Traveling with Vitamins, Ibuprofen, etc.
 

Hi,

I've heard that if you are traveling overseas (I'm going to Paris) that it is a good idea to bring copies of the prescriptions if you are carrying prescribed medicines.

What about traveling with vitamins? I'd like to keep taking mine when I go over there and I usually throw my needed amounts all together in one bottle. Should I keep them all separate to travel to Paris? UGH!! That will take up a lot of room.

Also....what about traveling with Advil, Lactaid, Melatonin and other OTC items. What is the best way to take these?

Sorry if this is a lame question.

Kelbert

Hi Kelbert,

I know the advice is to keep your prescriptions in the labeled bottle, but I just dump everything (asprin, sleep aids, vitamins, prescrips) into a baggie and go.

I've never had a problem.

There have been many discussions on this. My Dr who was a worldwide traveller told me to keep all meds including OTC in their original packaging. I would imagine that some security or custom people would not know that some pills or tablets are OTC.

What I did is this. I bought the smallest bottle available of say Advil.
That is my travel bottle. I refill it with the Advil from the large bottle when I travel.

I think this is a decision each person has to make on their own. Do think about this. If they confiscate your meds because they cannot ID them, will that ruin your trip?

I know that many people mix the meds in one bottle etc and have never had a problem.

That is IMHO like saying I don't need insurance because I have never been in a car accident ot my house has never burned down.

Anyway, do have a wonderful time in Paris! Lucky you.

This is a valid question, and I'm sure lots of us travelers wonder the same thing. I have several different vitamins, Advil, Excedrin PM (just in case!), etc., plus 2 prescription meds I need, so this can be a problem. I started saving my smallest prescription bottles, and now I put my vitamins, etc. in those - and mix some of them together. That doesn't take up too much room, and works for me. Of course, I've never been searched, either! I keep my prescription meds in my purse in the original bottles (small).

How long will you be gone? What I always do is count out enough of each vitamin to last me however many days my trip will take. Then I make a little individual pile of each day's vitamin allotment. So if I'm going for 10 days, I'll have 10 little groups of vitamins. I wrap each one in plastic wrap and put the whole collection into a sandwich bag. It takes very little room in the suitcase, and makes it very easy just to pull out one little package each day.

I can see that this wouldn't really work well for a trip of several months, but for a couple of weeks or less, it's quite feasible.

We are leaving for Europe in 3 weeks and as I am ashmatic I got my Doctor to fill out a standard form they have (Australian) to say what tablets and what dosage I am on etc. So hopefully don't have any problems but in the past I've just taken the medication with no problems. Enjoy your trip.

Oh dear...for our 7 week trip I will need a carry-on for the meds.

Dumb question...but I am pretty sure we can get any vitamins, over the counter stuff in France can't we?..yes we would need to know how to translate the names of course.. I dare not 7 weeks worth of our vitamins..we take everything from cranberry pills to lutein.

Well I needed somethng else to worry about...

I don't take any prescription medications, but always take some aspirin, Ibuprofen, Pepto Bismol tablets when traveling. I've never even thought about them, and just take them in the small box or a small aspirin bottle they came in, with some individual packets.

These aren't detectable on any scanning machine, and even though I have won the lottery a couple times in the last few years for more extensive searches -- plus was on a flight from Paris to Washington DC where every single person had their bags searched -- no searcher has ever had the slightest comment or question about aspirin or any of that stuff.

I don't think they are so worried about drug smuggling to Europe (or whatever you think would be the problem, I don't really know what the issue is) as they are about bombs, weapons, etc.

It wouldn't make sense that pills <u>with</u> labels would be any less suspect than pills with<u>out</u>.

But then, airport screeners function on mood swings, not logic.

Thanks so much for all of the advice.

I'll carry prescription meds in original containers....and dump all vitamins together. If they take these away....I'm sure I will be fine w/o my vitamins for a week. :-)

I've always put all my vitamins in empty kodak film containers. You can throw them away as you go and label the tops.

I've NEVER had a problem with security either in Europe or Latin America.

This is better than putting them in Fuji film clear plastic containers since vitamins can lose their potency when exposed to light (also a problem when storing in clear sandwich bags)

For non Rxmeds I just usually dump them together in a large vitamin bottle. (Since I can always replace them if I have to - but have never had a problem.)

For Rx meds I always leave them in the original bottle - not just for any possible legal issues - but in case I need to get more (a friend of mine accidentally flushed her package of OCs down the toilet - and ended up having to call her MD inthe US to get a replacement of the correct kind organized.)

I always buy the smallest bottles if possible or individual packets (might be a bit more expensive) of Advil, Pepto, calcium pills, or vitamine and leave everything in their original containers. I've travelled to the Carribean, Europe and Asia carrying all sorts of my personal prescriptions and OTC stuff, and haven't ran into any custom problems. And I know that I've had my bags checked almost every time because I always found the little slip afterwards that stated that the custom went in and checked my luggage.

An impoartant thing to remember is that many of the pills that we view as OTC or readily available at a grocery store are pharmacy only items in Europe. For example, in Prague, you can only get aspirin or cold tablets in a pharmacy. In Vienna last month, I had to pay 9 euros for the equivalent of 12 Nyquil capsules for cold. Take plenty of what you need to avoid sticker shock.
As for packaging, my wife puts everything in one big bottle and I use the original containers. Nobody has as muuch as glanced at our internal pharmacy in the last year.

I take 2 prescriptions in their original bottle (sleep aid &amp; anti-anxiety) bu thave never been questioned.

I don't carry vitamins any more because time and time again I hauled them along (in baggies) and never remembered to take them when traveling! Maybe others are you are more dedicated vitamin takes than I?

I pack a few Advil, Imodium, and Benedryl (after my 1st hives incident recently). Figuring these are things *if* I needed, I would want immediately.

Anything else I go to the pharmacy and purchase. Remember Europeans have the same physical problems as everyone else, and they have remedies available (sometimes better than what I'd use at home). You might not find your exact vitamin regime, but there are health and natural foods stores all over Europe, and certainly you can find a reasonable equivalent (&amp; for loisco without taking 7 weeks of everything along).

I always carry our vitamins with our toiletries. My father-in-law has some serious meds (syringes, morphine, meds)and they managed no problem, carry-on prescription bottles with patients name on it.

We count and dump. My husband prefers a ziplock freezer bag for his Rxs and vities; I use a vitamin bottle and mix'em all together. NEVER had a problem!

I wish Mikemo would see this thread and post his thoughts. It would be interesting.