Traveling with Fibromyalgia

If you have Fibromyalgia, you know about the worry that comes with a trip either by flying or by driving. The worry is very real, will I be able  to handle the pain that will surely come with the trip? Will I be able to get enough rest when I’m visiting others? Will they understand if I have a bad pain day?

This year, I did something I haven’t done since my Fibromyalgia got very bad, I flew to Florida. I was worried. I made sure to warn my family in advance. I may be ok. I may not. We’re going to have to pace ourselves. I will take pills to help my pain. It may seem like a lot of pills. It’s not, it’ll keep me moving.

When it was all said and done, I did much better than I thought I would. On the trip over, all the walking & the pre-arrival excitement ramped me up so that I was in good shape through the flight and then the hour drive to the house.

The next day, we drove back to Tampa, had lunch with the cousins & then drove around looking at the neat and rich houses of South Tampa. A tour which was guided by my Uncle. The hour drive back to the house wasn’t bad at all and, while feeling a little tired, I was in no way feeling bad.

The next day, we hit the Ft. Meade Historical Museum, which is a nice Victorian House and train with older rail cars. Then a drive back to Tampa was in order so that we could see the museum attached to the old Tampa Bay Hotel. Lovely, the self guided audio tour took the better part of 2 hours and was really a lovely time. By the time it was over, I was feeling pretty wiped out & still had that hour drive back to the house.

Unfortunately, at that point, I’d pushed my luck too far. When I feel good, I try really hard to take advantage of that time and will frequently over do it and/or press myself to the point of dropping. This was no different. I over did it by running around 3 full days in a row. So by doing that, I was on “rest” duty for the last two days of my visit. I didn’t go anywhere… just stayed at the house.

Surprisingly, once I got motivated and moving on the day to leave, I felt very good and loosened up quickly for all of the walking in both the Tampa airport and Houston Intercontinental Airport.

By and large, while I did push myself too hard, I bounced back quicker than I thought I would. Furthermore, I went back to work feeling much more rested than I thought I would, given that I spent about 1/2 my off time flying between cities, sleeping in strange beds and running around.

So what I’m taking away from the whole experience is that my fear of the trip and the possibilities was a great deal larger than the actual event. I need to be more confident about traveling and going places.