🌺 Traveling for allergy sufferers: 10 important tips
When going on a trip, you want to relax and get the full range of sensations from getting to know a new place, its nature and inhabitants.
And every trip requires preliminary preparation: packing everything, not forgetting anything, taking into account force majeure. For people prone to allergic reactions, such preparation needs to be carried out much more carefully. We tell you what allergy sufferers should think about in advance.
Where to go?
The first thing to start with is choosing a direction. If, for example , you are allergic to vaccinations or insect bites, then you should think again about traveling to Africa. After all, they simply won’t let you in without a certificate of vaccination, and the annoying midges that are full there can cause a lot of trouble.
When choosing a hotel or apartment, it is worth studying all available reviews about how often cleaning is done, linen and towels are changed, and what cleaning products are used. Especially if you are allergic to dust or chemicals. Do not hesitate to correspond with those from whom you rent housing or a car and ask clarifying questions. For example, if you are allergic to wool, it would be good to know whether a guest with animals has rented the apartment before you.
When to go?
For a person suffering from allergies, it is important to choose the right time to travel. It is better to plan your trip so that it does not occur during an exacerbation of the disease.
It is also important that where you go, the conditions of your stay do not provoke an exacerbation. If you are allergic to pollen, it is better to refuse a trip during the flowering season or reschedule it to another time.
Consult your doctor
A consultation with an allergist before travel will allow you to assess your health status and receive the necessary recommendations on disease prevention and drug dosages. On the road, it would be a good idea to take a certificate with a doctor’s opinion, but the information in it should be duplicated in English or the language used in the country of destination.
Even if during normal life the allergy is not pronounced, it can become worse during pregnancy. And those medications that usually helped may simply stop working or be unsafe for the baby. It is also better to discuss this issue with your doctor.
Pack a travel first aid kit
Make sure to choose the antihistamines that are right for you.
Drops are useful for moisturizing the eyes and washing them of pollen.
Take vasoconstrictor nasal drops on the road in case of allergic rhinitis. And a saline spray to relieve dry sinuses or clear nasal secretions.
If you have allergic asthma, keep an inhaler and a peak flow meter with you – a device for measuring the force of exhalation.
If you have an acute allergy to food, insect bites, or certain medications, and there is a risk of developing anaphylactic shock, then having an epinephrine auto-injector on hand can save your life.
For contact dermatitis, do not forget to moisturize the skin with emollients, and put steroid cream in your first aid kit.
Before your trip, it would be a good idea to find out whether certain medications can be transported across the border and whether it is possible to find them locally.
Place medications in a ziplock bag so that nothing spills or leaks. And keep them so that they are always at hand. For example, in a travel bag that can be carried into the aircraft cabin.
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Get extended insurance
Good insurance will prevent you from going broke if you need medical assistance or certain medications that were not in your travel first aid kit. Study your policy thoroughly to understand which cases are covered by insurance, and in which situations you will have to pay out of your own pocket.
Stock up on contacts
Write down the contacts of doctors, clinics or emergency services that you can contact immediately.
What else?
If you have a food allergy, choose restaurants with a detailed menu and be sure to check if there is anything in the dish that could provoke an unwanted reaction. Do not taste food whose composition is questionable.
If the list of food allergens is not extensive, then put a bright bracelet on your hand indicating the ingredient that is contraindicated. For example, nut allergy (nuts) or seafood allergy (seafood).
When visiting northern countries, tourists with cold allergies need to take care not only of warm clothes and shoes. It is important not to forget about accessories, such as scarves that can cover your face, gloves or warm socks. Be sure to take a thermos into which you can pour warm tea. And think about points along the route where you can quickly warm up.
For photo dermatitis (reaction to the sun), carry SPF cream with mineral filters with a high protection factor with you everywhere. Especially if you are planning a trip to the sea or a ski resort.
And remember that you don’t have to stop traveling because of allergies. This is just a reason to plan your trip more carefully towards yourself.