If it were me I'd be going in a heartbeat. What I do about a week before I leave on a trip is I start popping Pepto Bismal. I also get a prescription for Cipro or Flagyl to take along. And I take the maximum amount of imodium daily.

Take all of the things you use daily and pack it in your carry-on. Drink bottled water and use bottled water to brush your teeth. Go for the fruits and vegetables that have skins on them that can be peeled.

This is why you had the surgery - so you could be all normal again and start living your life. Go and have lots of fun.

kathy

GO GO GO! I was just there for a wedding in February at an all inclusive resort and had an amazing time! I only drank bottled water as well and took a prescription of Cipro and Flagyl. I didn't need them and had a great time! You will too!

I traveled to Cancun with my J Pouch, and had no problem. I also took a lot of risks both in terms of eating and in traveling through the Yucatan peninsula, including to the pyramids and ruins at Chichen Itza, which I would not do now. My paralegal is going with her family on vacation to the Riviera Maya August 6 and is really looking forward to it and I am looking forward to hearing her trip report. Please send us yours as well.

I went to mexico for a week last november, even while I had a flare of pouchitis. I just partied with the imodium everday and it wasn't that bad. would've been nicer if I was totally healthy though.

You'll have a great time! Just try not to eat many raw things down there, unless you wash it yourself, and only drink bottled water, and ALWAYS be washing your hands, you'll be fine.

Yep, been to Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Cancun, and all places in between, no problems. Ironically enough, my non-j-pouch husband always seems to get Montezuma's Revenge whenever we travel outside the States, but I don't.

Have a great time!

I am DJB's paralegal and my understanding from speaking with my travel agent that if you are staying at a resort they filter the water so it is safe to have drinks with ice, they suggest using bottled water to brush your teeth. If you go off the beaten path I would be cautious and drink bottled water. You should be fine in the resorts. Have a great time.

I just got back from Playa del Carmen last week, and had some worries as well. But everything was fine. I did drink bottled water, but brushed my teeth with tap water, and I wasn't in a fancy all-inclusive. We also went off the beaten path alot, and had no problem. HaVE FUN!!

You absolutely should go! It's the type of thing you endured all that surgery for. Just play it safe (bottled water, no fresh washed fruits or salads, etc) and be sure to pack some Immodium. We went through there on a cruise several years ago and I had no problem. I also did a mission trip to the Dominican Republic for 2 weeks without issue. Be sure to post a trip update when you get back. :-) Best Wishes, Steve

I have gone to Cozumel area in Mexico and drank water and fruit juices, no problem. I recently did a 2 week trip to China. In China, I only drank bottled water and beer and avoided all uncooked items. I took a pepto bismol tab twice daily. I took cipro, flagyl scrips if needed (didn't need them). Also took lots of baby wipes since TP is nonexistent in China (and India).

I would also highly recommend paying for the extra travel insurance because it can also protect you from losing out on your entire trip if for some reason you get sick before and can't go! I say this because we saved for a trip to Hawaii for 3 years and just 5 days before I was hospitalized with a complete bowel obstruction because of adhesions and stricture. Thankfully it resolved as I was in preop! We still went praying the entire time nothing else went wrong. So when our Mexico trip came around I opted to pay $100 for the insurance to protect me!

The travel insurance does not just protect against getting sick, but also unforeseen vacation injuries. I personally witnessed a woman on my Club Med charter flight to Turks & Caicos, within hours of us arriving at the resort, suffer a displaced fracture (that means bone sticking out of skin) while playing on a trampoline at the club. I think she was flown to Miami for surgery. I am also aware of my friend's aunt falling down a staircase, also suffering a displaced leg fracture requiring surgery the very 1st day of her trip to Mexico. She also had to be flown back to the USA for surgery. In my legal practice I have dealt with a few vacation injury cases. You may think that you are insuring against getting sick but you may feel great, have an active vacation and end up getting hurt while having fun and enjoying yourself.

To be honest I only bought vacation insurance once, and I think I told the story of what happened previously on this board. It was 1995 and my friend and I were going to Jamaica. At that time I had just started suffering from pouchitis and things were a little more dicy in those days. I bought the insurance. In the week before the vacation I felt great, but a headline story in the USA Today wrote of a large outbreak of Dengue Fever in Jamaica. The CDC issued a travel warning. I discussed canceling the vacation with my travelling companion and we finally decided not to. The next to the last day of my 1 week trip to Jamaica, I woke up with my ankle swollen up to the size of a cantaloupe. I figured that was it, I had the Dengue Fever, and it was all over for me. Before I headed to the infirmary at the resort, I wrote a letter to my parents telling them I loved them and thanking them for all of their support through my surgery, law school etc. Anyway by the time I got to the infirmary I was really scared. The nurse took one look at my cantaloupe-like swollen ankle and my sweaty forehead and started laughing. I asked her why she was laughing and she said, "you silly boy, you have a spider bite." She gave me some miracle salve which I put on it and the swelling went down by the next day. I was fine.

Moral of stories: many things can happen on vacation that are not good besides getting an attack of pouchitis/IBD or some other bowel related problems.

Make sure you read the fine print. These policies are tricky!

hfc,

Execllent point and very true, and it is the main reason I never purchased the insurance except on that one occasion. Most consumers who never worked for or with insurance companies, as I have, don't understand that insurance policies insure against specified risks and certain risks are assumed by the policy holder. Many people mistakenly believe that insurance companies will pay if anything bad happens and it does not work that way. For example, people who own homes near the water mistakenly believe that their homeowner's policy will cover them for water damage from a Hurricane storm surge. In fact, most homeowner's policies have flood exclusions and basically they will not cover anything that a flood insurance policy (which is a separate animal) will cover.

If anyone purchases travel insurance they should specifically ask what risks will be covered and what risks will not be covered and cite examples to the travel agent or insurance agent of what could happen and will that specific possibility be covered. Also read the policy to make sure the agent is not making a misrepresentation and follow up with questions as warranted by what you read.