How to keep medication refrigerated while traveling?
 

One of my travel friends now has to take nightly eye drops which require refrigeration. She is concerned about keeping it refrigerated on those travel days which combine both long flights and then travel by train or car. I'd like to know how others have solved this problem or do you modify your travels to suit your medical needs. Just wondering if we now will have to find hotels that have mini bars rather than our usual charmingly quirky two star hotels without ;;) Thanks for any suggestions I can give her. Deborah

Could she maybe pack it in a plastic bag with that "blue ice" stuff and put in her carryon?

I am an insulin-dependent diabetic. When I travel I use the gel ice packs that fit inside my insulin carrying case for long flights. Most people are very accomodating and will help you regarding freezing the packs for you if you do not have an in-room frig. I also always keep a lot of ziplocs handy and put my meds in a ziploc and then put them in another ziploc with ice if nothing else is available.
Lastly, I never ever put my meds in my luggage or carryon. I always keep them in my handbag. This way I know they are with me and only I am responsible for their safekeeping.
Hope this helps.

I also take Xalatan eye drops at night before bed. Some hotels have a minibar in the room, so you could use that. Others may have a kitchen fridge you can use with their permission. My opthamologist said Xalatan (and Timolol) do not lose potency if left unrefrigerated for a day or so, only for prolonged periods. If true (confirm with your doctor), then I would not worry about it being unrefrigerated during the flight or a car trip.

Maybe dry ice and one of those little portable lunch containers made out of material?

crefloors, thanks, I thought about the blue ice but didn't think that would keep things cold during the flight plus either a long drive or train ride to our final destination. That would be worst case senario, of course.

Dejais, thanks for the suggestions about ice and ziplock bags. I know she will have a small insulated bag for her drops, we could get some ice for the ziplock bags before we leave the plane to keep her meds cold while we drive.

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions. Deborah

If the eye drop that your friend has to use is Xalatan, it doesn't need to be refrigerated after it got dispensed to the patient and it will last 6 weeks without refrigeration at controlled room temperture. If refrigeration is necessary, the methods suggested by other is sufficient.

thanks everyone, when my friend told me of her concerns I knew I would get some help from this forum. Many thanks, Deborah

I used to have to travel with refrigerated acne medication (thank goodness I am no longer an adolescent) and we used to put a little ice into one of those heavy duty thermoses, then drop the tub in, then cover it with ice and close the container. It stayed cold no matter where we went.

i'm not suggesting that you can do this with your meds but for myself (insulin dependent diabetic), i bring new stuff straight from my home refrigerator, don't bother to refrigerate it on a trip, and discard after the trip. i don't want to fool with ice things that may freeze my meds (worse than keeping unrefrigerated). i also assume (rightly or wrongly) that going from refrig to room temp and back again whilst in the course of travel is worse than storing constantly at room temp. so once "unrefrigerated" for a length of time, i never put it back in the refrigerator.

Hi DeborahAnn, has she talked to her pharmacist about this? I always find them to be a wealth of information. Just a thought. Best regards, and have a lovely trip.

My friend does take Xalatan and did talk to the pharmacist when she picked up her first RX. I've passed on the suggestions given here and she is going to talk to some of our friends who are pharmacists as well as her doctor.

I sensed her to be less than enthusiastic about European travel because of the complications associated with her medication and I wanted to give her some suggestions and encouragement which I knew I would find here ;;)

Thanks for the help. Deborah

DeborahAnn,

It wouldn't hurt for your friend to ask if another non-refrigerated medicine could be substituted for the Xalatan.

Have your friend buy some Kwik Kold packs. You activate them buy pressure.
http://www.mfasco.com/product_info.php/products_id/5030

Meant to add you can activate these and place in a thermal bag such as a lunch bag and they stay cold much longer than listed. This will work during the day while sightseeing and at night I'm sure your hotel will accomodate you.

kybourbon, thanks for adding to your post. I had visions of her needing an extra suitcase for the kwik kold packs if they only last for 30 minutes ;;)

I am hoping they will spend 3 weeks with us in Italy next May and I know my friend is wondering how to deal with this refrigeration concern.

Two things we can do is to make sure we stay in places that will allow overnight refrigeration either in the room or on the premises and staying multiple nights at each location. Our friends will then see the positives of Slow Travel that we enjoy.

Thanks again for the good advice, Deborah

You can also check with your local Poison Control Center worldwide for questions about medicine stability.

Product info from the company: Opened bottle may be stored at room temperature up to 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) for six weeks (Prod Info Xalatan(R), 2002a).

I use Xalatan and always store the unopened medicine in the refrigerator and once opened, I keep it at room temperature. My pressure checks have been normal doing this so I have to assume the medication is effective used in this manner.

I also have medication that requires refrigeration. My medication can withstand up to 77 degrees for a limited period of time, but also cannot be frozen.

The best solution I've found so far is to use a small thermos. I will either use my blue ice--re-frozen when possible or else ice in a ziploc bag.

For what it's worth...our initial plans were for Italy. I was pleasantly surprised at how common minibars seemed to be. We ended up deciding on Ireland. Minibars there were more of an issue. All B&Bs I've contacted will let me use their refrigerator. Larger hotels were a bit more of an issue. Most large, budget hotels did not have minibars but were willing to let me use the main kitchen refrigerator. I was not comfortable with that idea.