Storing medication

[PoohBear]

I need the advice of the experts on this board. I have to take a daily injectable medication. It must stay refrigerated. I am worried that the refrigerators in the room will not be reliable. When we stayed at the WL in January we came back to find our milk frozen solid. The temperature of the fridge varied every day we were there. Since then I have had to start this medicine and I concerned.
My husband said that maybe the hotel could hold it in a better fridge. But then I am putting my drugs into a strangers hands. The drug company said if I accidentally shake or jostle it the medication will be destroyed. I feel like I'm handling C4.
It is extremely expensive and cannot be easily replaced. I thought I would ask you wonderful people if you could give me some tips. I need to keep it at a reliable temp and not get bumped around.
I have not even thought about how to take it in the parks yet. I have to take it in the afternoon. They did provide me with an extremely well padded insulated carrying case. It says I can carry it for up to 4 hours in the case. But where could I inject myself?
Thank you for sharing your expertise!

 

[SueM in MN]

I need the advice of the experts on this board. I have to take a daily injectable medication. It must stay refrigerated. I am worried that the refrigerators in the room will not be reliable. When we stayed at the WL in January we came back to find our milk frozen solid. The temperature of the fridge varied every day we were there. Since then I have had to start this medicine and I concerned.

Those small refrigerators can be harder to control the temperature. And, the less that is any refrigerator, the more easily things can freeze. That can even happen in your home refrigerator. We came back from a long weekend and found our milk had frozen.
Some hints -
When Housekeeping cleans the room for a new guest, they may turn the refrigerator to as cold a setting as possible. So, check the setting.

The more stuff there is in the refrigerator, the more consistent the temperature will be. So, even if it means filling your ice bucket with cold water and buying some water to put in the frig, that should help hold the temperature.

If you put a bunch of stuff in at the same time that is not cold, it will temporarily raise the temperature and take longer to the temperature down.

My husband said that maybe the hotel could hold it in a better fridge. But then I am putting my drugs into a strangers hands. The drug company said if I accidentally shake or jostle it the medication will be destroyed. I feel like I'm handling C4.
It is extremely expensive and cannot be easily replaced. I thought I would ask you wonderful people if you could give me some tips. I need to keep it at a reliable temp and not get bumped around.

I don't think there is any guarantee that a hotel refrigerator would have any more reliable temperature, so I would probably not do that. Especially, since that would add other worries about the staff storing and handling the medication.

I have not even thought about how to take it in the parks yet. I have to take it in the afternoon. They did provide me with an extremely well padded insulated carrying case. It says I can carry it for up to 4 hours in the case. But where could I inject myself?
Thank you for sharing your expertise!

You can use First Aid for giving your injection and also for storing it at the parks.
Each park has a First Aid center that is well marked on the park map. The staff there will take your medication and store it in a marked bag for you in your refrigerator.
First Aid also has private rooms where you can give your medication. Here's a picture of one of the rooms from the Studio:

You might want to find out from the company or the Pharmacist exactly how cool your medication needs to be kept. If it just needs to be cool (between 54 and 79°F ), you may be able to use a Frio wallet/holders, which a lot of people use for storing insulin. In their FAQs page, they say that the Frio wallet will keep insulin cool (54 to 79°F ) for a period of a MINIMUM of 45 hours (this is based on a constant outside temperature of 38.8 °C (100 °F) - Orlando won't be that hot.

You might also want to ask the Pharmacist or the company for suggestions on storage to keep it at the correct temperature.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I would suggest that you go to www.coolerconcept.com and look into buying one or more Frio Cold Packs. These are water activated and will maintain a stable cool temperature. As the water evaporates and the gel starts to turn back into crystals all you have to do is dump them in water for a few minutes to recharge. Check the information on their site.

I have two of them, and it depends on what type travel I am doing as to which one I use. And there are several people here besides myself who have been using them for years and I have not heard any complaints.

 

[Libbyt]

I think your concern about the hotel fridges is legitimate - rather than freezing too much, we found ours barely kept drinks cool, even when turned up to the max........so I would worry about consistency! I'd check out some of the alternatives mentioned, something you can bring with you.

 

[PoohBear]

Thank you everyone for the info.
I do know what you are saying about fridge being full. I have seen that before. Unfortunately, our fridge at WL was full....full of frozen milk, frozen juice boxes, frozen pizza, frozen sandwiches...LOL.
It was already turned down as low as it could go but I think the fridge was just broken, the next day nothing was cold. We told the front desk a couple of times and they said maintenance would check it out but they never did. We just gave up using it. You have to accept a dud every once in a while with the volume of equipment Disney has.

I think that wallet looks great but I don't know if it will work for my medication. Can you use more packs to make it colder? The box on my meds say it must be stored between 36 and 46 degrees.

I am thrilled to hear that I can go to first aid. I had visions of trying to juggle my paraphernalia in the bathroom stall. Leave it to Disney be so accommodating.

Thank you all

 

[SueM in MN]

I think that wallet looks great but I don't know if it will work for my medication. Can you use more packs to make it colder? The box on my meds say it must be stored between 36 and 46 degrees.

I think you need to find out from the Pharmacist (not the Pharmacy Aid/Tech) what the company means by 'stored'.
For some medication, it means that the medication needs to be continually held at that temperature and can only be out of refrigeration for the few minutes it takes you to perform administration of it.
For other medication, it means that unopened bottles that are not in use yet need to be kept at refrigerator temperature, but the bottle you are currently using just needs to be kept cool (in which case the Frio pack may work well for you).
Even though the Frio pack itself may not cool it well enough, their information says it will keep the medication cool (54 to 79°F ) for up to 45 hours in an environment with a constant outside temperature of 100. You may be able to keep it cooler by having the Frio pack inside your medication insulated pack.

Is there anything inside the pack to keep it cool besides padding? If there is not, it probably is just keeping the medication cool, not refrigerator temperature. Your Pharmacist should be able to help you with this or contact the company for you to find out.