You Just Do Not Feel Like Traveling Because of FMS...GO ANYWAY!

So you have Fibromyalgia (FMS) and you think you cannot travel.

• You hurt most of the time, sometimes worse than others, and the pain jumps around...it is just unpredictable.
• You are fatigued, often beyond words, requiring naps during the day.
• You have mobility issues and require help such as a walker or even a wheelchair.
• You often have bladder spasms or an irritable bowel, requiring a bathroom quickly.
• You cannot sit a long time without getting up.
• You cannot be up a long time without sitting down.
• You have medications to take, certain foods you eat, specific drinks you drink...
• And...you cannot hold down a job anymore so...uh...and a lot of people do not believe that I am sick anyway...so...what will people think if you travel?

Well, all of that, and MORE, is certainly true...GO ANYWAY!

This one post cannot possibly provide answers to all of the issues listed above, but there are answers. Rather than focusing on why these issues KEEP you from traveling, let us look at it all a bit differently.

• You hurt, unpredictably, whether you do anything or not. True, overdoing makes it worse, but you can control how active you are when you travel!
• You can take naps, even when you travel!
• Walkers and wheelchairs are meant to increase what you can do and where you can go...not hinder it!
• Everyone has bladder or bowel issues at times. Needing a bathroom quickly is not just an FMS-thing.
• It is recommended that everyone who travels stops, stretches, walks around, etc. every couple of hours.
• Most people do get tired and have to sit down every so often!
• Medications, certain foods, specific drinks...Do you know how many people without FMS require the same things? They travel!
• Going someplace, at the pace you can go, resting when you need to, etc. is nothing like working! The people who "talk"...they are going to talk no matter what you do or DO NOT do!

So, stop telling yourself, and others, that you just cannot go anywhere...YES YOU CAN!

• Talk it through with the ones you will be traveling with so everyone knows what to expect.
• Talk to friends with health issues and mobility issues: ask for their travel tips!
• Do some careful packing and planning, upfront.
• Remain flexible throughout the trip, remembering that you do not have to have FMS for travel plans to not go as expected.
  
  Yes, you have FMS...and you have an opportunity to go to the zoo, to a museum, on a cruise, on a road trip...and you think you cannot go...
  
  YES YOU CAN...
  
  JUST GO ANYWAY!