A Different Fear of Flying

"I'm going on vacation with my family" "I hope you're feeling 100% by then!"

This WILL be my family. Awww.

I fear travelling and I blame it on my Crohn's disease. I love being in new places, seeing new things, experiencing a different culture (ok, I'm going to the states from Canada, but you'd be surprised by the difference). But constantly being in fear of getting sick or, even more pressingly, needing to be by a bathroom at all times in a foreign place makes me beyond anxious. We've been planning our family vacation to the south for about 10 months, and I've been having anxiety dreams about it for the last 4 of those. 

There are the regular travel stresses: airport security, packing, just getting where you need to be when you need to be there. But when you have an illness you have a TON of other things to be concerned about. 

This is pretty much me. 

I have to make sure all your meds are in their original containers and they take up a LOT of space in your carry on so you have to account for that.

I have to be careful about metal detectors if you have anything not quite human inside you, i.e. my portacath. I get searched just about every time I fly. 

I am fearful of all the germs and recycled air that stays on the plane. I can't remember the last time I flew and didn't pick up a virus. 

I just got a new medic alert bracelet so that if I faint or something in the land of the free whoever attends to me will know what's all going on. 

I acquired anxiety medication for the flight because being in a situation with limited bathroom access pretty much makes me panic.

 I won't eat before going on the plane. I'm probably going to settle in for about 6 hours without food, which sounds bad, but is SO much better than awakening the beastly colon. 

Except put the meds in original containers.

It's just funny because I'm afraid of flying, but for totally different reasons than the normal person. 

Doin' Roids

"I'm on steroids" "Hahaha, are you gonna get jacked?" "No... wrong type"

So, for many inflammatory conditions, the miracle drug, is an antiinflammatory steroid called Prednisone. It can be taken in tons of forms such as pills, puffers, IV, eye drops, and I'm sure more. It is used to treat everything from asthma, to Crohn's, to Lupus and everything in between.

Although it makes you feel better, and fast, the general consensus of this "miracle" drug, is that it is just satan. The side effects are horrible. In my opinion, they come in three categories: health, aesthetic, and emotional. The health side effects are by far the most serious to your body stuff like 

• Blurred vision
• Abdominal pain
• Peptic ulcer
• Infections
• Painful hips or shoulders

And long term damage to your bones can cause huge problems like osteoporosis later on in life.

If that isn't enough, there are less than favourable aesthetic side effects such as weight gain, facial hair, acne and "moon face" which essentially means that your cheeks swell up to make you look like Alvin the chipmunk. I've been there, it's not pretty. (Check out my "Contouring for Puffy Cheeks" video on youtube for tips to deal with this). 

Then, there are the emotional side effects, when you take prednisone, your mood can really go one of two ways, depressed or manic. But a lot of people have trouble concentrating, have heightened anxiety, difficulty controlling their emotion and indecisiveness. This is all in addition to the emotional burden of dealing with whatever condition you are taking the prednisone for and the health/aesthetic side effects. 

If you are put on prednisone, comment! I have tons of tricks to deal with the side effects and would love to give/receive support. 

Another post about my personal experience with prednisone will follow shortly!