How I got dehydrated (and a concussion) from long haul air travel (and how to prevent this from happening to YOU!)
Part 1 of 3:
January 16, 2019. 36 hours of travel from Mumbai to Newark, NJ; then customs, a coffee, and immediate boarding to SFO. No time to waste, just move. I was actually worried about this “leg” of my trip home from India. My mom and I had left SFO for Hong Kong on 12/27/18, spent 2 days and 2 nights there, then ventured to Kolkata for Pathways Board and NGO meetings. Breaking up the trip on the way there helped, a lot. More than I thought. After 10 days in Kolkata (with the average AQI OVER 250 at “Very Unhealthy or Hazardous), we spent 5 nights and 6 days in Goa practicing yoga, thinking we’d recover from Kolkata (through the AQI was not much better there). Then 3 days and 3 nights in Mumbai, where my mom then developed a respiratory infection.
So, even though I was worried about the 36 hour return travel time home to SFO, I wanted to stay with my mother at least to Newark. Things started going wrong when we got on that flight in Mumbai. My mom was coughing incessantly, and the flight attendant on “her” aisle was there for her. On the contrary, the attendant on “my” side of the airplane was anything but attentive. She rarely came through our aisle, not once offering water (which surprised me, as that flight was ~16 hours long). Finally, about ¾ way into the trip, I got up, sought her out, and (almost) begged for a bottle of water! Transition to a short trip through customs and layover and I was onto the next plane to SFO. A bit dazed and tired, I slept most of the time, excited to get home.
Fast forward to the NEXT afternoon, January 17th 2019 - recovering at home from jetlag, I was petting my dog when I stood up, dizzy! Feeling very faint, I decided to “sit” down on the floor so I would not fall backwards. I successfully lowered myself, my head about 12 inches from the floor. Then, I completely blacked out and lost consciousness!
When I “woke”, (minutes later?), I saw blood on the floor. Was it my nose? I looked in the mirror - there was about a 1.5 inch gash “bloodline” spewing above my right eyebrow! I had passed out when my head was almost at the floor, hitting my eyebrow and the area above it on the lower edge of a wooden bed frame! (So grateful I missed my actual eye!)
Fumbling around for my phone, I walked towards my kitchen and blacked out again in the hallway, slamming my head on the right side, causing all of the art on the wall to come crashing to the floor.
I awoke from that fall, circled twice and found my spare phone in the kitchen, crawled to the couch, got horizontal and called 911. My doorman, neighbors and building manager came to the rescue while I waited (I’m lucky to live here). When the medical staff arrived, they took my blood pressure, which had dropped to an abnormally low level and told me I had SEVERE DEHYDRATION caused by the 36 hours of Travel.
I ended up getting 12 stitches above my right eye, and now walk around with a scar. People look at me and ask with their eyes (and sometime their mouth) “What Happened?” and “Are you OK?”.
The short answer is, I’m more than OK, and I’m telling you this, not to feel sorry for me but instead so you can PREVENT it from happening to you! Also, perhaps through this series of blogs, you will gain a better understanding of what to do if you hit your head, or need to heal from your own stitches and scars.
How to PREVENT DEHYDRATION before, on and after a long-haul flight:
Even if you’re a frequent World Traveler, I remind you to STAY HYDRATED! Airplanes these days travel longer, farther distances than in the past. Their air filters may be “better” but they for sure are the most dehydrating they’ve EVER been. I could actually feel the air being sucked out of my body on these flights, like in a food dehydrator, a grape being turned into a raisin! Drink a ton of water starting days before you leave, and bring some electrolyte packages along as well. When you get on the plane tell your flight attendant you know someone who passed out from dehydration and (I promise you) they will bring you water. (I flew to France weeks after this incident and showed them my scar - had no problems with water access on those flights!)
Dehydration on planes and passing out is a Common Thing! You probably DO know someone (other than me) to whom this has happened. Once I told people, I discovered a Board Member I work with, my best friend’s sister, a friend of a flight attendant AND one of the students to whom I teach yoga all experienced similar passing out / dehydration episodes from long-haul flights!
Avoid coffee and alcohol! I’m not a big alcohol drinker, and rarely if ever drink on planes. I did consume a coffee that day, in between flights, and I’m sure it did not help my situation. I should have paid more attention to my water intake at that moment, especially coming off the flight where the flight attendant was hiding the water!
If you’re coming from India (or China), or a place where the AIR is terrible, and you’ve been there a few weeks, try to break up your trip, if possible! Remember you have been breathing air everyday that is short of oxygen, so when you board a long flight home, you’ve already been deprived of “good” air for weeks. If you don’t have to travel on flights longer than 12 hours per segment, take a break and stop somewhere for a few days to re-set. I promise this will lessen your chance of passing out from lack of oxygen or dehydration.
Continue drinking water. Get a bottle or a refill right when you get off the plane, drink in your Taxi, Uber or Train, hydrate the next morning. Essentially, be AWARE of your hydration level! You will absolutely lessen the possibility of getting all of the water sucked out of you!
Part 2: Coming soon….