It’s 1 AM and I am sitting awake in bed. I don’t think I can sleep as the tummy has a roller-coaster running inside. I am not entirely sure what caused this but maybe that Fried Rice I had last Sunday. It’s often inevitable to try out new places to eat and drink when traveling. Or maybe it was the heat, weather can be so unpredictable.

Here I am in Tiruvannamalai and sick. I must say though, that, by now I have had a fair bit of experience of getting sick while travelling in new places, including foreign lands. And it’s a whole rigmarole.

Story #1 : The Chemist tries to prescribe medicines

When I went to Jagannath Puri, the weather was soooo humid. On top of that I fell sick – flu type fever. I didn’t want to check out any doctor there in the small town. My Mom nicely spoke to our Mumbai doctor and got the name of some meds. I went to the chemist and he didn’t know why I wanted to have this random medicine (which the doctor had prescribed). He asked my symptoms and kept trying to give me some other medicine. This was NOT even the same chemical that the doctor had prescribed.

It was totally unusual for me because in Mumbai chemists don’t try to supersede doctor’s instructions. The only time they suggest a change is if the particular brand is not there and another one is available of the same chemical. For example, Thyrox isn’t there will Thyronorm do? It is the same chemical.

Here the chemist wanted to give me his own prescription.

Needless to say, I rejected his suggestions. And I was a bit freaked.

Story #2 : The Chemist refuses to prescribe medicines

In a fairly similar case, I got cold in Melbourne, Australia. Oh yea, my first international land sickness. Again got the chemical recommendations from the Indian doctor and then went to the pharmacy there. They didn’t have those chemicals – had never heard of them. Whoops.

It’s like,

Me: do you have Crocin variants?

Aussie Pharmacist: What’s that?

Me: You know, Paracetamol

AP: Paracetamol? Never heard of that!

Me: I see. Ehhhhhh…. so is there some simple medicine for cold?

AP: Well, let me see… do you have any thyroid problems?

Me: (what does that have to do with anything!) Yes….

AP: Oh, in that case you best consult a doctor.

I only had a simple cold. And I couldn’t get any of the chemicals the Indian doc suggested. Then I bought some over the counter medicines like Benadryl. But it wasn’t very effective. And the cold persisted for over 15 days.

Finally, one Aussie friend suggested a herbal drug called Nyle. It was really good. Also, felt good taking it because it was ‘herbal’. 🙂

In this case, the situation may have come to actually consulting a doctor, but I was a bit freaked about how much it may have cost. Also, not sure my health insurance would pay for a small cold related doctor consultation expense. Plus, I assume that once I charge an international health insurance, getting one next time would require more paperwork.

Nyle was a bit expensive. Overall, I think I spent around 5000 INR or maybe a bit more on all the Nyle’s and Benadryl. So if I had to consult a doctor, imagine a bill of 10,000 – 15,000 INR because of a simple cold.

Story #3 : Late Realisation that I need the medicines URGENTLY!

These images were clicked after my first mountain ride in Taiwan – soooper tough.  Over here it is for representational purpose only 😉 and it’s not an ad for Fuse Tea – it just happened to be my elixir after the soooper doooper tough ride.

My Australia and Taiwan trip in 2016 was one of my longest ones at that time. I had spent 1 and half month in Australia and then went to Taiwan for a month. It never occurred to me that I should stock up on my medicines like the Thyroid ones which I take daily! In Taiwan,  I ran out of the medicines. Going to a chemist there was additionally difficult, because it would involve a serious language barrier. Also, I had many things going on there with the upcoming Formosa 900 cycling event.

So, in the Formosa 900 I wasn’t taking my thyroid medicines. I didn’t think much of it because I have often skipped these meds in India. But I didn’t anticipate the effect of the rigorous cycling….

A few days in the event after cycling a few 100 kms, all of a sudden the thyroid symptoms started escalating. See the thing with Thyroid is that there isn’t one clear symptom, but I have had the condition for such a long time that I can detect the subtle signs over time. Over here, the symptoms escalated so much and so quickly, with a shock I realised I HAVE to take my medicines!

So I told the crew that was taking care of us, that I need the medicines. Even at that time I didn’t realise it was so urgent. We planned to reach a bigger town in a few hours and so I continued to cycle. But the symptoms ESCALATED like crazy. And the group at the time was all divided. We were entering Kaoshiung a bigger town and one girl got lost. And all such stuff, so I was cycling alone and my vision and even consciousness was on the edge. I kept getting micro black outs. What kept me going was sheer love and intuitive knowledge of cycling.

Somehow, I reached our halt and with the help of one of the crew we went quickly to a chemist and I showed him my Indian Thyroid meds bottle. He saw it and gave an equivalent one. But there was a bit of exchange with the crew member in Mandarin. The chemist wasn’t comfortable giving this to an Indian girl, used to different chemicals etc… but anyway, it went through. And I got the meds.

Otherwise, the way the symptoms were escalating, I may have had to be taken to a doctor, maybe even hospitalized…

Anyway, after I started taking medicines the recovery was quick. But I was shaken in a deep way. Hard to explain. Finally, on the last day of Formosa 900 I had a full blown sore throat and cold. It was hard on the system. And a big learning for me.

Learning: When taking up rigorous challenges – be careful of the smallest of things.

First Aid Kit

Finally, once I came back from my Aussie and Taiwan trip, I asked my doctor to create a first aid medical kit for me. So tomorrow when I have my breakfast I will have the medicine for tummy problems. (Note: This medicine turned out to be the wrong one. And so the stomach situation didn’t resolve for almost a week. Finally a friend suggested Methi (fenugreek) water that really helped).

Digital Nomad & Getting Sick

Now that I have been a digital nomad for almost a year, I realise that I have to manage getting sick while travelling. Earlier in Kozhikode while learning Kalaripayattu I got fever. The same first aid kit meds prescribed by the Mumbai doctor – helped me through. #phew.

I got some dental problems in Coimbatore and I asked my friends there for a recommendation. And got a real good one. So I got the cavity issue sorted before heading here to Tiruvannamalai, because here the med system is pretty rustic from my experience so far. One day I had gone to get simple ear drops – and none of the chemists had them! :O

So that’s basically the story so far. With the first aid kit and standard medicines for common ailments like fever, tummy problems, dizziness and so on I am pretty much sorted.

Lastly,

There is No Shortcut for Awareness

Be aware of your body and its needs. Understand how it works. A lot of times these sicknesses are caused by behavioural habits. A bit of awareness can help identify these patterns and remedy them.

And in a lot of places there are common remedies and preventive measures available.

For example, if you are going on a long bus trip, most dhaabas on the way will give you lemon pieces to inhale. Yes, simply inhaling deeply on pieces of lemon reduces motion sickness drastically. These are the remedies and hacks that can be picked up locally.

My tummy problem which kept me up writing this blog post, finally got sorted with Methi water that a friend of mine suggested.

So a bit of awareness and thought behind these things goes a long way for better health and heart.

What about you – do you have any experiences or stories to share about getting sick while travelling?