After a 5 hour flight every joint in my body hurts. Most people dont seem to have this issue. What’s wrong with me?
Your urine should be a light yellow color. (Note: recent food/beverage consumption can temporarily alter the color.)
When you use the bathroom generate spittle in your mouth. Lean over the sink or toilet and let it slid out of your mouth. It should do so smoothly and with little to no residue left hanging.
If both of the above aren’t true then you’re dehydrated! Aim for drinking half your body weight in ounces in fluids a day. 150 lbs. = 9 cups (8 oz.) per day.
Do that and if you find that you still can’t sit through dinner without pain please do see your PCP.
So … Do PCP before a flight? I’ve never done any illegal drugs, maybe that’s why my joints always hurt.
I think he means Personal Chair Person, y’know, to get sitting recommendations
OP what the fuck is a PCP?
Primary Care Physician (or Provider) is, indeed, what I think the original comment intended; however, no matter how many times I’ve been to the ER (or A&E if you’re from a more civilized country), that’s not how my brain initially interprets it.
Primary Care Physician
A fucking doctor then? Some folk watch waaaaaay too much TV
I think it’s American for GP but I might be wrong
Not something ive ever heard an American say.
GP, physician, doctor. Never “PCP”.
PCP is an incredibly common term in the US.
I’m an American and work in healthcare. “PCP” is a common way to abbreviate “primary care physician”. Generally, it is not said out loud that way, but it is often abbreviated in forms and documentation.
And yes, I giggle when I see it because I’m immature!
A dentist is a doctor but they aren’t going to be too helpful lmao
Any adult American with health insurance should know what a PCP means in this context. This is not obscure or weird verbiage lol.
A masseuse is a personal care provider, and probably useful in this situation.
It’s a fucking stupid and unnecessary initialism, let’s be honest
Please stop making up drinking quotas, that shit is not helpful and not healthy.
Nothing is wrong with you. Flying sucks.
Choose an aisle or window seat to your preference, bearing in mind that one of the solutions to body soreness when airplane traveling is getting at standing up for 10 mins every 30-40 mins.
If you can swing it, fly first class, since the seats are wider and you can more easily shift your body weight.
i usually pay more for extra legroom, but going up to 1st class is a big jump.
I don’t if the flight is long and it is bigger aircraft (two aisles: A350, 787, A380, 777, etc). I try to be up and moving around as much as possible. No booze. Eat light if at all. Drink water.
Do flights normally provide free drinking water? I am under the impression that passengers must buy bottled water in flight if they want to drink.
I’ve never been on a long (trans ocean) flight with a major airline that charged for water.
If you are with a non budget airline, yes they do.
I have flown KLM, QANTAS, Singapore Airlines, Emeriats and they all do free drinks as part of the service even in the cheap Econ tickets.
You can also bring an empty bottle to the airport and fill it (after the security checks of course) in the bathroom sink at the airport
flying first class helps a lot let me tell you
Mid Forties… 20 hour flight. Agony. No sleeping, got up a bunch of times, didn’t stop joint pain, back pain… Ugh. Some people can’t sit still for that long without issues.
I used to get this when i was younger, it was tied to my mental anxiety of having to sit still 7 hours. I hated it. 1 hour into the flight my legs would be in pain. The kind of pain you get when a pet or whatever is on your legs and you can’t move but you want to, even if it hasn’t been very long.
After flying a lot in my life I managed to accept my fate, and that helped a lot. It starts happening on the last hour of the flight, or if we’re stuck on the tarmac too long.
I have a hard time sleeping on planes. I now take a lightweight wide scarf and tie it around myself shoulder to elbow, then i tuck my arms in. A snug hoodie can work too if you pull your arms out of the sleeves. Having my style supported seems to help some of the shoulder discomfort. Back and knees just suffer.
So two things to add to what others have said.
One, compression socks are a game changer especially for longer flights. Helps me a ton.
Second, this might sound weird, but do you have your tonsils and have you had a lot of cases of strep throat? Both me and my sister both have had our tonsils out as adults and it basically magically cleared up a bunch of joint pain I had.
I used to have excruciating knee pain if I sat still too long. Like I almost collapsed getting out of the car once cause I had dozed off for an hour or two and it made my knees hurt so bad.
Now I don’t have nearly the issues. It’s something to do with strep liking to basically hang out and cause inflammation in your joints.
I’m not gonna lie to anyone reading this though, getting your tonsils out is fucking miserable… When I went back in for my post op checkup the nurse said they had a patient earlier who had a purple heart and he had apparently said he would have preferred to be shot again over having his tonsils out.
Still worth it in my case anyway (not just the knees, had an infection and tonsils were giant, inflamed shit heads that kept causing issues)
Neat. I have my tonsils but never had issues with strep.
I had awful leg pain as a child though, and am starting to think I’ve be dealing with more joint pain than others. I cant sit to still for moderate periods without discomfort.
That sounds real similar to what I was experiencing. Might be worth checking if you are a strep carrier, some people can have it without symptoms. Definitely no guarantee that it’s related but may be worth looking in to.
Walk around the cabin every few hours if it’s a long haul flight. For a 5 hour flight, maybe get up once or twice. Get an aisle seat so you won’t disturb anyone when you get up. You’ll also have a litte extra knee space towards the aisle. Bring along ergonomic support like pillows for your neck or lumbar. If you’re really hurting bad, you might have an underlying problem that your doctor can help you diagnose.
I’m about to have this issue in about 10 hours. Are you older than 30? Cuz I really started feeling the pain after 30. I recently bought an awesome inflatable pillow that keeps my head upright, so I can maybe possibly sleep instead of just fidgeting and suffering through the whole flight. I feel your pain, internet stranger.
Also, constipation. It’s so hard to shit the day after flying. Most people don’t seem to have this issue.
I’m over 30, but it’s always been a problem. I’ve only slept on a plane when I’ve taken muscle relaxers pre-emptively, which is what I should be doing going forward i guess.
Do you have some kind of condition? Flying is uncomfortable but it’s not typical to be in “excruciating pain”
not to my knowledge.
Mention this next time you see a doctor. Some discomfort on a flight is normal, but excruciating pain indicates a potential medical problem
Business class. Any flight over 4 hours is when I evaluate whether I should pay for an upgrade out of pocket.
Get into credit card churning and use the points to fly business class for cheaper than what economy would cost.
EDS? That’s why I hurt when I sit still too long, my joints literally slide out of place without muscle activation to hold them steady
i don’t think so, but that sounds uncomfortable!
It’s not my favorite. It does mean I prefer to not be a couch potato. Sitting still and playing video games all day hurts so much worse than gardening or cleaning the house.
- (I will be so happy when transporters get invented)
- as others have mentioned, outside of an actual medical condition, best you can hope for is mitigation
- compression socks, neck pillow, eye mask, noise cancelling headphones
- stay hydrated – one of the big drivers behind jet lag is plain old dehydration
- aisle seat – you can get up, walk around a bit, hit up the bathroom, all without having to climb over your neighbors every single time
i rarely sleep when traveling. I’ll consider a neck pillow next time. i’m pretty good about jet lag, and yeah i’ve been picking aisle seats every time i fly.
