Jetlag/Flying Help

[helpbayareadizziness]

Hi all! You’re all amazing.

Does anyone have any jetlag/long flight advice? (there didn’t seem to be any recent posts on the forum)

This is probably a bad idea but I’m flying to Japan from San Diego September 5-20 (stop in Seattle for a few hours) with a good friend to see my cousin’s family over there. My concern is I will arrive and just have a really bad dizziness episode that won’t leave me. I plan to talk with my new neurologist (Emily Engel at Scripps July 24) about this (I googled San Diego dizziness neurologist & she’s the only one who listed dizziness in her bio) as my old neurologist had no advice. Maybe she’ll recommend valium or something and I can try it before I go to see if it helps with attacks or if I can function on it (in the past when I’ve taken stuff like that, it hasn’t helped but if I recall it’s fun).

I went to Burning Man (a desert festival in Nevada) 2 years ago & I had the same problem where after the first night I woke up and felt horribly dizzy and left (they tried a triptan shot on me and I think some motion sickness stuff but none of those emergency migraine/vertigo meds have ever helped me). Then again, I didn’t have a family member’s home to take it easy in if I needed to, so I guess at the worst, if I get a bad attack in Japan, I can stay in my cousin’s home and deal with it as best as I can. My cousin’s wife (who is half-Japanese) said her family always goes on a little weekend trip the next day after they arrive to Japan (to deal with the jet lag) so that’s our plan. If my dizziness isn’t horrible there, I also plan to try the bullet train, and if I’m fine with that, maybe the underwater train as well (I haven’t been on a boat since 2014 and plan to avoid them but I assume an underwater train shouldn’t be an issue). I do know that bad dizziness attacks can last over a week for me where it’s hard to do anything & I have bad nausea, can’t eat much or vary foods (though Japanese food is easy on me) & feel like I got up from rolling a few times down a hill. A neurologist in the past has prescribed me Prochlorperazine Maleate 10 MG Tablet for nausea so I plan to try that before the trip as well to see if it helps.

I used to fly all the time but since the dizziness got worse, the biggest jetlag trip I did was LA to Baltimore and flying was not fun (I don’t think my dizziness got that much worse) but I think being with a friend in Japan and going somewhere new and exciting and seeing my cousin’s new wife/kids will help. To ease the jetlag for the Baltimore trip, I went to bed 20-30 minutes later each night until I was on Baltimore time which seemed to help. I guess I can do that for the Japan trip as I work from home, and then eventually right before I leave to Japan, I’ll be waking up at 3pm and asleep at 6am my old time so that in Japan I’m up at 7am (the only time that’s an issue is my flight from San Diego to Seattle is at 735am but I can plan to go to sleep at 6am when I’m at the airport and just go to sleep when I’m on the flights). Maybe I should save the $ & not go, but my cousin’s family is only there until the Spring, I heard Japan is great in the Fall, it will be me and his kid’s birthdays when I’m there, and if I’m going to go in my life, it’d be nice to go when I have family there and a friend to go with me , and if I feel horrible then I wasted $560ish & just stay at his place the whole time and fly back. I’m sure I’ll be able to at least eat stuff and get around somewhat and eventually get used to feeling horrible and hope it doesn’t continue when I’m in the US or at least I seem to always adapt in time. I will be violating the Heal your Headache migraine diet a lot there because part of the reason I’m going is to experience Japanese food (I don’t think the diet has helped me but onions or mushrooms may bother me but I feel like I’ve accidentally had foods with them and haven’t noticed). I’ll try my best to avoid the 6 Cs (aged cheese/yogurt, citrus/banana, caffeine/chocolate, cured meats, Chinese take away (aka msg), & chianti aka alcohol).

Currently, my dizziness is still as bad as it’s been. I’ve had it bad since 2011 (I believe because of stress), and it was over a year after I lived in India so I don’t think the bad dizziness was from lots of long travel (although initially the dizziness may have started in 2005 from traveling but I think that was from parasites and the dizziness was not too bad back then). I’m currently in the process of trying Rhodiola from Germany for dizziness for another 2.5 weeks and a Dexabion shot (last shot will be in a month or so). If those don’t work, I will likely try botox or a new combination of meds.

When I see my neurologist, I was thinking of also reducing and going off the Risperdal & DDVAP & maybe even the Lamictal I take (as I don’t think I need them anymore &/or in case there’s any lingering or longterm side effects from taking them), but I assume I should wait to consider those changes until I see her and until after my trip.

Thanks y’all (and feel free to holler with any Japan advice!)

PS-Someone recommended these in an old post so I plan to get them
https://www.amazon.com/EarPlanes-Ear-Plugs-Pair-Pack/dp/B001HTWL8C
https://www.amazon.com/AERIS-Restful-Airplane-Accessories-Flights/dp/B00JIPG09S/ref=as_li_ss_il?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1537191516&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=Memory+Foam+Neck+Pillow&psc=1&linkCode=li2&tag=merefieldtech-20&linkId=1c842c98e3c6a3c877f183720048bf83&language=en_US
I have noise cancelling headphones too so that should help

[turnitaround]

Yes, do we really need another flying Topic? The last one was not that long ago. I’ve moved it over