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Monday, 1 February 2010
Travelling with medication
19:59 | Posted by
Louise Sopher
If you take daily medication and are going away for a prolonged length of time, you may be wondering what the rules and what the advice is for the following:
- How or where to carry your medication(s)
- What is the best way to package your medication(s)
- Getting through customs with prescribed medication(s)
Travelling with medications is sometimes simple in hindsight but stressful and complicated nearer the time. To reduce sudden realisations of "oh my goodness, I'm going to have trouble at customs!" here are the answers to the above, which are formed of a mixture of different opinions/experiences from others, as well as doctors and chemists' views.
TIP #1
Buying
- Medication can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be.
- In the UK you can apply for a medical prescription charge exempt certificate if you have one of a number of conditions which includes hypothyroidism. Check out the full list here: http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/SNSP-4914.pdf (page 5)
- You are also exempt from payment if you are:
- Under 16 years old
- 16, 17 or 18 in full time education
- 60 years of age or over
- …or if you have claimed a tax exempt certificate or payment exempt (means-tested).
- Following the link above will direct you to more information and a more full list of options.
TIP #2
Pack most of your medication in whichever bag is going in the airline's hold, and some packets in your hand luggage.
- This ensures that if anything does happen to your hold luggage, you have some medication to keep you going while you sort out the issue.
- There is no problem with putting medication in your hold luggage so far as I am aware and have been told, especially if it is solid medication - pills, etc. The holds are pressurized so there is no need to worry about temperature or anything of the sort.
TIP #3
DO NOT take your medication out of the cardboard boxes and put them in other bags. You need the label which comes on your medications' boxes - without these foreign customs' may well take your medication off you without question.
- With most boxes, especially levothyroxine ones, only one month supply is contained within each box. You could, therefore, take out several months' supplies and squeeze them into one box - so long as the medication in its box is labelled you will be okay.
- You could also ask your chemist for bigger white cardboard pill boxes which fold down when not being used. If you wanted to use these you would have to ensure that you unpicked the label from the other packets and stuck them on the correct ones, and clearly.
TIP #4
TAKE a signed or professional Doctor's letter or print-off explaining that you have a long-term condition and therefore need to take regular medication.
- I am taking one of these signed forms plus a print-off of all the current medications and their dosages (ask at your local GP surgery).
- You may be questioned at customs about the amount of medication in your bag, especially if it is in your hand luggage, or (as is becoming the trend) your hold luggage is scanned. Note that this may happen in foreign countries more so than in the West. If you are questioned you will need to prove that what you have is prescribed medication and you are therefore okay to carry it. If you cannot prove this, your medication may be taken off you.
- Another advantage of doing this is that if you were to be unlucky enough to have your hold luggage (containing the majority of your medication) lost, you should be able to get a new prescription while you are away of your medications, using the doctor's note.
TIP #5
Weight
- Packaging months' worth of medication is always difficult.
- Try getting rid of as many cardboard boxes as you can by squeezing the silver foil ones into another box (see Tip #3).
- Take out the instruction manuals in each box.
- If you are diabetic you may apply for an allowance of about 5 extra KGs hand luggage. So far as I am aware you cannot do this with other conditions.
- Remember that your bag will get lighter as you go along and use up all your meds!
I will add more tips as I think or find out about them.
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