Do meds need to be in their original containers?

[Bowie MeMe]

I take many RX each day. My usual procedure is to put them in 5 weekly containers (based on when I take them). These 5 containers fit very nicely into a zippered plastic case (that was first filled with pillow cases!).

 

the rest of my RX supply go in plastic snack bags with RX labels taped with packing tape to the snack bag. It is actually the label you mail in for refills but I do that on-line and do not need the label. The label has my name, RX number, Dr. name, name of drug and amount, and instructions. It is in fact the pill bottle label. Count out what you need plus margin. Fill weekly containers from snack bags. I carry all medicines with me in my carry on luggage and meds are in more than one place -- purse, travel bag, husband's hand luggage.

 

I also carry a list from the pharmacy which I generate from my RX history and print out. This list is also in an email folder labeled documents.

 

This saves so much room without the plastic bottles. I got this idea when the pharmacy sent me a certain prescription in a plastic bag with the label. I renew the bags about once a year so that the RX date/RX number is current. I have carried my medications in this manner for 10 years and I have never been questioned through many searches. The thing that always triggers the hand luggage search is the tiny metal tubes of eye cream that lubricates the cornea -- 6-8 of those tubes which are hard to identify on screen get me pulled aside for personal attention:p

[bunchesofun]

Thanks. He's just trying to stir the pot. Not sure why he thinks the OP is a 60 year old either. ( Not that age has anything to do with unlawful drug possession!) :cool:

Not quite there yet, turned 56 on Monday :D

[goose30]

I it is always safer to bring medications in their original container with the prescription label. Instead of bringing the whole bottle, count out the number you will need (plus a few extra).

 

As a general rule, always try to avoid situations which can potentially cut your cruise short.

 

Let me see if I have this right. It is safer to bring medications in their original container but I should count out what I need? If I am going to bring the original container why should I count out what I need? Are they going to get lost so I need a back up? How would I get what I left behind ???????

[Jade13]

As a police officer, I can tell you that getting caught with controlled substances is illegal, unless you have a prescription. That bottle with your name on it is your proof. Without it, you are in possession of illegal narcotics unless / until you can prove otherwise.

 

It is getting harder to do this as companies require that you go through mail order and they send a large bottle with three month supply.

 

I thought what one needed was the prescription. Of course the bottle is better but not practical for those who travel on short business trips or even a short cruise.

[Jade13]

I take many RX each day. My usual procedure is to put them in 5 weekly containers (based on when I take them). These 5 containers fit very nicely into a zippered plastic case (that was first filled with pillow cases!).

 

the rest of my RX supply go in plastic snack bags with RX labels taped with packing tape to the snack bag. :p

 

I thought one pharmacy had told us it was not legal to supply extra RX labels.

[phabric]

I carry my DH 10 meds in their small original containers and then put them in a clear makeup bag. He has to take 5 different types of vitamins a day. The vitamin's bottles are large (you know the bottles that hold 500 tablets). Can I separate the vitamins into 7 daily cases or what should I use for them?

[greatam]

If you only cruise in the Caribbean, the chances of having a problem are slim. BUT Mexico, the home of prescription drugs without a prescription causes lots of problems for lots of people. How do you PROVE the valium, xanax, SOME heart medicines (I am particularly thinking of Plavix-copyright and trademark infringement without the script) etc. etc. was legally prescribed in the USA when you return from Mexico? You can't without the bottle.

 

South America, particularly in Peru for Machu Pichu trips, Diamoxx is the recommended medicine for altitude sickness. Available in the US via prescription, available over the counter in pharmacies AND some small grocery stores in South America. It WILL be taken away re-entering the USA without the prescription AND original bottle.

 

Don't even think about a Holy Land cruise or a Middle East cruise and take one of those pill containers. You CAN be arrested when you arrive via plane into Dubai/Oman/Kuwait, etc. etc. with the wrong medicines. What is legal in the USA is very often ILLEGAL in the Middle East even WITH a prescription. With a US prescription, generally the drugs will just be taken away. Without it, off to jail you go.

 

Law enforcement, the US Military, US State Dept, Homeland Security and ever manner of private security working under government contracts state to ALWAYS carry prescriptions in their original bottles. Your choice, but I am one of those who would rather be safe than sorry.

[PennyAgain]

I tell this story every now and then on CC. My nearly 90 year old mother-in-law during one of the last trips of her long life lost absolutely all of her medications that were in 7 day daily containers when we all came back to the US and had to go through US Customs.

 

The US Customs agents dumped all of her pills out on a filthy table and went through them.

 

All of them including her heart medications.

 

She ranted and raved and insisted that she had always used the 7 day containers for dozens and dozens of trips with no problems, but it mattered not at all.

 

We were no where near getting her to her home town where she could get refills of her Rx's and had airplanes to catch.

 

It mattered not!

 

The US Customs agent seized everything she had on her and with her and trashed them all!

 

It was nearly 30 hours before we could get her medications replaced.

 

At her expense for most of them because her insurance wouldn't pay for too soon refills.

 

Her son had a serious talk with her (one of many) about using original Rx containers, but she knew better. Her behavior was embarrassing and could have killed her on the journey home.

 

Do I need to say she was wrong?

 

Please do not take advice from people who tell you that they break the law and have done so for years with no problems. They are giving you really bad advice.

[D4]

DH & I each take a bunch of daily prescriptions including a couple controlled drugs. To save space and still be compliant, I peel off all the prescription bottle labels and stick them on a sheet of paper which I keep with the meds. I put each kind of med in a separate tiny ziploc bags they sell at many pharmacies by the 7 day pill containers. Otherwise we'd have to bring 10-12 pill bottles.

[Jade13]

DH & I each take a bunch of daily prescriptions including a couple controlled drugs. To save space and still be compliant, I peel off all the prescription bottle labels and stick them on a sheet of paper which I keep with the meds. I put each kind of med in a separate tiny ziploc bags they sell at many pharmacies by the 7 day pill containers. Otherwise we'd have to bring 10-12 pill bottles.

 

The question is regarding whether or not meds are required to be in their original bottles. Otherwise, everyone can just bring a copy of their prescriptions. I think not everyone is carrying all bottles for the reasons that you describe that they would need a ton of bottles, and/or in the case of mail order prescriptions might have large bottles with a 3 month supply of EACH medication and only traveling for a 3 night cruise.

[PennyAgain]

The risk you take by repackaging is all on you. How would you feel to have necessary meds taken away from you by US Customs or the customs agents of another country? Can you live without them? Can you explain yourself in a situation where you don't speak the local language?

 

What if it happens at the beginning of your trip and not on the way home? Can you survive?

 

Someone can post that they have never had a problem with such and such a scheme, but do you want to put your life and the cost of your vacation on that comment?

[spunkie4]

When we travel domestic, I packaged our daily dosage in small ziploc bags, placed in a larger ziploc bag with the prescription on the larger bag.

 

When we travel international, I place each RX in separate, small, ziploc bags with the prescription on each bag. Never had a problem.

 

I fail to understand what difference the container makes. Maybe someone on this forum has a definitive answer.

 

The prescription has the description of the med and often we have received meds from the dispensry in a zip loc bag.

[greatam]

 

The prescription has the description of the med and often we have received meds from the dispensry in a zip loc bag.

 

Prescriptions in zip locs are NOT common most places in the world, particularly in Asia, the Middle East and South America.

 

As PennyAgain posted, what happens if they are taken away when you land in Santiago, Buenos Aires, Dubai, Beijing or other places in the world??? Your chances of getting EXACT DUPLICATE meds replaced quickly are very slim in foreign countries (other than Europe). Have you ever been to a doctor or hospital in a foreign country? Some are VERY efficient (most places in the Middle East have a WONDERFUL system) but some are so bad (Cambodia to name one, Northern Peru to name another) that unless it is truly life threatening, you are better off trying to set your own leg, stitch up your own wound or buying whatever meds you can from wherever you can for your ailment (and get the h*** out of the country).

 

To each his own but with as much traveling as PennyAgain and I do, neither one of us would take the chance with zip locs, pill containers or anything OTHER than the original prescription bottle. Surely, you can leave out some of the stuff people take on cruises (white noise machines, coffee pots, airbeds, who knows what else) and take ALL your prescriptions in the original containers.

[SadieN]

Great! How do we find out? We go to Europe in 2 months & was planning on taking my percocet (in the original Rx bottle) in case my medical condition acts up while on our trip. I don't want to be arrested in Italy or Spain because my legal US Rx is illegal there. :(

 

DD goes to school in Italy. We have her meds in labeled bottles. One isn't approved by the Italian gov't. She cannot get them refilled there. Needs to come home and get them. No way are we gonna mail them to her. She's heard stories of other students having their non-approved drugs thrown out.

We carry them on andin the airport go thru the 'nothing to declare' door. We do have a doctors note, JIC.

[PennyAgain]

Thanks Greatam, you and I both where the wrong way of dealing with Rx meds could end up with very serious troubles. I've learned never to try to argue with a bureaucrat of any country on earth.

 

I am also interested in the newest information coming out about some countries requiring proof of medical insurance before allowing you in to the country. Proof of medical insurance that will pay for your needs in their country.

 

Very interesting!

[Jade13]

When we travel domestic, I packaged our daily dosage in small ziploc bags, placed in a larger ziploc bag with the prescription on the larger bag.

 

When we travel international, I place each RX in separate, small, ziploc bags with the prescription on each bag. Never had a problem.

 

I fail to understand what difference the container makes. Maybe someone on this forum has a definitive answer.

 

The prescription has the description of the med and often we have received meds from the dispensry in a zip loc bag.

 

How do you get all of these individual "original" prescriptions (unless you are making copies)? I am asking only because I want to know. As we get older we may need more medications, and would have a problem if we had to take 12 differant prescriptions daily as someone has mentioned. I have always been told by well known pharmacies (Ex. CVS, or mailorder such as Medco), that they can not legally give you extra labels or additional small labeled bottles.

 

I have never seen a prescription in a zip lock bag only. Who does that? Sam's Club? Walgreens, etc?

[Jade13]

deleted

[6rugrats]

How do you get all of these individual "original" prescriptions (unless you are making copies)? I am asking only because I want to know. As we get older we may need more medications, and would have a problem if we had to take 12 differant prescriptions daily as someone has mentioned. I have always been told by well known pharmacies (Ex. CVS, or mailorder such as Medco), that they can not legally give you extra labels or additional small labeled bottles.

 

I have never seen a prescription in a zip lock bag only. Who does that? Sam's Club? Walgreens, etc?

 

I don't know anything about receiving prescriptions in a ziplock bag; never seen that. I have been able to go to my pharmacy and get a small empty bottle with a prescription label; not sure why that is illegal.

 

I know it's a problem for mail in prescription plans, where you refill three months at a time and get enormous bottles. When we've had that type of coverage, sometimes I'll ask the doctor to write a one month prescription also, and take it to a local pharacy to get it filled, just to get the labeled bottle. The copay is more, but with our plan, was not unreasonable. Then, when it's time, I've just mailed in the three month prescription to be filled and for travel, fill up the smaller bottle.

 

I used to take meds all thrown together into one container, with just a few more than I thought I'd need. Then, I got stuck someplace and now take a full small bottle of each one.

 

Never had a problem taking pills in unlabeled containers, but know it could be a problem, depending where you travel. Better safe then sorry.

[PennyAgain]

The only time I have ever gotten an Rx in a container that was not in a regular bottle was back in university when we were given little paper envelopes with a hand written label. Oh boy was that a long time ago.

 

I've had Rx pills taken out of their original containers and hand inspected by US Customs on more than one trip. Lovely idea that. I had a perfectly legal spray bottle of HC DermaPax taken by US Customs last summer which made no sense as it is legal to buy in the US without an Rx.

 

You just can't count on what might happen. That's my whole point.

[spunkie4]

How do you get all of these individual "original" prescriptions (unless you are making copies)? I am asking only because I want to know. As we get older we may need more medications, and would have a problem if we had to take 12 differant prescriptions daily as someone has mentioned. I have always been told by well known pharmacies (Ex. CVS, or mailorder such as Medco), that they can not legally give you extra labels or additional small labeled bottles.

 

I have never seen a prescription in a zip lock bag only. Who does that? Sam's Club? Walgreens, etc?

 

 

Prescription in ziploc came from the military base. it was in a blister pack. Blister pack was placed in the zip loc bag with presecription on the bag.

 

As for duplicate prescriptions, I use two methods. When the prescription is filled, we are given a print out of the exact label that is on our bottle (from CVS). Also, since prescriptions are good for a year, it is very easy to peel the label off the most recently filled and tape to the bag. I use the old bottle for home.

 

Hope this answers your question.

[madmarti]

I always carry my meds in their original bottles. I take quite a few so they take up alot of room in my carryon. I always take the whole bottle for each. What if our coming home is delayed for some strange reason, a storm, etc. I can't afford to go without them so I take all of them. madmarti:eek:

[phabric]

How do you carry vitamins? I buy the large bottle that holds 500 pills, I don't want to carry these sized bottles with me. DH has to take 5 per day as per doctors order for prostate cancer. His other pills are in their original containers.

[PennyAgain]

How do you carry vitamins? I buy the large bottle that holds 500 pills, I don't want to carry these sized bottles with me. DH has to take 5 per day as per doctors order for prostate cancer. His other pills are in their original containers.

 

If you can find the exact same vitamin in a much smaller size, even though it would cost more per pill (more than likely) then you can use the smaller bottle for travel.

 

I save many useful bottles for this purpose. Like for like just a smaller size than the super large bottles often from COSTCO and Sam's. I have a 300 count bottle of Vitamin D on my desk (so not to forget about taking what I should do) but travel with a much smaller bottle of the same product.

 

If that fails I would ask the doc to write an Rx for the vitamin with the idea of having your pharmacist make you a legally labeled and small size bottle.

[kitty9]

I agree with greatam and Penny. There are many countries where you will be thrown in jail if you travel with any pills in a baggie or days of the week container. I can tell you from first hand experience that countries like Russia, UAE, Jordan, Brazil, Vietnam and Australia, among many others, don't play games with anyone carrying any pills. I saw one elderly couple from the US being torn apart by Customs agents at the Sydney airport because they had their pills in a plastic container. The poor woman was in tears, and I felt so sorry for them.

 

But, it's not only in foreign places. All you need is one overzealous TSA agent with a God complex to ruin your vacation. My mom used to take 17 pills a day, but she carried them in the original containers. The TSA agent pulled the bag out of her carry on and said she was lucky she had the pills in their original containers. But my dad, who takes over 20 pills a day, put them in those days containers and the TSA agent pulled him out of line and took him to the private room. The agent looked at every pill, handling each one (yuck) and told him they could have thrown them out.

 

I get a kick of the false bravado of some who say "just try and take my pills". If you travel enough, and not just to the Caribbean, you'll learn soon enough that that bravado is nothing but false.

[Got2Cruise]

I'm wondering if it is even legal for the TSA agents to take the pills. That is not their jobs. Their job is to make sure the plane doesn't get blown up or hijacked. Not to stop the smuggling of drugs.