Travelling with refrigerated Meds

[Happyexplorer]

Hi fellow travellers,

Afew weeks ago I asked if anyone had a fool proof way of carrying refrigerated meds internationally, in my case Actemra, from Aus to UK.

I thought I’d let you know that everything went without a hitch and I was way over prepared!!

Firstly I asked my Rheumy to write a letter I drafted as below:

On letterhead:

•I am treating Ms xxxxxxxxx for the serious auto-immune condition Giant Cell Arteritis for which she needs to take weekly Actemra (Tocilizumab) 162mg injections and multiple Prednisone tabs daily.

•As she is travelling for 3 months she will be carrying 12 injector pens with her.

•Actemra is a Biologic/monoclonal antibody delivered in pre-filled injector pens which need to be stored at 2-8 degrees centigrade but NOT frozen and must be kept in a temperature controlled medi-cold bag, using 2 or 3 large pre-frozen blocks.

•They cannot be placed in the Aircraft hold.

•Ms xxxx will have this bag as hand luggage, and also non refrigerated essential medications including Prednisone 5mg and 1mg tabs.

I then purchased a medivac insulated bag for $127AUD (made in France so probably cheaper in UK!) which was supposed to keep meds at 2-8degreesC for 36 hrs if the outside temp was around 24 degs. (I tested it at home and felt 26 hrs more accurate) I estimated my journey door to door would be about 30 hours, but actually had a flight delay and the journey ended up being 39 hours. I had taken an extra, smaller freezer block which the airport clinic put in their freezer during the 9hr layover in Abu Dhabi (a bar freezer would be fine) and I added that to the medi bag and the meds were all cool enough on arrival.

Security insisted on removing the bag and contents and put it through the scanner separately, but they could see they were injections and didn’t actually look at the letters or worry about the freezer blocks, which others had found to be a problem.

For shorter trips within Uk I have just used the small freezer block for travelling and a domestic fridge along the way has been fine for one or two syringes.

Apologies this is so long but I wanted to share all details in case anyone else is planning an extended trip.

Happy travels!

xx

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Brilliant - I think this merits a place in FAQs! It's certainly likely to be useful for me at some point. And I wouldn't guarantee it being cheaper in the UK any more since Brexit ...

[MrsNails in reply to PMRpro]

Added ✅

[Happyexplorer in reply to MrsNails]

Oh good, glad it's helpful 🤗

[Frenchduck]

Thank you very much for taking the time to write this post. It is really useful information for anyone travelling with medication that needs to be kept cold and it removes some of the anxiety from the journey. I will definitely benefit from your experience. That's what is great about this forum.

[Happyexplorer]

So glad you found it helpful Frenchduck. I have also benefitted so much from the well informed and kind answers on this terrific forum!

[Bachblues]

I echo my thanks - so much - for this very useful advice. I’m going to India in November and had already started to worry about things!

[Happyexplorer]

Have a great trip! Depending on flight times you might not need the expense of the med vac bag which, I forgot to mention, weighs at least a kilo. Any insulated bag and freezer blocks would probably do, with the back up of the very specific letter. But the quality and size of the freezer blocks with the med vac bag were certainly far superior to anything I could find anywhere else.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Happyexplorer]

I suppose a critical factor is also how long you are likely to be travelling altogether - going away for 2 weeks holiday and needing 2 syringes to cover that time is far less of a complication than being away for 6 weeks for example. If you have to miss one or two injections it probably won't make much difference - you have to do that if you develop an infection and need antibiotics for example.

Is there no extra allowance for medical requirements? Seems unfair if there isn't - you can carry a mobility aid or child's pushchair and child's bag for under 2s.

[Happyexplorer]

I believe there's no 'official' allowance, but assume there would be some understanding of an extra bag unless one was really under 'weight' pressure, say from an airline like Ryanair. Am sure for longer International flights where they factor in huge weight discrepancies between passengers, there'd be no issue. Though the airline specifically told me not to rely on crew storing the meds during the flight, this offer was made once I'd expressed concern at the longer layover in Abu Dhabi. Still, always nicer to be 'self sufficient' and having had a good experience, (even tho I was definitely a bit 'over prepared', with all the paperwork etc!) I am very comfortable about any future travel. With the power of 'social media' making any complaint very damaging to their brand, am sure most airlines would try to be helpful!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Happyexplorer]

My husband weighed about 55kg latterly - I always felt that the passenger and their suitcase should be weighed together for allowances!! I weigh rather more but I was still one of the lighter passengers on any flight to/from the USA

[Happyexplorer in reply to PMRpro]

🤣🤷‍♀️🤔