What If I Run Out Prescription Medicine While Travelling?

 

Run Out Prescription Medicine
Travel clinic

Traveling abroad while taking prescription medication presents some new challenges. Travelers must know how to take their medications with them. Travel preparation prevents you from suddenly running out of something you can't buy at the neighborhood pharmacy while traveling across the globe. Your health status has a significant impact on how serious it is to run out of your medication. A minor inconvenience for some travelers is forgetting to take their medication. It might even endanger their lives for others.

First and foremost, consult a physician at travel clinic.

A discussion about medicine is just as crucial as consulting your doctor well in advance of your travel plans to determine what shots and vaccines are required. Talk about the length of your trip, your refills, and your medication needs.

A doctor can assist you with larger prescriptions of that medication in addition to providing you with the necessary paperwork. The doctor can provide 60 or 90 days' worth of prescription medication for travelers who will be gone for several months at a time.

Get a copy of all your medical records before meeting with your doctor.

That includes a letter outlining your condition and the medications prescribed to treat it, as well as your prescription. While traveling, carry this information with you.

Just in case something happens to your luggage, make a few hard copies in addition to a digital copy.

You might have to pay out of pocket if your insurance doesn't cover early refills or multiple refills at once. Additionally, travelers may inquire with their physician if the drugs are available in generic form.

As an added measure of security, you might think about purchasing travel insurance.

Although we may not want to think about these dreadful possibilities when we travel, they do occur. Insurance is useful if your bag is stolen while containing all of your medication or if your trip is prolonged and you don't have enough medication.

Additionally, traveler's insurance can reduce phone wait times and hassle. Service representatives place the calls rather than spending hours speaking with physicians and pharmacies back home. They then offer guidance on how to proceed in your current location after resolving the issue. When traveling, it's crucial to prepare for the unforeseen.

Your luggage could disappear or you could miss your flights. You might even end up stranded if the hotel loses track of your reservation. Bring more medication than you will need for the trip, if at all possible.

Keep all of your medications in their original containers as well.

It will be tempting to combine packaging and use pill holders to reduce the amount of space in your carry-on. The president and chief medical officer of AeroMD Air Ambulance and a doctor of osteopathic medicine, Dr. Brendan Anzalone, explains why this is a bad idea. The original bottle of medication with the proper pharmacy label could be "useful if there are any questions in the security line."

The dreaded worst-case scenario is also helped by using this technique. You would also be without your prescription and out of medication if you were to become stranded on your trip. With the proper packaging for your medication, that is a much smaller problem.

The best time to test your ability to function without your high blood pressure or asthma inhaler is not during a trip abroad. Spend some time making sure that doesn't occur before departing for a foreign country.



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