How to Prepare for the Busy Holiday Travel Season: Oklahoma Poison Center Reports on Safe Storage of Medication While Traveling

OKLAHOMA CITY – Visiting family and friends during the holidays? It’s important to think about the medicines you take before you leave home.  You can reduce the chances of a medication error or someone else accessing your medications with careful preparation before traveling.

Keeping your medicine in its original prescription container is important while traveling. Each container (or package) is labeled with the medicine’s name, dosage and directions on when and how to take it.

“If you have a reaction to a new medication, or accidentally take your medication twice, having this information available is important when calling the Poison Helpline,” said Kristie Edelen, managing director of the Oklahoma Poison Center. “Additionally, it can be disastrous to find a child playing with a pill organizer, with grandma’s medication spilled out on the floor and unsure what the child has ingested.”

It’s easy to be distracted during holiday gatherings, be sure to ask your host for a safe place to store your medication. Always store medicine or marijuana products in child-resistant containers. If your bags, purses or luggage contain any kind of medicine be sure to keep them up and away from children. Even if you are not traveling with children there is a chance a child may be able to access your bag at a holiday gathering.

Medication Safety Travel Tips:

• Know where your medicine is at all times and store it in a secure location once you reach your destination.
• Do not combine different medicines into one container. Combining different medicines increases the chance of a mix-up, especially since your normal routine is switched up while traveling.
• Be prepared with an extra supply of medicine. Take several days’ worth of medicine in the event you cannot return home as scheduled.
• Keep your medicine stored at the appropriate temperature. Temperatures that are too high or too low may affect the medicine so it will not work properly. Be prepared when traveling by bringing warm or cold packs if needed. Never store your medicine in the glove compartment or trunk of your car.

Call the Oklahoma Poison Center with any questions or concerns regarding potential hazards that arise during the holidays, and do not forget to save the poison center’s phone number, (800) 222-1222, in your phone.

Pharmacists and registered nurses at the poison center are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Please do not email the poison center or a member of the poison center staff, as poisoning emergencies are not handled through email. The Oklahoma Poison Center is a program of the University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy at OU Health Sciences. For more information, visit OklahomaPoison.org.