#ihaveflaws

Health & Positivity Buzz

Most of you know that this is mainly a travel blog but from time to time, I’d like to bring to the forefront some health conditions (particularly my health conditions) that are rarely being talked about and still can be taken in the context of travel. From my previous posts, you may think that the reason why I fly business particularly for long haul flights is just to be a stylish jetsetter. I never see myself as one, nor have any inclination of becoming one. I travel business because I have slipped disk (or also known as herniated disk or pinch nerve). I learned about my condition almost 8 years ago when I felt this immense pain on my back that made walking very difficult. After undergoing MRI, that’s when I learned more about this degenerative disease. It’s a debilitating condition where the disk in between your spinal cord is out of place or protruding, hence irritating the nerves around it causing tremendous pain on the back. Mine is not only protruding, but also desiccated disk, so it’s double whammy for me.

I am legally incapacitated, a person with disability (PWD). I am trying to bring awareness to this health condition coz sometimes people think that just because I’m not on a wheelchair means that I’m in good condition. There’s this big news last month where a celebrity posted something like a kid cutting the line in Shake Shack (it was just recently opened in Manila, so you know what’s all the fuss about this popular NY hamburger and shake chain) and holding apparently a ‘fake’ PWD card. He was eventually educated about the different types of disability after he was called out by the PWD Philippines organization.

On that note, people who have this condition could probably now understand why flying business makes sense. If you’re sitting in a 16-18 hour flight, that will put undue pressure on your back and may trigger excruciating pain that only sufferers of this condition could understand. So as a preventive measure (rather than suffer and ruin the whole holiday where you have already put so much planning and effort), business class seat offers a flat bed where you can lie down and rest your back. Of course, you have to pay a premium for the seat, but if you have read my previous post, you can actually find good buys for business class seats. What’s paying a few hundred dollars more if it will give you the appropriate comfort that your body requires given this health condition.

Pain triggers differ among sufferers of this condition. In my case, it’s either prolonged sitting or going down several flights of stairs. Just recently, due to the earthquake in Manila last April, I wasn’t able to go to work for 2 days cause I could hardly walk after taking 42 flights of stairs in the building where I work when we were asked to evacuate. I would normally avoid fire/earthquake drills but this one is for real so I have to go down knowing that I would have to bear the pain that comes after. Don’t get me wrong, I could climb mountains and hills, I could pull my luggages from the belt and carry those as well, but just don’t make me do stairs, particularly on the way down. The impact of going up several flights of stairs is on the thighs and legs while the pressure is not only on the thighs and legs but more on the back on the way down as it absorbs the impact.

Another health condition that I would like to share is palmar hyperhidrosis, also known as clammy hands. This is the excessive, uncontrollable sweating of the hands and palms. As the International Hyperhidrosis Society aptly describes it, “This medical condition is extremely stressful, embarrassing, and confidence-wrecking problem that can negatively impact your social life, education, and career.” Talk about being stressed because of clammy hands and getting clammy hands because of stress. Again, double whammy for me.

How does this impact my travel life? It does, in this age of biometrics. You know, you go to the consulate for a visa and one of the requirements is to have your biometrics taken. If my fingers get clammy, they would wet the biometrics reader where the same can hardly capture my prints. So how many times I’ve been in this embarrassing situation. Just imagine this scenario where the consulate staff will offer you tissue to wipe both your fingers and the reader dry and let you rub alcohol in an attempt to cool your hands off to stop it from sweating. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s an uncontrollable condition.

In some countries’ passport control, they would also require you to put your fingers on the biometrics reader. I remember on my London trip with my sister and brother in law where they would have to wait for me coz I’m stuck in front of the immigration officer coz the reader can’t capture my prints. The immigration officer gave up and just let me thru anyway when the queue has already built up because of me. People who suffers from this condition would understand the embarrassing situations we have to go thru not only when we travel but everyday of our lives.

The last one I want to share is pretty uncommon because no one exactly knows what it is and common because not a few suffer from it. It’s called keratosis pilaris. It’s a skin condition that resembles chicken skin. Rather than smooth and fine, people who have this type of skin have bumps similar to those you see when you dress a chicken. It normally appears on the upper arms and thighs. When you scratch it, it normally leaves blemishes that can result to something that looks like dark spots or pigments.

As a kid, my best friend would normally tease me of having chicken skin. He actually was not aware that it is actually called one, but as a young kid, he was already smart enough to observe that it really looks like chicken skin but young enough to know that you don’t tease or bully people having that type of skin. One of the most common misconceptions is that it’s a skin disease when actually it’s not. Even I was misled into believing that it is a disease. My first consult with a dermatologist didn’t really give me an explanation why my skin looks like that. I only got prescription creams hoping that it’s gonna get cured. It was only later in life when I again went to see a different dermatologist who explained to me that it’s not a skin disease. Since it’s not a disease, then there is no cure or the need to be cured from it. It’s just one of those types of skin such as oily or dry. Mine is just bumpy. As the dermatologist convincingly puts it, I’m just different.

Yes, we are different in our own ways, in our own flaws. I am now embracing my flaws that make me unique and different. I don’t let these flaws impede or hamper by life goals. I don’t let slipped disk dissuade me from going on an adventure, afraid that it may break my back. I don’t let clammy hands prevent me from travelling, knowing and anticipating fully well the stress and embarrassment that I’ll have to go thru. I don’t let my skin type discourage me from enjoying the sun, sea, and sand in my swimwear, exposing my skin like it’s nobody’s business. Over the years, I have learned not letting these flaws stop me from doing what I want. I continue to conquer these flaws as much as I have conquered my fears. I continue to rock life in spite of.