Flare ups and uncontrollable episodes
I have been dealing with this stuff for many, many years. I have posted here several times now with different topics. Talking about travel is very upsetting for me. We never traveled much in our lifetime. (My husband and I will be married 45 yrs soon). But we did like to travel to North Carolina and spend time of the beaches. Since these episodes have begun of never knowing what to expect, I refuse to go anywhere, which is really unfair to him (but he has been really good about it). I occasionally have to travel to company meetings and that alone get me all upset because if I get an attack where I need a bathroom within minutes, there usually isn't one. Have to travel to a big city for these meetings and you know how that is. So what do you do when you get in this situation? And it only makes it worse to keep thinking about not having access to a bathroom while driving. I have high anxiety as it is and that doesn't help either. It would be so nice to wake up and never have another flare up or attack.
I'm so sorry you're dealing with this and it has made traveling so hard for you. I relate so much. 🙁
What helps me personally is eating only very safe foods the days before, giving myself plenty of time to get ready and potentially taking Imodium before leaving the house and bringing very safe snacks. Also, have everything prepared in advance so you reduce the stress on travel days as much as possible. It also helps me (and my anxiety) to prepared for unexpected flares, so I always have an emergency kit with me.
Have you seen all the travel articles on our website? In case you haven't (or for anyone else who might be new), I'm going to link a couple of them: 1) https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/traveling-ibs-expect-best-plan-worst, 2) https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/dealing-flare-ups-travelling, 3) https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/ins-outs-traveling-with-ibs, 4) https://irritablebowelsyndrome.net/living/travel-vacation-tips. For me personally, traveling is easiest when I'm on vacation without any rigid plans and going with somebody who knows about my IBS and can help if I start feeling sick, while business trips have always been the worst for me.
I hope other community members will chime in soon with their advice!
Karina (team member)
Same here. I regret not travelling with my wife more often because of what might happen and how I feel. She understands but I still feel bad. We recently had plans for a spring vacation but that's on hold because I kept having flare ups.
I forget if you said you get Diarrhea or constipation...
My advice is, figure out the time you'll be without a restroom. Usually it shouldn't be more than an hour? Even on the road there are rest stops somewhere. Download the app "Where Is Public Toilet".
Figure out what works before, during and after an episode and make sure you have that on hand. Pains can be controlled with medicine or even Tylenol which works for me sometimes.
Most importantly... Don't let it control your life. Relax the mind knowing if an attack does happen, you'll be ready where ever you are and then it will be over and you can move on again.Recently my husband and I needed to travel into Atlanta, daily for a very time sensitive appointment. The freeways tend to back up and have no restrooms available. We found by going the back roads (Thanks WAZE) we could not only plot the restrooms ahead it generally took us only 10 minutes or less to make the trip than if we had gone by freeway.
WAZE is a great tool to use. And yes, overall using back roads is smart because you will have access to restrooms. If not, definitely having a portable toilet in the car would be a must when traveling on the freeway. Glad you were able to plan ahead for your trip and were able to travel. I hope you are feeling well today. Best, Elizabeth (team member)
