Advice on Travelling

[livinglif123]

Good morning My husband and myself have booked a 3 week holiday to Thailand, Vietnam & Lao for Christmas 2025. I've been looking at travel insurance and it's well over £1000 as soon as I put Cirrosis into the quote. This actually got me thinking why is it so high? Then it occurred to me it may only be 3 weeks but what can actually happen to my liver in 3 weeks and would it be advisable to travel to somewhere like that with Cirrosis? Does anyone have any advice please? I know that everyone is different and has different levels but just interested to hear other people's opinions. I have moderate MASLD with a Meld 7 score

Many thanks

Theresa x

[AyrshireK]

I'd have a serious chat with your consultant as to whether travel to these countries is advisable or not. Having just had a very quick look on line there seem to be a lot of vaccine requirements so there is a potential to pick illnesses up which may compound your liver issues. Water is something to investigate with your doctor too as some bottled stuff is high in sodium and whether or not local supplies are safe or potentially risky for infection. A lot can happen in a year leading up to your trip too so as I previously mentioned you'll need to be fit to fly (especially long haul).

This is very much all something you need to take up with your medical team.

Insurance is high for cirrhosis because you potentially can destablize at any time with infections or have a variceal bleed (if this happens in the air then you might be liable for emergency landing costs, onward flight costs for other passengers re. missed connections plus your hospitalization, treatment and repatriation). Does your travel insurance cover any cancellation costs ............... just in case you arn't found fit to travel closer to the time.

Not trying to put a dampener on your desire to live life to the max. but definitely a lot to consider when travelling to such far flung countries. Have a chat with your doctor who may well say go for it and enjoy yourself or may be a little more cautious.

Katie

[livinglif123 in reply to AyrshireK]

Thank you

The annoying thing is that we thought oh well if Cirrhosis is not going to get better then I've thought let's enjoy life as much as we can 🥰 but thinking on it and listening to all the lovely replies (thank you all) it's actually quite scary. When I go to my appointments I'm always asking questions regarding my Cirrhosis but the nurses seem to be very blasay about it as I'm moderate and not advance, then when I read up on things , it is important to follow all the guidelines, I feel like I'm driving my husband crazy because it's all I talk about and all I worry about these days but I'm just trying to stay alive xx

[NieceByMarriage]

I am not surprised at the cost. Medical care overseas and/or medical repatriation is hideously expensive. Katie has given very sensible advice about weighing up whether you want to travel and what precautions you might take. If you do, and are prepared to stump up for the insurance premium, my advice is that you MUST be scrupulously honest with the insurers. I am not for a moment suggesting you would not be honest but you need to be absolutely sure they know of all the possible risk factors and have built them into their quote. If you get ill abroad the last thing you want is for them to say you did not tell them about some aspect that has caused the problem and then refuse to pay. And make sure your insurance covers cancellation costs, as Katie has mentioned.

[livinglif123 in reply to NieceByMarriage]

Thank you x

[BritishLiverTrust11 Moderator]

Hello

In addition to replies from other forum members, here is the link to the ‘Money’ section on our website, which includes information on travel and life insurance that you may find useful:

britishlivertrust.org.uk/in...

Best wishes

British Liver Trust

[livinglif123 in reply to BritishLiverTrust11]

Thank you x

[Woodlandsway]

I had a transplant 7.5 months ago, initially insurance quotes were 2k plus, now 7 months or so on £150, single trip only, I used a company called Vibe, try them, adequate cover for my needs.

[livinglif123 in reply to Woodlandsway]

Thank you so much I'll check that out , the lowest I've got so far is £800 so anything lower than that would be amazing 🙏

[Oscar21]

I’d definitely speak with your Hepatologist. We haven’t been abroad for 13 years and are now getting the urge to go. Last year I mentioned this to my liver nurse and she said before we give you the all clear to fly, we need to check your varices. Long story short, I required 10 banding. I had no symptoms but one of the causes was ready to bust they said. So thank goodness I had the endoscopy. I did speak with one of the Drs who undertook one banding and his advise was to go to Spain, as their health care is on a par with the UK.

I can understand your point, that life is for living and if you definitely want to travel as far and get relevant insurance and your Hepatologist agrees, then why not

Take care