BootsnAll Travel Community

On our upcoming trip, my wife will be packing a case of syringes of Depo (birth control.) Does anyone know what kind of documention will need to be carried while travelling abroad. She'll have the prescription plus the paperwork that comes with the drug, but do you think a letter is needed from her doctor as well?

I tried looking at the CDC website and I couldn't find anything. Does the rules vary by country?

Certainly diabetic travellers must deal with this all the time so I imagine their must be some steadfast rules.

I'm interested in this issue to... my husband and I are planning on bringing syringes with us just in case we need them in a country where we are suss about how clean their's are. I'd imagine it would be similar to a diabetic bringing needles... except we wouldn't have obviously injectable meds with us.
I assume your wife would need a prescription for the birth control. Don't know how the syringes work though.
Liz

My blog: http://datigz.blogspot.com

Talk to your doctor and see if they can either give some suggestions or at least steer you towards someone who can. There are also a lot of doctors who run "travel clinics", that focus on vaccinations, health and medical issues for foreign travel - they'd be a good bet for finding the info you need.

Here's a link for the Travel Clinic Oregon in Eugene.

Cheers, Anthony

Hi skobb,

I'm currently traveling with 6 devos (inc needles), and it never occured to me to take any documentation at all... so far have been through India and Thailand with them, and in a couple of days - oz too... so far no problems...

btw - have mine packed into a cooler bag, as they are not supposed to get too hot (at the bottom of my backpack) and they are surviving well.
I spoke to my doctor before getting the prescription, and he was cool with it - said a lot of his patients take them when they go away. Will let you know if I run into any problems with them though...

http://blogs.bootsnall.com/mary/

My doc actually offered my some syringes, when I went to see her before leaving to Kenya. But I also brought some while on my RTW. I never thought about it to be a problem. They are sealed after all. I never encountered any problems. But I'm sure, embassies can tell you more about the actually situation in a country (it's probably worth checking in countries with capital punishment for drug abuse delicts - as they might want to confuse you with a junkie.).

Adrian

www.aresthetics.ch/trav
My personal travel website

Rover, wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will

That's good to hear, Novice. Especially good about the cooler. We'll have to look into that. Keep me updated on if you run into any problems.

ElAdi, you're right about the countries with harsh drug penalties. That's what I'm afraid of. I'd hate to be executed in Malaysia for carrying birth control. (Although that would be an effective method...)

Never had any problems with carrying syringes and have always taken them on my trips. Granted, I haven't been to Malaysia and have heard about those stiff drug penalities

Good Luck! Keep us posted.


No matter where you go, there you are! Oliver's Law of Location

Skobb,

No problems in Sydney either. I was talking to a girl in Bangkok who took hers through Malaysia with no worries. Maybe they don't show up on the x-ray machines? After all, they're pretty small needles. If they do, no-one has ever asked yet.
Good luck

http://blogs.bootsnall.com/mary/

I was in Malaysia for 3 weeks with my syringes (without Devo though) and I didn't have a problem. In fact, I didn't even think of it until I just read this thread. I'm sure they show up on machines but I'm sure it's drugs not syringes they're after.

If anyone is travelling to China, bring syringes just in case.

PC

Check out my new RTW blog:
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/claudia

In India, sometimes questions are asked. Hence always carry a prescrption, if you are using the medicine regularly. If you are carrying disposable syringes as a precuation do carry a letter from a clinic. The questioning I think is a crack down on drug abuse especially in Goa.