For anyone flying

A board to discuss the Multiple Sclerosis modifying drug Avonex
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Tbone
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For anyone flying

Post by Tbone »

This is from another post I had setup. I hope this may be helpful for someone...

I just ordered from insulincase.com the "Small Medication Cooler kit good for Avonex Byetta Copaxone Embrel Forteo Humulin Xolair", costs about 45$ US. I found it through amazon.com. There was a slightly larger one for 55$. Im not gonna take a chance with anything else. The description is as follows from http://www.insulincase.com/detail.aspx?ID=328

Description:
Medication Cooler Recommendation for :
Avonex Byetta Copaxone Embrel Forteo Humulin Xolair
These trademarks are the property of their respective owners. There is no affiliation between the owners of these drugs and Insulin Case Shop. The use of these trademarks is solely to help customers pick the appropriate MedCooler.

SMALL MEDCOOLER Package
Most medications must stay between 36 - 46 degrees Fahrenheit and must NOT be frozen. For this we make available a small and a large size Med Cooler. This set up will maintain an average temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 hours in 100-degree heat, never dropping below 34 degrees and never exceeding 46 degrees. Polar Bear Coolers are leak proof, sweat proof, and make traveling with medication safe and easy.

Medication is packaged in a number of ways. To be sure that we are on track with the space you need to contain your medication properly and keep it between the instructed temperatures, please make sure that the medication you have will fit into our 7.5” tall x 2.5” in diameter area for the SMALL MEDCOOLER Package (Shown Below) or 8”x 5.5”x 3” area for the LARGE MEDCOOLER Package , as these are the actual storage dimensions of our medication containers




The SMALL MEDCOOLER Package includes:
(Click on photos to enlarge)
1. One Polar Bear Soft Cooler - Superior insulation, leak proof, sweat proof Dura-Temp liner. Size Small 10” x 7” x 7”
2. Two PBC Techni Ice reusable ice packs.
3. One dry storage Med-Container w/ towel and built in thermometer.
Size 7.5” tall x 2.5” in diameter. Your medication must fit into this area. Keeps medication dry and safe.
4. One Freeze Indicator: Ensures that you will not unknowingly freeze your medication. The indicator bulb turns purple if your medication drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit at any time while traveling.
5. User-friendly instructions (click on the blue word instructions to read them)

This set up will keep your medication at and average of 40 degrees Fahrenheit for 24 hours in 100-degree heat never dropping below 34 degrees and never exceeding 46 degrees guaranteed!
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Tbone
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DO not buy this product... Polar Bear Cooler

Post by Tbone »

Im so sorry that it took so long to get this post out. I do not want to get into the whole experience I had with the Polar Bear Med Cooler I bought... It was a total disaster!

In short, the cooler is garbage. It failed on me and my Avonex went to room temperature I would guess within about 8 to 10 hours and stayed that way for the last 10 to 12 hours of my trip before arriving in Dubai from Canada. I cannot begin to express how angry this made me. 4 needles, about 1500$ gone to waste because we're supposedly not to put them back into the fridge and use them once they have been at room temperature for so long... I wasted the first 2 days of my trip trying to get answers about putting the meds back into the fridge, and finding a pharmacist that could order the meds for me if I needed to get a new supply.

When I got back I sent an e-mail to the operator of theinsulincase.com where I bought the case and he got someone from Polar Bear coolers to call me. He says that the coolers efficiency may be over stated (ie. exagerrated) and that there have been cases where the cooler has not performed up to standards; but that he has faith in his product... Thats nice! But Im out 1500$ that is not insurable because I had to buy new needles in Dubai.

I do not want anyone to experience what I went through so please do not follow my original recommendation. I was speaking before actually testing the product. Its just that it seemed so convincing on the website that I was convinced it was the perfect product for my needs. I'm sorry if anyone went out and bought one on my recommendation.
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JohnnyVan
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Re: For anyone flying

Post by JohnnyVan »

Was this with the pre-filled syringe or the type you need to comine with a diluent yourself?

I just read in my product info sheet that the non pre-filled type (the one I use and have travelled with) can be stored at room temperature (25 C) for up to 30 days. However, Avonex PS (prefilled) can only last 12 hours out of the fridge.
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Tbone
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Post by Tbone »

Hey, it was the pre-filled. Thats why I was having trouble. It could have been 18 hours that it had been at room temperature. I had no idea. I actually got the one that you mix over there.

Ted
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Markd
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Re: For anyone flying

Post by Markd »

Regarding the polar bear cooler, I recent went to Europe for two weeks, that's six syringes of rebif. Looked for a medical cooler all over the web local business etc. read that polar bear was the best on the market. I picked one up at camper world, cost $75. Since I was leaving the next day and i couldn't find another retailer I bought it. Not the medical one they don't have it anymore. I got the one good for a twelve pack. I put the rebif inside a small Tupperware wrapped in a paper towel. I put that inside a small lunch style insulated soft side carrier and surrounded it with cold packs (inside the small lunch style thing. Then I put it inside the polar bear and surrounded it with cold packs. The longest I went without refrigeration was four days, 96 hrs. At the end of four days the needles were still cool and the inner cold packs were still partially froozen but not very. So folks the polar bear works, was actually not hard to carry around, it's about the size of a large camera case, medication did not freeze, hotels will refreeze your ice packs. Use the solid style ice pack, TSA and other country equivalents don't like liquid.
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