Okay, imagine you are super geared up for your trip. You are finally on the plane flying from New York City to Rome, Italy. As far as you know, you are as prepared as possible. So WHY THE HECK are you on the plane floor, with your legs doing spread eagle in the air, surrounded by multiple flight attendants reviving you??? I’ll tell you why. It’s because you passed out – and because you are actually me in this story. Yes, I’m about to tell you how I passed out on an international flight, and I’ll hopefully give you some tips on how to avoid the same fate.
Before I get started let me just ask you to please stop judging me – this has nothing to do with alcohol!
Well, maybe a tiny bit but anyway just keep reading. My friend and I had been planning our trip for months, and we had finally arrived at JFK; Everything was smooth sailing thus far. We had a good two to three hour layover so we did what most travelers do during this time (and what gets them into airline trouble)- we hit the bar. We maybe had two drinks each which is generally manageable for most, so that wasn’t my problem. We chatted up the bar tenders and a few surrounding nomads like ourselves until it was time to board. After giving the flight attendants their goodie bags and introducing myself as one of them, we relaxed in our seats and let the experience begin. Shortly after takeoff I encountered Problem #1 – No gluten free food. Honestly I didn’t know that I had to request specialty foods ahead of time (around 72 hours) and book them with my reservation. Learning that after the fact…duh! It makes sense and I felt like an idiot, you know being the experienced flight attendant, for not thinking about that and for not bringing my own meal. The flight attendants were super patient, understanding & helpful and gave me tons of fruits and veggies from where ever they could get them to help me out. (They really are rock stars 😎).
Now that I had food in my belly I watched a movie and quickly fell asleep only to be jerked awake by a recently familiar ominous feeling. It felt like I was overheating with nausea mixed with dizziness. You see, recently, I had been experiencing minor episodes of feeling like I was going to black out while sitting down during flights. I had experienced this feeling twice before my Rome trip and chalked it up to dehydration. It never happened while working and it only happened during flights when I was sitting down for long periods of time – Problem #2.
So as I jerked awake, I was trying move around in my seat in hopes of that saving me from slumping over. I had never felt it get this bad so I was too afraid to stand up, and wasn’t about to press that flight attendant call button (even though since this actually was an emergency, I definitely should have pressed it). In my mind I was thinking, “okay the flight attendants will be coming by soon I’ll just ask one of them for help.” Not long after my episode started an FA walked by and I asked her for water. Nope. I did not want to be the flight attendant that was having a medical so I didn’t tell her how I was feeling. I definitely let my ego get in the way. It seemed like it was taking her ages to come back with my water (Sorry if I’ve ever made you feel that way). I asked my friend who was asleep what I should do; she’s such a hard sleeper she didn’t even remember giving me her jumbled response of nonsensical words of advice. And that was that. I blacked out.
When I came to, I had been lifted out of my seat and placed on the floor in the aisle (eew gross). My top shirt was off, there were cold things (I think ice packs or wet towels?) all over my neck and chest, and one flight attendant was propping my legs in the air. I could gradually start to hear voices around me getting louder and louder but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. To this day I don’t know if they were speaking in English or something else. After I came to, they helped me get comfortable and made sure I drank plenty of water for the rest of the flight.
Although I was embarrassed, I was at least safe, coherent and well taken care of, but most of all I was confused! I’m a healthy twenty something. I work out and eat decently so what was happening to me and why? That is when I stared doing research. My friend had mentioned the word ‘Vasovagal’ to me so I stared there. Sure enough everything that I experienced coincided with it. Upon further research, including a doctors visit, I learned that since my blood pressure is so low, it’s actually not that conducive for flying as much as I do without taking proper precautions. I also learned that my experience has been the experience of thousands of other travelers and number of flight attendants on that list continues to rise. So here are a few proactive actions that you can take when flying so that you don’t end up like me:
- Wear compression socks/tights
- Drink plenty of water and stat hydrated (especially if you have low blood pressure like me. We feel it more)
- Try to refrain from alcoholic beverages
- Stretch during long flights (click here for flight stretches): apparently your ankles are almost like your second major artery??? So stretch flex and pump that blood back to your heart
- Get help sooner rather than later and don’t be afraid to hit that button. Flight attendants are there for your safety more than they are there to give you peanuts and coke.
- Pack snacks! Including snacks with salt and sugar
I sincerely hope this helps at least some of you during your travels. Has anything ever happened to you? Share your story below and Fly Safe everyone ✈️!
