Traveling Immunocompromised

Don’t you just hate when your doctor tells you you can't travel? I hate when my doctor tells me when or where to travel. But I am grateful that they care about my well-being. One time I did not listen to my doctor and I went to Miami for a week and I certainly felt it when I made it home.

At the time, I was on doing infusions of Cellcept. My doctor told me that my immune system was too weak to travel. I felt like he was parenting me and I was very stubborn, but he was right. Some places don’t know how to accommodate immunocompromised people and it can be dangerous for us to travel those places.

Being smart about traveling

So, it is important for us to be smart about how we choose to travel. Occasionally after I have made it to the location, I would have to sleep for a whole 6 hours or more for me to feel better and feel some type of relief, just from traveling that far.

I don’t know if you ever heard your grandparents say, “she gets sick every time she crosses that water”, but this totally describes me. I had to realize that every time I crossed Louisiana over to Georgia, I got sick. Once, I had to go to the hospital in Texas traveling and that bill was ridiculously high. So, I feel that health insurance plans should have full coverage for people with disabilities outside of state. Matters like this would be handled and wouldn’t be so pricey for someone who already deals with so many health issues.

Packing for a trip

So now when I travel, I always take a few things with me. I take my lupus medication, vitamin d, vitamin e, folic acid, and women’s vitamins. I also always make sure to bring my vitamin C, that I take to boost my immune system. I always try to keep my body healthy so I won't end up in the hospital when I get back.

Any foods that causes inflammation, I don’t eat. I don’t place my health at risk so when I get back, I am ready to go back to my daily duties. My health should not keep me in the hospital just because I forgot to take precautions.