My family and I are planning our summer vacation, and we’ll be traveling not only to a couple different regions within the United States but also overseas. It’s the trip of a lifetime for us, so I want it to be a really memorable occasion with as few problems as possible—which includes staying healthy. Do you have some pearls of wisdom?
We don’t know about “pearls of wisdom,” but we have had some “memorable occasions.” We hope the following tips for staying healthy—based on life experience as well as medical expertise—will be helpful.
Traveler’s diarrhea: Prevention often focuses on what one eats. When visiting countries other than your own, it often is best to eat mainly cooked foods and avoid salads, because they have possibly been grown in fertilizer different from what is used where you live and washed in water that contains forms of bacteria to which your system hasn’t developed a resistance. Also, drink bottled water, and don’t add ice.
Just in case you do get diarrhea, though, pack a supply of charcoal capsules, and take six capsules at a time, two or three times a day, for milder diarrhea. If it’s the “bellicose bowels” that are growling and grumbling very much, some Imodium may help, but don’t take more than recommended. Should you develop a fever and become ill, it may be wise to avoid Imodium and consult a physician about an antibiotic.
Dietary indiscretion is something to which travelers are prone. Enjoying local cuisine is part of the fun, but don’t overdo it, or you may be wearing an extra ring of adipose tissue around your waist for the next year. Enjoy the variety of different foods—just go easy on the amounts!
Immunizations: If traveling abroad, be sure you are immunized, and carry your immunization record. One of us forgot the yellow immunization record the other members of the team had received from our office nurse, and was held up at the Kenyan border. Not an enjoyable experience!
It’s smart to get “travel ready” before you set off. Oral typhoid immunizing capsules cover you for some three years. Although polio is nearly wiped out, it still occurs in some parts of the world. There is no malaria vaccine available, so prophylaxis may be needed. Yellow fever immunization is required in many South American countries. A tetanus booster is required every 10 years. Check with your doctor. An ounce of prevention may be worth a ton of cure!
Exercise is important. Travel can be a great interrupter of routines, including exercise routines, because of changing time zones, sleep patterns, and group interactions that impinge on personal time. It’s important, however, to maintain some exercise.
Exercise in your room if need be—stretching, bending, squatting. Walking is great, but be careful. If it’s obvious from your appearance that you’re a tourist, you can sometimes be an easy target.
If your hotel has a gym, lucky you! Use it.
Overexposure from the sun: Prevention is the watchword. Calling the doctor in the middle of the night for advice when dealing with a screaming child who has sunburn is not likely to elicit the tender, loving care you crave! Use sunscreen liberally, and the higher the number the better the blocking effect. Wear brimmed hats and avoid deliberate exposure. Even in the shade, reflected rays from the water may burn.
Should you be burned or overexposed, an aspirin may reduce the reaction if taken before the full inflammation has set in. A local anesthetic containing cream may reduce the pain, and a cool bath can be soothing.
Remember: prevention is the cure for sunburn.
Medications: Along with packing sunscreen, be sure not to leave your medications behind. Just because you will be on holiday doesn’t mean you can forget your blood pressure pills or diabetes medication. Also remember the routine stuff—your thyroid replacement meds, your cholesterol regulators, and so on and so forth.
Some pain relievers such as Advil or Tylenol as well as travel sickness tablets may be helpful. If you or someone in your family suffers from allergies, don’t forget to take allergy pills along—especially with all the pollens we’re dealing with this year!
Wash your hands. This is the most important “pearl” of all! Frequent hand washing is perhaps the most well-known and the least-used method to prevent illness. Do it before you eat, after you use the restroom, and after shaking hands with the 500 congregants at church. Spend plenty of time washing your hands to ensure that you have adequately cleaned between the fingers, the nail beds, and the wrists. Use soap with the water. If the water is not pure, such as that in a river or stream, then follow the hand washing with using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. It won’t sterilize your hands, but it will certainly knock down the bacterial count. Make sure you plan ahead and take a bottle of hand sanitizer with you. Also, rather than use a communal towel, air-dry your hands.
This sounds like a litany of dangers. Thankfully, we are so fearfully and wonderfully made that we usually survive our vacations quite well, despite our indiscretions. Our immune system is treated to new challenges when we travel, but like an eager worker, it is most often up to the challenge.
Praise the Lord!
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Send your questions to Ask the Doctors, Adventist Review, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Maryland 20904. Or e-mail them to [email protected]. While this column is provided as a service to our readers, Drs. Landless and Handysides unfortunately cannot enter into personal and private communication with our readers. We recommend you consult with your personal physician on all matters of your health.
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Allan R. Handysides, a board-certified gynecologist, is the director of the Health Ministries department of the General Conference. Peter N. Landless, a board-certified nuclear cardiologist, is an associate director of the Health Ministries department of the General Conference. This article was published May 24, 2012.
