Medication Question

[DrJJ]

Local pharmacies will provide a small container with a duplicate prescription label so that you can take a small quantity of prescription medicine with you on vacation. Not sure if Medco or other large providers will do this, but it would not hurt to call and ask.

[CruisinCadie]

Please, please, please, always take a few days extra meds, not just what you need for your trip. Remember those poor travelers who were delayed last year due to the Iceland volcano? Or the one who got caught by the blizzards at Christmas last year? We were lucky and were at our destination while the blizzards were tying up air traffic, but on our return trip, there were people who had been waiting 3 extra days to get home. If someone needed meds and only had enough for the trip, they'd be in a real fix.

 

Kathy

[Verona Gal]

DH and I have traveled extensively both overseas and in the US over the past 20 years. When we travel, we take only one carry on bag each. When we started traveling we took very few medications, so taking pills in the original containers was not a problem. Over the years, however, we slowly added more and more meds and space became a real problem when trying to use the original containers.

 

We came up with a solution that has worked with no problem for the last ten years. We put each medication in a separate ziplock bag (you can buy special small med bags at most drug stores) and stick on an extra label we get from our pharmacy. For non-prescription meds we carefully peel off the label from the bottle and stick it on the zip lock bag. We also carry the medication info sheets with our name and the Rx number we receive with each prescription.

[Whippets]

VeronaGal, that is a magnificent idea and thanks for sharing it! A flat ziplock bag takes up much less space than those bottles!

Our newspaper, The Charlotte Observer, had the story about the pregnant lady with the insulin posted yesterday. It stated she had 3 bottles total, all under 3 ounces each. One bottle was half full. They were packed in large melting ice packs which the TSA had issue with. She was instructed to purchase more ice after she went through security. They confiscated the ice packs and allowed her to carry on the two unopened bottles of insulin. She had copies of her prescriptions, along with her doctor's orders and was able to obtain another bottle of insulin at her pharmacy at her destination. This is what happened according to the news reporter. I don't know, wasn't there.

[pattyj 1204]

My husband takes a number of vitamins and prescription meds, has always taken them in a daily med minder without difficulty. I'll try to get some of the labels of the vitamins and ask at the pharmacy for extra labels, although I don't know if they will do that. He gets giant sized bottles for all his meds, my bottles are slightly smaller, but will still take up room. Thanks for the advice.

[shorefolks]

While the suggestion to carry a printout of all your meds (from Medco or other provider) is certainly an excellent one, another printed page that might come in handy is this one: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/specialneeds/editorial_1374.shtm#4

 

If you check the section for Medications, you will see the following sentence: We do not require that your medications be labeled. That might help if you encounter the occasional clueless TSA officer or supervisor.

 

Needless to say, this refers only to TSA and says nothing about what you might experience when entering foreign countries. Regardless, I'm just not about to lug my 9 different, 90-day-size Medco containers for a two-week trip. I'll rely on my printouts- plus my pacemaker and bypass scars.

[kitty9]

One word of caution. You might get away with dumping your pills into the days of the week containers or in baggies for Caribbean cruises, but if you're flying into countries like China, Singapore or even Australia, you absolutely cannot do that. All prescriptions MUST be in original bottles with the appropriate info on those bottles.

 

Those countries don't take kindly to drugs of any kind, even vitamins or supplements. When I flew into Singapore for a Crystal cruise, I saw the local authorities ripping though a couple's bags because they forgot to include the fact that they had lots of vitamins in their bags, and didn't declare it. In Australia, an elderly couple didn't fill out the entry card correctly and didn't list all their prescriptions on the form. The Custom's officials were beyond tough with this couple and were searching every single item in their suitcases, looking for drugs. I forgot to include one of my asthma inhalers, and got a complete verbal thrashing by the official.

 

So, if any of you are going to Australia for X cruises, make sure you find some way of getting your pills into bottles with all the appropriate information on the bottle. You will avoid tons of problems.

[Marelaine]

Don't chance having his meds confiscated. Check with your local pharmacies to see if any offer bubble pack service, also called blister pack. The Rx labels can be attached to the pack.The bubble or blister packs look like this:

 

[phoenix_dream]

You obviously don't use Medco for your prescriptions. They ship all prescriptions in huge bottles, even if you want 30 tiny pills...(I assume that they use a common bottle for everything to cut costs). As far as I know, you can not request smaller bottles. It doesn't take too many pills for this to amount to "that much room" when you are trying to pack in smaller lighter bags.

I do use Medco and what I do is save an extra bottle from them for each medication , then when I travel I put all the extra medication I do not need in the extra bottle(s) and take the current bottle(s) with what I need (plus a few extra just in case). Yes, the bottles are not small, but they are lightweight.

 

In response to this stream in general....I agree with those who say it is way too important to take even a small risk that the pills will be questioned or worse, confiscated. Just because it doesn't happen to a person 95% of the time doesn't mean it won't happen 5% of the time. I would not want that 5% to be the time I am running late to catch a plane heading for my cruise! It is so easy to just take the pills as is, and then if you want to use the daily distribution case, change when you get there.

 

I just do not understand all the replies here from people thinking it is no big deal and it is such a hassle to take the regular pill bottles. Seriously, of all your packing, is your medication not in fact the most important item of all to pack?? I think it is right up there with cruise docs and passports. I mean really, what is most important? Much of this medication is life sustaining, right? People don't hesitate to throw two or three bathing suits into their bags when they can get away with one, but then balk at how big or inconvenient pill bottles are? Huh??? To each their own as any risk is yours to take, but I would rather take one less bathing suit, or one less pair of shoes if that is what it takes to be able to safely carry my medication.

[2SeaWithMe]

Phoenix, you must be lurking about in my head. lol I SO agree.