Travelling and feeling better - anyone feel the same?

[Nightingale]

Hello Friends!

I have just traveled domestically and I have had some unexpected events, I was wondering whether anyone else has experienced a similar thing.

So, when I'm at home, I usually can do something small in the morning such as get groceries, bake, or concentrate on some writing. After lunch, I have to rest, then I can sometimes help with dinner or cleaning.

We recently travelled for a friend's wedding, an hour and a half flight away. I expected my energy level to be the same on the trip, if not worse after travelling. I was surprised that I was able to do a lot while I was there. I took maybe 3 naps a day while there, for 30 min to an hour each. But in between I could swim a bit, engage in conversation with people I didn't know, and even cook dinner for 15 people.

Now that we are home, my energy level is the same as when we left. I feel immensely tired around lunch time. I can stay awake all day, but my afternoons are almost always restful. While I was travelling, I had some really good days, I even thought of the dreaded R word. But now things seem to be back to my levels of normal.

My question is does anyone have any theories on why I had 3 exceptionally good energy days while travelling? Was it the extra naps I try not to have at home? Maybe I'm too much in my own routine at home and could stand to push myself a little more? Has anyone else felt the same?

Thank you so much!

 

[cigana]

Hi Nightingale,
You are not alone, this happens to me and many other people with MECFS. It is called the "locations effect". Most people attribute it to mold in your home, I am more sceptical and think there may be other toxins causing this (environmental toxins such as VOC's).

I suspect many more people would notice this effect, but most people don't travel due to the illness, and it may take a long time before you happen on a place that enables you to feel better. I have practically complete remission from MECFS in a few select locations around the world.

You might want to consider if your home has a mold problem, and what was different about the place you travelled to (e.g. what kind of building you stayed in).

 

[TrixieStix]

Yep this is a thing many of us have experienced when travelling. It happened to me last year while on vacation in Hawaii. The 2 weeks I was there I felt better than I had in a very long time (less fatigue, less pain, no PEM) but as soon as we got home that all ended almost immediately.

There are some folks who have wondered if it was the location they visited that was the key to their improved symptoms only to discover that if they spend a longer amount of time (move there for example) in that location their symptoms eventually return to their normal level as they were back home. My guess is that it's a combination of various factors at play as to why some of us get this "vacation effect". I would also venture to say that this isn't an ME/CFS specific thing and that it may well be something other folks with conditions that cause similar symptoms also experience.

 

[JaimeS]

Absolutely -- some locations are better than others.

I've noted that hot, damp climates are the worst -- and the effect isn't negligible, either, it's pretty profound. Right now I'm living in Northern California, and that has been the best place I've ever lived. Mid-Ohio Valley was damp and hot. Florida was like being beamed across the back of the head with a 2x4: got off the plane and felt practically concussed. Crossing my fingers that I never have to return there!

I'm with @cigana ; I'm not sure it's actually mold, per se, but in my mind it's safe to say that environmental factors seriously affect your experience of the illness.

 

[keenly]

nnEMF

 

[JaimeS]

nnEMF

Wouldn't this be higher in heavily populated areas? My sparsely populated area in the mid-Ohio Valley was much, much worse for me than living in the populous Silicon Valley, surrounded by tech. Not trying to be challenging, just interested in how you came to this conclusion.

 

[keenly]

Wouldn't this be higher in heavily populated areas? My sparsely populated area in the mid-Ohio Valley was much, much worse for me than living in the populous Silicon Valley, surrounded by tech. Not trying to be challenging, just interested in how you came to this conclusion.

nnEMF causes calcium to flood into cells, which CFS patients already have major issues with.

High intracellular calcium cause high superoxide levels, as explained by Martin Pall.

We are being microwaved daily. Test your property yourself with EMF meter, take nobody's word for it.

 

[Nightingale]

Thank you all so much for your input! I'm glad to know it's not just me! Also @JaimeS I do feel hot climates are worse for me as well. I have MCAS and I have recently had to move interstate as the extreme heat of where I used to live was awful for my ME and MCAS.

 

[JaimeS]

@Nightingale -- yes, it's cooling down here, which makes me realize just how much the heat bothers me. When the weather has been the same for awhile, you just put up with it. But when it cools down... the relief I feel is palpable.

 

[Fogbuster]

Could it be the potent immune modulatory effect of the sun? I also feel better when abroad. For me at least, it's definitely alot to do with the sun reducing the intensity of my reactions to foods, strengthening my stress tolerance, improving cognitive function and mood.

 

[.jm.]

I travel across the country at least once a month for work and often feel much better even though I'm supper busy when there. I think it is for a few reasons:

• I eat a lot more because eating is an activity when I travel and my office has great food.
• I'm so busy I don't have time to exercise, so I can't aggravate the problem by over exercising. I stopped taking my running shoes to California. (sometimes I do, but usually I don't exercise)
• I'm at base level of constant activity -- walking through airports, around a campus, returning rental cars, etc. So it constant stimulation at a level below what typically aggravates my fatigue.
• I sleep on about half of the flights I'm on. I slept on the floor of a Frontier flights last year, I had a row to myself on a Tuesday morning united flight. I do plenty of red-eyes.

Sometimes I do exercise when I travel. In Florida, I did slow 3 mile runs every day that felt awful. But When I was in Germany in November and wanted to go running in the woods. I would take adderall and albuterol (which keeps it from totally sucking) and keep the pace reasonable.

 

[SueJohnPat]

I spent 3 weeks in Death Valley California in Oct 2016. A “ mold” sabbatical. I had a dramatic improvement.

I found I was sensitive to my possessions “ mold” from my old house. I agree may not be just mold but whatever it was I reacted in a similar way which is explained in great detail in Paradigm Change. My home did not have visible mold or black fuzzy walls.

We sold our home and left our possessions behind, I am still having major issues in the winter but feel almost “ normal” in the summer.
The sun helps me tremendously. If I were on my own I would live in the Palm Springs Area.
This may be a big clue that you feel better while traveling. I was extremely skeptical of this at first and my friends thought it was a little wacky but they see how much better I am doing and they now believe it is real.
Good Luck.