We are planning a trip to Pakistan and my PCP suggested I take a couple of vaccines to protect against some infections & diseases. Unfortunately diarrhea, flu, malaria, typhoid are quite common.
Thankfully my family lives in the better part of town there, but I always get a bad case of diarrhea every time I’m there. But this is the first time I am traveling there after my pelvic AVM. I avoided traveling there during COVID time and after.
I’ve googled like crazy on traveling with an AVM wanted to ask if anyone has traveled and dealt with any such infections etc. I’m almost too scared to travel
Hi Iram,
What ststus does yr mri report shows of avm pelvic region n whats neurologist guidance.
U need follow his advise.
I had avf or avm at my spinal t6-7 area dev probly due to major spine trauma And was likely moving bad, So major leminactony done at western totonto hospital back in March 2022 for permanent removal.
Regards
Syed
You could talk to your PCP or the pharmacist about the side effects that are known for whatever vaccines etc they propose.
I wouldn’t think you’ve consulted a neurologist for a pelvic AVM, so other than your PCP or pharmacist, your vascular consultant would be the person to talk to. It will be helpful if there are other Pelvic AVM patients here who have had this sort of advice but you are a very small number: a pelvic AVM is rare among rare.
I do know of brain AVM people who have flown before having their AVM treated in any way – and the risk for brain AVMers is stroke, so it is not a trivial decision for a brain AVMer – and they were advised that flying was ok. In fact, I am sure a proportion of those flew to their appointments!
Obviously, aircraft are pressurised, so atmospheric pressure is to some extent maintained but I think it is equivalent to going up a mountain rather than the pressure associated with sea level.
There’s always a risk with these things. You need to satisfy yourself that it’s an ok risk for you. If you need a bit of encouragement, remember that driving a car, crossing the road or walking down stairs are among the riskiest things we ever do and we often do those more than once a day.
I’ve travelled multiple times before i had the avm embolization and after with no problems. Ive taken all the shots when i went to the Amazon and had no problems.
I have a large pelvic AVM. When I asked, my vascular surgeon said I was at medium risk of bleeding in general so there were more chances of him having a heart attack on a flight (he was a bit overweight) than me bleeding.
I have travelled many times since with no issue. The only thing I am a bit wary of is going somewhere which doesn’t have good hospitals nearby.
Ask your vascular surgeon or IR for confirmation but there shouldn’t be any problem. Let’s put it that way : you travelled before with your AVM, you just didn’t know you had an AVM.
For some recent local travel to the east coast I did ask my IR about it and he assured me it would be OK. Thankfully all has been OK with local travel and I have been making sure to mask up (still wear an N95 to work and travel) not to get sick
Hospitals in general are OK in Karachi but thankfully we have some doctors in the family, none are IR though. After reading your response I’ve decided to check to see if there are IR or vascular specialists in nearby better hospitals
