 45mg Steroids. Is It Safe To Travel By Air?

Posted on Thu, 7 Feb 2013

Question: I am suffering from temporal ateritis - I had a biopsy in December and within a week flew to France for the weekend because I wasn't told not to fly (because I didn't think to ask) it made my condition a lot worse and I suffered pain during the flight. Question: I am on 45mg steroids - still have slight claudication of the jaw - is it OK to fly now or not - do you know of other sufferers who have had problems flying???????????????

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (3 hours later)

Hello,
Thanks for the query.
A patient suffering from temporal arthritis is advised to take certain precautions like
Avoiding alcohol and smoking
Avoiding Trekking or air travel
Because these factors can trigger a attack of headache.Otherwise there is no problem
I hope it helps however you may revert to me for any further query.
Best of luck
Thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (30 minutes later)

Very scetchy reply - I have found all the things that you say to avoid on the website other than reference to air travel. Why (other than pressure alterations) is air travel not recommended????? - incidentally this is not arthritis as you write it is temporal arteritis and has nothing to do with artheritis are you sure you know what the condition is that I am suffering from??????????????

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (4 hours later)

Hello,
I know it is temporal arteritis and feel sorry for spelling it wrongly.
Like other triggers,an air travel can trigger the headache.It doesn't mean that every person suffering from temporal arteritis would definitely have headache in air travel.
Thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar