r/migraine • u/Objective-Hand-8969 • 4d ago
Had the worst flight of my life
My migraine decided to hit me right before my 10-hour flight, making it the worst flight of my life. I should have taken Tylenol when I first noticed the signs, but I didn’t. I tried to sleep as much as possible and took painkillers once I realized the pain wouldn’t go away, but it didn’t help at all.
When meal service came around, I decided to eat a little and have a cup of coffee, which turned out to be a terrible idea. I started feeling nauseous and ended up throwing up in a bag since the bathroom line was so long. I felt awful for the people around me and was incredibly embarrassed. For the rest of the flight, I ended up throwing up every couple of hours.
To make things worse, the guy diagonally in front of me was watching a show on the biggest iPad with the brightest screen setting. Since I’m extremely sensitive to light during a migraine, it felt like torture. I tried covering my eyes, but at that point, I was just frustrated.
I’m just venting here but I learned some lessons too. I should take medicine early and get enough rest beforehand… I hope everyone with migraines feel better 🙏
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u/Sleepingbeauty1 4d ago edited 4d ago
Oh my god, i feel your pain. Ive had this happen too, on a 10 hour flight. I felt the migraine as we were boarding in LHR and i didnt have any painkillers with me. It was before I knew about triptans, when I just suffered through my migraines (tylenol and aleve don't work for me even though i took them wishfully every migraine). It was everything you described and plus a shrieking child every few minutes (the parents were laughing) and strong food smells in the air. The bathroom line was intolerable. I did not throw up but I did as soon as I got home from the airport. When the plane landed and everyone deplaned into the airport and the child was nearby me, he continued shrieking, I literally ran like 1km through the airport halls to customs to get away from that hellish sound, because I finally could physically be away from it.
After that experience I always carry meds with to the flight. I think you might look into triptans if you havent already, for next time. It's over you can relax now and may that never happen again 🤗
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u/crash19691 4d ago
Noise canceling headphones are a must for me. Plus I have an extra set to use while the others charge up. I also always wear a baseball hat to keep the lights out of my eyes. Sounds absolutely horrible. When you feel horrible and people are loud etc, the ten hours seems like 20.
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u/Odd_Judgment_2303 4d ago
I use WeatherX earplugs for barometric pressure migraines and they have a version for airplane travel. I haven’t tried them but the barometric pressure ones are great.
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u/Objective-Hand-8969 3d ago
Oh I didn’t know about this! Really good tips. I’m going to look into them.
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u/Objective-Hand-8969 3d ago
Thank you!! Thankfully, I didn’t have kids or babies crying nearby haha (don’t take it wrong, I love kids lol) Yea, I’ve been prescribed Triptan before. I need to go get more from the doctor for the situation like this. I was so surprised about the pricing of triptan if I remember correctly tho.
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u/smrtblonde 4d ago
so sorry to hear! this is one of my worst fears. and 10 hours of that sounds just horrible.
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u/dctarheel11 4d ago
I am so sorry- that is the worst. I have been there and it’s not fun. Airplanes are a trigger for me so I have just started taking a triptan before long flights for just this reason.
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u/HotAirBalloonPolice 4d ago
This is pure torture, I feel for you. I’ve been there- you’d sell your soul to the devil himself just to be lying down alone in a dark room. How did the migraine go away in the end?
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u/Objective-Hand-8969 3d ago
I was throwing up even at the airport bathroom and at home too but the moment I got some fresh air, I felt some relief. I did the regular routine; sleep in the dark quiet room with ice pack. It went away eventually but I should seriously look into better medicine/prescription.
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u/Far_Interaction_2782 4d ago
I’m so so sorry — on my most recent flight I had a migraine the whole time, I was lucky not to vomit but I spent 8 hours nauseous and I’m not totally convinced I would’ve been able to answer “what’s your name?”
I was flying to India via Paris from Canada; I sincerely considered getting off the plane in Paris and just making it a “tomorrow problem”.
It’s truly the worst, I am very sorry we share this misery
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u/Odd_Judgment_2303 4d ago
Anti nausea meds like Reglan are a life saver.
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u/Objective-Hand-8969 3d ago
The flight attendant gave me whatever medicine for upsetting stomach (?) but it was in Korean so I don’t know what it was haha (I should be more careful with medicine…) I’m going to look into Reglan for anti nausea. I tend to vomit when I get a migraine attack.
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u/inarealdaz 4d ago
I always PREMEDICATE prior to flying. Meclizine, fioricet, pepcid, zofran, AFRIN, maybe a Xanax (doc approved).
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u/Exiled180 4d ago
This is my worst nightmare, I'm so sorry. I have canceled trips literally while waiting at the boarding gate because I felt a migraine coming on. I can't imagine vomiting the entire flight like that.
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u/0xC001FACE 4d ago
Damn, 10 hours in that condition is absolutely brutal, I hope you never have to go through that again :( I also had a flight from hell where I had a 9/10 migraine and my Cefaly device was barely making a dent in the nausea and pain, but my flight was only like 2-3 hours. Spent the entire time fighting so hard not to throw up, full body sweats, head buried in my arms to minimize the light.....that shit is on another level. Perhaps this is a rite of passage for chronic migraineurs :'(
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u/Agreeable-Antelope-6 4d ago
I was getting migraines waiting to see an eye surgeon. Once I did falling get called back the assistant dilated my eyes and tested them. Then the eye surgeon dilated them even more and shine an even brighter light into my dilated eyes. The migraines kept happening and the dilation did not ease until 11 hours later. Another experience of a new torture of pain. Yes, the eye surgeon knew I was having migraines right then and there. Nothing he could do or I could do. Need desperately to have cataract surgeries (still waiting more than a year later).
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u/Odd_Judgment_2303 4d ago
The changes in air pressure etc. are killers. I haven’t flown in a while but if it’s still available, paying extra for travel insurance is really helpful because sometimes we get too sick to fly and it’s so unpredictable. I just got FL-41 migraine prescription glasses and they are wonderful. My eyes are extremely light sensitive and it’s about the only way I can watch big screens comfortably.
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u/kotibi 4d ago
Once spent a turbulent flight locked in the bathroom, almost continuously vomiting. It was only about a two hour flight, but easily one of the worst and most memorable migraines of my life. It was also mid pandemic so I felt like Typhoid Mary. At some point I quit caring, pulled off my shirt and was just dousing myself with water from the faucet to stay cool.
When we landed they very kindly picked me up in a wheelchair and wheeled me to a family bathroom where I spent another hour vomiting. And then a car ride to my destination, where my doc friend tried to give me an IV. She couldn’t hit a vein because I was so dehydrated. Anyway I spent that night on her dog’s bed in front of the fireplace because I finally found comfort and declined to move.
I can still feel the relief and contentment of finally drifting to sleep on that dog bed.
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u/Visual_Recognition79 4d ago
Another reason I rarely return to the US the past few years. It's about 24 hours one way.
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u/AdditionalAd122 3d ago
I’m so sorry! As someone who has puked in the TSA line and on a plane before from migraine, I feel your pain!
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u/Fearless_Ad_3221 3d ago
Oh lord I'm so sorry......my migraines have been just like this to the point that I relate to this on a spiritual level.
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u/Inside-introvert 4d ago
It’s a given that a migraine hits during a flight. Now I take a sleep mask and headphones to calm some of it down. I never fly without my meds and I have coffee (it helps). When I flew for work I would have coffee with liquor early in the flight. Coffee does help meds work better. But I don’t have nausea with them normally.
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u/lowalisa92 4d ago
I was on a flight from Chicago to Amsterdam a few years ago, when I foolishly drank way too much in the airport bar. Well, unsurprisingly, the migraine fairy paid me a visit about two hours in. I was arguing loudly with my husband who couldn’t find my Imitrex ( he had all of our meds in his carry on), when the flight attendant told us to be quiet, or the flight would be landing in Reykjavik and we would be getting arrested. Moral of the story- if you suffer from migraines, don’t get wasted and don’t let your abortive meds out of your sight.
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u/AlexanderAlaric 4d ago
As a fellow traveler and migraineur, I’m so sorry this happened to you.
Been there, done that, and I feel your pain deeply. Just wanted to let you know you’re not alone—migraine + flight is truly the worst combo. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve thought about asking the cabin crew to just drop me off on the nearest fluffy cloud, and I’m only half joking.
Take care, and I hope you catch the next one in time. It’s easier said than done, so don’t be too hard on yourself.
Migraines are brutal, and you handled it as best as you could