Travelling with Endometriosis

[Alice-96]

Hi guys, I was wondering whether anyone who suffers with Endometriosis but has gone travelling? It is my boyfriends dream to go but I’m worried how I’d cope if I had a flare up whilst travelling. If you have, please can you give me advice and let me know what helped whilst you went travelling?

[Charlotte2025]

Hi Alice, I travel a lot with my Endo. Is it going to be a short hall or long hall flight?? On short hall flights it sometimes flares up a bit but I always make sure I take some painkillers when I’m at the airport and put on a heat pad so I’m prepared encase. I also try not to worry about it because if I worry about a flare up the pain sometimes feels worse than it is! Hope this helps? Xx

[Alice-96 in reply to Charlotte2025]

Hi Charlotte, thank you for your response but it’ll be a long hall flight to start with as I’m actually looking to travel round the world for a while, backpacking instead of a holiday as such! I’m worried about what medication I’ll be able to take etc and how much I’ll be able to take as well! Xx

[Charlotte2025 in reply to Alice-96]

It’s worth having a chat with you GP or do you have a gynae consultant you could talk to? I would recommend taking a lot of heat pads and maybe trying medication such as mefanamic acid or something that doesn’t make you drowsy. Don’t let Endo stop you doing what you want to do but just make sure you are prepared and take everything you need with you! I hope you get the answers you need but anyway here to chat if you need someone xxx

[Alice-96 in reply to Charlotte2025]

Yes, I’ll definitely have a chat with my GP/gynae consultant! I’ve just had my second laparoscopy so hopefully that’ll help at least for a while, I just need to stay positive and not let it stop me! Thank you again xxx

[Lizzielizzielizzie in reply to Alice-96]

What medication do you take currently? I was on cerazette when travelling so I didn’t get periods. Obviously the minipill is ok to take into most countries as are ordinary painkillers (which you can buy in most places anyway). However anything prescription only you need to look into whether it is ok to take into each individual country you want to travel to.

Flight wise I always took stopovers ie flying to Australia you can usually stop over somewhere en route for no extra flight cost eg a few days in Hong Kong- I would recommend this to anyone to break up long haul flights anyway.

If you’re backpacking then you’re pretty flexible, I used to book things just a few days in advance so if you do this then you could just rest in one place for a few days if you had a flare up maybe?

[Gemmylouise]

Hey! Completely know how you feel as I agonised over this. I refused to let endo stop me being a “normal” 20-something. I travelled to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam without any major problems. The advice I would give is ..

- check the laws of where you’re wanting to go. Places like Thailand have strict narcotic rules and require you to have a permit to bring things like codeine into the county.

- that being said make sure you have a full stock and supply of all the meds you’ll need. Pain meds, anti-sickness, Imodium and laxatives are vital!

- make sure you also travel with a letter from your doctor explaining the need for these medications and your condition. That way, should anything unfortunate happen there’s something in writing by your doctor.

- make sure you have travel insurance and disclose that you have endo! It will make the cost of it go up but it’s so worth it just in case something goes wrong.

- don’t be afraid to take it slow and know your limits! Do I wish I had gone quad biking through a rice field? Yes. Does my body thank me for not putting it through the ordeal? Hell yeah!

- ultimately, have fun. If you’re going somewhere hot, I always find it helps my endo. Vitamin D does wonders for it! Take your time to enjoy where you are.

Yes we have to deal with this crushing condition but that doesn’t mean stop living!! Xx

[Alice-96]

Thank you for your response and your advice! I think I’m going to have a chat with my GP / gynae consultant about it further and start looking into laws/rules and insurance! I’ll definitely keep all of this in mind, thank you again xxx

[LMar2018]

I love to travel and do it a lot. I always travel with my First Aid kit (that’s how I call it!) including my pain killers, meds fir acid reflux, upset stomach & diarrhea, heating pads, aromatherapy oil (helps me with diziness and anxiety), all sizes of tampons, and pads (since I usually bleed randomly). And this all fits in my backpack (only travel with backpack).

Instead of souvenirs, I usually bring back foreign meds and tampons as a result too. Usually have to visit local pharmacy for extra help, long flights/ walking all day cause too much pain.

For long flights I make sure I wear loose clothes, a dress usually, since I noticed that jeans put pressure in my abdominal area resulting in pain.

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it’s not and is worth it. Enjoy your travels!

[MrsNGoo]

Travelling how far? I hav etravled a wee way by car. Six hours. I cannot speak for how you would cope physically only you know how bad u can get. But, if u think u can do it even on a bad day then do it. Remember endometriosis is what you have it’s not who you are and you should still try to do things that make YOU happy. Don’t not live when u can. And of course if you feel you can. And it is ok to say no that you can’t. Maybe go travelling closer to home? And not for too long

[PaoPetite]

Hi there!

It really depends how bad your endo is, I have read couple of comments and seems like it was ok to travel around for some women, I have stage 4 endo and mine was really bad literally I was normal one week a month and no pain killers worked for me at all. I went travelling to South America soon after my period so i had a bit more control over the pain, the flare up was soooo bad that as soon as I arrived to my destination I went straight away to hospital! wasted two days of my staying already. Did enjoy the rest of the two weeks I planned to stay but I couldn’t really do much in terms of touring luckily I was visiting family so that wasn’t bad. The other flight was to NYC and unfortunately those flights we booked in advance with my partner so wasn’t imposible to cancell and it was his dream to go together so I went on with it and got my period two days after we arrived there! so basically was me in the hotel room whilst my partner was the one touring by himself 😔. Having said that it is all up to you! You know your body and how bad the pain can get as I said mine was excruciating and my endo was so bad I just had my laparoscopy 1 month ago the specialist found endo even in my left kidney so it was really bad reason why no medication helped anymore... have your tried voltarol suppositories? This was the only one that eased up my pain a little bit so maybe is worth asking your gp to prescribe something else to try out before travelling.

All the best and I really hope you can make it and enjoy your travelling with your boyfriend. 😊