Two days into Crystal Vaccaro and Rob Baer’s spontaneous Mexico getaway, the trip took a turn for the worse. After a relaxing lunch at the all-inclusive resort and a stroll on the beach, Baer stopped, pivoted toward the closest potted plant and vomited. They hadn’t been drinking.
Back in their room, Vaccaro followed suit. Then came diarrhea for both. (And there was only one toilet.) Needless to say, “it was a real intimate moment,” laughs Vaccaro, a 28-year-old in Denver who works for a captioned telephone company.
Getting sick at home is bad enough, but falling ill on the road can be a nightmare. “Nothing’s more miserable than being away from home and having something happen where you really get sick,” says David Fleming, chair of the internal medicine department at the University of Missouri’s School of Medicine and president of the American College of Physicians. “It kind of destroys the trip, but you’re kind of helpless.”
Vaccaro knows the feeling all too well. After loading up on Advil and “a million” bottles of Pedialyte to no relief, the couple called the resort’s doctor, who they say showed up drunk three hours later to give them a costly shot. “I thought, ‘I’m dying in Mexico, that’s it,'” Vaccaro says.
While the couple survived — thanks to a local doctor who gave them medicine to treat an amoeba they contracted allegedly from the resort’s food — the memories they could do without. Vaccaro recalls her initial excitement when planning the vacation: “It was like, ‘Yeah! Let’s go on a really nice trip together — this will be so much fun. And then it was just the least romantic trip I have ever been on.”
Here’s how to make sure your spring break is more sun and less pain:
1. Pack the basics.
Whenever Sherry Torkos, a holistic pharmacist in Ontario, Canada, goes on vacation, she packs “a full kit” of over-the-counter products, including eye drops for allergies and plane-induced dry eye, tea tree oil for bug bites and zinc-based sunscreen.
Torkos, author of “The Canadian Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine,” also recommends packing a probiotic and taking fiber supplements up to a week before leaving, since constipation is one of the most common travel health complaints. “Using a different toilet, eating different food, getting dehydrated for even a day [all] can really lead to digestive distress and tummy troubles,” Torkos says. Taking fiber before departure and throughout your trip “helps to keep things on track — literally,” she says.
2. Consider your conditions.
For people with chronic conditions or who take prescription medications regularly, pre-trip prep is especially important. “Prevention is the best treatment,” Fleming says. He encourages travelers to see their doctors before they leave, label their medications clearly and pack them in their carry-on bag. He also suggests taking a copy of your medical record or a sheet listing your chronic conditions, medical history and allergies. Some doctors will print out a summary sheet for you.
People who need EpiPens for allergies or inhalers for asthma should always pack two, adds Shirley Stephenson, a nurse practitioner who works in the University of Chicago’s travel clinic.
Even with thorough preparation, some people — like someone with chronic obstructive lung disease traveling to an extremely high-altitude destination — may ultimately not be cut out for certain types of travel, Fleming says. “Are you prepared for this? Is it worth going on the trip if you get sick?” he asks his patients. “You balance the risks and benefits to give them a realistic picture to see if it’s the right thing to do.”
3. Do your homework.
After Vaccaro and Baer’s ineffective and expensive visit with the resort doctor (they shelled out at least $1,000 total for the visit and the shots), they turned to a friend’s brother, who happened to live nearby. He recommended a doctor who treated them promptly, effectively and cheaply — charging only about $20 each.
But not everyone has local connections. That’s why it’s important to get as familiar with your soon-to-be surroundings and health care system before departing. One of the best places to do that is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s travel website, which provides travelers with personalized advice based on their medical conditions, type of travel, destination and more.
“The last thing one wants is to sustain a cut in a foreign country, and then wonder if they’re up to date with their tetanus vaccine,” Stephenson says . She recommends visiting a travel clinic for vaccines or medications that aren’t offered in primary care settings. “Travel clinics can be expensive,” Stephenson says, noting that they’re usually not covered by insurance. “Yet post-travel illness can be much more expensive.”
4. Know when to get help.
In hindsight, Vaccaro and Baer weren’t too concerned about getting sick on their trip because they went the all-inclusive route. “We thought, ‘Oh, we’re going to be safe with the food because everything’s on the resort,” Vaccaro says.
That’s a common — and risky — assumption, Stephenson says. “Many travelers have said that they ‘knew better,’ but because they were staying in a luxury hotel or eating in a fancy restaurant, they were less cautious and enjoyed drinks blended with ice, tried the beef carpaccio, indulged in raw salads, etc.,” she says.
Other travelers have trouble differentiating serious medical conditions from typical travel woes caused by factors such as higher altitudes and jet lag. That’s why it’s key to keep a close eye on how you’re feeling and remember that the major health red flags — high fever, persistent vomiting and diarrhea, rapid heart rate, to name a few — are no different in new destinations, Torkos says.
Once you return home, be sure to visit your primary care doctor if you notice anything unusual — say, a new rash, a worsening cough, loss of appetite, unrelenting fatigue, new headaches, joint pain or a bug bite that doesn’t heal, Stephenson says. “Not recognizing travel-related illness makes us vulnerable to prolonged or more severe illness.”
5. Be in good company.
Last year, Fleming and a group of friends traveled to Peru, where one of the women struggled with severe altitude sickness. The group and guides adjusted their hiking schedule and pace, so the woman was able to take days off and attempt some of the less rigorous hikes.
Supportive travel companions are also important for people with chronic conditions such as severe arthritis or heart failure, Fleming says. In those and other cases, it’s critical to make sure your comrades are aware of your situation and have access to your medical records. If you’re traveling with an organized group or on a cruise, be sure to disclose any potential problems to the crew, although “the good ones will ask,” Fleming says.
“As travelers, we need to be prepared to support those who are with us who have a health problem,” he says. “Yes we’re on vacation, but we’re all in this together, and we need to be patient with each other and do what we can to help.”
That said, it may possible to be in too good of company — as Vaccaro discovered on her most recent trip to Mexico, where she got run down from enjoying herself “far too much,” she says. The consequence? Post-trip bronchitis. “But [the trip] was so much fun,” she says. “At least it wasn’t an amoeba.”
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How Not to Get Sick on Spring Break originally appeared on usnews.com
