I have a trip to Hawaii in 3 weeks... However, I have tried several methods to keep my Forteo at the correct temperature for the long length of flights with connections and am unable to keep it cool enough for the many hours necessary (16 hours). Has anyone stopped taking Forteo for 2 weeks or found a way to keep the pen cool for so long. I do not want to ruin the pen and have to throw it away.....
Any suggestions are geatly appreciated,
Mary Ann
Hi - I just started taking Forteo 5 days ago. However, during my "training' session I asked the nurse about traveling with Forteo as I will be traveling for a 17 day period in 2008. She said that traveling long distances should be possible using the insulated bag and ice packs. Or, she said, sometimes people choose to take a break from Forteo for a 2 or so week period due to the concern/hassle. She said there is no 'withdrawal' period or symptoms.
I have another question; what does Security at the airport look for when you bring the pen and needles through security? I have a shorter trip planned in October and just thought about that.
I will be looking for more comments on this. Good luck! Diane
Mary Anne, did you ever get the travel bag from Forteo/Lily that is insulated with the freezer packs? If you receive your Forteo from a medical supply house they use freezer packs that last longer because of shipping overnight. Did you try the test that Windblown talked about in your July posting? If you need to review that info. just search for Traveling with Forteo. I have read posts of others that have stopped the injections for a short time and resumed later without any problems. I've also heard of asking the flight personnel to place the pen in their refrigerated area but since you have change planes may not be a good idea.
Diane, on the Forteo site there is a letter you can print and have your doctor sign, it explains that the pen cannot go through x-ray. I do not remove the pen from the bag until I reach the area you walk through; I then hand them the pen and letter and place the bag on the conveyor belt. They handed me the pen & letter right after I cleared the detector.
Hope this helps. Betty
Thanks, Blues, for the info on traveling. I will find that letter on the Forteo site right now! Diane
Yes, Blues....I called Elli/Lilly and recieved the travel bag for Forteo. I followed their directions with the ice packs and put a refrig thermometer in the pocket where my Forteo pen would go--however the thermometer read outside of the acceptable range in less than 12 hours...I tried another ice pack that we had from an overnight shippment of something else--and that did not work for long enough either. I do not get my Forteo directly from Elli-Lilly but from the pharmacist where he keeps it in his refrig.....so I am out of ideas on how to travel with it and keep it in the safe temp. zone. Thanks DPLynne for letting me know that it would be OK to take a break for 2 weeks. I may have to do just that. Mary Ann
Thank you DPLynne for passing on the info that it is OK to take a break for 2 weeks without any symptoms! I may have to do just that.
Mary Ann
Hi, I wanted to second that with the time off from Forteo because of a vacation.. While in a training class I was told the same thing... to me its better to do that then to ruin the med... as she said the only thing negative is that it will take you that much longer to finish...
Hi: If you decide to skip a week or two, just remember that the pen is only good for 28 days *after* it's been opened. I hope you find something that will keep the pen at an acceptable temp, or you could go without it, just keep track of the 28 day rule since it expires in that amount of time.
Good luck
I went to Kauai in June and had a long layover in Portland. I called ahead and the airport main executive office let me keep it in a pop cooler in their conference room kitchen. I kept the ice gel packs in a large dish of ice cubs and the epi-pen in the refrigerator. As long as the gel ice bags don't completely melt I don't worry about it. You could even get one of those silver lining bags you buy at stores such as Walgreens and keep your travel bag in that for double insulation.
I carry a large purse and I put the Forteo black carrying bag in the large purse - it went through the security scanner many times without any questions at all - once they backed it up and looked hard but it went through. I carry a prescription from my doctor in the black bag - it explains what the drug is and what condition it is for.
What about the needles? Someone told me they can't go through an Xray machine.
hoffazio, I was told NOT to allow the Forteo pen to go through x-ray; did Lily change that?
Diane, I don't think there is a problem with the needles going through the x-ray. I put mine in the pocket of the travel bag and as I said earlier I remove the pen & letter and let the bag go through x-ray.
Betty
Here is a copy of the info from the Forteo website about traveling by plane:
FORTEO and Airplane Travel
Given the safety regulations at many airports, you may be concerned about traveling by plane with your FORTEO supplies. But you don't need to worry—it is your right to bring medically-necessary supplies on board. Just follow the steps below:
1. Before you travel, make sure you have a copy of your FORTEO prescription label tucked in your Travel Bag. You may be asked for this label by a Transportation Security Officer, to verify that the FORTEO Pen and needles belong to you.
2. Be sure your needles are sealed and not attached to your FORTEO Pen; rather, store them in a separate compartment in your Travel Bag. (Airlines may not allow you to bring unsealed needles onto a plane.)
3. Obtain a letter signed by your doctor, explaining why you need to bring FORTEO with you on board. You can download the letter here and have your doctor sign it.
4. Do not check your FORTEO Travel Bag with the rest of your checked luggage; instead, you should bring it as a carry-on. Also, keep your Travel Bag separate from the rest of your carry-on luggage as you pass through airport security, as you do not want it to go through the X-ray machine (see #6 for more information).
5. When you reach the security checkpoint, be sure to tell the Transportation Security Officers that you are carrying medication that you need to bring on board with you. They may request supporting documentation, such as the copy of your prescription label or the letter signed by your doctor.
6. Be sure to request that that the security officers inspect your Travel Bag by hand rather than with an X-ray. X-rays can damage your FORTEO Pen and make it less effective. (You may want to contact your airline ahead of time, to find out if they will allow visual inspection of your FORTEO Pen.) At the security checkpoint, let the Transportation Security Officers know right away that you are requesting a visual inspection rather than an X-ray.
If you follow these steps, you should not experience any problems bringing your FORTEO medication on board. If you have further questions about airplane travel and FORTEO, visit the Transportation Security Administration's Web site at www.tsa.gov.
My Physician who is an Endocrinologist didn't tell me about the x-ray making the product less effective. It went through the conveyor belt scanner when you first go through secruity. I will have to check with Lilly as to how much damage I may have done to the product. Thanks for the input.
Hi hofffazio: I wouldn't be surprised if my Endo didn't know all these things about Forteo. They are educated on these meds, to a certain degree, but I don't think they would actually consider all the ramifications that go along with taking this med through our daily routine. I hope that there are some Dr.'s that are up to date on all aspects of any given drug, but it's almost impossible for them to retain all the info for all the meds they prescribe, which is why it is so important for us patients to do the necessary reading on all of these things. No one is perfect, so do yourself a favor and educate yourself, the one person who really needs to know all of this.
I hope you all don't mind, but I want to tell a story about something that happened to me last week that relates to possible mistakes that could happen in the medical/hospital setting.
I had to go to the ER for a heart prob, and while I was being treated, I made sure that they told me the name of every drug they were administering and what it was for, how it should work, and most importantly the name etc. I may have annoyed some of the personnel, but I don't care. Before I would take a pill or let them admin a drug through my iv, I made them show me the vial of med with the name on it, after they told me what they were about to do. Everything went ok with the various admins of iv doses and oral, so I felt I had double checked what they were doing. After eight hours of waiting for my Dr to come to see me and tell me I could leave or I would have to be admitted, I noticed it was taking way to long to hear from the Dr.'s page. I know how long it takes to get results from and x-ray and blood work, and it was taking too long. For some reason I looked down at my arm band and noticed that they had the wrong Dr.'s name on the band, so that told me they were paging a Dr I don't know, which would explain the amount of time it was taking. I finally got to talk to a nurse and I told her they are paging the wrong Dr. and this Dr isn't going to respond to a page for a patient he doesn't know. At that point, all the nurse did was shrug her shoulders, and walked away, and there wasn't a call button available, plus I couldn't get out of the bed since I was attached to the heart monitor. I asked to see the ER Dr. and explained the story. Since my test results had returned long before I caught this mistake, the ER Dr. decided to release me since my labs were ok, and my heart monitor was showing a return to normal state. Now if I hadn't noticed this, I wonder how much longer I would have laid there waiting for an answer about whether I was going to be admitted or not, from a Dr I don't know.
This is just one example of things I've experienced in hospitals that is certainly not rare. I'm sure many of you have had situations where the wrong drug was admin, so this was the reason I stayed on top of every move they made by double checking everything.
Unfortunately we have to do this, and it's a good thing I wasn't unconscious and unable to do what I did, or who knows what would have transpired.
Just make sure that you always advocate your health care and don't trust anyone who is suppose to know what they are doing. If you can take someone with you to the ER, do so, but I couldn't. On their behalf I have to admit, the ER was packed and everyone around me was screaming and these nurses/techs were doing what they could running back and forth, and it doesn't surprise me in the least that they made the mistake of putting the wrong Dr.'s name on my band. My Dr.'s name was only 2 letters different than the one printed on my band, so I could see that a mistake could be made in this unbelievably hectic situation.
Sorry for the length, but just do all you can to make sure you get the proper meds, treatment, and history info correct. This does relate to the Forteo info in a way, since no one can remember everything, even though that would be nice if they could.
Good luck to all and bon voyage:)
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