Flying with refrigerated medications and needles?

[WaDiWo]

Hi all!

anyone have any experience travelling with insulin, Forteo, or other meds that need to be refrigerated? plus needles?

what do you need to carryon the meds? how did tou safely dispose of the needles?

thanksa!

 

[utterrandomness]

I'm not familiar with insulin, but I had to have injections of growth hormone for pituitary dwarfism as a child. I had a cooler case with ice packs to keep the medication cold. I believe the ones most commonly used around here are a brand called Frio.

For taking needles on planes, I don't think you need anything special, but I like to have a doctors' note just in case. Keep your prescription and keep things in their boxes as much as possible.

When I travelled (almost a decade ago), I put the caps back on the needles and put them back in the case to go in my sharps container at home, but I hear there are needle clippers out there that you can use to clip the needles and just throw out the rest. The needle pieces are stored inside.

I hope you have a wonderful trip.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

1. I would suggest going to www.coolerconcept.com and looking at the Frio Cold Packs. There are several people in this forum, myself included, who use them.

These are gel packs that are water activated. They will keep the internal temperature at insulin-safe levels for over 40 hours. As the water evaporates you can just soak it in water for a few minutes to reactivate it. They come in various sizes.

For example, I have a "double wallet". Depending on what I am doing it will hold my Byetta pen as well as either a syringe with insulin in it or two insulin vials. And I tend to do at least five air round trips a year and have never had any problems with TSA over it.

2. I tend to have about five air round trips a year, even international. I have never had any problem with syringes.

3. I put my pills in daily containers and have never taken original pill bottles or even copies of prescriptions. This is in accordance with TSA's rules and policies.

 

[PatsMom]

The Frio wallets are awesome for an in use vial during hot weather! I will also use them to refrigerate a vial I will be using soon but want to transport cold. I would not use a Frio for long term refrigeration of medication - it keeps cool, but not cold!

I have never had a problem flying with insulin. A separate check when I mentioned I had a cooler with ice in the days before the Frio pack. The needles never get a second glance. I also don't bother with notes or prescriptions normally - I am going to China next month and I am making an exception for that trip!

Disney will provide you with a sharps disposal container if you are staying on site. If I forget to call them, I just use a hard plastic water bottle like Life Water. I use pen needles so you really don't need much. I just bring the water bottle home and dispose of it here. Done the same thing travelling where I don't know if there are sharps containers - again, when I go to China I will probably bring my used sharps home with me.

Have a great trip!

 

[WheeledTraveler]

I recently started seeing Frio wallets for sale at my local CVS. I don't know if CVS is the only place carrying them, but I thought I'd mention it.

 

[WaDiWo]

thanks everyone!

I'll check out the Frio packs! thanks for your help.

wadiwo

 

[dthogue]

I recently started seeing Frio wallets for sale at my local CVS. I don't know if CVS is the only place carrying them, but I thought I'd mention it.

Our CVS carries them as well - I was able to purchase a double Frio wallet on Amazon for a few dollars less than the single one at CVS - so check Amazon, plus they had several different color choices.

 

[dthogue]

I just use a hard plastic water bottle like Life Water.

That's a great tip - thank you for sharing - I'm traveling for the first time next month as a diabetic and these tips are so helpful!

 

[daneenm]

We save our gel packs from our mail order insulin delivery and use them for travel. Put them in a reusable lunch box in our carryon and then take that lunchbox out when we get to the screeners. We have never had a problem with needles at all. The thing they always give more scrutiny to is my son's nebulizer. It almost always gets pulled out and swabbed.

On the way back, we refreeze the gel pack as best we can in the freezer part of the in room fridge. If there is no freezer part, we just use the fridge. When you are carrying on there really is not a huge temperature issue that we notice, so this keeps it cold enough.

 

[memakwed]

My mom has diabetes and when travelling on the plane to disney she uses a little insulated cooler. She goes to the airline website and follows their directions for bringing needles meds on boards. check your airline for specifics. She brings everyting in their labeled pharmacy packaging in the cooler. At the hotel we request a fridge.

 

[PatsMom]

My mom has diabetes and when travelling on the plane to disney she uses a little insulated cooler. She goes to the airline website and follows their directions for bringing needles meds on boards. check your airline for specifics. She brings everyting in their labeled pharmacy packaging in the cooler. At the hotel we request a fridge.

I think most Disney hotels now have a fridge - not sure about the values though. You can request a medical fridge - it is a small shoe box sized thing. But once insulin is in use, you don't need to refrigerate it. I try not to subject my unused vials to any more travel than necessary. I carry what I need and a spare. So I usually don't have to worry about refrigeration on the return trip.

I never knew airlines had specifics - I have read the TSA rules and that's all I ever ran into. Are the airlines different? I typically fly Southwest but might be doing a Jet Blue flight next month. Never occurred to me that they might have different rules.

 

[dthogue]

I never knew airlines had specifics - I have read the TSA rules and that's all I ever ran into. Are the airlines different? I typically fly Southwest but might be doing a Jet Blue flight next month. Never occurred to me that they might have different rules.

The airlines don't have their own regulations about medicines/needles - I have never had anyone from any airline inquire about this. Once through security your good to go.

 

[Casemily]

Most airports have sharps containers in the restrooms.

 

[SixUnderSix]

We don't travel with needles but I was wondering if the amount of medicine my son needs exceeds the amount of liquid on a plane is it okay? Everything would of course be labeled as medicine from the pharmacy.

We've never flown with any meds before and we were advised to keep all meds with us since if our luggage gets lost, he has to have them.

Anyone ever been given trouble for that? He's 2 1/2 if that helps...

 

[MisWal]

The 3 oz limit does not apply to liquid meds. You can bring on as much as is needed for your trip.

As far as having a sharps container, I just keep all mine with me and dispose of them when I get home. I will also use an old water bottle to collect them. Airports do have sharps containers in the bathrooms also if you want to dispose of them on your way home.

I'll 2nd, 3rd, 4th the Frio wallets. They work great!

 

[clanmcculloch]

We don't travel with needles but I was wondering if the amount of medicine my son needs exceeds the amount of liquid on a plane is it okay? Everything would of course be labeled as medicine from the pharmacy.

We've never flown with any meds before and we were advised to keep all meds with us since if our luggage gets lost, he has to have them.

Anyone ever been given trouble for that? He's 2 1/2 if that helps...

There are no size limits for the containers if it's medication (Rx or OTC). You have to have the liquid in its original bottle and you have to declare it to TSA. My way of declaring liquid medicines and epi pens is to just throw them all in a gallon sized ziploc bag and pull that out of my carryon for the TSA agents to see. A couple of times they've asked to swab one or two of the bottles but that's the extent of anything examination of the meds. Usually they don't even stop the bin for a more in depth look in the xray machine.

 

[lanejudy]

We don't travel with needles but I was wondering if the amount of medicine my son needs exceeds the amount of liquid on a plane is it okay? Everything would of course be labeled as medicine from the pharmacy.

We've never flown with any meds before and we were advised to keep all meds with us since if our luggage gets lost, he has to have them.

Anyone ever been given trouble for that? He's 2 1/2 if that helps...

No problem. Keep the liquid meds in a separate ziploc bag (separate from other toiletries, etc.) that is only medication. Pull it out and declare it as medical when you go through the screening. ANYTHING you have that's medical will not count against your luggage allowance, either carry-on or checked, as long as it is packed separately and declared as such.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[SixUnderSix]

Oh that's awesome - thank you guys!! Flying sure has changed a lot in the last few years and I was sure I'd screw something up but he's fed through a feeding tube so our meds have to be in liquid form and I was nervous we'd have a hard time. Awesome info

 

[lanejudy]

Oh that's awesome - thank you guys!! Flying sure has changed a lot in the last few years and I was sure I'd screw something up but he's fed through a feeding tube so our meds have to be in liquid form and I was nervous we'd have a hard time. Awesome info

Depending on the length of your trip, you most likely will not be able to bring a full supply of his FEEDING product ("liquid nutrition") as carry-on. TSA will only allow approximately what you would use in a day, maybe it's 2 days. Don't refer to it as "formula" (TSA agents immediately think "baby" and all logical thought process goes out the window) but rather "physician-prescribed liquid nutrition." You might want to order a supply to be delivered to your resort if possible. There are some threads here on the DIS about handling this issue.

Good luck!