Does flying change the body?

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all doing ok.

I will be flying to visit my brother next week, and while I have read lots about security at the airport and carry on stuff and that the bag won't "blow up", I was wondering if flying changes anything about how it all works…like do you accumulate more gas in the bag, or has anyone had an experience where they had more output from flying?

It's probably a dumb question, but I have not flown since surgery and get extremely anxious about my ostomy and being far from home already. I'm guessing being thousands of feet in the air for several hours with lots of people VERY close by is not going to help my anxiety.

I'm really not too worried about security or packing or whatever, just the flight itself.

Please share anything you have that would prepare me for the flight. Even things like using the bathroom or anything at all!


Thanks for your help…much appreciated.


Sunny

I didn't have any problems on 4+ hour flights. I was worried about cabin pressure as well, but nope. Perfectly fine. I'd be more worried about deep sea diving.

I flew from Ottawa, Canada to California two months after surgery. It involved 3 flights over a good 12 hours. Longest leg was Washington to San Diego. The trip itself was quite tiring, but the flights themselves were no problem whatsoever. I emptied before boarding, and as I recall, didn't need to empty on board. No problem with security, even going through customs and immigration. I never mentioned having an ostomy. My supplies were in my carry on, and passed without comment through the x-ray. I precut a couple of wafers, so I wasn't carrying scissors.

Have a great trip! You deserve a break!

Ann

Thank you for asking the question Sunny. I have not flown since my surgery. I have a couple of trips planned; the first one in 10 days. My anxiety about TSA and issues popping up on the plane are terrible. I have applied for a Global Express pass to ease some of the anxiety getting through security. It's a pre-screened TSA pass that is good for 10 years.
In any case thank you all for the good information.

I had the same concerns when I flew with it for the first time in March. The altitude and cabin pressure appeared to have zero affect on the bag. It didn't blow up or anything.

Regarding TSA, heading out I called the TSA Cares line, got all these instructions to declare the ostomy and go in the special "medical" line, and was assured they had plenty of experience. That was a mistake. The agents had no idea what an ostomy was, what my concerns were, anything. They weren't suspicious or hostile, just confused and inept. They ended up waving me through, barely checking me. Coming home I decided to just empty the bag right before getting in the security line. I didn't say a word about it to the TSA and I just walked through like everyone else and they never said anything. So, I'd concur with the other posters. Don't bother saying anything to TSA. (Empty beforehand though.) Both times I had my supplies in my carry-on, including scissors (which are allowed if length is less than 4 inches), and nothing was said.