You probably aren’t aware but I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) back in 2015. Having this disease can be quite challenging but I have learned that you have to appreciate the good days and do what you can because when you have bad days, getting out of bed can be a challenge.
To give some background on my story, I am pretty sure that I had this disease back in 2011 but because I didn’t meet all the criteria with the blood work, they wouldn’t give me a diagnosis. At that time, they also diagnosed me as having fibromyalgia. So I was able to actually do trial and error and all my pain had actually dissipated. Fast forward 4 years later, the joint pain had come back and I was completely debilitated, in pain with every step I took and sometimes unable to lift my arm or grasp a glass. It was a battle. Even though I was going through all this pain, I finally got an appointment with a Rheumatologist and got the assessment and blood work done. At this point, there was no denying that I had rheumatoid arthritis. My symptoms and my blood work finally coincided and I finally had my diagnosis of having rheumatoid arththritis. Finally, I had a reason and I was finally validated for all of my pain for so many years.
Ok, so now that I have this diagnosis, what do I do now? It took me a long time to get used to my medication and to deal with the side effects, but fatigue is now a constant in my life and everyday I am experiencing some type of pain, either in my feet, knees or hands and wrists. I now am forced to find things that can help me manage my pain and symptoms in everyday life. Traveling with a chronic illness is even more difficult because you lose your routine when you travel, you don’t have the comforts of home when you travel and you won’t always have the things you need when you travel. Luckily I have some tools that me get through my trips and maximizes my experience so that I can continue to live my best life.
Symptoms
Fatigue
What do you do for this? This is actually one of my constant struggles and it is really hard to deal with sometimes, especially when you are out and about traveling the world. What are you supposed to do? When traveling with friends, it’s a little more difficult, because they may not always know how bad you can feel. They may think that you are just being a downer and really bringing everyone and everything down. At least that’s my experience. People just don’t get it. I have had derogatory remarks said to me and I try really hard not to let it get to me, but it can be hard. I can be a reactive person when people say things to me, so I am trying really hard to work on that. All I can say about those people is that they just don’t get it and they are all about themselves and don’t care how you feel. They don’t have to understand either no matter how you think they should, they just won’t. Don’t fight it! Just choose a good people in your life and this won’t be a problem. People that do say things to you, my recommendation is to really evaluate that friendship because if they are treating a friend that way, then they are probably not a good person to have in your life. I have learned, it’s OK because they will have some time in their life when they will feel like this and THEN THEY WILL UNDERSTAND and perhaps develop some empathy.
So when you are traveling, whether its with one other person or a group of people. Let them know that there will be times when you need additional rest. It’s okay to rest and I don’t want you to EVER feel bad about it. There are things in life that are a priority, and YOU are a priority. Don’t forget that. It is important that you verbalize how you feel to the people around you so they can understand. It’s important to not run yourself into the ground so you can get the most out of your trip. So, moral of the story, GET YOUR REST!
I am fortunate enough to have someone who does get it and does his best to accommodate me and how I feel. I don’t know what I did to deserve him, but he totally knows that I get tired so easily and he will do his best to allow me to rest.
Another thing that helps the fatigue when traveling is having a flexible itinerary. When your trips are so regimented and you schedule yourself to be here at this time and to be there at that time, it can really take a toll. Slow down and take your time. When you have RA, typically, you are stiff and in pain in the mornings and it may take some time to get warmed up so you can carry through your day. My advice? If you do schedule events for your itinerary, make it later in the morning or even afternoon, that way your body can have a chance to wake up, get warmed up and you won’t feel so rushed if your morning is a little rough.
Foot Pain
Another one of my constants is foot pain. I don’t know about you but this can be super challenging when you are off traveling the world and walking 10+ miles a day on cobble stone streets, up mountains and hills. OH, How fun it can be! Definitely not. So how do I combat this? I have a three things that I swear by and I hope that you can use these too if you experience the same problems as me.
- Comfortable and Supportive Shoes
- These are a must if you plan on walking all kinds of miles on your trips. I have high arches in my feet and I always pack a few pairs of shoes. Now is not the time to try to be all cute and wearing shoes that are not functional, nor is it the time to break in new shoes on this trip. You need functional shoes, bottom line. We tend to travel to Europe when its a little chilly, so I will bring my Ugg-like boots from Sketchers. I have worn them on several of our trips, walked over 100’s of miles in them and they are still kick-ass comfortable shoes. I love them so much that I actually want them in in all kinds of colors. When you have something that works, you want to make sure you always have them. Do you do that too?
- My other go-to for my feet are my brooks running shoes because they offer me such great support walking through the cities of the world. My recommendation is that you go to a running store and have them assess your gait while walking and/or running. That is super important, because you want to the best shoes for your feet and gait. You may over-pronate, under-pronate or have a neutral pronation. So it’s important that you get the right shoes for your feet to decrease problems in your feet later on. I find that investing in good supportive shoes are well worth the investment. Remember, you are a priority! Protect those feet.omfortable and supportive shoes:
- Compression socks:
- Compression socks are absolutely needed for overseas travel for 2 reasons. One, if you are on a long flight, I recommend these for Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis. For the long flights, I actually prefer the compression sleeves for my calves. Two, the compression feels so very nice on your legs and actually offers support too. Almost like a brace. It totally helps and keeps the pain away. I am a nurse so I really like the compression socks that offer a high-grade level of compression. If you haven’t tried them, you are seriously missing out. On my trip to Spain and Portugal last year, I developed severe foot and heel pain. The only thing that took the pain away were my sketcher boots, my compression socks and the next thing I am going to talk about……..KT Tape!
- KT Tape:
- What is KT tape? Well, I actually have no idea and I have no idea how it actually works, but it does. It actually blew my mind when I first tried it. You probably have seen it worn by athletes, its the tape that you always see with runners on their knees, shoulders, feet, etc. They look like this. You can pretty much tape any part of your body and it helps relieve the tension and the pain. It ALL depends on the amount of stretch used. My recommendation? If you are having pain, get yourself some KT Tape and then go to You Tube. I will typically tape the bottoms of my feet and my heels. There is a certain way to do it, so please go check it our on YouTube. And for sure, take it with you when you travel! I have not been able to find it in other countries as of yet. You can buy the rolls of it and the strips are pre-cut. When you are packing, depending on the area needed, you may require some half strips, so cut them prior to your trip so they are ready to go.
- I have included the KT Tape Here so you can check it out!
- Foam Tape:
- The other thing that I always pack is foam tape. There may be mornings where a random toe is swollen or even my whole foot maybe swollen and it’s just rubbing the shoe the wrong way. To protect your swollen toe joints in your shoes, the foam tape offers great cushion for them, And I highly recommend this for your bag too. You can find this in the first aid section of any drug store.
Hand & Wrist Pain
Majority of my pain is also in my fingers, wrists and hands. With RA, you can actually feel isolated pain in individual bones in your fingers and toes. Its the craziest thing ever and in the mornings it can sometimes be difficult to hold a glass of anything in your hands or I can’t even put my hair in a ponytail. You just don’t have the dexterity in your hands that you do later in the day. It’s actually kind of annoying, because I wish I could be more independent in the mornings but there are times, I can’t be. So to assist with this, I found compression gloves. I thought, the compression socks help my feet and legs, so the compression gloves should also help my hands. I took a chance and hoped for the best. I have found that the gloves actually do help. Based on the reviews that I read, I trialed the gloves at night while I sleep to see if the pain would be less in the morning and then I also have worn them during the day until my hands warm up and the pain dissipates. I have also found that my left side experiences more pain than my right, so I will only wear the glove on the affected side.
I have included the gloves here, so you can check them out for yourself.
These are one of those things that people don’t understand and they make comments about the gloves, but I just blow it off to let them know that these gloves are for pain. When I tell them this, then they feel bad. It has been a universal response from people. It’s all about increasing the awareness of people that suffer from chronic illness.
I hope this post has helped guide you on how to travel with dealing with a chronic illness, specifically Rheumatoid Arthritis. Many times, these autoimmune diseases exhibit the same symptoms so it can be generalized across the population. If you have something that works for you, please comment below so others can benefit from the things that work for you. Please share this post if you know someone who can benefit from this! It is very appreciated, please share away! Thanks so much
