International Travel with Multiple Sclerosis: Translate Your Needs

I had my first big MS relapse when I was overseas – in Russia, to be exact. It all started with what I thought was a speck on my contact lens. Within 24 hours, I had completely lost vision in my right eye from a case of optic neuritis. Moving my eye was painful enough to make me whimper out loud. I called my neurologist from Russia and was told to get home as soon as possible for treatment with a course of Solu-Medrol.

Fortunately, I happen to speak Russian and knew my way around Moscow pretty well, having worked there for many years. However, this was a whole new situation. In order to change my international flight without paying thousands of dollars, I had to get a doctor's note, then convince the people in the airline office that it was all legit and I had to get home. I vaguely remembered the words for "multiple sclerosis," but trying to describe what was happening and why it was affecting my vision was completely beyond my linguistic capabilities. I muddled through somehow. Later, I found the note that the Russian doc had written for me, which diagnosed me with "liver failure." I guess I had not communicated my situation even a little bit.

That was in the days before the Internet was so prevalent. The first smartphone had not yet been released. And we certainly did not have Google Translate. Now we do, and it can really help navigate situations in foreign lands.

Google Translate is a wonderful tool, which could not be easier to use. Just go to translate.google.com and enter your English text into the box, select the desired language for translation from the pulldown menu, and hit the "translate" button. Voila! There is your text in (almost) any language you desire (you can choose from 50 different languages).

So, for all of you MSers who have the desire to see the world, I would highly recommend a little preparation using this tool so that you can avoid, or at least reduce, obstacles that might come up due to language barriers. Spend some time writing up a little synopsis of your MS situation. I would include:

1. Diagnosis and how long you have had multiple sclerosis (make sure that you spell out "multiple sclerosis" in your document).
2. Your main MS symptoms.
3. Any medications that you take on a regular basis and what they are for.
4. Any special needs or requests that you may have. For instance, you may need help getting through airport security or you may need to take a wheelchair with you on city tours.
5. Emergency contacts and instructions.

Think about your document. You may want to split it into different pages - your city tour guide doesn’t necessarily need to know your whole medical history and the airline security people don't have time to read through pages of information to understand that you need extra help taking your shoes off. Think about the situations that you may be in and what kind of information would help that process go smoothly.

However, if you find yourself in an unexpected circumstance where you need to communicate with someone in another language, there are also many apps for smartphones that can translate crucial information instantly. Research these before you leave. Happy travels!