hi all

my daughter orlaith is 1 and has hydrocephalus, she had a vp shunt inserted at three weeks old. we have been on holidays this summer and she was fine on the flight (2 1/2 hours) and are hoping to travel to florida in 2009. so its a 9 1/2 hour flight from dublin, ireland to orlando and its only occured to me now that i dont know if this is a good idea for her.

the drs have told us that she should be fine and the only thing not to let her do is boxing (as if) doubt she will be playing camogie either (its an irish game played with a very hard wooden bat that all team players have to hit the ball). so was hoping someone here would shed some light on flying with hydrocephalus for me please

gillian

Hello Gill,
My experience is much different from your daughter's, but I will share it with you. I had a colloid cyst of the third ventricle blocking my csf flow creating hydrocephalus, and causing excruciating headaches. In 1994, I travelled from Louisville, Kentucky to Santiago, Chile, an 18 hour plane flight. Once I arrived in Santiago, I was somewhat disoriented for a couple of days. At the time, I was not aware that I had the cyst, or the beginnings of hydro. I felt very dizzy, and brushed it off as "jet lag". After sleep and re-hydrating, the headaches seemed to go away. In Nov 2000, I had a craniotomy and resection of the colloid cyst. It took a while to recover, but I did gradually. In 2005, I flew to Oahu, Hawaii, another 18 hours, and was quite conserned with the affects of cabin pressure on my post craniotomy brain. Besides feeling the pressure from the plane taking off and landing, I did not have any ill affects during this flight, or have the jet-lag I felt in 1994. (granted 1994 was a military plane flight, and I think we flew at a much higher altitude)

I have heard that chewing helps with pressure, ear, and sinus, when in a plane. Does your daughter use a pacifier, or a bottle? Something like this may help as your plane exits the runway.

I hope this helps you some. Please hold on for more experienced people to post suggestions. Wishing you the best, Dodi

Anything involving rough contact should not be done, period. Things like bungee jumping and scuba diving are likely out, too, but most other things, including long flights, should be okay with a pressurized cabin, unless she has reacted to flights before.


Have fun!!

LIZARD

I have flown from Australia to Candada (and back) - a 24 hour flight, and from Australia to England and back - a 20 hour flight without any problems - except for my ears which constantly pop !

I don't see that there should be a problem with a 9 hour flight.

Nat.

She should be ok. I have flown alot. And hav not had a problem.