Flare during trip

[Joe S.]

I am writing from British Columbia tonight. As you may guess, I am in a flare. It has been unusually hot. I have been doing my best to stay out of the sun and protect myself from the sun.

Now that the weather has gotten cooler...a flare.There is no AC here. They have never needed it that often. Shade, and fans for cooling. The heat this year is unusual.

1/2 hour ago I took a Benedryl and an Aleve to help with the pain flare. I think it is.  Soon we well be heading back to the USA. It is supposed to rain. (bad weather again). Another pain challenge.

The SPF 50 dip my clothing took seems to help. I will know more on the trip home as then I will be sitting the south side of the car. The car is 72 degrees most of the time and if needed I can drop it to about 65 degrees.

Blue blocker sun glasses help with light triggers. Not having to drive does lower the stress levels.

[Carolina]

Dear Joe,  I am amazed at the trips you take!  We did a 7-day trip to Iowa in July, fly-drive, and I was in a flare by the time we arrived, and it lasted the entire trip.

I don't think I will travel again, unfortunately.  I know there are such wonderful places to visit, but it is so hard for me to really be 'present' for the pleasures of the trip when I'm in a miserable flare.

Hang in there and keep us posted.

Regards, Elaine

[Joe S.]

I took a generic benedryl and a generic aleve to stop the flare. Pick your own pain reliever that works for you. The anti-histamine did knock the flare down. Another dose today helped. The return of the heat tomorrow may hinder my recovery. Over cast sky and temps in the low 70s made the trip nice. We are now back in the USA.

I learned a new trip from my daughter. To avoid the 70+ minute wait at the border, we went to the duty free shop and just purchased something. We by passed miles of parking lot. 40 minutes over all as Jan forgot our license plate number.

[irish]

Joe, I am so sorry that I missed this thread. I am assuming that by now you are home and feeling better. At least it is somewhat cooler in Minnesota now but the humidity is still high.

I am sorry that you had to have a miserable time of it. The heat this year did not let up and I think it affected almost the whole world. At least the weather mentioned heat a whole lot. Take care now. I have to ask.....do you attend the Minnesota State Fair??? I haven't gone for years and dearly miss it but I know I would not tolerate it with the heat and humidity. Irish

[Joe S.]

Thank you. Yes I am home. The ac at home is 73F which helps a lot. During the flare my blood sugars were out of sorts. They are back to normal now. On the drive back it took us 2 hours to drive 20 miles just west of Spokane. The fires had burned the grass but it look like most of the trees were saved.

I tried video taping some of the trip back through the mountains but we had problems with bugs committing suicide on the windshield.

Mary (my oldest) showed me a packing tip with the van. When the seats are not in the floor you can pack things into that space. The van often hit 27 mpg during the drive.

Bailey (our dog) loved running off leash in the yard in index, WA. Jan (my wife) fell on some loose rocks while trying to swim in the river. Since it was so hot, we stayed in a hotel with AC instead of camping. There was no AC in Campbell River, BC. I was told that at the 50th parallel they never needed it before.

We had a nice visit with Jan's cousins in Gresham, OR and passed on Jan's famous hamburger recipe for tasty burgers and her recipe for Deviled Eggs.

[irish]

Well, good, in spite of it all you managed to have some enjoyable times. Glad you got through the trip with no problems from the fires. Wow, the smoke must have been something at times.

A week ago Saturday I came out of grocery store about 7PM looking to the west and the sky and sun were so hazy from the Canadian fires. You could smell the smoke too. Take care. Irish

[vrystaat]

I took a trip to Sequoia National Park 1 month ago. I was in the middle of a flare, which caused a fever, severe fatigue and weakness. I had 2 friends.

This is what I had to do cope & to feel better:

• 
  - Rest every day for a few hours. Let your friends go exploring
  - Keep meals simple
  - I didn't walk for more than half a mile
  - I attended to my hydration, having at least 2 litres of water per day
  - I took Provigil (Modafinil) 100 mg per day, taken at 10 am (this helped a lot)
  - I did not drive
  - I went to bed at 8.30 pm, and slept for 9-10 hours.
  
  With this, I had a tiring but outstanding trip.

[/list]
I have serious peripheral neuropathy and polymyositis.[/list]