Can travelling affect FM?

I live in Montreal where it's warm and humid most of the summer, and last week I went to Las Vegas for a week, where it's hot and dry.

I don't know if it's the temperature change or flying. Hence I'm here to ask people's opinion.
It was only a short flight of 4 hours, we ruled out deep vein thrombosis, but I still took low dose aspirin just in case.
But my first night in Vegas I had a bunch of strange symptoms. First, a couple of hours after dealing with the Vegas weather, I started having insane feet cramps. It disappeared after I walked around the hotel room, but after that, I started having crazy water retention on my feet, ankles and part of my legs.
Drinking water, Gatorade, walking and elevating my feet didn't work to reduce the swelling, because it stayed that way until I return home.

I know weather and temperature can have an effect on us and our symptoms, so I'm trying to find a logical explanation to this.

On a positive note, while I was there with a 8% humidity in the air, my arm and legs pain stopped completely. It was awesome!

That's interesting about the altitude thing... I've read before that the symptoms of fibromyalgia can all be caused by cellular oxygen deprivation. The theory is that we have trouble metabolising oxygen, possibly due to any of the following factors:
-sugar overload (I don't eat sugar as it worsens my symptoms...)
-antibiotic abuse (not enough probiotics with it - certainly applicable in my case!)
-undiagnosed allergies (I only found out about my allergies a year ago)
-synthetic chemicals (multiple chemical sensitivity is common in FMS)
-anger and/or stress (we all know stress worsens the symptoms!)

-trauma (quite possibly was a factor considering all that happened in the month leading up to when I became ill)

-burnout (yep, overload of TEE subjects in year 11, pushed myself too hard)

-infections (it certainly seemed to begin with an infection)

-operations (I've heard of operations triggering it for others)

-aging (it used to be known as an old person's 'disease')

I'm not saying that I support this theory, just that it seems to make sense at first glance... needs more investigation.

If it is true, then it is more likely to be a small piece of the puzzle rather than the whole answer.

Apparently swelling of the ankles can result from decreased oxygen levels...

Post Edited (Jasmine Grace) : 6/12/2013 11:49:24 PM (GMT-6)

The short answer is yes, don't need to talk about oxygen level or altitude. The sitting condition itself would have cause me to flare up.

Flying is stressful, first you have to get your bags checked in, then get your boarding pass. Then go through security, don't even get me started on that, it's as bad as getting stripped searched.

Then it's sitting and waiting, then you get into the plane. The seat is small and tight. Worst if you're travelling by yourself and there's a 300 pound person sitting next to you. Or a person with bad BO... Should I keep going?

There are so many factors that will elevate your stress. Add the other factors that has been mentioned. FMS and flying is never a good combo... I used to fly from Adelaide, Australia to Malaysia every two months, it's an 8 hrs flight and company paid business for me, even then, I'll still crash out for a day after I get to the destination. I'll then need another 2 weeks to recover once I get back home. I like to travel, but the stress is quite significant that I'll always get really sore after a trip.

I have been wondering the same thing about traveling. I live in NZ, my whole family are in the UK. Since being sick I haven't needed to visit, my parents are coming here soon so I have been able to stay here, but it has been playing on my mind how I will cope with the journey, if at all.

The part that bothers me most isn't the actual plane, it's all the walking/waiting/pushing a trolley through the airports.... I usually have about 5-6 hours waiting halfway, I wonder how I will manage all of that- I always travel alone.

I look forward to reading any advice people give so I can prepare for future trips!

Post Edited (BecciClaire) : 6/14/2013 12:48:57 AM (GMT-6)

BecciClaire, the walking should be fine.  You usually have to be at the airport at least an hour or more ahead of your flight so you have plenty of time to get to the gate.  You can sit down along the way.  I usually would grab a little bite to eat since you are lucky to get peanuts on flights these days. 

 

The waiting isn't bad if you bring a book or something like that.  I have a Nintendo DS Lite that I love and it helps pass the time...even inflight time.  Be sure to get up and walk around if you are sitting more than a half an hour..

 

Why would you be pushing a trolley?  Do you have luggage with wheels?  That is a HUGE help. I don't have to get a Red Cap (porter) to hel me because I can pull my luggage easily.  But even if you don't, most airports have curbside check-ins.  This is what I use.  You would drive up to the sign that shows your airline, temporarily park your car, get a Red Cap to get your luggage out and take it to the counter.  You can check in right there.  Show your passport and your ticket and they will take your check through bags to put on the plane.  Keep your carry on with you.  Then you can go park your car and head to the gate.  It would be really great if someone could drive you to the airport or take a cab, though.  That would make this easier and it's cheaper than paying for parking at the airport while you are gone.  $$$$  The lines at curbside are far shorter than the lines in the airport.

 

I hope this helps you.  You can travel pretty easily with fibro.  Be sure to take the stretching exercises in Fibro 101 with you too. 

 

Sherrine