[TRNRMOM]

i am a 67 yr. old female diagnosed w/bp2 (hypomania but no depression) and have been treated for more than 35 yrs. and have researched as much as i can about long distance travel. even a 2 hr. flight pushes me into mania and it takes several days to stabilize.
we are planning a trip from az to south africa in sept. we plan to fly from phoenix to england (9hr. flight) and spend a few days there in order for me to somewhat stabilize..and then fly to south africa which is probably another 17 hr. flight; and then return from south africa to phoenix. there is no way getting around becoming manic and destabilized and have saved many research articles about long distance travel.
but for now I WANT TO ACCUMULATE YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES/STRATEGIES AND WAYS TO DEAL WITH TRAVEL AND TIME ZONE CHANGES. WOULD APPRECIATE AS MUCH INPUT AS POSSIBLE. THX.

[kaliope]

well I cant say that flying triggers mania but it does trigger psychosis for me while on the plane. my pdoc gives me Haldol to take for the flight to stabilize me so I can make it across time zones. anything over two hours triggers it. I flew to japan, that was thirteen hours and I watched movies the whole flight to keep me distracted and that seemed to work. I was already manic at the time. hope you find something that works. take care.

[TRNRMOM]

Originally Posted by kaliope

well i cant say that flying triggers mania but it does trigger psychosis for me while on the plane. My pdoc gives me haldol to take for the flight to stabilize me so i can make it across time zones. Anything over two hours triggers it. I flew to japan, that was thirteen hours and i watched movies the whole flight to keep me distracted and that seemed to work. I was already manic at the time. Hope you find something that works. Take care.

can you elaborate further on haldol….did you take it as a mood stabilizer prior to the dates of travel or only during the travel and did you use it after landing if you were destable. Need for you to clarify as i will discuss this with my pdoc. I use seroquel for sleep which works great and want to be totally knocked out during these long flights….but its the days of trying to get stable that are worrisome as we will be w/another couple and will need some down time to stabilize.