Onika L. Dainty

Challenges and Triggers: Travelling with Bipolar Disorder

When you are in unfamiliar surroundings, away from the comforts of home this can signal a disruption in your daily routine, throwing off established habits around sleep, medication or self-care. Travel can be exciting however for individuals with Bipolar disorder it can also present many challenges. Whether you are crossing timezones or taking a cross-country trip in a car or on a train, it is important to know your triggers and the challenges you may face when exploring the road less travelled. 

New Environment: Being in a new place, away from your established structure routine and habits as well as dealing with jet lag can be stressful. The prolonged excitement from being in a new and different environment can act as a trigger for Bipolar disorder symptoms.  

Mood Episode: Travel can trigger manic or hypomanic episodes characterized by an extreme elevation in mood. 

Anxiety: Travel can trigger anxiety especially when crossing into new timezones. The process of travelling from start to finish, whether it’s packing for a new destination or navigating through a new place upon arrival can stir up anxiety. 

Sleep Disruption: Travel can interrupt the Circadian Rhythm (sleep pattern) and have a negative effect on medication management. 

A Bipolar Woman’s Travel Log: My Experience with Travel Mania

I’ve travelled quite a bit in my life. From family vacations to business trips, North American travel, Caribbean travel and most recently I travelled to my home country Guyana, South America. I’ve taken buses, trains and planes to reach my destination but regardless of the mode of transportation I have always found myself experiencing what I call “Travel Mania.” Travel Mania is when you experience symptoms of hypomania or Mania while travelling to an unfamiliar country where you may cross timezones, climate change or environmental differences that disrupt the routines and habits that you have structured at home. This can cause a shift in your baseline mood leading to a minor to severe Bipolar episode.

In 2007 my family travelled by plane to St Maarten for a family holiday. Well aware of my anxieties around flying, my mother managed my medication and monitored my sleep in the hotel upon arrival. I slept on the day of arrival and for part of the following morning, waking up energized and ready to enjoy my vacation. Before I had understanding of my Bipolar cycle I believed this was enough rest. However during the 10-day holiday I slept less and less each night, mismanaged my medication, participated in risky behaviours and my moods shifted from elation and excitement to anger and aggravation easily. I was experiencing hypomania which quickly turned into Mania and I was hospitalized within a few weeks of returning home. 

In 2022, I travelled by bus to New York City to visit family. It was a 13 hour bus trip that included two rest stops. Because of the cramped space on the vehicle, sleep was hard to come by and I experienced physical discomfort for the majority of the ride. When I arrived in New York City I was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of people and cars on the road and very over-stimulated by the shining lights on every corner. When I arrived at my family’s home outside of the big city I couldn’t manage to get more than 3-4 hours a night of sleep. I woke up extremely early, went out all day, ate very little and went to bed after midnight every night, often staying up with my cousins to spend quality time. 

I was taking my medication daily and on time however, the major change in my sleep hygiene elevated my mood giving me excess energy and leading to hypomania. When I returned home to the stresses of life, family and work I was physically depleted but couldn’t maintain any quality of sleep, the cycle I was on my vacation followed me home and within a month I was hospitalized and experiencing Mania.   

Recently, armed with a better understanding of my illness and how travel can affect my mood cycle, I booked a month-long vacation in my home county Guyana. It was a life-changing trip full of culture, good food and re-connection with family. I took daily walks for self-care, I managed my medication fairly well only altering the time on a few occasions, I tried to re-create my structure, routine and habit from back home into my temporary home in Guyana. However, I noticed after the first few weeks that sleep was not coming easy and eventually I was on a 2 hour a night sleep cycle. By day 15, I was energized when waking up, incorporating more activity into my daily routine, my thoughts and speech raced and I was beginning to neglect my normal medication management routine, still taking them consistently but at odd hours. I started to hyper-spend and on one occasion participated in risky behaviours. 

This scared me and I reached out to my support team in Canada and they recommended I sleep for as long as I could for as many days as I could. They recognized even if I couldn’t that sleep deprivation was at the root of this Travel Mania. So I slept, for hours and days only setting my alarm to wake me to take my medication. I slept for 4 days straight and when I woke up I felt like myself again. When I arrived back home I made an appointment with my psychiatrist and he confirmed that I had had a manic episode but it was self-managed. He advised me that this will likely happen again especially when crossing timezones but can be mitigated by my quality sleep and taking my medication correctly and on time.  

Final Thoughts 

Practice Travel Self-Care with Bipolar Disorder 

When travelling and managing a mental illness like Bipolar disorder it is important to practice self-care in a more creative way. Previously I believed the self-care practice was taking time for myself to go on a vacation but over the years I have gained perspective and a different attitude around self-care for travel. It starts with research, asking questions like where do I want to go and will it be conducive to maintaining positive mental health. Other things to consider is how long you will travel for and where will you stay? 

If you are interested in going somewhere that may be an overstimulating environment consider ensuring that the place you sleep in is quiet and calm. If you only have a short time for your vacation, less than 10 days consider planning a staycation rather than international travel. Ensuring that you have access to your medication daily regardless of where you are can be done by switching to blister pouches that you can carry on your person. When you are planning your trip try to make sure you get quality sleep both at your destination and when you return home, this might mean you have to come back a few days early to catch up on sleep before you return to your regular life. It may also be a good idea to review and update your crisis plan to refer to if necessary.  

Planning a travel experience when managing your Bipolar disorder can be challenging but not impossible. It is important to remember the world is yours to enjoy and experience but it is necessary to take the steps needed to ensure you are practicing self-care for your mental health while travelling. There are things to consider like environmental changes, crossing timezones, change in routine, anxiety, mood cycles, sleep disruption, medication management and crisis planning as elements in deciding where in the world you journey to next.

If you have lived experience with Travel Mania or want to share your Travel Self-Care tips please connect with me by leaving a comment. Remember we are on this journey together and it's important to continue having conversations that take us beyond the stigma of mental illness and what’s possible.