Traveling with chronic pain/meds

I generally take only what I need and they stay on my person at all times. I also do not use motel safes as they all can be overridden and combinations have a pass code in case you forget what pass code you used.

I keep them in a banking bag in my purse, the deposit kind that requires a key and this is more in case there's an emergency or something.

As for vacation refills my Dr actually wrote a week worth of meds with different strengths and orders but still coming up to my daily dose. That way no issues with anyone. Does that make sense and if not I will explain more.

Good luck and move around when you can while the plane is in flight.

Hi 1 day,

I also only take the amount of meds that I will need to get me through the length of the trip -- plus one day. That way I know that I have extra meds in case something happens (flight delay/cancellation, etc) and I am delayed in getting home. That almost happened to me the last two times that I flew. It is bad enough to get stranded somewhere in your travels, but to get stranded AND run out of meds... No one wants to have to go through withdrawals (and an extra painful rest of the trip home) just because the airlines were stupid and overbooked the flight. And I also keep my meds on my person at all times while traveling. I have a small make-up bag that I keep my meds in.

As for the "vacation refill" -- I can't help you there, as I've thankfully never run into that problem before. My suggestion would be to talk to your pharmacist first, and ask what the normal protocol is for your situation. As I'm sure that they deal with stuff like this all the time. Then based on what they say, talk to your doctor about getting your regular prescription a few days early, or getting some kind of limited prescription to get you through the trip. The benefit of talking to your pharmacist first is that besides being able to tell you what their pharmacy's policy is, they may also be able to help talk to your insurance company to find out specifically what they will allow, if need be. That way you can go to your doctor knowing exactly what needs to be done. Rather than having your doctor write you a prescription, only to get to the pharmacy and find out that either the pharmacy or your insurance won't allow it to be filled.

One other thought is that you might want to talk to your doctor ahead of time and ask if it is okay to take an extra dose or two of your breakthrough meds if needed, while traveling. That way if you find the flight to be extremely painful, you are able to take some extra meds either during or after the flight (or likewise, on the way back, if you know that the flight is going to be really painful based on your experience flying out, you could take an extra dose of your meds before you get on the plane).

And if you think that you might need to get up frequently during the flight to walk around, etc, and you don't have an isle seat. You may be able to ask whoever you are sitting with if they could trade seats with you. I know I've done that for people before. Or, even before you get on the flight, you could go up to the people behind the desk at your gate and request that your seat be changed to an isle seat. And/or if you need more leg room, and you don't mind being responsible for operating an emergency exit if need be, you could request to be reassigned to an emergency exit row. Often times they are even specifically looking for people to move to exit rows. They may or may not be able to accommodate you, but it'd probably be worth a try.

Good luck with your trip! I hope everything works out and that you have a wonderful time and the pain is kept to a minimum!

Skeye

Hi. I am sympathetic to your sitting problems. When I travel on planes I try and get aisle seat at bulkhead. Easier to get up and stand frequently. Do not travel overseas anymore because of sitting problems. Keep flights to United states. Would not first class be great. Have fun.

Yes, you need to always have your meds in the original labeled containers, this is for legal reasons to protect you. If you have large bottles, consider taking your big bottles down to your pharmacy & talk to the pharmacist about printing you a label with a smaller bottle for your medication. Explain that you are going on a trip & you are only wanting to take enough meds for your trip & how the bigger bottles will be difficult to take with you. If you were to get pulled over by the police in any state & have meds not in their proper containers you could be arrested. This has really happened.