Effects of International Air Travel on Colitis

I travel internationally quite frequently and after a 20 hour flight I'm in extreme pain.  I have severe abdominal cramping as soon as I arrive and find it necessary to lay down for about 8 hours before it goes away.  I'm just wondering if anyone else experiences that.  Currently, I have Remicade infusions but I'm not flaring.  It just seems like my colon starts spasming as soon as I get up and start moving around.  I've tried to eat very light and lots of fluids before and during the flights but it doesn't seem to make a difference. 

Hi Atlucgirl, and welcome to HealingWell! I too am on Remicade, and travel quite a bit (the flights aren't as many hours) but I do find that I tend to get hard stools and a bit constipated. Even when I'm a bit stressed I get the hard stools, which are really painful and cause cramping. I usually can get to a hotel or whereever and sit on the toilet for awhile until I get a little bit out, and that starts the ball rolling. A waitress told me to to eat a banana one time, and that worked well and grapes work too. I also drink Danactive, and try to drink a lot of water, which I know is hard when flying. I've also thought about stool softeners; but I kind of worry that things will go back to diarrhea if I do. Do you have either diarrhea or hard stools?

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Carol

Remicade - will have my 19th infusion on November 1.

Imuran - 100 mgs....taken before bedtime

Vitamin B-12/Biotin, Probiotics

"Life is short -- make fun of it"

Co-Moderator for the UC Forum

Thanks for the replies everyone. I had my Remicade Infusion today and the nurse thought I should try taking GAS-X before my flights. She thought it mught be gas and with the pressure in the plane for such a long time, might cause cramping. I don't have diarrhea or anything during these episodes. It's severe stomach pain that doesn't subside until after I lay down for about 6-8 hours. Thanks for all of the ideas, I'll try all of your suggestions if the Gas-X doesn't pan out.

Excess gas, huh? That's really interesting - and I can totally understand how it could be that! I will keep gas-x in mind next time I fly - which I don't do very often :)

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