Traveling In Pain, Is A Pain! 

 (Literally and figuratively!)

Okay, so you are reading a website written by someone whose love of travel has taken a permanent vacation, thanks to living with chronic pain and its physical limitations. 

I used to be a very spontaneous person who would do a road trip at the drop of a hat!  LOVED IT!  MISS IT. 

Here's one of MANY reasons why you never want to be severely injured and live with chronic pain. 

I went from throwing a toothbrush and clothes into a suitcase and taking off with delight, to being exhausted just from all that it takes to pack for ANY trip. 

A ONE DAY TRIP IS AS MUCH WORK AS PACKING FOR A MONTH!  Here's why...

First of all, I have to make sure that I have enough prescriptions to see me through the trip. 

Severe pain flare ups are unpredictable and even if I am not in one when I leave, travelling/sitting ALWAYS flares me.

Being stuck without enough blood pressure pills, pain pills, meloxicam, etc...cannot happen. 

Depending on where I am at with my refills, I may need to actually see one or more docs in order to get the medications.

Next, whether I am flying or driving, I need my TENS unit.

If you suffer chronic pain/nerve damage and don't have one, YOU SHOULD!   Click the link about it on my

"Pain Proofing Your Life" page.

This means I need to charge my 9V batteries as well as have back ups and extra electrodes.  If I'm low on electrodes, I need to visit a medical supply store.  It comes in its own little carry case; which is helpful in keeping all of this crap organized!

If driving, I get a cooler for my ice packs, which is only sufficient for the first few hours because once they lose their frozen status, they don't refreeze in a cooler.  So I always need to tell the hotel/motel to please make sure that there is a mini-fridge in my room and that it is ON for a few hours before my arrival.  Nine times out of ten?  It's not. 

I also have to pack my moist heating pad. 

If flying, I had a nifty neck pillow with a built in massager that I used for take off and landings because the G-force IS AWFUL on my neck.  (See photo below.)

Thus, the more I can stabilize it, the better.  I also push myself hard, into the back of my seat to prevent my head from jerking.

Then I dropped it on the floor in an airport bathroom, bye bye neck pillow...I don't remember its brand but I bought it at a store in Denver Airport and it was awesome! 

It looked a lot like this one:



I also take a seat pillow because even though there is padding on airplane seats, sitting is my most painful position so the extra padding helps to delay the intensity of inevitable pain. 

And if you are going to be in a beach town? 

I can tell you after living in Corpus that NONE of the seaside restaurants use anything but cheap hard plastic chairs or wooden bench seating!  (I get it in that the high humidity creates mold so hard wipeable surfaces are easier to keep clean, but my spine damage cannot handle unpadded seating.) 

Next, I take about 20 herbs, vitamins and supplements a day.

I have to prepare various bags of those because some are capsules, some are in gel form so I have to separate the gel ones from the non-gels so if they leak, they don't mess up the others. 

I can't forget my OTC things like Tiger Balm and Epsom salts. 

If I know I will have someone to lift and carry my suitcase for me, that's great.  But when I am on the road by car and I don't have anyone to rely upon, then what I do is I pack one day/night supplies in separate small bags so that instead of hurting myself by lugging a carry-on in and out of the car, I just grab that day's bag and go. 

If flying, I know I will have help at the airport; thus I put my carry on in the trunk, empty and wide open.  I then have to pack it by making numerous trips to the car to fill it. 

Since I can no longer lift and carry even 5lbs some days, without issue, I now have to put my toiletries in separate bags as well and just make multiple trips to and from the car.  Thus, I always ask for a room on the first floor, near an exit door. 

I used to love staying on the top floor; needless to say I won't use an elevator anymore due to the numerous trips and time that it now takes to get my stuff unloaded.

If my boys (dogs) are with me, add several more bags for their bowls, food, treats, toys, medicines and herbs too! 

I have them on Turmeric & Bromelain as well. 

Please read the Furry Children page to learn how to best manage your pet's arthritis or other pain issues, naturally.

Frost Bite in August?  Yep!

For the record, I once had such horrible low back pain after flying that I used an ice pack on that area, just about around the clock because the only relief I could get from it, wasn't from my codeine, it was from freezing that area.

I had this super thick big square ice pack that would stay frozen for a few hours at a time.  (Most ice advice is 15-20 minutes at a time; but since I wanted relief and my narcotics failed to give it...)

What I didn't realize because I couldn't feel anything is that I was giving myself frost bite!  When I returned to Corpus and saw my dr. she laughed when I showed her the big brown patch of skin over my lumbar spine. 

She said "Congratulations Grace!  You're the only blonde in South Texas that managed to give herself frost bite, in August!" 

I loved her dearly!  Her name is Dr. Crystal Campos and if you want a fantastic primary care doc in that area, call her.