Traveling tips

  Many people have someone in their family who is battling a mental disorder or are battling one themselves. Unfortunately, these disorders can interfere with plans. This can often be upsetting for the person with the disorder because they may feel as if everything is there fault. So, if traveling
1) Make sure you or your family member are stable. If you are having psychotic breaks everyday, it may not be in their best interest to put the stress of traveling on them.
2) Contact your doctor and let them know of the plans. They may be able to give more helpful tips. Also, if something goes wrong it is good for the main psychologist/psychiatrist to know about it.
3) Surprises aren't always the best idea. This goes hand in hand with 1. Some people might can handle a surprise vacation. Others may not be able to. Warn them and give them plenty of time to prepare and plan.
4) Make sure that some of your favorite activities are included in this vacation so you don't feel like a dog on a leash being drug around. Just because you happen to have a mental disorder doesn't mean you don't have a right to have a say so in what is going on.
5) Make sure you bring plenty of your medication. Write down on a piece of paper everything you take, how much, when, and why. This may be helpful in case of an emergency. EMS or whoever will have a list of what you are on and can make quicker decisions on how to help you if you are injured. I've been injured before and didn't tell the doctor what medication I was on. They saw something in my blood that indicated drugs, but once I told them my medications it all made more sense to them.
6) Communicate. If you are uncomfortable then tell someone. If they care for you, they will help you.

I'm just bringing this up because I am getting ready to travel with an ensemble and thought maybe someone else might be getting ready for travel as well and could use some advise. That was a long sentence.
                                                  Love, a Schizophrenic.