Traveling with MD

I think you have to choose your outings wisely. I've had an episode at a mall, but that's fairly easy to either get to the washroom or the car and home. Out for a true restaurant dinner - not for me (at those bad times) - too hard to get out of there. A cruise - absolutely not!

 

I never went out in my own. It made me feel safe having trusted people by my side.

 

This was a big one for me. I love to travel, but my first (and worst) episode was while traveling in Guatemala. I was with a group of people I knew while on a private bus tour... it was bad! That was also when I completely lost my hearing in my bad ear. I had to fly to get home, but I took some precautions - I took meclizine and a ginger supplement. I carried atavan in case (I heard that if you get vertigo and are throwing up, you can place it under the tongue for quick absorption. I've had to use that once since then, it helps). After that time, I didn't fly for a couple years. I take betahistine and famvir which helped to stabilize my ear. As time went on and I became more confident with the health of my ear, I ventured farther, eventually flying again (had one close call, but was able to avert a problem). I guess it comes down to that last statement - monitoring the health of your ear, taking the steps necessary to prevent or minimize potential problems, and then taking small steps (and a leap of faith) to see what you can tolerate. I eventually did go on a cruise (successfully) which was a big step for me, as I had problems with sea travel long before my ear was a known problem. Currently, my ear is not as healthy as it was when I went on the cruise, so I might not be willing to attempt that again until I felt it was better. I have to say, each time I consider traveling, whether by car, plane, or boat, there are a lot of things that I consider - the current health of my ear, my overall health, what precautions I can take and expect to be effective, what type of support system I might have... sometimes I have had to make the choice not to travel at that time.

 

I would go on a cruise or wherever, I would have my pills with me in case I needed them and little else. On a cruise you have bathrooms and beds, if you have a strong episode you go to bed and take your medications and wait, it will not be the best trip of your life, but you will not bother your family in the meantime.

If you want a safer solution, you can take vestibular sedatives every day during the trip (Diazepam for example).

What I don't know is because everyone is afraid of cruises, what scares me the most is flying because I don't know how my hearing will react to such strong pressure changes or my tinnitus to the infernal noise of a plane.

 

I get the concern for flying - I had those same concerns. If you live near mountains, my oto suggested driving up in elevation to get a sense of how your ear may react to the pressure change. As for the internal noise in the plane, Bose noise cancellation headphones are a godsend. There are probably other good ones, but I would definitely only consider high quality ones. (I sometimes wear them in the car as well.)

 

FWIW, my hearing is ALWAYS better during and after flying, therefore flying doesn’t worry me one bit. Must be something with the pressurization that favors me. Also, my tinnitus in “good ear” 24x7 is the same noise you hear on a plane at cruising speed so that doesn’t bother me at all lol.

 

Bring some Valium and a barf bag you will be fine. Take it from me.