I discovered, the painful way, that it pays to wear flight socks

WE’VE reached that time of the year when people start making preparations for summer holidays.

For some, that will mean long haul flights. The kind that take forever, cost a fortune, and give you a dose of jetlag when you eventually arrive at your destination. They’re not easy.

Thanks to my daughter’s decision to relocate to Australia for a few years, my wife and I will be dealing with that challenge at the end of the year.

As much as we are looking forward to seeing them all again, the thought of the travel doesn’t excite me. I’ve made the journey Down Under twice before and I swore I would never do it again.

It takes about 30 hours to get there, give or take, depending on lay-overs, etc, and most of that time is spent sitting in a confined space at high altitude.

Apart from the discomfort, there are certain risks attached to long flights too, such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which happens when a blood clot forms in your body. That can prove to be fatal if not treated in time.

Flight socks are designed to prevent this condition, and the last time I flew long-haul, my wife pestered me to wear them. I eventually caved in, but I didn’t like them. I found they made my legs hot and itchy, nevertheless I persevered for a quiet life.

I secretly questioned the value of them at the time, but I’ve since worn them in hospital after surgery, so they’re obviously regarded by the medical community.

Whatever about wearing them on long flights, I never considered them for shorter trips. I fly to Cyprus regularly, which takes about five hours, and I haven’t worn the socks on those flights. I’m about to reconsider that, and I’ll tell you why.

Not long after arriving in Cyprus last September, I got a flare-up of gout. That wasn’t out of the ordinary for me. I need to keep hydrated in the heat of the sun but sometimes I slip up.

A blast of gout soon reminds me to start hosing down the water but it’s a bit late at that stage. It’s a painful condition which usually affects the big toe.

It occurs when uric acid in the blood-stream crystalises in the joint of the toe and it feels as if there are splinters of glass in there. The area turns red and becomes inflamed, making it difficult to walk.

A course of anti-inflammatory tablets with lots of water usually fixes the problem.

Gout sufferers get absolutely no sympathy. When you explain to someone that you’re limping badly because you’re having a gout attack, you can expect to be laughed at.

King Henry VIII suffered from it, and it was considered to be an illness that only afflicted the wealthy, brought on by a diet of pheasant and red wine apparently. Not in my case though.

My gout attack eventually cleared up and when I got a similar sensation in my left heel a week later, I wasn’t too alarmed. It was unusual though in so far as it was attacking a new area.

It spread as the week wore on, extending further up my calf. It was extremely painful, so I made my way to a local pharmacist and showed her the affected area.

She gave me strong anti-inflammatories and advised me to see a doctor if it didn’t improve in three days. She was worried it might be thrombosis.

I asked her what that meant and she tried her best to explain in English, which wasn’t her first language, and when she mentioned heart, I switched off. There is no history of heart trouble in the family, so I tuned out.

Three days later, the swelling had decreased but it hadn’t disappeared completely. In fact, it took a couple of weeks before the leg was back to normal, and in the meantime, like most men, I ignored the problem.

When I got home at the end of November, I took myself off to my GP and I showed him some photographs of my swollen calf and I could tell he was concerned.

He handed me a referral letter and told me to take it to the emergency department at the Mater Private Hospital. Sooner rather than later, he suggested.

I headed there the following morning bright and early and after a battery of tests, they discovered two blood clots in the calf area of my left leg.

Clots can develop if you don’t move for a long time when travelling a long distance, or when you’re confined to bed after surgery, or because of illness. They’re painful things and can cause swelling, but sometimes there may be no noticeable symptoms.

It’s a serious condition because clots in the veins can break loose and travel through the bloodstream into the lungs, blocking blood flow.

I always associated DVT with long haul flights but that’s not the case apparently.

My consultant recommended wearing flight socks or compression socks for flights over three and a half hours, which pretty much covers many of the regular hot spots. He says that our legs swell on flights at the best of times and that puts pressure on the veins which over time could interfere with the circulation.

He stressed the importance of keeping hydrated during flights too.

If you’re not wearing flight socks, the advice when travelling is to take frequent breaks to stretch the legs. Stand up and walk around occasionally, and if you’re travelling by car, stop every hour or so and move about.

If that’s not possible, do lower leg exercises. Raise and lower your heels while keeping your toes on the floor. Then raise your toes while keeping your heels on the floor.

Better still, just wear flight socks.