gauvins

I'll be months on the road this Summer. Having reached the age at which you are told that you should do your part in support of Big Pharma, I am supposed to carry several Rx.

For the past couple of years I'd remove the pills from their blister packs (more packaging than medicine) and put them in small plastic bags, and put these bags inside a small dry bag. The idea being that pill won't rattle if stored in a bag (as opposed to in a plastic bottle) and that as you consume Rx, packed size diminishes. As is often the case, I started researching the topic only to find universal condemnation of this practice. Apparently you should leave meds in their original packaging to avoid problems at the airport, and you are expected to carry a copy of your prescription.

In my experience, I was never asked anything wrt my meds, but I am becoming more ambivalent about repackaging pills. I'll perhaps fly with blister packs and repackage at destination.

This being said, if someone has ideas WRT superior containers, I'll read with interest

staehpj1

I've never had a problem carrying them without the original packaging, bottle, or prescription. I guess the longer the trip and the larger the number of pills the more likely there could be a problem, but in my experience it never has been. If I were taking a controlled substance or something I'd carry the prescription. As it is I guess I sort of do have access to the prescriptions. My doctor is in a practice that has a portal that has that info available from my phone. Also I get my prescriptions through a pharmacy that has a portal that I can log into that shows all my prescriptions and their status.

You could carry pictures of the labels or prescriptions on your phone if you were really concerned.

Edit to note that my experience is all in the US.

Tourist in MSN

I do not think much has changed in the past decade:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/8...tion-tour.html

And
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/8...to-powder.html

What I do:
I assume that your meds are in labeled bottles from the pharmacy. I ask my pharmacy in advance to put them in the tiniest bottles that they have because I will be traveling with my camping gear in foreign countries. They are pretty good about using small bottles. But my current pharmacy does not stock any small bottles, I would be tempted to buy some alternative bottles and bring them into the pharmacy and ask them to put their labels on those bottles if I was crossing a border, but I have not discussed that with them, they might refuse due to the child-proof packaging requirements.

I take the pills out of the bottle, put in small plastic bag, put that bag back into the same bottle. That keeps them from rattling around and becoming dust, I do that instead of cotton. And they are still in the right labeled bottle.

Non-prescription over the counter meds, such as Tylenol, Aspirin, I have done the same as you have in the past with the labeled plastic bags. But I had a very small amount of these, thus a small volume so I would then shove several different bags of meds into one prescription bottle to provide more protection for those meds.

I think the dry bag for all your meds is an important item. You mentioned that, but I am repeating that for others that may read this.

Off topic, but related - since Covid, I have added a small electronic thermometer to my meds kit that I carry.

Also off topic - see if your medical provider will supply a QR code that shows your covid vaccination information in case you are asked at an airport about vaccination status.

saddlesores

My meds are taken out of the packaging (box or bottle) and put in small zip-loc bags along with the data sheet and one side of the original box with bar code. All the zip-locs go into a waterproof tupperware container. I would carry a prescription for anything possibly considered a controlled substance but not for OTC meds.

i'd be a little more careful flying internationally, as one country's OTC med could be another's controlled item.

staehpj1

Just to mention a couple other things. My wife has flown with her prescriptions in little ziplock bags divided out by day and time of day. She must take 15 or 20 things per day. She doesn't tour, but she has flown with a few weeks worth in her personal item and never had an issue.

That said when you are talking about months worth of pills it starts to look like just bulk amounts rather than them being removed from packaging for daily use. That could look more suspicious. If you take a bunch of different things possibly consider one of the services that package the prescriptions into ziplocks already set up by day/time of day. It probably costs more, but might be worth it during a long tour.

Also when on tour using the postal system to get prescriptions to you can be helpful on long tours. General Delivery can be your friend. My companions on the TA did this with good success having them sent from home. That may be easier than getting them refilled on location. If the trip is really long and/or your prescriptions require freshness or might go bad in the heat.

GhostRider62

OTC? in a small plastic pill box.

RX? In its primary packaging with the secondary having the prescription label on it.

Anything scheduled (controlled substance) and travelling international requires checking that country's restrictions, it could be banned.

https://www.iamat.org/blog/what-you-...medications-2/

mbusky

When using a controlled substance I keep a copy of script (paper) and a pic on my phone, the pills stay in the original bottle and cotton from the pharmacy (just ask for it) prevents pill form smashing to bits then I store in HB bag and never leave it .When I hit the head or any other place the bag goes to! Once in 40 years was I asked about it at a border crossing back from Canada to US. Sometime I'll be carry a 90 day supply when hiking.
.

John N

I am a liver transplant recipient (thank you donor and donor family!) and take up to 27 different pills per day and have for 18 years. I have toured all but the 1st summer as I was too ill that summer. I have experimented with a variety of ways over the years and here is what I have settled on since my bundle of pills adds up.

1. I use those little individual dosage cups you find at the hospital (buy on Amazon) to help me sort the pills per "serving" of pills, i.e. all the morning pills in one dose cup, all the evening pills in one dose cup, repeat for each day. When I do this, I do a grid of dose cups. For instance a 25-day tour would have two columns of 25 rows for a morning/evening pill regiment. This allows me to quickly drop all of pill A in the the appropriate cups followed by pill B, etc. Since I have different pills on different days, I have to keep the grid orderly otherwise I may take Wednesday's only pill on a Saturday. NOTE: I usually add 1 or more days of extra pills in case the return is delayed for some reason.
2. Using the same number as dose cups, I take small 2"x2" clear poly zip-lock bags I bought on Amazon and I punch a hole in them using a large safety pin. This is important so you can make the bags more compact by getting the air out.
3. I then mark an "M" or an "E" using a permanent marker (ideally in a different color morning or evening if applicable as it makes it easier to see the time period) for each appropriate pill bag. I used to also do an "A" for afternoon pill too.
4. I then pour each dose cup in an appropriately marked/holed small bag keeping them in the same order as they were in the original grid so to keep "Monday morning, 3/13" pills in order. I press the air out of the individual bags as I go. Using the above 25-day tour example, I now have 2 columns of 25 rows of bagged pills in the proper day/time laid out.
5. I then take 3"x4" clear poly zip lock bags (Amazon), punch a hole in them, and mark each bag for a given calendar day of the month I am on tour, i.e. 13, 14, 15, etc. starting with the first day of the tour (say the 13th) and cycling back to 1 as appropriate, i.e. 30, 31, 1. The reason to do this is the individual's day's bags get jumbled out of order so it is easy to verify you are on the correct day. About three 2x2 bags fit in one 3x4 bag. I will try 3x3 daily bags next time I buy them since I no longer take afternoon pills.
6. I then stuff the appropriate day's pills (evening first, morning last) into the appropriate calendar day's bag and press the air out of the individual bags as I go.
7. I then stuff the calendar day bags in reverse order into a standard quart size bag until full. For me, I typically put about 10 days into a "deflated" quart size bags. I use a 10-day period just for ease of finding pills and if I lose/damage a set of pills (haven't done yet), I have not lost all the pill.
8. I then punch several holes in the quart bag and mark them if needed, i.e., 10-20, 21-31, 1-10, etc. depending on the number of quart bags I need.
9. Finally, I gently press the air out of the quart bags until the air is out.
10. While touring in areas where the temps get above 85*F, I place the bags inside the sleeping bag and/or middle of clothes to help insulate from the pavement heat as I have several pills that can "melt" above 98* and it is not uncommon for asphalt to be above 100* if the air temp is above 85* on a sunny day. I haven't had pills melt yet but some did sag once on a 105* air temp day.

I have never had pills melt, grind, get ruined due to moisture, rattle, etc. using this method. You may get by with smaller bags as you probably don't have as many pills as I do but the method is basically the same. Obviously, if you have less doses, i.e. only once per day, you can make some steps/bags. Lucky.

For trips over 30 days, I tend to have someone mail the next month's pills care of General Delivery (using Priority Mail in case I miss the pick up location due to weekend, etc. as they can be quickly forwarded to the next location for free) about 10 days before I am supposed to run out. I try to time it so I pick them up about a week before I am to run out. To make it easy for the person mailing the package, I package the pills into a pre-paid box and address it so all they have to do is put it in the mail. I almost exclusively use smaller towns with a population of less than 5,000 people with only 1 post office as they are typically open 6 days per week and there is no confusion as to what post office the pills are delivered to. Plus the small town folk tend to be much more friendly and helpful.

For medical purposes, I carry a laminated card showing what pills I take and the dose. The card also says to call the transplant center, etc. I keep this in my wallet at all times. I travel by plane about 4-5 times per year, and have never had an issue even though the pills are always easily shown on the scan when going through security. When I travel internationally, I do carry a letter from my PCP on his letterhead indicating what I am taking, what for, etc. I basically just typed it up for him and emailed me a pdf and he sent me the official letter. I have never had to use it.

Not mentioned is that you may need to get a "vacation fill" from the pharmacist. This basically means the insurance company has to override the refills (say the original refill is one refill per 30 days) to what you need. They just bump the next allowed refill back proportionately. The downside to this is that if you lose/damage your pills on tour, you get to pay retail rates on all your pills which in my case would be a few thousand per month. This override can take a few days so plan ahead.

Have a happy pill poppin tour!

Yan 

You can put a cotton ball inside a bottle to keep the pills from rattling around. In the old days some bottled medications were packed this way from the factory.

Calsun

In forty years of overseas travel I have never had any issues with medications I take with me. Even with the post 9-11 insanity of the TSA they are looking for serious weapons like nail cutters and not drugs.

Tony Marley

I'd be sure to take the prescription(s), or photo of prescription(s), no matter how you decide to pack the meds.

GhostRider62

TSA isn't the issue in foreign countries.

Some medicines are banned in other countries. Like cannabis in Russia. Narcotic pain meds in some countries are outright banned. Know before you go. TSA is insane but that is besides the point.

Chancy

My wife and I take a few meds and have for years. Our drug plan requires we purchased them as a 90 day supply. These bottles are often not small. We purchased some 3"x4" durable (3-4 mil) ziplock bags from Amazon, had to buy 100 ($4 - $5). We then get replacement prescription labels from our pharmacy, apply the new label on the 3"x4" bag and add pills. They don't rattle, pack small, and we have the prescription on every medicine. This gives us peace of mind if we were to be checked. CVS and Sam's have been good at providing the extra script labels, probably all pharmacies would do the same.
Tailwinds,
Charlie

Tourist in MSN

Thanks for posting, I had thought of asking for extra labels to put on smaller bottles, but have never done so.

Pratt

My prescriptions are several years, and a few doctors ago. I take the bottles from the pharmacy, which have the doctor's name, and the refill info on them. Now I also use Yan's suggestion of a cotton ball. After the Erie Canal Towpath, I think my 5mg tablets were more like 4.9mg.

Tourist in MSN

I commented above that: I take the pills out of the bottle, put in small plastic bag, put that bag back into the same bottle. That keeps them from rattling around and becoming dust, I do that instead of cotton. And they are still in the right labeled bottle.

Some of my pills are tiny and got lost in the cotton, thus I no longer use that.