How to Plan Before You Go, Staying PainSAFE during Your Travels
Whether you’re traveling for the holidays, vacation, work, or to seek medical care out of town, taking a trip can be extra hard on someone with chronic pain. The stress and strain of travel can derail even the best efforts to keep pain levels low, especially if you don’t plan ahead.
So, take the time to prepare ahead of time. As many veteran travelers living with pain will tell you, advanced planning, open communication (about your condition and special needs) and patience can make your journey a lot easier.
To help you and your loved ones anticipate and minimize potential problems, the American Pain Foundation (APF) has created a number of resources including:
Your Pain and Travel Guide, How to Prepare Before You Go – a new 24-page booklet with basic travel and safety information including steps to take before you leave, Dos and Don’ts during your trip, issues specific to airport security checkpoints and other modes of transportation, travel must haves including a personal “less pain” travel kit and other travel-related resources
One-page Be Prepared Before You Go handouts
- Pain and Travel Checklist
- Your Personal “Less Pain” Travel Kit
- What to Do? Common travel-related scenarios and how you might respond based on wisdom shared by other people living with pain
Why plan ahead
If you live with any type of pain condition, planning ahead can:
- help to reduce the stress and physical strain of travel, which can make pain worse
- give you greater peace of mind that you’ve done all you can to foresee and plan for potential glitches along the way
- allow you to have a safer and smoother travel experience through thoughtful packing, appropriately handling medications and medical information and other steps
Be safe, and take necessary steps to get the most from your travels.
What you might need
When you have pain or any other chronic condition, you need to start thinking about your trip well in advance and be sure to carry certain medical information with you.
For example, before you go it’s a good rule of thumb to:
- Check in with your health care provider. He or she may want to see you depending on how you’re feeling, where you are heading and how long you’ll be gone.
- Ask how you can best keep up with medication(s) and non-drug pain therapies while you’re away.
- Know who you should contact at your destination if you have a medical problem.
- Pack lightly.
- Call ahead to flag your reservation, especially if you need any special arrangements or services.
- Bring copies of your insurance cards and medical documents.
- Talk with travel companions to manage expectations.
Use APF’s downloadable Pain and Travel Checklist to help you plan before and during your trip.
Learn more about what items to have on hand, as well as some helpful Dos and Don’ts during while traveling.
This educational activity is made possible by support from Covidien, Endo Pharmaceuticals, McNeil Consumer Healthcare and Medtronic, Inc.
APF is solely responsible for the content and maintains editorial control of all materials and publications it produces.
