Our goal for managing Crohn's disease is that you should be able to do anything that you want in your life. This includes travel. However, when you travel there are some precautions that are worth taking. First, discuss your trip and plans with your doctor. If you are traveling somewhere where travelers diarrhea is endemic and common (like Mexico), then you should plan to take prophylaxis against travelers diarrhea. We believe that people who are in remission from their inflammatory bowel disease, like Crohn's disease, and have an infection when traveling, are more likely to have a flare of their disease and have more problems.

In addition, you should plan to have enough of your medications with you when you travel so that you will be able to take your maintenance therapy during your trip and have extra medications with you, in case you drop or lose a dose. You should have your rescue medications available and plan to have symptomatic therapy with you, in case you start to have a problem when you are traveling.

In addition, you should always carry your medications in your carry-on luggage rather than checked bags, in case the luggage is lost. These days, unfortunately, you will probably need a letter from your doctor and to make sure that all your prescription medications clearly have your name on them, so that the Transportation Security Administration will allow you to carry such medicines on airplanes.

Finally, if you have been on steroids or you are on steroids, it would be very helpful to discuss with your doctor the possibility that you may need to take an extra dose or adjust it when traveling long distances. This is especially true if you travel to a different time zone, in which case, jet lag may play a role and those who have recently been on steroids or are currently on steroids may need to adjust the timing of their dosages to account for jet lag and the need for the body to accommodate those changes.

Discussions with your doctor can be most helpful in those circumstances.