You Can Travel Over the Holidays While Taking Fertility Medications!

With the holidays in full swing, many people are planning on traveling to see family or enjoy a sunny or wintery vacation. Even for your average traveler, flying can be challenging, but if you are also on a fertility journey, you will need to take a few extra precautions especially, if you are taking fertility medications while working around appointments and procedures. 

Today we just want to take some of the unnecessary stress away from your holiday travels and share how you can safely travel with fertility medications as stress and hassle free as possible.

Stress-free Traveling Tips

Planning ahead for your trip: As a traveler, you need to do that anyway, but if you’re in the middle of your IVF cycle, you will want to be prepared for the strict timing schedule. Before scheduling your trip, speak with our fertility team to go over your cycle timeline so you know when you’ll need to be monitored. If you are flying across time zones, you’ll also want to take into account any time difference for taking your medication. If you have a smartphone, you can set yourself a reminder or an alert so you remember to take your medications on time. Smartphones typically update automatically by tracking your current location wherever you land. 

Coordinate in advance with our Fertility Center team: We want to make sure you have what you need before heading out of town. Additional meds? Personal monitoring? We’ll make sure you’re covered! For medication, that means getting preauthorization from your insurance company (in case you need medication refills or blood draws). For monitoring, you might need a checkup in a fertility clinic when you get where you’re going.

Double-check with your airline before traveling: They may have restrictions around the proper protocols for transporting medical supplies. This could be syringes, needles, liquid medications, gauze, alcohol wipes and even refrigerating certain medications that you will be bringing on board.  Pack your medication for ease of viewing when going through security. Plastic zippered bags allow for quick and easy inspection and be sure to package them so that it is properly refrigerated if needed. Bring any shots you might need and know how to safely dispose of them during your traveling.

Be sure to check each medication label  to see if it needs to be refrigerated.  Use an insulated bag and ice packs wrapped in a thin towel to keep those medications cool if required.

Each airline may have its own rules and regulations they will expect you to follow so check in advance so there are no surprises at the airport! It’s also a good idea to tell your TSA agents that you’re currently in the middle of your fertility treatment and are boarding the plane with your medications and supplies. You may even want to ask for an X-ray exemption from your doctor if you are not supposed to expose your medication to radiation (if you need a letter from your medical team, reach out to your coordinator.  They can get you a letter if the airline requires it).

Pack your fertility supplies in your carry-on: It’s safer to keep your fertility supplies and medications handy instead of checking them in with your luggage headed to the cargo hold. There’s no guarantee the airline won’t lose your checked baggage, and since it can take weeks for them to get it back to you if lost, you could be risking being thrown off of your fertility cycle. Instead, store your medications and supplies in your carry-on baggage along with your emergency contact information for your fertility clinic, doctor and pharmacy in case you need anything while out of town.

Our Fertility Center team strives to help make your fertility treatments go as smoothly as possible even while you are traveling. We are happy to answer any questions or concerns you might have so you will be best prepared and not need to interrupt your fertility cycle. Our Idaho Fertility team is here for you every step of the way and wish you safe and happy travels!