Traveling with ME/CFS
Go traveling with ME/CFS; you can be tired anywhere!
As strange as it may sound, traveling is a good recommendation for those with ME/CFS or any other chronic disease, such as long COVID, Lyme, fibromyalgia, etc. Of course, this isn’t the kind of travel where you get drunk, climb mountains before sunrise, or spend the night next to a karaoke bar. Out of those three bad examples, the last happened to me by accident when I was brave enough to travel.
During the months where I hardly left my bed, I listened to a recovery story from an English teenager who was sick and tired of being tired and went traveling as an adolescent. She was supposed to come back after 2 weeks, but returned 8 years later. Her ME/CFS vanished while she was on her journey.
Brain retraining in an unexpected way
This example shows the power of neuroplasticity. By getting out of the daily routine and engaging in new and joyful experiences, we are rewiring the brain and creating new pathways. When I was brave enough to try this myself, I was astonished; it really worked. Within a week, I was already feeling so much better, and by the end of a long trip, I had plans to restart my company again. When I came home, however, and fell into my old routine, the fatigue slowly came back.
How to travel
My biggest advice would be to travel slowly. Start somewhere safe and nearby, and when you are improving a little bit, explore your options. You can subscribe to Jack’s Flight Club for cheap flight recommendations, or you can use the tips in this article to find cheap flights. With Skyscanner, you also have the option to fly anywhere at any time and see what flights are cheap.
I would recommend staying with family or friends if they live somewhere in nature. But although this sounds like an easy step, it might actually be very hard. When you are staying at someone else’s house, you might feel forced to justify your health problems. Maybe you will feel like you need to push yourself beyond your limits or feel guilty about not doing so. If you are engaging in this kind of behavior, neuroplasticity will work in a negative way and worsen your condition. However, always make sure that you have a private room and peace whenever you need it.
In the meantime, you can select possible destinations. Since you are likely not working, you will have plenty of time available. (Look at things from the bright side.) Find a cheap, safe, and warm country where you can live between $10.00 and $25.00 a day. This way, your holiday might even cost less than what you spend at home on food. Some great, cheap, and safe countries to travel to are Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Central America, and Mexico.
How to start
When you arrive, drag yourself via taxi to a nearby apartment, preferably near a supermarket for easy access to food. It would be ideal to have some nature nearby. A nice garden or balcony will do. In this place, you will regret your holiday and probably won’t feel great for the first few days. Keep in mind that everything is going according to plan, and you just managed the hardest part, the flight. (The return flight will be much easier.) Stay at that spot until you feel a little better and see if this is where you want to stay; if not, find a different place to stay. After a while, I would even recommend you stay in a (calm) hostel, in either a shared dorm or a private room. Having contact with others and laughing works great with neuroplasticity. In just one month, you might experience more health benefits than you can imagine now.
Other positive effects
Beside the change of scenery and the joy of traveling, being in nature, swimming in water full of minerals, and walking barefoot all have positive effects on our health. It reduces inflammation, and the water provides us with minerals. Relaxing in a beautiful landscape is also very calming for the nervous system. By calming down the nervous system, your sleep, digestion, energy, and thinking mind will improve. And lastly, the sun will not only improve your mood; it’s also providing you with vitamin D. A crucial vitamin for the immune system.
Neuroplasticity alone is not enough.
I do not believe that neuroplasticity or traveling are enough or the sole solution. After returning to old habits and triggers, it is likely for symptoms to return if the root cause has not been released.
The English girl who went traveling after years of being in bed probably learned something more that is easily overlooked. As a young woman, it is probably a lot easier to change that stressful personality. For most others, the teenage years are about conforming to a group and denying parts of themselves. She would also have become used to saying ‘no’ and learned to respect and detect her own boundaries and emotions. While others of her age were involved in coping mechanisms like pleasing, achieving, and impressing, she probably learned to switch her behavior and act upon her emotions and boundaries.
The personalities of people who get ME/CFS are complex in nature, and to assume her story without knowing her is ridiculous. However, throughout the story, she repeatedly mentions how she transitioned from being everything for everyone to becoming her own unique individual. She made a change during her years in bed that benefited her health. It made her able to go her own way while she was traveling. And it healed her (to put it mildly), and she became an ultra-marathon swimming champion!!!
What if?
When you are experiencing ‘bodymind’ symptoms, don’t panic; don’t take it overly seriously. Switch your attention to the emotional body and explore what it is that created this sensation. Read up on Dr. Sarno’s TMS and how your symptoms are being created and how to reverse them. By practicing the emotional awareness exercises while traveling, you have the opportunity to learn so much more about yourself than when you do these practices at home. Also, don’t forget to calm down your nervous system when symptoms arise.
For more traveling tips and questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. Happy traveling, and go slow! And since you have made it to the end of this blog, please listen to Beth’s recovery story. In my darkest days, her story was my biggest inspiration.
Traveling with ME/CFS or any other type of disease is a good way to soothe your limbic system fast. Enjoy!
