Guys, please don't treat this lightly....when my Vascular Surgeon said I was clear and can go back to flying....it was me that wanted to know if I was predisposed to clotting...so he said ok we will do a Thrombphilia test...6 files of blood is taken and it takes a few days for the result to come in...its obviously a complex test...the result was ok and I was not predisposed...
So why did I get DVT... another factor of DVT is if you had a major operation within the last 6 months....I did...I had a Kidney Stone removed in my left kidney...which I think was the contributing factor of me getting DVT as I had quite a bit of discomfort in my left kidney area that day as we set of from London to the Caribbean, when we landed was when I could hardly breathe...
I see a link here, for years I have been a big tea and coffee drinker when flying...hardly any water, so my urolgist said the reason I had a kidney stone was that am dehydrated all the time and I should drink 3 liters of water a day...I find that hard to do....but here again dehydration is 1 cause factor of DVT...of course anothe reason I got a kidney stone was that I tend to consume to many purine food...
So yes now, when I fly I will wear compression socks, I will get and move as muct as possible and streach my leg muscules as much as possible, I will drink a lot more water and keep away from tea and coffee, I take a low dose asprin now every day to dilute my blood a little....
Legally...you cannot fly while you are warfarin medication, in the USA the FAA will let you fly as I uderstand it but its on a dispensation....at the moment the CAA or CASA in Australia will not, I don't know about the others...so if my Throbphilia test would have shown that I was a natural clotter...I would have to be on Warfarin for the rest of my life...which means I can't fly period at the moment under the CAA rules...
My Vascular Surgeon said that Warfarin is a dangerous drug and should be used very carefully...I didn't like taking it as it made me feel sleepy at times a weak and a need for lots of blood tests to keep modifying the dose as it affects the INR depending what foods you eat...so all a nasty business this....but we all need some knowledge on this subject so as to prevent it occuring where we can......
