travel sickness related words

Travel-sickness synonyms

What is another word for travel-sickness .

• seasickness
• carsickness
• airsickness
• motion sickness
• throwing up
• biliousness
• upset stomach
• morning sickness
• altitude sickness

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Motion sickness

Travel sickness.

Peer reviewed by Dr Hayley Willacy, FRCGP Last updated by Dr Colin Tidy, MRCGP Last updated 16 Mar 2023

Meets Patient’s editorial guidelines

In this series: Health advice for travel abroad Travelling to remote locations Ears and flying Jet lag Altitude sickness

Motion sickness (travel sickness) is common, especially in children. It is caused by repeated unusual movements during travelling, which send strong (sometimes confusing) signals to the balance and position sensors in the brain.

In this article :

What causes motion sickness, how long does motion sickness last, motion sickness symptoms, how to stop motion sickness, natural treatments for motion sickness, motion sickness medicines, what can a doctor prescribe for motion sickness, what should i do if i'm actually sick, what is mal de debarquement syndrome.

Continue reading below

Motion sickness is a normal response to repeated movements, such as going over bumps or around in a circle, send lots of messages to your brain. If you are inside a vehicle, particularly if you are focused on things that are inside the vehicle with you then the signals that your eyes send to the brain may tell it that your position is not changing, whilst your balance mechanisms say otherwise.

Your balance mechanisms in your inner ears sense different signals to those that your eyes are seeing which then sends your brain mixed, confusing messages. This confusion between messages then causes people to experience motion sickness.

Is motion sickness normal?

Motion sickness is a normal response that anyone can have when experiencing real or perceived motion. Although all people can develop motion sickness if exposed to sufficiently intense motion, some people are rarely affected while other people are more susceptible and have to deal with motion sickness very often.

Triggers for motion sickness

Motion sickness can also be triggered by anxiety or strong smells, such as food or petrol. Sometimes trying to read a book or a map can trigger motion sickness. Both in children and adults, playing computer games can sometimes cause motion sickness to occur.

Motion sickness is more common in children and also in women. Fortunately, many children grow out of having motion sickness. It is not known why some people develop motion sickness more than others. Symptoms can develop in cars, trains, planes and boats and on amusement park rides, etc.

Symptoms typically go when the journey is over; however, not always. In some people they last a few hours, or even days, after the journey ends.

There are various symptoms of motion sickness including::

Feeling sick (nausea and vomiting).

Sweating and cold sweats.

Increase in saliva.

Headaches .

Feeling cold and going pale.

Feeling weak.

Some general tips to avoid motion sickness include the following.

Prepare for your journey

Don't eat a heavy meal before travelling. Light, carbohydrate-based food like cereals an hour or two before you travel is best.

On long journeys, try breaking the journey to have some fresh air, drink some cold water and, if possible, take a short walk.

For more in-depth advice on travelling generally, see the separate leaflets called Health Advice for Travel Abroad , Travelling to Remote Locations , Ears and Flying (Aeroplane Ear) , Jet Lag and Altitude Sickness .

Plan where you sit

Keep motion to a minimum. For example, sit in the front seat of a car, over the wing of a plane, or on deck in the middle of a boat.

On a boat, stay on deck and avoid the cafeteria or sitting where your can smell the engines.

Breathe fresh air

Breathe fresh air if possible. For example, open a car window.

Avoid strong smells, particularly petrol and diesel fumes. This may mean closing the window and turning on the air conditioning, or avoiding the engine area in a boat.

Use your eyes and ears differently

Close your eyes (and keep them closed for the whole journey). This reduces 'positional' signals from your eyes to your brain and reduces the confusion.

Don't try to read.

Try listening to an audio book with your eyes closed. There is some evidence that distracting your brain with audio signals can reduce your sensitivity to the motion signals.

Try to sleep - this works mainly because your eyes are closed, but it is possible that your brain is able to ignore some motion signals when you are asleep.

Do not read or watch a film.

It is advisable not to watch moving objects such as waves or other cars. Don't look at things your brain expects to stay still, like a book inside the car. Instead, look ahead, a little above the horizon, at a fixed place.

If you are the driver you are less likely to feel motion sickness. This is probably because you are constantly focused on the road ahead and attuned to the movements that you expect the vehicle to make. If you are not, or can't be, the driver, sitting in the front and watching what the driver is watching can be helpful.

Treat your tummy gently

Avoid heavy meals and do not drink alcohol before and during travelling. It may also be worth avoiding spicy or fatty food.

Try to 'tame your tummy' with sips of a cold water or a sweet, fizzy drink. Cola or ginger ale are recommended.

Try alternative treatments

Sea-Bands® are acupressure bands that you wear on your wrists to put pressure on acupressure points that Chinese medicine suggests affects motion sickness. Some people find that they are effective.

Homeopathic medicines seem to help some people, and will not make you drowsy. The usual homeopathic remedy is called 'nux vom'. Follow the instructions on the packet.

All the techniques above which aim to prevent motion sickness will also help reduce it once it has begun. Other techniques, which are useful on their own to treat motion sickness but can also be used with medicines if required, are:

Breathe deeply and slowly and, while focusing on your breathing, listening to music. This has been proved to be effective in clinical trials.

Ginger - can improve motion sickness in some people (as a biscuit or sweet, or in a drink).

There are several motion sickness medicines available which can reduce, or prevent, symptoms of motion sickness. You can buy them from pharmacies or, in some cases, get them on prescription. They work by interfering with the nerve signals described above.

Medicines are best taken before the journey. They may still help even if you take them after symptoms have begun, although once you feel sick you won't absorb medicines from the stomach very well. So, at this point, tablets that you put against your gums, or skin patches, are more likely to be effective.

Hyoscine is usually the most effective medicine for motion sickness . It is also known as scopolamine. It works by preventing the confusing nerve messages going to your brain.

There are several brands of medicines which contain hyoscine - they also come in a soluble form for children. You should take a dose 30-60 minutes before a journey; the effect can last up to 72 hours. Hyoscine comes as a patch for people aged 10 years or over. (This is only available on prescription - see below.) Side-effects of hyoscine include dry mouth , drowsiness and blurred vision.

Side-effects of motion sickness medicines

Some medicines used for motion sickness may cause drowsiness. Some people are extremely sensitive to this and may find that they are so drowsy that they can't function properly at all. For others the effects may be milder but can still impair your reactions and alertness. It is therefore advisable not to drive and not to operate heavy machinery if you have taken them. In addition, some medicines may interfere with alcohol or other medication; your doctor or the pharmacist can advise you about this.

Antihistamines

Antihistamines can also be useful , although they are not quite as effective as hyoscine. However, they usually cause fewer side-effects. Several types of antihistamine are sold for motion sickness. All can cause drowsiness, although some are more prone to cause it than others; for example, promethazine , which may be of use for young children on long journeys, particularly tends to cause drowsiness. Older children or adults may prefer one that is less likely to cause drowsiness - for example, cinnarizine or cyclizine.

Remember, if you give children medicines which cause drowsiness they can sometimes be irritable when the medicines wear off.

See the separate article called How to manage motion sickness .

There are a number of anti-sickness medicines which can only be prescribed by your doctor. Not all of them always work well for motion sickness, and finding something that works may be a case of trial and error. All of them work best taken up to an hour before your journey, and work less well if used when you already feel sick. See also the separate leaflet called Nausea (Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment) for more detailed information about these medicines .

Hyoscine patch

Hyoscine, or scopolamine, patches are suitable for adults and for children over 10 years old. The medicine is absorbed through your skin, although this method of medicine delivery is slow so the patch works best if applied well before your journey.

You should stick the patch on to the skin behind the ear 5-6 hours before travelling (often this will mean late on the previous night) and remove it at the end of the journey.

Prochlorperazine

Prochlorperazine is a prescription-only medicine which works by changing the actions of the chemicals that control the tendency to be sick (vomit), in your brain. One form of prochlorperazine is Buccastem®, which is absorbed through your gums and does not need to be swallowed. Buccastem® tastes rather bitter but it can be effective for sickness when you are already feeling sick, as it doesn't have to be absorbed by the stomach.

Metoclopramide

Metoclopramide is a tablet used to speed up the emptying of your tummy. Slow emptying of the tummy is something that happens when you develop nausea and vomiting, so metoclopramide can help prevent this. It prevents nausea and vomiting quite effectively in some people. It can occasionally have unpleasant side-effects, particularly in children (in whom it is not recommended). Metoclopramide is often helpful for those who tend to have gastric reflux, those who have slow tummy emptying because of previous surgery, and those who have type 1 diabetes. Your GP will advise whether metoclopramide is suitable for you.

Domperidone

Domperidone , like metoclopramide, is sometimes used for sickness caused by slow tummy emptying. It is not usually recommended for motion sickness but is occasionally used if other treatments don't help. Domperidone is not a legal medicine in some countries, including the USA.

Ondansetron

Ondansetron is a powerful antisickness medicine which is most commonly used for sickness caused by chemotherapy, and occasionally used for morning sickness in pregnancy. It is not usually effective for motion sickness. This, and its relatively high cost means that it is not prescribed for motion sickness alone. However, for those undergoing chemotherapy, and for those who have morning sickness aggravated by travel, ondansetron may be helpful.

If you're actually sick you may find that this relieves your symptoms a little, although not always for very long. If you've been sick:

Try a cool flannel on your forehead, try to get fresh air on your face and do your best to find a way to rinse your mouth to get rid of the taste.

Don't drink anything for ten to twenty minutes (or it may come straight back), although (very) tiny sips of very cold water, coke or ginger ale may help.

After this, go back to taking all the prevention measures above.

Once you reach your destination you may continue to feel unwell. Sleep if you can, sip cold iced water, and - when you feel ready - try some small carbohydrate snacks. Avoid watching TV (more moving objects to watch!) until you feel a little better.

The sensation called 'mal de debarquement' (French for sickness on disembarking) refers to the sensation you sometimes get after travel on a boat, train or plane, when you feel for a while as though the ground is rocking beneath your feet. It is probably caused by the overstimulation of the balance organs during your journey. It usually lasts only an hour or two, but in some people it can last for several days, particularly after a long sea journey. It does not usually require any treatment.

Persistent mal de debarquement syndrome is an uncommon condition in which these symptoms may persist for months or years.

Dr Mary Lowth is an author or the original author of this leaflet.

Further reading and references

• Spinks A, Wasiak J ; Scopolamine (hyoscine) for preventing and treating motion sickness. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011 Jun 15;(6):CD002851.
• Lackner JR ; Motion sickness: more than nausea and vomiting. Exp Brain Res. 2014 Aug;232(8):2493-510. doi: 10.1007/s00221-014-4008-8. Epub 2014 Jun 25.
• Leung AK, Hon KL ; Motion sickness: an overview. Drugs Context. 2019 Dec 13;8:2019-9-4. doi: 10.7573/dic.2019-9-4. eCollection 2019.
• Zhang LL, Wang JQ, Qi RR, et al ; Motion Sickness: Current Knowledge and Recent Advance. CNS Neurosci Ther. 2016 Jan;22(1):15-24. doi: 10.1111/cns.12468. Epub 2015 Oct 9.
• Van Ombergen A, Van Rompaey V, Maes LK, et al ; Mal de debarquement syndrome: a systematic review. J Neurol. 2016 May;263(5):843-854. doi: 10.1007/s00415-015-7962-6. Epub 2015 Nov 11.

Article history

The information on this page is written and peer reviewed by qualified clinicians.

Next review due: 14 Mar 2028

16 mar 2023 | latest version.

Last updated by

Peer reviewed by

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Synonyms of sickness

• as in illness
• as in disease
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Thesaurus Definition of sickness

Synonyms & Similar Words

• indisposition
• dysfunction
• unhealthiness
• unsoundness
• disfunction
• decrepitude
• hypochondria
• sickishness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• convalescence
• rehabilitation
• healthiness
• recuperation
• wholesomeness
• well - being
• vigorousness
• complication
• distemperature
• contagious disease
• nauseousness
• squeamishness
• seasickness
• airsickness
• motion sickness
• mountain sickness
• qualmishness
• altitude sickness
• car sickness
• morning sickness

Thesaurus Entries Near sickness

Cite this entry.

“Sickness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sickness. Accessed 17 May. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on sickness

Nglish: Translation of sickness for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of sickness for Arabic Speakers

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• airsickness

noun as in motion sickness

Weak matches

• car sickness
• seasickness
• travel sickness

Discover More

Example sentences.

Undeterred by the airsickness, he eventually began training as a pilot.

Related Words

Words related to airsickness are not direct synonyms, but are associated with the word airsickness . Browse related words to learn more about word associations.

noun as in sickness in motor vehicle

noun as in sickness in stomach; revulsion

• biliousness
• detestation
• motion sickness
• nauseousness
• regurgitation
• squeamishness

On this page you'll find 9 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to airsickness, such as: car sickness, mal de mer, nausea, queasiness, seasickness, and travel sickness.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

Travel Words

Words related to travel.

Below is a massive list of travel words - that is, words related to travel. The top 4 are: journey , trip , adventure and tourism . You can get the definition(s) of a word in the list below by tapping the question-mark icon next to it. The words at the top of the list are the ones most associated with travel, and as you go down the relatedness becomes more slight. By default, the words are sorted by relevance/relatedness, but you can also get the most common travel terms by using the menu below, and there's also the option to sort the words alphabetically so you can get travel words starting with a particular letter. You can also filter the word list so it only shows words that are also related to another word of your choosing. So for example, you could enter "journey" and click "filter", and it'd give you words that are related to travel and journey.

You can highlight the terms by the frequency with which they occur in the written English language using the menu below. The frequency data is extracted from the English Wikipedia corpus, and updated regularly. If you just care about the words' direct semantic similarity to travel, then there's probably no need for this.

There are already a bunch of websites on the net that help you find synonyms for various words, but only a handful that help you find related , or even loosely associated words. So although you might see some synonyms of travel in the list below, many of the words below will have other relationships with travel - you could see a word with the exact opposite meaning in the word list, for example. So it's the sort of list that would be useful for helping you build a travel vocabulary list, or just a general travel word list for whatever purpose, but it's not necessarily going to be useful if you're looking for words that mean the same thing as travel (though it still might be handy for that).

If you're looking for names related to travel (e.g. business names, or pet names), this page might help you come up with ideas. The results below obviously aren't all going to be applicable for the actual name of your pet/blog/startup/etc., but hopefully they get your mind working and help you see the links between various concepts. If your pet/blog/etc. has something to do with travel, then it's obviously a good idea to use concepts or words to do with travel.

If you don't find what you're looking for in the list below, or if there's some sort of bug and it's not displaying travel related words, please send me feedback using this page. Thanks for using the site - I hope it is useful to you! 🐠

• change of location
• see new place
• international
• accommodation
• visit other country
• exploration
• destinations
• choose destination
• adventure travel
• transportation
• cruise ship
• destination
• intercontinental
• go to airport
• backpacking
• get on plane
• holidaymakers
• on the road
• extreme tourism
• hand luggage
• go back home
• hospitality
• peregrinate
• experiences
• accomodation
• communication
• round trip ticket
• circumnavigation
• save your money
• get somewhere
• peregrination
• return ticket
• immigration
• accommodations
• business trip
• drive your car
• train ticket
• volunteer travel
• translation
• travel long distance
• caravanning
• return home
• cosmopolitan
• buy souvenir
• cybertravel
• arrive at destination
• fly in airplane
• move around
• sightseeing
• overnighting
• experience different culture
• go somewhere
• plane ticket
• learn foreign language
• autobiography
• motion sickness
• globetrotters
• bedroom community
• fellow traveller
• travel purposefully
• take the air
• amazon rainforest
• vacationers
• board plane
• mode of transportation
• overnighters
• get to work
• entertainment
• lose something
• book holiday
• passenger ticket
• visit relative
• reservations
• circumnavigate
• toll highway
• mode of transport
• road warrior
• get driver's license
• water travel
• circulation
• gravitation
• brachiation
• itineraries
• horseback riding
• mt. everest
• kilometrage
• vagabonding
• county highway
• time space convergence
• reverse commuter
• hypertravel
• go someplace
• head for hill
• spring break
• vagabondage
• telecommuting
• human migration
• manipulation
• commutation
• slice through
• betake oneself
• thanatourism
• bullock cart
• pilgrimages
• hang around
• progression
• telecommute
• between deck

That's about all the travel related words we've got! I hope this list of travel terms was useful to you in some way or another. The words down here at the bottom of the list will be in some way associated with travel, but perhaps tenuously (if you've currenly got it sorted by relevance, that is). If you have any feedback for the site, please share it here , but please note this is only a hobby project, so I may not be able to make regular updates to the site. Have a nice day! 🐪

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Meaning of travel-sick in English

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• airsickness
• bring someone up
• carsickness
• regurgitate
• sick something up
• sick to your stomach idiom
• sick-making
• sickeningly
• spew (something) up
• travel sickness

Translations of travel-sick

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to try to persuade a customer who is already buying something to buy more, or to buy something more expensive

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• Port Health
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• Laws and Regulations
• Travel Restrictions to Prevent the Spread of Contagious Disease
• Contact Investigation
• Airline Guidance
• Maritime Guidance
• Definitions of Signs, Symptoms, and Conditions of Ill Travelers

At a glance

CDC provides the following explanations and examples of signs and symptoms that might indicate communicable diseases to assist medical and non-medical staff on conveyances, such as aircraft crew or vessel (ship) staff, in identifying ill persons for whom there is a regulatory requirement to report to CDC, or who may have a communicable disease with potential for transmission on board.

Federal regulations found at 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) parts 70 and 71 define an "ill person" as someone who meets criteria for certain signs and symptoms. The definition depends on whether the person is on an aircraft or a vessel.

A person who has:

• difficulty breathing
• persistent cough
• decreased consciousness or confusion of recent onset
• new unexplained bruising or bleeding (without previous injury)
• persistent diarrhea
• persistent vomiting (other than air sickness)
• headache with stiff neck, or
• appears obviously unwell
• A fever that has persistent for more than 48 hours
• Symptoms or other indications of communicable disease, as the CDC may announce through posting of a notice in the Federal Register .
• difficulty breathing or suspected or confrimed pneumonia
• persistent cough or cough with bloody sputum
• decreased consciousness or confusion of recnt onset
• new unexplained brusing or bleeding (without previous injury)
• persistent vomiting (other than sea sickness)
• A fever that persisted for more than 48 hours

Acute gastroenteritis

Definitions below with an asterisk (*)‎.

For the purpose of this guidance, a measured temperature of 100.4°F [38°C] or greater, feeling warm to the touch, or giving a history of feeling feverish

Note: Even though measured temperature is the preferred and most accurate method to determine fever, it is not always possible to do this. In certain situations, other methods of detecting a possible fever should be considered:

• self-reported history of a measured temperature of 100.4°F [38°C] or greater
• self-reported history of feeling feverish when a thermometer is not available, or the ill person has taken medication that would lower the measured temperature
• feeling warm to the touch (for eample, a parent touching an ill child)
• appearance of a flushed face or chills

The presence of fever suggests an infectious cause, but fever is not always present with an infection.

Abnormal areas on the skin that may appear as discolored bumps or flat spots or areas, or blisters or bumps containing fluid or pus that are intact or crusted over

• Color: ranges from light-colored to red or pink, purple, or black, but can also be the same color as the person's skin tone.
• Texture: can be flat, raised, blister-like, or crusted. In some diseases, such as chickenpox, areas with more than one of these characteristics can be found at the same time.
• Maculopapular: A red rash with both flat red areas (macules) and small bumps (papules) that may run together.
• Vesicular/Pustular: Small bumps filled with fluid that can be clear or cloudy (vesicles) or filled with a thick, opaque fluid (pustules).
• Purpuric/Petechial: Red or purple discolorations caused by bleeding under the skin or mucous membranes; they do not blanch or fade with pressure. Petechial lesions appear as small, reddish freckles, while purpuric lesions cover larger areas.
• Scabbed: Lesions that are crusted over.
• Other: Enter a short description of the rash appearance if the other options do not apply.
• Pattern: can be disconnected (discrete) or run together (confluent).
• Location: may include one area of the body, such as the face, or more than one area.

Fever plus rash may indicate communicable diseases such as chickenpox , measles , meningococcal disease , or rubella (German measles) .

Conjunctivitis*

Inflammation of the eye or inner eyelid tissue (conjunctiva); symptoms can include redness, pain, itching, and discharge (fluid or pus).

A runny nose or congestion caused by inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose.

Conjunctivitis and coryza are early signs of measles but can be present with other infections (e.g., some viral respiratory infections) and noninfectious conditions (e.g., allergies) .

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

• Inability to move enough air into or out of the lungs, or doing so only with an unusually great effort,
• gasping for air,
• feeling "short of breath," or inability to "catch" one's breath,
• breathing too fast or shallowly, or using muscles of stomach, chest or neck to breathe (especially for children)

Difficulty breathing—especially with fever—may indicate a person has a respiratory infection, such as pneumonia or tuberculosis .

Persistent cough

Cough that is frequent or severe

Cough with bloody sputum

Mucus or phlegm coughed up from the lungs is tinged or flecked with blood.

Persistent cough may indicate a respiratory infection, such as pertussis , tuberculosis , legionellosis , or influenza . Cough with bloody sputum can be a sign of tuberculosis.

Sore throat*

Painful throat or pain on swallowing

Swollen glands*

Enlargement of the glands (lymph nodes) located in the head, neck, axilla (armpit), or groin

Illness involving the stomach or intestines or both, defined in the regulations as:

• Diarrhea , within a 24-hour period, 3 or more episodes of loose stools or an occurrence of loose stools that is above normal for the person, or
• Vomiting and one or more of the following additional symptoms: one or more episodes of loose stools in a 24-hour period, abdominal cramps, headache, muscle aches, or fever (temperature of 100.4°F [38°C] or greater

Persistent diarrhea

Two or more episodes of diarrhea during a flight

Persistent diarrhea may indicate the person has a gastrointestinal infection, such as norovirus, Salmonella , or cholera .

Persistent vomiting

Two or more episodes of vomiting (other than motion sickness) during a flight

Persistent vomiting may indicate the person has a gastrointestinal infection, such as Salmonella or norovirus .

Yellowish discoloration of skin and/or whites (sclera) of the eyes

Acute (new onset) jaundice can be a sign of a liver infection, such as hepatitis A.

Head pain of unusual severity.

Neck stiffness

The person has difficulty moving the neck or severe pain during neck movement, especially touching the chin to the chest.

Severe headache and neck stiffness, especially in the presence of fever or rash, may indicate the person has a serious neurological infection, such as meningitis .

Decreased level of consciousness or confusion

• Being not fully aware of the surroundings and or confusion about identity, location, or the date or time of day
• Not responding normally to questions or painful sensations (such as pinching), or
• Appearing to be sleepy, groggy, unresponsive, or difficult to awaken

Decreased consciousness, unrelated to use of alcohol or other substances, especially in the presence of fever or rash, may indicate the person has a serious neurological infection, such as meningitis, or a serious infection in another body system.

Recent onset of focal weakness and/or paralysis*

New weakness (difficulty moving) or paralysis (inability to move), unrelated to injury, of the arms, legs, neck, or the muscles used for swallowing or breathing

New weakness of paralysis unrelated to injury can be a sign of an infection of the nervous system, such as polio.

New unexplained bruising or bleeding (without previous injury)

Noticeable and unusual bruising or bleeding from gums, ears, nose, or areas on the skin with no obvious explanation (such as injury), vomiting blood, or bloody stool or urine

Unusual bruising or bleeding, especially in the presence of fever, may indicate that the person has a hemorrhagic fever, such as Ebola disease .

Obviously unwell

Illness that appears severe enough to require medical care

Chronic condition*

A noninfectious (usually) medical condition of at least 1 month's duration, such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, emphysema, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, gastric reflux, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, or glaucoma.

The ill person may be receiving treatment for one or more chronic conditions, and the conditions may affect multiple organ systems.

Asymptomatic*

No reported or visible symptoms or signs of illness

A wound or trauma, harm or hurt, usually used to refer to damage inflicted on the body by an external force

An infection of the lungs that can cause mild to severe illness that can include fever, cough, and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.

Pneumonia can be caused by viruses, bacteria, or fungi. Pneumonia can be diagnosed through a medical examination and/or by imaging of the lungs such as with a chest x-ray.

Muscle aches*

Pain or discomfort in the muscles

Muscle aches that are experienced throughout the body and are not related to activity or injury may be caused by a viral infection, such as influenza or COVID-19.

Abdominal cramps*

A painful pulling or squeezing sensation in the abdomen/gastrointestinal tract.

Abdominal cramps may be caused by a gastrointestinal infection, such as norovirus, Salmonella, or cholera.

Means the symptom or sign does not fall under any of the other listed signs or symptoms (e.g., pain, itching, feeling weak, dizziness, psychiatric symptoms [inappropriate behavior])

CDC works with partners to protect the health of people exposed to a contagious disease during travel and their communities from contagious diseases that are just a flight away.

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When Did Everything Become a ‘Journey’?

Changing our hair, getting divorced, taking spa vacations — they’re not just things we do; they’re “journeys.” The quest for better health is the greatest journey of all.

By Lisa Miller

Drew Barrymore has been talking with Gayle King about her perimenopause “journey ,” and the soccer phenom Carli Lloyd has just divulged her fertility “journey .” By sharing her breast cancer story, Olivia Munn has said she hopes she will “help others find comfort, inspiration, and support on their own journey.” A recent interview with Anne Hathaway has been posted on Instagram with a headline highlighting her “ sobriety journey ,” and Kelly Clarkson has opened up about what Women’s Health calls her “ weight loss journey .” On TikTok, a zillion influencer-guides lead pilgrims on journeys through such ephemeral realms as faith, healing, grief, friendship, mastectomy, and therapy — often selling courses, supplements or eating plans as if they were talismans to help safeguard their path.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

“Journey” has decisively taken its place in American speech. The word holds an upbeat utility these days, signaling struggle without darkness or detail, and expressing — in the broadest possible way — an individual’s experience of travails over time.

It’s often related to physical or mental health, but it can really be about anything: “Putting on your socks can be a journey of self-discovery,” said Beth Patton, who lives in Central Indiana and has relapsing polychondritis, an inflammatory disorder. In the chronic disease community, she said, “journey” is a debated word. “It’s a way to romanticize ordinary or unpleasant experiences, like, ‘Oh, this is something special and magical.’” Not everyone appreciates this, she said.

According to the linguistics professor Jesse Egbert at Northern Arizona University, the use of “journey” (the noun) has nearly doubled in American English since 1990, with the most frequent instances occurring online. Mining a new database of conversational American English he and colleagues are building, Egbert could show exactly how colloquial “journey” has become: One woman in Pennsylvania described her “journey to become a morning person,” while another, in Massachusetts, said she was “on a journey of trying to like fish.”

Egbert was able to further demonstrate how the word itself has undergone a transformative journey — what linguists call “semantic drift.” It wasn’t so long ago that Americans mostly used “journey” to mean a literal trip, whereas now it’s more popular as a metaphor. Egbert demonstrated this by searching the more than one billion words in a database called COCA for the nouns people put before “journey” to clarify what sort they’re on. Between 1990 and 2005, the most common modifier was “return,” followed by words like “ocean,” “train,” “mile,” “night,” “overland,” and “bus.”

But between 2006 and 2019, usage shifted. “Return” remains the most common noun modifier to journey, but now it’s followed closely by “faith,” “cancer,” and “life.” Among the top 25 nouns used to modify “journey” today are: “soul,” “adoption,” and “hair.”

In almost every language, “journey” has become a way to talk abstractly about outcomes, for good reason: According to what linguists call the “primary metaphor theory,” humans learn as babies crawling toward their toys that “‘purpose’ and ‘destination’ coincide,” said Elena Semino, a linguist at Lancaster University who specializes in metaphor. As we become able to accomplish our goals while sitting still (standardized tests! working from home!), ambition and travel diverge. Yet we continue to envision achievement as a matter of forward progress. This is why we say, “‘I know what I want, but I don’t know how to get there,’” Semino explained. “Or ‘I’m at a crossroads.’”

So it’s not surprising, perhaps, that as Americans started seeing good health as a desirable goal, achievable through their own actions and choices — and marketers encouraged these pursuits and commodified them — the words “journey” and “health” became inextricably linked. In 1898, C.W. Post wrote a pamphlet he called “The Road to Wellville,” which he attached to each box of his new product, Grape-Nuts. In 1926, the Postum Cereal Company republished the pamphlet as a small book , now with the subtitle, “A Personally Conducted Journey to the Land of Good Health by the Route of Right Living.”

The language (and business) of self-help so completely saturates culture, “it gets kind of hard to trace where a word started and where it came from,” said Jessica Lamb-Shapiro, author of “Promise Land: My Journey Through America’s Self-Help Culture.” Americans like to put an optimistic, brave spin on suffering, and “journey” seeped in because, Lamb-Shapiro speculated, it’s bland enough to “tackle really difficult things,” yet positive enough to “make them palatable and tolerable.”

“Journey” had fully entered medical speak by the 2010s. Many cancer patients recoiled from the “battle” language traditionally used by doctors, as well as by friends and relatives. In “Illness as Metaphor,” Susan Sontag had noted back in 1978 that “every physician and every attentive patient is familiar with, if perhaps inured to, this military terminology.” But now, opposition to the notion of disease as an enemy combatant reached a crescendo. To reflexively call an experience of cancer a battle created “winners” and “losers,” where death or long suffering represented a failure — of will, strength, determination, diet, behavior, or outlook — on the part of the patient.

Many patients “detest” the military metaphor, Robert Miller conceded in Oncology Times in 2010. Knowing this, Miller, then a breast cancer oncologist affiliated with Johns Hopkins, said he struggled to find the right words in composing a condolence note to a patient’s spouse. “I welcome suggestions,” he wrote.

“Journey” seemed less judgmental, more neutral. In Britain, the National Health Service had started to almost exclusively use “journey” language in reference to cancer (treatments were “pathways”). Semino, the metaphor expert whose father had died of cancer at a time when patients’ diagnoses were hidden from them, wanted to examine how patients talked about it — and whether that language caused them harm. In a research paper Semino published with colleagues in 2015, she looked at how patients talked about their cancer on forums online and found that they still used “battle” as often as they did “journey,” and that “journey” could be disempowering, as well.

For some people, talking about cancer as a “journey” gave them a sense of control and camaraderie — buddies traveling the same path — but others used the term to convey their exhaustion. Having cancer “is like trying to drive a coach and horses uphill with no back wheels on the coach,” one man wrote. Patients used “journey” to describe just how passive they felt or how reluctant to bear the burden of their disease. Separately, patients have told Semino how much they hate the word “journey,” saying it trivializes their experience, that it’s clichéd.

But it was too late: The metaphor already was everywhere. In 2014, Anna Wintour was asked which word she would like to banish from the fashion lexicon and she said, “journey.” The following year, Yolanda Foster, the mother of Gigi and Bella Hadid, told People magazine that while she was on her Lyme disease journey, two of her children were afflicted, too. Medical journals and government publications began describing insomnia , the effort to achieve health-care reform , diabetes , and the development of RSV vaccines as a journey. The term “healing journey,” in use since at least the mid-2010s, blew up around 2021. The phrase in news media referenced the experience of cancer , celebrity weight loss , trafficking of Indigenous children , Sean Combs’s creative process , spa vacations , amputation , and better sex .

On the Reddit channel Chronic Illness, one poster eloquently fumed that persistent sickness is not a journey. “It’s endless, pointless and repetitive. There’s no new ground to gain here.” The cultural insistence on illness as a journey, from which a traveler can learn useful, or even life-changing lessons, becomes something to “disassociate from, survive, endure.” It “causes social isolation.”

Although she concedes its downsides, Stephanie Swanson likes to think of herself as on a journey. Swanson, who is 37 and lives in Kansas City, was an engineer by training, with three young children, a career and a sideline as an aerialist, when she got long Covid in the summer of 2022. The things that had made her successful — her physical stamina, her ability to solve problems — evaporated. “I’ve had to give up my career, my hobbies, my physical abilities,” she said. “I’ve gained 30 pounds on my tiny dancer body. I’m doing the best I can with what I have.”

Swanson makes a distinction between “journey” and “trip”: The latter is circumscribed by a start, an end, and hotel and restaurant reservations along the way. She sees “journey” as a way to capture the arc of a whole life.

When she was running operations at a medical center at the University of Kansas, she always imagined slowing down to enjoy her kids more or to read a book, but “I felt like my head was going to explode.” Now Swanson has become a person who must rent a wheelchair for her upcoming trip to New York City, and she likes how “journey” accommodates all the challenging, unexpected circumstances she confronts. “To me, the word ‘journey’ resonates with choosing to be on a path of acceptance but not standing still,” she said. “I’m not giving up, but recognizing that this is the path I’m on.”

Ramani Durvasula uses “journey” advisedly. A clinical psychologist in Los Angeles who treats women in emotionally abusive relationships, she recognizes how “journey” has been “eye-rollingly cheapened” and has started to experiment with alternatives. She’s tried “process.” She’s tried “healing trajectory.” But she falls back on journey, because it, more than any other word, expresses the step-by-step, sometimes circular or backward nature of enduring something hard. “Arguably, a journey doesn’t have a destination,” she said. “Have you ever taken a hike in a loop? And you end up exactly where you parked your car?”

But Durvasula does object to the easy-breezy healing so many journey hashtags promote, what she calls the “post-sobriety, post-weight-loss, now-I’m-in-love-again-after-my-toxic-relationship” reels. Too many TikToks show the crying in the car then the cute party dress, skipping over the middle, when people feel ugly, angry, self-loathing, and hopeless. “I want to see the hell,” she said. “I want to see the nightmare.”

When in 2020 a Swedish linguist named Charlotte Hommerberg studied how advanced cancer patients describe their experience, she found they used “battle” and “journey,” like everyone else. But most also used a third metaphor that conveyed not progress, fight or hope. They said cancer was like “imprisonment,” a feeling of being stuck — like a “free bird in a cage,” one person wrote. Powerless and going nowhere.

Read by Lisa Miller

Audio produced by Tally Abecassis .

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