It has officially been a little over a month that I have been back home since my week of international travel. And while I had an incredible time in Edinburgh, Scotland, at the International PBC Summit, it has been a bit of a recovery process for me. Thankfully the worst of it didn’t hit until I was back at home in the U.S.
Lingering fatigue and brain fog
My destination was six hours ahead of my normal daily time. I was surprised to see I quickly adapted to that sleep schedule. Of course, I managed to catch a cold a week before I flew out. I am now two for two: I’ve been to two International PBC Summits, and both times I managed to get sick before the trip. Because I was so exhausted and worn out from traveling, I slept so much the first day I was there that I quickly fell into a proper sleep schedule.
Though I was tired throughout the week, the severe fatigue really hit me when I got back home. I always describe the fatigue I get from primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) as an invisible weight holding me down and preventing me from moving. That’s exactly how I felt my first few days back. I had a hard time doing just about everything. I felt more brain fog than I have in a while, so thinking, processing or even doing my normal daily activities was difficult. Between the fatigue and brain fog, I felt like my head was in a cloud. It took me three weeks before I felt I could even start unpacking or catching up on my laundry.
I went back to work shortly after I got back, and that was very tough. I work in a pulmonary function lab, so I provide breathing tests. These tests are complicated, with a lot of steps that have to be performed in very specific ways. I felt like I had to think really hard to remember each step for the testing. And I definitely felt like I stumbled over my wording the first few days. Normally I am very thoughtful with how I explain tests, and I am always told I make testing easy. But there were a few times after I finished up testing with a patient that I wished I had explained something differently. I felt like I might have made it more complicated than I intended, and that’s just because my cognitive function wasn’t up to my normal.
It took just shy of a month, I would say, before I felt like my thinking capacity was at my normal baseline again. And probably around that same amount of time for my fatigue. There were days I found myself on the couch relaxing with my cat but unable to keep my eyes open and focused.
Fibro pain and flights home
Pain has been the other issue I’ve had to deal with the most since flying internationally. In addition to PBC I have fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, both of which mean I live in chronic pain every single day. I expected traveling would send me into a flare-up, and I was right.
Flare-ups of these diseases cause me extra fatigue as well as make it hard to get rid of pain. My pelvis tends to get very stiff, which makes navigating movement more challenging. The same thing happens with my hands and other prominent joints. For me, my fibro pain is pretty severe in my shoulders and neck. The stiffness of my muscles leads to headaches and migraines. I remember thinking I was so glad I checked my luggage this year. On my two flights back, I do not believe I would have had the strength, coordination or capacity to lift my luggage into the overhead carry-on bins. While I struggle with pain every day of my life, it felt like it took almost a month to get back down to my “normal” level of pain. I was glad that my rheumatologist gave me steroids at my last visit that I could use for this trip to help calm down my inflammation. It helped a lot.
Travelling complicates living with multiple autoimmune diseases. Unfortunately, recovery time and returning to “normal” can take quite a while. Though it comes with challenges, for me traveling internationally is worth it.
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