Travel trailer with Rheumatoid Arthritis

I,m in the same boat ,get a good road service and just take things as they come. nothing I hate more than watch some one else do jobs I once handled with ease.

Your pain meds are going to be a major obstacle, we have to see our pain dr, every month to get refills. I have a chronic nerve condition and my DW has fibromyalgia and RA. We talked to him about skipping a month when we go to Oregon and MT this summer and he said that he could not do that, and that it is illegal to send pain meds through the mail. So we are having to cram a 2-3 month trip into 30 days so we can see our new great granddaughter in Oregon and still be back home in time to get out pain meds refilled. Most of our trips end up being 1-2 weeks in nearby areas. Not what we had planned when we got our MH, but what we have to live with if we are going to enjoy traveling and keeping our medical conditions in check.

Changing a tire on your truck or toy hauler is going to be the least of your problems. Get Coachnet or AAA RV Premiere to handle that part for you. If your RA is as bad as you describe, having an RV may not be the best choice for you. There are ways around problems, but it usually involves lots of money.

I hate to sound so pessimistic, but those are the cold brutal facts dictated to us by Big Brother.

You'll probably need a weight distributing hitch. Lightest one on the market is Andersen anti sway WD hitch.

Other hitches run 80 to 110 lbs. Andersen weighs 60 lbs.

Some states / municipalities have ordinances / laws against leaving your WD hitch in the receiver, when not towing. The hitch also hurts quite a bit if you run into it with your shins.

Doing the in and out of the receiver, less weight is good.

I'm still relatively young at 50, but I also have RA. We have a smaller TT, and the most difficult part is dealing with a W/D hitch. It's heavy, though it can be left in the receiver. But the spring bars (solid steel) must be removed, and they are somewhat heavy too.

My trailer is small enough, and my truck has a very long wheelbase. I could tow without a W/D hitch, and if my health was worse, I'd have to consider it. My truck actually has a fancy anti-sway system (alternating the tow vehicle's brakes) built-in.

There are electric dump valves available, so you could easily have those added. You'd still need to hook up the stinky slinky manually.

Don't mess with changing tires. Call your insurance company. Some offer roadside assistance for as low as $5/month.

I can't answer the meds question, but will be paying attention to the answers. I would "think" my prescriptions at Walgreens would be to be filled any any of their nationwide pharmacies.

Thanks for all the info.

My main goal is to get out west to high elevation, remote areas & set up my telescope and photo equipment at primitive dark sky sites.

I need to talk to my doctor about meds. I think my trips will be limited by my 30 day prescription cycle.

For the WDH, I've been looking at the Anderson, which appears to be the easiest to handle. I'm hoping to keep the trailer & tongue weight light enough to not need the WD function, but just use it for anti-sway. If I can get by without a WDF, then there is also the option of an electrical anti-sway device. I would have problems handling a 60lb chunk of steel. Heck, I have problems handling the full pot of coffee in the morning. However, I was able to lift my 5 gallon diesel can into the pickup last week. I just can't bend my wrist while lifting any weight at all.

I'm going to rent a trailer, probably a Camplite 14 or 16 and try it out. If my truck tows it fine and I can survive a week in and around the trailer, then I'll go from there.

And roadside assistance will be purchased.

Prior to my wife's death, we FT'd for 14 yrs. She had severe RA and early on some of her biologics were infused which complicated traveling some. But as the biologics migrated to injectables, that issue disappeared. Remaining was the issue of obtaining her schedule II and schedule IV pain meds. First she had two RA specialists which were located about 1500 miles apart so by planning routes we could make her specialists visits less cumbersome. Both docs felt that the relaxed lifestyle that we lived was a positive for her and emailed office visit results etc to us so we could keep the other apprised. There were times when it was inconvenient to change an itinerary so then she would just fly to her doc appt, rent a car/hotel room and then fly back - usually taking 3 days so it wouldn't tire her too much.

After time, her pain mgt doc got to know us better and trust us. Inasmuch as he was located in hurricane prone area where an office could potentially be knocked out of business for 30 days, he encouraged maintaining a 30 spare supply. His location was also a snowbird area where docs are used to patients being gone for lengthy periods. The Sch IV controlled substances were easier to handle but Sch II were more difficult due to the need to have orig, signed (no call in, no fax, no transfer etc) 30 day only script in hand. That was eased a bit, I think in 2010ish, to allow the doc to provide 1 current 30 day script and two post dated 30 day original scripts for a total of 90 days. We found more than a few pharmacists that were 'hinky' about filling sch II for complete strangers and so for those we always used the same pharmacy chain so that their profile computer record would show these to be SOP. So having those 3 scripts got us through 3 months of travel. The doc increased the dosage so we could obtain extra with each fill with the understanding that we'd use the extra to buy even more time. Of course, when we snowbirded in the area, that also bought time. During our FTing yrs, she also had 21 surgeries. During Hospital and physical rehab stays, pain meds were handled by the care facility and so that also help build up a reserve. As I recall, for the last 5 or so years, we always had sufficient meds so as to not have to panic.

The other recurrent requirement that had to be handled on the road were blood lab work. One of her docs had a lab work order that, it seemed to me, had every lab test known to man listed on it together with a check box in front of each. He provided us with a signed blank which I scanned. When on the road, the doc would email what labs he wanted done and I'd bring up the scan, photoshop and "x" in front of each test he wanted, photoshop a current date. Under other instructions, I put in the name and address of her other doctor as well as our mail forwarding address and then print the lab work order. I think we used that same 'blank' for about 12 years without a problem and her docs loved it. They each kept up to date with labs and we always had current baseline labs with us in the event of any ER visits.

avan, thank you for sharing your experience. I'm sorry for your loss.

That's 2 messages that mention pain meds. What's wrong with my doctor? I don't have pain meds, just pain. I guess I manage to get by with out the pain meds. I'm pain free, as long as a stay motionless.

I'm going to print out your response and keep it so I can use your experience to help myself.

Thank you.

Well, on the road we found that there were many doctors who don't understand RA very well even though they got their medical lic. In one case that I remember quite clearly, the doc was board certified in RA but clearly the guy graduated at the bottom of his class (every class has one). RA is very complicated and can invoke many different bodily reactions and severe side issues over time and the complications and reactions from many of the drugs used can also be a problem. I would recommend, earlier than later, that you get yourself a really good, board certified, pain management specialist. You want to be comfortable that the doc is not just a pill pusher but one who really understands the chemical interaction of various drugs and will spend the time to help you understand the risks. Just because there are severe potential risks doesn't mean you shouldn't take the med but as the patient you should be more informed than just reading the 'black box' warnings of every drug so you can properly weigh the consequences of your action vs inaction.

Best advice? If you are not comfortable with your doc, his knowledge, care and dedication to your well being vs your being just another billing opportunity, get another doc and keep on until you do. To you it's your life; to most of them you're just their paycheck.

I have regular old osteoarthritis in both knees,hands,and neck so I can imagine what you go through. I would think a small Class A or Class C would be easier to set up. A tow bar for a flat tow car is easy to connect and disconnect.

I have to agree with Gjac, that a small Class C may be the way to go. My Dad had RA, along with osteoarthritis. At about 75, he decided that the larger Class C they had was too difficult. Larger vehicle, tow dolly and manual transmission towed vehicle. sold that and bought a 21 ft TT (he had towed TT before they bought a series of Class C's). He didn't keep the TT but a couple of years, and went back to small Class C. He drove it himself until about 85, and then Mom convinced him to let her drive, but he still helped with hooking up towed car and getting ready to go. I traveled with them, doing most of the driving, when he was 88 on a 10 day trip from Ga to La and back.

I must say it was extremely easy to stop for night, or stop for a rest or even just to move around a few minutes. No getting out of tow vehicle and hurrying to TT when you arrive in rain. You don't even have to get out and hook up power if you don't feel like it, as most MH's have generators with inside switches to start (if they don't start automatically). We even could pull in back parking lot of restaurant.. one of us go in, get menu and order.. and then take food back out to MH, if he didn't feel like going in.