Medication Mistakes To Avoid When Traveling

For travelers who require a daily medication schedule, life on the road can be tricky. Heading from one destination to the next and disrupting your daily schedule — even with adventure — can make keeping up with medications pretty challenging. But with a little careful planning and the presence of mind to avoid certain pitfalls, there's no reason why most folks shouldn't be able to enjoy their vacation without any major disruptions in their medication schedule.

Depending on whether you're traveling by air, by land, or by sea, making sure everything goes smoothly can look a little different. What's important is to make sure you've got all of your ducks in a row before you go, whether that means sharing your travel plans with your doctor or checking with your travel agent to make sure you know what to expect when you arrive. Because good health goes hand-in-hand with a good time, here are some common medications to avoid on your next trip, along with suggestions for how to avoid them.

There are plenty of reasons someone might prefer to check their medications. Maybe they don't want to risk getting hassled by TSA, or perhaps they just want to hang onto as much space as they can in their carry-on bag. Either way, there's simply no getting around the fact that anything you pack in your checked baggage runs the risk of not making it to your destination with you — and that's something you shouldn't risk with prescribed medications.

It's a horror story recounted many times on Reddit. Desperately posting on a subreddit dedicated to all things Norway, u/COmarmot explained that they had checked several essential medications, including an anti-anxiety drug, anti-seizure drug, and antidepressant. Upon arriving in Norway, they learned that Iceland Air had lost their luggage. Fortunately, Norwegian health care is pretty fantastic, and the system set them up with most of what they needed. But not everyone who loses their medication is so fortunate.

To prevent others from going through what this user experienced, TSA's official website advises, "It's highly recommended you place these items in your carry-on in the event that you need immediate access." If the amount of liquid medications you need to bring with you puts you over the 3.4-ounce limit, TSA says they can likely accommodate you — just be sure to speak with the security officer before heading through the checkpoint.

A traveler takes a 12-hour medication at 4 p.m. in Central Standard Time before flying a redeye to Dublin — it might sound like a middle school math problem, but these are the kinds of things you don't want to end up working out when you're already dealing with jet lag. Failure to plan ahead for time zone changes can lead to gaps in your medication maintenance or even an accidental overdose. Even if you're not going far, it can be easy to make a time zone-related medication error.

To keep track of everything, wear a watch with your original time zone to stay lined up with your last dose. Alternatively, consider downloading a clock app that tracks multiple time zones. If you take your medications every few hours, you can also set alarms on your phone every time your meds are due before leaving for your trip. And write your dose times down.

If you're on a medication you take at the same time daily, particularly something like diabetes maintenance medications that need to line up with your sugar intake, things can get really tricky. Even if your pharmacist suggests taking the same dose at the same time as you normally would, traveling abroad could either have you taking those meds in the middle of the night or leaving a gap in your first dose overseas. For these situations, it's best to make a plan with your doctor or pharmacist before leaving.

Travel enough times, and you'll eventually find that you've arrived at your destination without something you meant to pack but overlooked in all the pre-vacay excitement. While it's easy enough to replace a toothbrush or grab a pack of socks when your luggage is lost, leaving your medications behind can leave you in a world of hurt. That's what happened to one poor soul who posted their experience on Reddit. Posting on r/vancouver, the user wrote, "Sorry if this is the wrong place to post but I'm freaking out and super desperate. I'm on vacation in Whistler, BC, and I forgot my antidepressants." Unfortunately for the poster, their medication caused significant withdrawal symptoms when suddenly discontinued. Another poster told Quora how they accidentally left their controlled medications behind in their hotel room only to find their meds missing by the time the unlucky traveler called the hotel.

To avoid leaving your medications behind, whether you're heading from home or a hotel room, follow a checklist, making sure your medications are there just before you leave. While you're traveling, keep any controlled medications locked away in a secure suitcase or hotel room safe so that if you do leave them behind, they can't be easily nabbed by anyone who comes across them.

If you're one of those folks who doesn't ordinarily drink alcohol, stays away from fatty foods, or experiences a drowsy side effect from a medication, the temptation to skip a few doses while on vacation is understandable. And you're certainly not alone — plenty of posts on Reddit feature users contemplating the worst thing that could happen if they take a drug holiday to enhance their actual vacation. While there are a few medications that doctors recommend taking a break from meds occasionally, it's never wise to skip medications on purpose without your doctor's approval.

There are plenty of reasons you should avoid skipping doses on purpose. Antibiotics can flat-out fail to do their job if you miss doses. Certain pain medications work better when taken ahead of your pain, and waiting too long could literally put a cramp in your style. There are many medications that can leave patients dealing with serious withdrawal symptoms, often in a shorter time frame than you might expect. And that's to say nothing of the potential health problems that could arise from missing or delaying a dose of some cardiopulmonary medications. If you are thinking of skipping a dose while on vacation, talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits. It may even be possible to help you address your side effects in another way while you're on vacation.

Keeping up with your meds while you're on vacation can throw off your medication schedule, particularly if you've got a prescription that needs to be taken with food. Even if you plan your meals around your medications, airport delays and city traffic can easily throw a wrench in your plans.

If your medication's label comes with an instruction to take with food or water, there's probably a good reason for it. Some types of medications, like ibuprofen, can interfere with the stomach lining's ability to resist acid, leading to issues like bleeding, ulcers, or inflammation. Taking food with these medicines can help to reduce these problems by coating the stomach.

If your medication needs to be taken with food, try keeping a few snacks and a water bottle in your backpack so you don't end up needing to take your medication on an empty stomach. Granola bars, cashews, and dried fruit are a few examples of foods that travel and keep well when you're on the go.

Officially, TSA doesn't care if you've got your meds in their original package. According to the official TSA website, "TSA does not require passengers to have medications in prescription bottles, but states have individual laws regarding the labeling of prescription medication with which passengers need to comply." Nonetheless, it's a good idea to have your prescription bottles with you since you just don't want to run into issues while traveling. And generally speaking, people bring their meds through airport security in all sorts of things — even "weird little baggie pill storage," as one Reddit user put it. But it's always best to speak with TSA before going through security so you don't run into any surprises that end up getting you flagged by TSA.

Outside of the airport, you never know when you could run into issues when you're traveling, and the last thing you need is to find yourself in hot water because of a questionably stored medication — particularly a controlled substance. This is even more of a concern when you plan to be traveling by car through states you don't live in since local police in some areas can get pretty strict about unmarked medications. To avoid running into these issues, keep your original prescription bottles with you at all times. Better yet, add a pharmacy printout of your prescribed medications in case you run into trouble on the road.