Having Fun In The Wild
Camping is good for a person. It calms the soul, enlivens the mind with visions of beauty, and provides fond memories of adventure. Wildlife reminds us how wonderful the world can be.
Crisp, clean air, blooming flowers, musky pines, and rolling clouds in pristine conditions are ideal. However, staying the night in such a beautiful place can be hard for those with chronic illnesses—despite the appeal and benefit, sickness can restrict mobility.
Some things can be managed easier than others. If you’re going to handle your chronic illness when camping, strategically planning beforehand is going to be key. What kind of medication regimen are you on? Can you survive for a few weeks without treatments? What sort of medical conditions are you dealing with?
“If you’re going to handle
your chronic illness when camping,
strategically planning beforehand
is going to be key.”
It’s important to answer these questions, and determine what a worst-case scenario would look like. Part of that might be getting a checkup on your condition before you travel to the woods, or looking up a clinic near where you plan to camp so you know where to go if an issue arises.
Finding Nearby Medical Options
For example, if you’ve got hearing issues in New Hampshire, medical groups like the NH Hearing Institute can help give you equipment and medicine as necessary to help you enjoy an excursion that’s remote from civilization.
If you’re in the arid deserts and coastal regions of Southern California, ScentMed Southern California ear nose and throat doctors can help prescribe medication and treatment for a variety of sinus issues. Wherever you go, it behooves you to know where medical authorities who treat conditions you contend with are located.
Packing, Exercise, Location, And Company
Once you know what you’re contending with, and what kind of medical authorities are around to help you handle it, your next step will be packing for the worst-case scenario, rather than what you expect. If you are planning to camp for a week, bring three weeks’ medication with you. Two would be adequate, but the more you can cushion yourself, the better.
Next, you want to be at your peak when you hit the woods. Hiking, biking, swimming, boating—they’re all possibilities when you decide to shuck the binds of civilization and hit the woods for a spell. Diet right, and exercise so you’re at your peak if at all possible. Certainly, camping is good exercise, but it’s more enjoyable if you’re not so totally worn out from finding a site and setting up your tent that you immediately fall asleep.
Choose where you camp carefully. If you’ve got a chronic illness, you want to be somewhere that won’t require a day’s journey inland for necessary medical attention—depending on the illness, of course. For example, acid reflux disease is unlikely to be as complicated a condition as having to contend with a colostomy bag.
It’s also advisable not to travel alone if you’ve got a chronic illness. Should something happen that is unexpected, and you be by yourself, you may not be able to administer your own medication. You might need help, and if you don’t have it, then the fallout could be fatal. At the very least, it will be more uncomfortable than it has to be.
Transcending Your Situation
Chronic illness doesn’t have to keep you from camping. It doesn’t have to keep you from much, if you’re strategic in managing it, and give yourself enough emergency “cushion” for the unexpected.
Know where medical authorities are, keep yourself in peak shape, don’t camp alone, choose the right campsite, and prepare for the worst-case scenario whenever you go camping. Doing these things will give you greater freedom to camp, and more options should something unexpected happen while you’re in the wilderness.
Have you ever camped with a chronic illness?
Share your thoughts and comments with us.
Leave A Comment