Travelling when you're a Spoonie | Health

Hey everyone! What a lovely sunny day it is today in England. I absolutely love it! It's been so nice to sit in the garden and watch the butterflies and bees fly about, watch my rabbits sunbathing and feel the warmth of the sun on my back. I love Springtime! How are you all spending the day? Let me know in the comments. For today's post, I'm going to be sharing some tips that have helped me prepare for my upcoming break abroad. If you saw Saturday's post you'll know that tomorrow, me and my friend are going to Sweden for a few days to watch the Eurovision Song Contest! I'm incredibly excited, but also very anxious. Travelling can be nerve-racking for most people, but when you have a chronic illness there are so many other factors to consider that can make travelling a daunting experience. It's important to take steps to ensure that you have just as much fun on holiday as you can whilst looking after your health! I hope this post is helpful :) 

I have fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome, both of which have an impact of my everyday life and mean that I have to plan ahead before I do something or go somewhere to ensure that I am physically and mentally prepared for the task ahead. I also struggle with anxiety disorder which has been making me really worry about travelling abroad so I have come up with a list of things to help me feel more organised and well-prepared in an attempt to reduce some of my anxiety surrounding my mental and physical health conditions whilst I'm away. I wanted to share these with you all and hopefully help my fellow spoonies feel more at ease when they are on holiday :) 

(1) Don't overexert yourself in the excitement of the holiday. Remember to still pace and look after yourself as you would at home. You don't want to use up all of your strength in the first few days and be too exhausted to do anything for the rest of your stay.

(2) Remember to prepare your medication. This is so important! Visit your doctor to ensure that you have enough meds to take with you for your entire holiday. Bring a few extra of each with you, just in case. It's always better to overpack than to run out of medication when you are far away from home. 

(3) Another important factor in relation to your medication is that you remember to get a doctor's note or a signed/stamped prescription so that you can take all of your medication with you through customs without any problems arising. (Find some more information about taking medication abroad here).

(4) Remember to relax and rest. It's sometimes easy to forget to do this on holiday because you want to do lots of fun things, but be sure to take some time to just relax and recuperate some of your strength. 

(5) Make sure you eat well, especially if your health conditions mean that you have specific dietary requirements. For me, due to my irritable bowel syndrome, I can't risk eating certain foods so I will need to watch what I eat on my holiday whilst still making sure I eat well. 

 If you are interested in getting one of the cards shown in the photo above, I got it when I became a member of the IBS Network. They are the UK charity for Irritable Bowel Syndrome and have lots of useful information and resources (Check them out here).

(6) Keeping hydrated is so crucial so make sure to drink lots of water (or any other drinks) and carry extra drinks with you whenever you go out sight-seeing. It's also important to remember to buy a drink in the airport if you need to take your medication during your flight. 

(7) Sleep is really important for everyone, and even more so when you suffer from a chronic illness. If you don't get a good night's sleep, you will feel the effects the next day and this may stop you being able to enjoy yourself and do the things you wanted to do. 

(8) Planning ahead is a must for me. To help reduce my anxiety, I researched my holiday destination and the hotel I will be staying at weeks in advance to assure things would be well-organised and at least a little familiar once I arrived. I have written down a plan listing what will be happening on each day, and I know this will be especially helpful for me when I am travelling to and from our destination. 

(9) Make sure that you prepare for a flare up. Flare up's are often unpredictable so they can strike at any time. It's important that you take anything that you usually need when you have a flare up at home so that you are well prepared. 

(10) A final tip that I hope will be helpful for me is to remember not to beat myself up if I can't do something. It's hard imagining not being able to visit somewhere or do all of the things I wanted to whilst on holiday, but I need to remember to not push myself over my limits, to look after myself and have fun!

I want to end this post by saying how it important it is that you don't worry that you are going to ruin the holiday for whoever you are travelling with, whether it's your family or your friends. You need to prioritise your health and well-being so that you are happy and enjoy your holiday just as much as everyone else. I hope you all have a lovely Spring & Summer and get to go on holiday, too. 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you got any tips for travelling with a health condition? How do you prepare for your holiday?