Travel and PMR

Like you, Erika, I was still new to PMR when I traveled to Europe from Australia this past August. Diagnosed in mid June (though suffering for at least a month prior to that), I traveled in mid August to France. At that time I was scheduled to taper from 11.5 to 10mg prednisone. Luckily, I have a great friend who is a very “cluey” nurse and told me to put off any kind of adjustment until I got myself to my destination and settled. As I was “clueless” about prednisone, I followed her advice and I am thankful I did. Because of my new condition, my husband and I planned a stopover in Singapore. On arrival I did have aches that I was unaccustomed to and took 2mg extra prednisone. When I arrived in Paris, I was a bit stiff but could walk okay, though slowly. After resting a few hours, however, I was fit and ready for daily life activities (by my own standards). In retrospect, the trip was not that challenging but along the way I did take lots of opportunities to walk around airports and aircraft, particularly when other people were sound asleep. After arrival, my entire trip was excellent, so much so that I thought little about my “affliction.” On many occasions during the trip, I walked long distances, which included uphill and downhill and lots of staircases, and experienced no problems, but I always had long breaks for meals, etc.

I did have one surprising incident however. And it was not during the trip! It was three days after my return home. The morning I returned to Australia and disembarked the aircraft, I felt quite stiff. After arriving at my home, I had a bath and then a nap later in the morning and took my prednisone earlier than usual. I was okay for two days BUT on the third day I had a flare! Had I been less “clueless” about prednisone, I would have increased the dose, but I just thought that the pain was something that would pass. Finally, I upped my dose by 2.5mg and stayed there for two weeks before getting back to my regular dose. Had I been more attentive, I probably could have avoided a full flare.

So, if I can add anything to the discussion here, I would say have a great trip but exercise care on your return. We are all different but I think sometimes when we come down from the “hype” and all the wonderful experiences of a trip we may need to take it easy as we get back into our ordinary lives. Like the phases of the moon each month, I think the time zones of the earth have their own energy forces that we mortals do not always understand.  At any rate, I think traveling with PMR is totally doable, as long as precautions are taken. Have a great trip!