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Insulated travel bags

I

Idgie

Member
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5
Hi, can anyone please recommend a large cool bag to keep insulin at the correct temperature on long journeys. I am (hopefully) going abroad for 3 months in the summer which means taking quite a large supply of insulin (both pre-filled pens and cartridges). The insulin will be refrigerated on arrival at my destination but the journey will take around 24 hours by car and ferry. I already have a Frio wallet which works really well for a few pens but I need something larger for this trip. There are many that are recommended for meds available on the market but it would be good to have one that is tried and tested. Thank you.
 
We had a cooler box that you connected to the cigarette lighter in the car and kept things pretty cool. I think it was from John Lewis It was about 10 years ago now but it was definitely better than a cool bag with ice packs.
 
Provide you have no plans to keep your insulin in direct sunlight, it survives fine out of the fridge for 24 hours.
I would recommend "insulating" it amongst your clothes where it should be fine.
Dedicated medicine cool bags will be unnecessarily expensive. I would avoid them.
You definitely want to avoid anything with icepacks as keeping your insulin too cold can damage it as much as keeping it too hot - you do not want to risk freezing it. I understand this is one reason why it has been recommended never to put insulin in an airline hold.

Regardless, in your position, I would familiarise myself with the mechanism to get replacement insulin whilst away for that long. Given the recommendations vary between 2 and 3 times as much insulin as you think you will need, that would be at least 6 months worth of insulin and I am not sure you would be able to get a prescription for so much.

I confess I am exceedingly jealous of your upcoming trip. I hope you have a magnificent time.
 
 
Thank you, that is really helpful. I will certainly check out how to obtain replacement insulin whilst I am away. Feels a bit daunting as it will be the first time I have been away for that length of time since being diagnosed but life must go on! I plan to have a conversation with my GP about extra supplies.
 
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