3rd Trimester
gysberger04
member
Swelling after flying?
gysberger04
member
So I flew on Monday and Tuesday for work (2 1-hour flights each day - 4 hours in flight total), I felt completely nauseous after each flight (smaller planes, so more turbulence) and when I got home last night I realized that my hands, feet and ankles were completely swollen. I struggled to walk around the house when I got home last night at 11pm due to the swelling and went to bed, hoping that the swelling would go away by morning. Well, I wake up this morning and the swelling was still there, if not worse than it was last night. I called the doctor and they told me to drink extra water, put my feet up when I am at work at my desk and to take frequent breaks and walk around at work (I work a desk job). Oh, and I gained 4 pounds in the two days I was traveling, despite eating healthy the whole time. So, despite following the doctor's instructions, I am not feeling any better swollen-wise - has anyone else had something similar happen to them? If so, how long did it take for the swelling to go down? My hands and feet are killing me from being so swollen!!!!
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Re: Swelling after flying?
I did with my pregnancy with DD. I flew from Baltimore to Denver and it wasn't a small plane. It took a while for me to recover, I remember the day after I returned was the day I was the most worn out. I drove 8 hours in one day and it took me 4 days to recover from that.
I would give yourself a little more time. And drink a crap ton of water.
I'm a flight attendant and I work on the big planes. Before I was pregnant I would swell like you wouldn't believe. When I would be out working for a few weeks, I would come home and look several months pregnant (us flight attendants, call it jet belly). But after every flight my feet would swell as well.
It's very normal to swell from flying, that is there is no way I would do while pregnant. Everyone is right, you have to drink a ton of water. And what used to help me a lot was to run (I was a runner). But you can at least walk, and walk a lot. Even in the winter, I would live in my flip flops b/c my feet would be so swollen from flying. My hands will swell so much that I had to take my rings off before I would go to bed (which was normally right after a flight).
So it's normal, just walk a ton, and drink a ton of water.
This, I've worn the socks several times while flying the past couple months and my legs don't swell at all.
I forgot about compression socks. They do help a lot and you can buy them in black and brown too not just that awful white. FootSmart catalog usually has good prices for them.