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Most US meds don't come in blister packs , but in pill bottles, unless specially packaged for the patient. Medications for patients in a nursing home might be ordered that way for example due to the processed used to dispense medications in a nursing home (I am a nurse.)
These are great ideas. My pills look very different so I will be able to tell the difference. But putting them in separate plastic bags us a great idea. Dud you have trouble getting labels from pharmacy? With vitamins I will have ten separate bags rather than all the bottles. Thanks for the suggestion.
No, my husband uses the VA and a local pharmacy and I use the same local pharmacy. His few VA meds, he peeled labels off his bottles. After we explained to the local pharmacist our need he was able to print us the labels. Sadly we are turning into walking pharmacies the older we get. I stop talking any nonprescribed supplements like calcium or multivitamin on the Camino to save space and weight.
I'm actually quite shocked by that from a safety point of view. I have only seen vitamin supplements loose in bottles for at least the last ten years, never actual medication. Does the pharmacy actually have to count pills in the 21st century?
Yes. Very few prescription medications come in blister packs in the US.
I do similar. I know that the little baggies add a bit to my overall pack weight, but each day it gets lighter!
Yes, the VA pill bottles are huge (and I assume they must have some automatic counter when filling them). I do the exact same as curlylottie. I get the little ziploc bags from Amazon (and save and reuse them). Try to squeeze all the air out but still had to up my backpack from 38L to 50L to carry 6 weeks worth of heart meds. I take paper copies of my prescriptions through Customs (never been asked) and photo copies on my phone. Buen Camino
Packed my meds (ditto, 5 different) in small ziploc-bags for the CP last year.
As a professor of pharmacy, I emphatically say, do not combine different medications in the same container, regardless of how different they appear. It is a recipe for errors. Bottles or sealable bags, properly labeled with a pharmacy label are fine if they’re separate.
My pharmacy has a little machine that does the counting for them, it sounds like one of those rainsticks that is filled with little beads.
Especially as different manufacturers make the same medicine in different shapes and sizes. My latest prescription for Atorvastatin is a much smaller pill than last time and the Doxazosin is lozenge shaped rather than circular!
It's still adding a layer of work and possibility for error.
Oddly enough I was reading a short story last night, one from the "Golden Age" of crime fiction wherein the murderer bought her poison from a chemist and it was packaged in a "bindle".
I take 3 medications daily. When I'm travelling, I generally sort out X weeks' worth of them into one of those daily-compartment pill boxes. I take the labels off the pill bottles (I try to remember to save the previous lot, and use those, so the current ones still have labels), and wrap those labels--which tend to be sticky--around the outside of the pill-dispenser box. My tablets all look different, so sorting out which one needs to be taken at any given time works out okay.
I take 3 medicines and vitamins, I went to the hobby shop and got small zip lock craft bags. One pack be day. If you go with one bottle put a cotton in top of meds to keep them from breaking as you walk.
My pharmacist tells me he strongly prefers to dispense in blister packs for patients over 65. However, the pharmacists' association instructs pharmacists to dispense in labelled bottles only for foreign travel, given that some states' customs officials require it.
This is exactly what I do... Great idea and saves me from having to figure out which med is which when they look similar. Those little glassine zip-locks that are about 2"X3" are perfect for small pills. Also, I include a bit of cotton batting (or a cut up cotton ball) in the zip-lock bag to make sure there is never any moisture that damages the meds. Weighs nothing but can prevent any moisture build up due to humid conditions.
Actually, the counting machines are far more accurate and cost effective than having a human count them out; whilst blister packs of individual pills are quite eco-unfriendly (too much packaging).
In Germany (and most other european countries I know) you only get meds in sealed packaging in blistercards to prevent mistakes. Yes, it's somehow inconvenient and some sort of non-ecological, but the mistakes by wrong medication could be severe.
Put them in small ziplock and wrap them in clothing (socks tshirts…)
I have 3 meds in tablet forms with a small bottle of liquid. I wrap the small bottle in a styrofoam and use an elastic around the bottle. One week supply in one packet of bubble wrap, the rest in a larger bubble wrap packet also wrapped in a zip lock bag. No containers at all since the solid meds use blisters.
Do you have copies of prescriptions?
I have scanned each prescription in PDF and placed them on my iCloud. Same for passport and important documentation.
Im sorry for my tech ignorance but how do I place something in iCloud? I have an IPhone. I know you are laughing.
Take pictures of the labels and keep them on your phone.
Just keep them in your photo gallery. You could even email the pictures to yourself.
Since posting that I was talking to my eldest brother - he's 14 years older than me - and he said Mum and Dad used to buy Beecham's Powders (a cold cure) that came in a paper wrap.I remember having teething powders that came in little paper packets - perfect for dissolving on babies’ tongues..
Hmm … I’ve just found myself wondering about the possibilities for choking on the fine powder ..
A bit late to be worrying about that!
I put photos of my prescription bottles on my phone and combined all my meds. No problems.
Go to ‘settings’, click on your name (or photo if you’re a narcissist), then iCloud and enable photo storage - assuming you’re comfortable with North Korean intelligence looking at your holiday snaps.
Small plastic bags are sometimes sold as “bead bags.” Lots of sizes available on the internet.
