Should my husband fly while being treated for temporal arteritis

I would not let him leave your local area

With arteritis

It can change drastically in a few

Days

no I would not fly, he should check with the eye hospital they will be able to help

I am under Morefields in city road  you could always phone them to see if they could advise you  . I have had PMR for 14 years  now and had GCA three times  it is not a good place to be you can loose your sight so please check this out . GP should have told him to go to eye hospital  or Rhuematoligy would tell you the same. hope this is of help  Jeannette.

I would say that the main concerns are your insurance and whether the GCA is well controlled together with where you are going - and then you need a letter from your consultant saying he is fit to travel. If you had medical insurance that was taken out before the diagnosis then you should be covered - if you are not fully covered and his consultant says he shouldn't travel then you shouldn't go anywhere outside the UK, the EU if you are going somewhere where you speak the local language fluently and it has good hospitals close to where you are staying. My local hospital in the middle of the mountains in Italy knows more about GCA than many large hospitals in the UK!

It's tough - but that is what insurance is for and things will improve so you can catch up the holiday later. Where were you intending to go? The Canary Islands?

i was diagnosed with temporal arteritis Dec 30, biopsy on jan 2nd.  I've been on steroids since the 30th of december and I'm due to take a 2 wk trip to italy in march. I asked my docs if I could fly and they all said yes. The key I think is to get checked out just before you leave, don't taper while traveling, and make sure you get your edema under control when you fly. for instance, I have some swelling in my feet and legs and occasionally hands, so I will be wearing compression stockings on feet/lets, and I have compression gloves to wear on my hands. 

your husband should discuss whatever side effects he has with his doctors and see how they might be affected by the air travel. He'll also need to make sure he takes extra meds with him. And as EileenH said, insurance. 

I have flown 2/3 of the way around the world with GCA and I have not had any trouble. I am a 70 year old male. Here are three very important recommendations!

1. NEVER start a taper immediately before a trip or while on a trip.

2. Take extra pred and carry it with you onto the plane with you.

3. Vacations can be very exercise intensive. On one trip I started having the temple aches. On my DRs. recommendation, I doubled my Pred fro two days and then went back to my 12mg level. Worked wonders!