Taking medication on a flight....

[tmills]

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes & have been prescribed a medication that must be kept cold at all times. Can I take a small cooler with medication in it on the plane? It's an injection....I've never dealt with this before & I can't find anything concerning this on the web.

 

[Jestocost]

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes & have been prescribed a medication that must be kept cold at all times. Can I take a small cooler with medication in it on the plane? It's an injection....I've never dealt with this before & I can't find anything concerning this on the web.

Yes. Coolers with ice packs (which normally are not allowed) are permitted when required to keep medications cold. You should alert the TSA screener that you are carrying medication that requires being kept cold and follow their instructions. If you are carrying syringes you also should let them know about that.

 

[CPT Tripss]

The potential problem is that the ice pack must be frozen solid . . . it's difficult to guarentee that. A number of posters recommend a "FRIO" pack. you might want to search on that word.

 

[aubriee]

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes & have been prescribed a medication that must be kept cold at all times. Can I take a small cooler with medication in it on the plane? It's an injection....I've never dealt with this before & I can't find anything concerning this on the web.

I too have diabetes and treat it with a Victoza injection every morning. Even though supposedly it would be OK at room temperature, both my doctor and my pharmacist recommend keeping it cold at all times. When I travel, I put one of the Victoza pens in a zip lock bag inside an insulated Vera Bradley lunch bag with two solid Blue Ice mini packs that have been frozen solid and placed in a quart ziplock also. The needles for the pen I put in a small snack size zip lock and drop in the bag with them. At the airport I open the lunch bag and put the frozen blue ice packs and pen on top. I've never had a problem getting through security with them. At the resort I just keep the pen in the room fridge. Our flight home never leaves until around 7:00pm, so early in the morning on our last day, we check our checked bags in at the RAC desk, take the carryons over to bell services. At that time, I pull the VB lunch bag with the Victoza pen in it and ask them to please keep it in their fridge. I then hand them the two mini Blue Ice packs in their quart zip lock and ask them to please put them in their freezer. They then give me a receipt for the carry on, the insulated bag with the victoza pen in the fridge, and the ice packs in the freezer. When we get back late that afternoon we retrieve them, put the now frozen blue ice packs in the lunch bag and put the lunch bag in the carry on. We do the same thing with my mom's insulin and again have never had a problem. Instead of the insulated Vera Bradley lunch kit, my mom carries her insulin in a small six pack size cooler. There's a seperate compartment in the top where she keeps her glucometer, lancets, and needles that doesn't get cold, then in the bottom compartment she keeps a couple of frozen Blue Ice mini packs with her insulin bottles.

You can use the ice packs, but they must be frozen solid to get through security and you need to show the medicine that they are keeping cold.

There was a news story just a few days ago about a diabetic who lost her ice packs to the TSA because they weren't frozen.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes & have been prescribed a medication that must be kept cold at all times. Can I take a small cooler with medication in it on the plane? It's an injection....I've never dealt with this before & I can't find anything concerning this on the web.

Did you check tsa.gov? All the info you need is right there:

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/specialneeds/editorial_1059.shtm

 

[CPT Tripss]

Interesting line from pp cite.

Gels or frozen liquids needed to cool disability or medically related items used by persons with disabilities or medical conditions.

So, airport security screeners should allow gel packs for cooling if medications are involved? That's not the experience of many air travellers. But it sure is the plain english reading for this quote from TSA's web site.

 

[ColorfulDreams]

My son has a growth hormone deficiency and needs to take growth hormones by injection, which also need to be refrigerated. I just got a note from his doctor that states his medication is a medical need, that it must not be checked and must be carried on, and that it must be kept cold, along with a list of supplies that we must carry on with it. They gave us the same letter last time, and we had absolutely no issues with security. I don't know if they do the same thing for diabetics, but all we had to do was call the doctor and tell them we need a letter for plane travel and they mailed it to me. Makes me feel a lot better that if we get questioned about it we have supporting documentation.