04 Oct What Happens If You Get Sick While Traveling?

 

Imagine you’re having the time of your life traveling with your loved ones and you suddenly get sick out of nowhere. Or probably you just got injured because of an unfortunate accident or got bitten by a poisonous insect.

Naturally, you will never expect to get sick during your vacation trip. But bad news often shows up without giving you any warning.

Fortunately, there are multiple ways to deal with sudden sickness without ruining your trip unless you’re facing an emergency health issue.

Here’s what you can do if you ever get sick while traveling.

Healthcare Options You Can Easily Access While Traveling

• Nurse Hotlines

If your health problems aren’t that serious, calling one of the nurse hotlines is a great choice. Most of these hotlines are available 24/7 and you can make a call from anywhere.

These hotlines will help you talk to an experienced nurse or healthcare expert who will listen to your symptoms with care. After that, they can tell you some effective home remedies or steps you need to take to alleviate your symptoms.

You should store one or more nurse hotline numbers on your cell phone before traveling far from your home. 

This way, professional medical advice will be just a few clicks away if you get sick during your travel.

• Virtual Healthcare or Telehealth

Although the nurse hotlines are useful, they can’t help you figure out the reason for your sickness or help you get professionally prescribed medications quickly.

But virtual healthcare or telehealth doctor appointments can help you with that.

Telehealth services like Doctorsa can help you talk to an experienced doctor over the phone or via video call. The doctors can help you diagnose your illness, discover the cause of the sickness, and guide you to take the best actions to deal with it.

Telehealth services only work with verified doctors and medical experts so they can also prescribe the correct medications to help you get better soon.

Plus, they can also contact a verified pharmacy near your location to help you get the prescribed drugs quickly. This is really helpful for those who get sick during their travels.

• Local Health Clinics

Do you want to see a medical professional or doctor in person? No problem at all. You can always walk into a nearby local health clinic.

You can easily find one of these clinics near a chain drugstore or other retail medical shops. So, no matter where you are traveling, finding a local health clinic to alleviate your sickness shouldn’t take too long.

Usually, you don’t need to book an appointment in advance to visit retail health clinics. Plus, since most of these clinics are stationed near pharmacies, you can also get your prescribed medications quickly.

• Visiting Urgent Care Centers

If you’re suddenly suffering from a serious health issue during your travels that isn’t severe enough to visit an emergency room, you can visit urgent care centers.

Similar to the local health clinics, you don’t need a prior appointment to visit urgent care centers to receive treatment. And some of them are always open to treating people with urgent health issues—24 hours a day.

So, if you need X-ray scans, suspect bone fractures, or have light injuries during your travels, visiting an urgent care center may do the trick.

What are My Healthcare Choices for True Emergency Situations?

If you suddenly suffer from severe injuries, health issues, or medical cases that may threaten your life, you should visit the nearest emergency room or call 911. If you’re traveling abroad, check that country’s local emergency helpline and dial it for help.

Here are some (but not all)  of the true emergency situations where you should call 911 or visit the closest emergency room:

• Intense chest pain
• Sudden signs of a stroke like sudden numbness, dizziness, or rapidly degrading eyesight
• Intense headache
• Breathing issues
• Seizures
• Poisoning from drug overdose, insect bites, snake bites, or dangerous plants
• Severe injuries or blood loss

If any of these situations to you or a traveling companion, you should call 911 immediately.

It’s Always Wise to Prepare Your Prescribed Drugs and OTC Medicines for Your Travels

When you’re getting ready for a trip, make sure to pack all the medicines you need. You should always pack up your prescribed drugs as well as the prescription slip before leaving your home.

Apart from that, it will also be wise to carry some over-the-counter or OTC medications with you. After all, you can solve many health issues like dry cough, digestion problems, and motion sickness using common OTC medicines.

Here are a few common OTC medicines you should always carry during your travels:

• Antacids
• Medicine for fever and pain like Tylenol
• Cough suppressant
• Medications for diarrhea like Pepto-Bismol
• Allergy medicines like Benadryl
• Gentle sleeping drugs
• Drugs for motion sickness

Conclusion

Whether you’re planning to go out on a business trip or holiday vacation, you must take proper precautions to deal with possible sickness or injuries swiftly.

Don’t forget to bring OTC medicines and your prescribed drugs along with you. If you do get sick for some reason, you can:

• Call the nurse hotlines
• Get help from professional doctors and purchase medicines quickly using telehealth services
• Go to local clinics
• Or visit the nearest urgent care center

Of course, if your health issue or injury is severe and life-threatening, visiting an emergency room or calling 911 should be your top priority.

Editor’s note:  It’s a good idea to consider getting a traveler’s health care policy in the event of a medical emergency. Remember most US based policies, including Medicare, do not cover illness or injuries overseas.

More information:

1. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/your-health-abroad/Insurance_Coverage_Overseas.html
2. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/health-care-during-travel

 

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Last Updated on October 7, 2024 by Marie Benz MD FAAD