Travelling with COPD
I was diagnosed with COPD a couple of years ago. I had been managing it with Ventolin and Ellipta inhalers and doing pretty well until recently. I have just recovered from my first ever Exacerbation and I hope I never have another. It was a very unpleasant experience - alarming probably best describes it, terrifying comes close, too.
I developed a bit of a cold shortly after returning from a trip. Within two days I was firmly in the grips of an Exacerbation. I tested for COVID several times - all negative. I returned from that trip on June 17th and I am still not back up to speed as of the 27th of July.
After that rather long preamble, my question is this:
Do you travel - flights and cruises - or do you just stay close to home?
I am, frankly, afraid to risk another Exacerbation. So, is this it? No more travelling? Or is it safe to travel so long as I am extremely careful?
I look forward to some feedback and information on the subject of travel. Thank you in advance.
,
That is an excellent question. I am not much of a traveler to begin with. Especially now that I have been diagnosed with COPD and have experienced exacerbations myself. I do stay at home a lot more than I used to. I can't go to my daughter's house for more than an hour or so because her dog's hair and dander cause me to have breathing problems. For any trip that we plan, I always look at what conditions I will be in. Such as pollens, dust and pollution, what the local weather is going to do, etc. And then make a decision from there. I don't think anyone can give you a definitive answer about traveling. It all depends on what triggers your COPD flare ups. I really don't see you not travelling anymore if that is what you enjoy most, you will just have to be careful to stay away from COPD flare up triggers. And obviously do your best to stay away from people coughing, sick people, crowds, etc. Of course, it all is ultimately up to you. Good luck to you!thanks for replying, Dminor. It helps to normalize things for me again. The Exacerbation scared me.
, I am glad to see some of our community has already responded but I did want to share a few articles we have on traveling with COPD: https://copd.net/living/traveling, https://copd.net/forums/traveling-with-copd-near-and-far All the best, Sam S. (team member). Please help me with understanding why as an individual with Severe COPD diseases find it extremely hard to travel in Ambulance to hospital???
Hi livingwithcopd, and thanks for your post and concern. Although I cannot be sure why you are affected this way (you may be the best judge of that), I do have something to contribute.
Ambulances are basically 'truck-type' vehicles equipped with whatever is necessary to take care of transporting patients in all types of emergency situations. They are not the most comfortable vehicles to be transported in but, they are perfect vehicles for taking care of patients on the road who have suffered an emergency.
When I think of a patient having an exacerbation, I feel that until the exacerbation is treated and brought under better control - that patient may feel uncomfortable in any environment especially, an ambulance.
What do you think?
Leon (site moderator)
Use a journal to track your triggers leading to exacerbations, to help you to avoid them
I also work over on our sister website, https://migraine.com and this is something we also talk about regularly! Sometimes it can be hard to identify what set off a flare, or hard to remember because once you get your breath back you can feel so tired! Writing it down can be a big help, both for you and your doctors. Great tip! -Melissa, team member
