I travel within North America and occasionally abroad, for work and pleasure. I take a large number of medications (Rx, OTC, prescribed supplements, unprescribed supplements) and medical supplies -- enough that they have their own carry-on bag [which in North America does not count towards the carry-on allowance if it ONLY contains medical items].
My solution:
- Rx meds are in their original pharmacy containers with pharmacy labels
>> note, some of my meds come in large containers (e.g. 100 day supply); one time when refilling my meds I asked the pharmacy if, for travel purposes, they could also please give me an empty small container (8 dram is the smallest they have) with the proper label for each of my meds that are pills/tablets/capsules; this was not a problem and they did it for free; I therefore have a small pharmacy-labeled container for each Rx med that I use for traveling
- OTC meds are in their original containers
>> I buy a smaller size container of each of my OTC meds (e.g. a Tylenol container holding 24; Benadryl in foilpack sheets instead of the normal bottle holding 125) and use that to carry the respective meds; it costs a bit more since the smaller size is less cost-effective, but that is a one-time cost and I just refill the containers when I travel (well, except for the Benadryl, that is a new purchase)
- supplements go in individual baggies that are labeled + carry printed info about each of them
>> most of my supplements come in glass bottles and it is neither feasible nor safe to travel with the original containers; NONE of my supplements are controlled or otherwise of concern (we're talking vitamin D, vitamin C, magnesium, and others, not "body-building" and similar supplements that may contain substances banned in a country).
>> for each supplement, I put the capsule/tablets into a small pill pouch, and then that in turn goes into a snack-size Ziploc. The Ziploc I have printed a label for which lists the manufacturer, supplement name and dosage of each capsule/tablet.
>> separately I created 4x6 "cards" that I printed on photo paper for each med, which I carry in the organizer that holds all the supplements; the cards were made from cutting and pasting info (into MS Word) about each supplement from the manufacturer's website: photo of the front of the bottle & ingredient info & name of supplement & manufacturer's logo
>> I actually wrote to Canada Customs and to US Customs and explained the dilema I had with the original glass bottles; their advice back to me helped me come up with the above; they did also note that there is always a chance a supplement not in its original packaging could be confiscated, and I am willing to accept that risk for the supplements
- injectable meds (mine currently are pre-filled syringes, but in the past I have traveled with vials and syringes) stay in their original containers with original pharmacy label and are well-protected from damage; I also have a letter from my doctor stating the necessity for me to have one of the medications and its syringes
>> NOTE that some countries have very specific rules about importing injectible medications (e.g. Japan) and may have special hoops you have to go through to be allowed to import injectible meds (if allowed at all) as a visitor, such as getting advance permission from the country's government; for some countries this is for ALL injectible meds, even something as innocuous and clearly labeled as an Epipen. If you use ANY injectible medications and are traveling outside Canada and the USA, CHECK AND VERIFY the rules that apply for the country(s) you are intending to visit well in advance of your intended trip. For some countries short notice trips would be impossible because of these rules.
To date I have not had any issues using the above. YMMV.
SW
