Will First Aid Refrigerate Meds?

[geckodani]

My mother is diabetic and will be bringing her Byetta to WDW next week. She's concerned about keeping it cool enough, and I was wondering if First Aid has a refrigerator that they could store it in for us? Worst case scenario we can pop back to the resort each day in the afternoon so she can take it, but I thought I'd check first!

Many thanks.

 

[Bete]

My hubby takes byetta and we have never had a problem storing it at first aid.

 

[geckodani]

Wonderful - thank you!

 

[PatsMom]

Since the Byetta should be injected about 30 to 60 minutes before eating, depending on your dining choice, first aid may not be practical. You will have to walk to first aid, do the injection, and then walk back to your restaurant. With no guarantee on when you will be seated.

If you are there during cooler weather, you really don't need refrigeration. During hot times, back when I was on Byetta and then insulin too, I had a Frio pack. You can order them on line. You get them wet, then expose them to the air, and they keep your medication cool. They work very well. I wouldn't use it to refrigerate unused medication but for my in use pens it was more than adequate. Easy to carry and saved trips to first aid!

Depending on where your mother injects, she could do her shot right at the table. If you are wearing shorts you can inject your thigh very easily. And if you are wearing long pants, the belly is also easy to get to discretely. The injection will probably be closer to the meal than the preferred time if you wait until you are seated but when I used to talk to me educator she told me that it was better to be too close to the meal than to miss that one hour mark.

 

[SueM in MN]

As Patsmom mentioned, you can use First Aid, but there are some disadvantages . One she didn't mention was needing to go back there to pick it up before leaving the park. More than one person has forgotten they left items at First Aid and had to go back - not an option if you leave at park closing.

I was going to mention Frio cases, but PatsMom beat me to it.
A Frio case will keep Byetta, insulin or other medication cool, although it won't be refrigerator temperature. They were originally designed for insulin, which needs similar conditions as Byetta.

According to the Byetta website, it needs to be kept at refrigerator temperature until first use, but once it is used, it needs only to be kept cooler than 77 degrees.
http://documents.byetta.com/Byetta_Medication_Guide.pdf

So, once you have started using a pen, a Frio pack or wallet will keep it just fine.
You can find Frio packs at various websites (including Amazon). Here's one distributor that has a wide assortment:
http://www.frioinsulincoolingcase.com/

I don't know if they still do it, but at one time, Byetta provided free travel cases on request. Customers could request it from the Byetta website or 800 number. These were basically their version of a Frio wallet.
It looks like you can request one from this page:
https://byettaconsumer.myregistrationp.com/RM/registrationInputAction.action?ResponseSegmentId=6083

 

[geckodani]

Thank you for the information. : It's greatly appreciated. I'll see what I can do about getting a frio pack, but we're on a bit of short notice so it might be difficult (leaving Monday). She does have a travel case that she keeps a gel pack in that is then refrigerated.

With the exception of one day, we're park hopping with a dinner reservation at the second park. She needs to inject within 1 hour of eating at breakfast and dinner, so the thought was that we'd leave it at First Aid at the morning park, and then pick it up on our way to the second. She'll probably keep it with her for the duration of the second park stay, as we'll only be there for a few hours (HS for dinner and Fantasmic, etc.).

She's nervous about keeping it on her person all day due to the cost inherent if it were to spoil.

Thank you again for all of the helpful responses!

 

[geckodani]

As Patsmom mentioned, you can use First Aid, but there are some disadvantages . One she didn't mention was needing to go back there to pick it up before leaving the park. More than one person has forgotten they left items at First Aid and had to go back - not an option if you leave at park closing.

I was going to mention Frio cases, but PatsMom beat me to it.
A Frio case will keep Byetta, insulin or other medication cool, although it won't be refrigerator temperature. They were originally designed for insulin, which needs similar conditions as Byetta.

According to the Byetta website, it needs to be kept at refrigerator temperature until first use, but once it is used, it needs only to be kept cooler than 77 degrees.
http://documents.byetta.com/Byetta_Medication_Guide.pdf

So, once you have started using a pen, a Frio pack or wallet will keep it just fine.
You can find Frio packs at various websites (including Amazon). Here's one distributor that has a wide assortment:
http://www.frioinsulincoolingcase.com/

I don't know if they still do it, but at one time, Byetta provided free travel cases on request. Customers could request it from the Byetta website or 800 number. These were basically their version of a Frio wallet.
It looks like you can request one from this page:
https://byettaconsumer.myregistrationp.com/RM/registrationInputAction.action?ResponseSegmentId=6083

These links were immensely helpful. Thank you.

 

[geckodani]

One additional question. I was able to get a frio pack at CVS, however it does not have a liner. I believe byetta isn't supposed to get wet though - would the pack still work if we put the pen in a plastic bag (open at the top) and then into the frio pack? I know they sell them with liners, but CVS didn't have them.

 

[SueM in MN]

One additional question. I was able to get a frio pack at CVS, however it does not have a liner. I believe byetta isn't supposed to get wet though - would the pack still work if we put the pen in a plastic bag (open at the top) and then into the frio pack? I know they sell them with liners, but CVS didn't have them.

That should not be a problem. You can't put the Frio pack itself into an airtight container because the water has to evaporate to cool, but putting the Byetta into a plastic bag won't affect the Frio pack.

 

[Bete]

As Patsmom mentioned, you can use First Aid, but there are some disadvantages . One she didn't mention was needing to go back there to pick it up before leaving the park. More than one person has forgotten they left items at First Aid and had to go back - not an option if you leave at park closing.

I was going to mention Frio cases, but PatsMom beat me to it.
A Frio case will keep Byetta, insulin or other medication cool, although it won't be refrigerator temperature. They were originally designed for insulin, which needs similar conditions as Byetta.

According to the Byetta website, it needs to be kept at refrigerator temperature until first use, but once it is used, it needs only to be kept cooler than 77 degrees.
http://documents.byetta.com/Byetta_Medication_Guide.pdf

So, once you have started using a pen, a Frio pack or wallet will keep it just fine.
You can find Frio packs at various websites (including Amazon). Here's one distributor that has a wide assortment:
http://www.frioinsulincoolingcase.com/

I don't know if they still do it, but at one time, Byetta provided free travel cases on request. Customers could request it from the Byetta website or 800 number. These were basically their version of a Frio wallet.
It looks like you can request one from this page:
https://byettaconsumer.myregistrationp.com/RM/registrationInputAction.action?ResponseSegmentId=6083

I just signed up for Byetta's version of the frio wallet.

 

[geckodani]

That should not be a problem. You can't put the Frio pack itself into an airtight container because the water has to evaporate to cool, but putting the Byetta into a plastic bag won't affect the Frio pack.

Many thanks! It's packed and ready to go. My mom's a wee bit nervous about it still, so we're going to do a trial run with it on our first full day. We're going to leave her meds at first aid, but have the frio activated and with us. We'll check the temp at the end of the day, and if all goes well use it for the rest of the trip.

Thanks again for all of the responses - it's appreciated!

 

[PatsMom]

Sounds like your Mom might be faily new at injecting. You get a little calmer about it after a while! And you also get more comfortable at gauging how hot is is going to be and whether you need a cooling pack for your medication. Good luck to her!

Just as an FYI, when I was doing Byetta it made me really nauseous for the first six months or so. When I went to the diabetes educator because I was going to switch to short acting insulin to go along with my Lantus and drop the Byetta, the first thing the nurse practitioner asked me was where did I inject. I told her in the belly. She told me to switch to the thigh. For some reason I did not get sick injecting into the thigh. Less convenient though if I was wearing long pants. I had to find a place where I could drop my drawers! So if I was out like at Disney I used the belly since I didn't inject prior to being seated for a table service. But when I could, I used the thigh.

 

[Talking Hands]

My mother is diabetic and will be bringing her Byetta to WDW next week. She's concerned about keeping it cool enough, and I was wondering if First Aid has a refrigerator that they could store it in for us? Worst case scenario we can pop back to the resort each day in the afternoon so she can take it, but I thought I'd check first!

Many thanks.

DEFINITELY. I have done it many times. No need to pop back to your resort. I find this time of year it is not a real issue keeping my insulin cool but summer I do leave it at First Aid

 

[geckodani]

Just in case someone stumbles on this in the future, I wanted to report back.

We used both First Aid and the FRIO with great success! Our first day we dropped the meds off at first aid and picked them up at the end of the day. I'd activated the FRIO and had it with us all day, and at the end of the day it was still nice and cool inside, so we used it for the rest of the trip.

Thank you again to everyone that commented and recommended the FRIO. It worked out beautifully!

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for letting us know how it worked for you