Filling USA insulin prescrip while in UK

[Northerner]

Loulou, This is great info! It actually answers another of my questions: can I just walk into a pharmacy with a prescrip and walk out with the vial? Sounds as if I may not be able to, so I need to plan ahead.

As for how you plan on bringing your insulin with you for 3 months: how do you plan on doing that without running into exactly the problem I have, going the other direction? I'm just asking...

One of our members went to Oz and took a shedload of insulin/test strips/needles etc with her! As far as I can remember it lasted fine for several months 🙂 I think it's worth finding out the procedure for obtaining supplies locally even if you do plan taking stuff along - things get lost and accidents happen, so best to be prepared rather than panicking 🙂

 

[bev]

Loulou, This is great info! It actually answers another of my questions: can I just walk into a pharmacy with a prescrip and walk out with the vial? Sounds as if I may not be able to, so I need to plan ahead.

As for how you plan on bringing your insulin with you for 3 months: how do you plan on doing that without running into exactly the problem I have, going the other direction? I'm just asking...

Hi Tom,

My son Alex (14) uses the same pump and insulin as you do - but we are the only ones at our GP who do as most use Novorapid. It is allright for us as our chemist are obviously used to us needing it - but checking with the chemist beforehand would be a good idea. Usually if the chemist doesnt have an item they can get it within 24 hours - so planning is the key. Ask for the details of the closest chemist to the GP you choose and ring ahead - like you say if you plan things you wont worry!🙂Bev

 

[tomintheusa]

i had a volunteer recently who was waiting for his green card to return to states permanently ...he got some of his required meds by contacting local gp but found it easiler yet expensive to use 'private' docs when needed...

maybe you could contact a local gp or private gp ( often found in the same surgery) to where you will be when you need a new prescription,( local to Hotel where you stay ) and see if you can arrange for a prescription to be available .. have a lovely trip 🙂

am64, now I need to ask for clarification of your terminology. I'm reminded that Churchill once characterized GB and the US as two countries separated by a common language!

Please explain how you are using terms like "local gp" vs "private "gp" (emphasis added) and "surgery". We tend to refer to "family doctors" as "personal care physicians" or PCPs And I've never heard Americans use terms like "local" or "private". Just doesn't come up. And to us, "surgery" (as a noun) is synonymous with "operation". It means specifically the "surgery" that is performed in an operating room that cuts you open and hopefully also sews you back up! We also use the term "Emergency Room" to mean the place at any local hospital where the ambulances take you when you've had a serious accident requiring emergency attention.

 

[tomintheusa]

A "shedload" huh! That's the most charitable way I've seen that word spelled or heard it pronounced!

I'm still curious, though, about the issue of keeping it viable medically past the "28 day sell by" date once it reached room temp. Are you saying it just worked out ok? I'm not sure I'm willing to take that chance with my own body and my own life!

 

[Northerner]

am64, now I need to ask for clarification of your terminology. I'm reminded that Churchill once characterized GB and the US as two countries separated by a common language!

Please explain how you are using terms like "local gp" vs "private "gp" (emphasis added) and "surgery". We tend to refer to "family doctors" as "personal care physicians" or PCPs And I've never heard Americans use terms like "local" or "private". Just doesn't come up. And to us, "surgery" (as a noun) is synonymous with "operation". It means specifically the "surgery" that is performed in an operating room that cuts you open and hopefully also sews you back up! We also use the term "Emergency Room" to mean the place at any local hospital where the ambulances take you when you've had a serious accident requiring emergency attention.

Local = NHS/State funded
private = not NHS, you have to pay
GP - your PCP (isn't that a drug? 😱)
surgery - as yours, but also the building (practice) where the GP works from
A&E - Accident and Emergency = ER

🙂

 

[loulou]

you can walk into a pharmacy and walk out with your prescription if they have it in stock but i generally i find most of my prescriptions have to be ordered in. i have had to wait a few days to get it before so may be worth sorthing it out as soon as you get here.

well with my insulin i was told just to use a cool bag for travelling and then into a fridge when i got there. i havent really overly thought it though. but my consultant didnt say anything when i said about this. i am seeing him again before i go so will just double check. i would have no clue how i would obtain insulin in america?! but i will be working with medics when i am over there so i am not going to worry too much.

 

[tomintheusa]

Aha. Yet another issue to work out! The "flavor" of insulin I need! I am aware that in the US Humalog, Novolog, and Apidra all are medically interchangeable and are all approved by Medtronic for use in my pump. Thanks for alerting me to the need to work out ahead of time which "flavor" I can get, too! I wonder if I would need to make sure that both doctors, on both sides of the pond, wrote the same brand and "flavor" and even manufacturer on both prescriptions, for it to all work right once I was in Cambridge.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Tom - for future reference NovoLog is branded NovoRapid in the UK.

If you have the prescription, and cannot check ahead of time it is usually possible to visit all the pharmacies in the neighbourhood until you find one that has the correct insulin in stock. Many in towns can order in for the next day - but that may be less convenient for you.

Hope your trip goes well 🙂

 

[trophywench]

Humalog = Humalog
Novolog = Novorapid
Apidra = Apidra

Frankly, Cambridge is quite used to having 'foreign' visitors who may only be in the area for short periods. Apart from being an international tourist destination it may have escaped your radar but there's a major University right there! People come from all over the world to study or teach there. It dates back about 800 years, so I reckon our Ivy is quite a bit older than yours!

Finally in a city like Cambridge, there will be several shops belonging to a company called 'Boots'. This is a HUGE nationwide pharmacy chain.

I recommend you try to get your prescription filled at the main shop they have there. Being bigger, they are much more likely to either have it in stock or be able to get it later the same day or at worst next morning. If they haven't got it and time is desperate, they will ring round the other local branches, failing that they will actually try rival pharmacies in the vicinity, and borrow some which they will replace when they get it in.

You ain't gonna die.

And as someone has actually said, if you are about to expire if you can't get it, the nearest hospital Accident & Emergency Unit (which we just call A&E) will see you right.

 

[am64]

am64, now I need to ask for clarification of your terminology. I'm reminded that Churchill once characterized GB and the US as two countries separated by a common language!

Please explain how you are using terms like "local gp" vs "private "gp" (emphasis added) and "surgery". We tend to refer to "family doctors" as "personal care physicians" or PCPs And I've never heard Americans use terms like "local" or "private". Just doesn't come up. And to us, "surgery" (as a noun) is synonymous with "operation". It means specifically the "surgery" that is performed in an operating room that cuts you open and hopefully also sews you back up! We also use the term "Emergency Room" to mean the place at any local hospital where the ambulances take you when you've had a serious accident requiring emergency attention.

haha sorry ...i think our Admin has sorted this out ! 🙂

 

[Ellie Jones]

Best people to contact will be our equivalent to your ADA...

Which can be found at diabetes.org.uk give them an e-mail and they should be able to put you straight to how to get your insulin why you are here...

As to insulin lasting, well mines come to no harm camping for 3 weeks, being kept in a airtight container floating in a bowl of water tucked under the trailer tent!

Hope you enjoy your stay

 

[tomintheusa]

Trophywrench, thx for your help. Actually, I do seem to recall something about a university at Cambridge! The group tour I'd be on if I make this trip is focused on the five Cambridge students who spied for the USSR in the 30s and through the second world war. We'll have a guest lecturer on the subject the whole time we're on tour, and one day while in England we get to tour Bletchley Park, where the decoding work was done in the WW II. I can hardly wait!

And I also appreciate the info about using the Boots pharmacy chain. It raises yet another question: Once I give the prescrip to a Boots pharmacist in Cambridge, could I then get a refill (assuming the prescrip authorizes a refill) at any other Boots pharmacy anywhere else in England? Or would I need a totally new, separate prescrip for a second vial later on?

And finally, how important would it be for the prescrip to say the exact name of the particular brand of insulin I need? I am aware that the three you list are considered medically equivalent, but if there's any need to use exact terminology when my local family doctor here in the US writes the original prescrip, I'd like to know that ahead of time. My guess is it's not important but it doesn't hurt to ask, I hope!

Thanks again, one and all!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

And I also appreciate the info about using the Boots pharmacy chain. It raises yet another question: Once I give the prescrip to a Boots pharmacist in Cambridge, could I then get a refill (assuming the prescrip authorizes a refill) at any other Boots pharmacy anywhere else in England? Or would I need a totally new, separate prescrip for a second vial later on?

And finally, how important would it be for the prescrip to say the exact name of the particular brand of insulin I need? I am aware that the three you list are considered medically equivalent, but if there's any need to use exact terminology when my local family doctor here in the US writes the original prescrip, I'd like to know that ahead of time. My guess is it's not important but it doesn't hurt to ask, I hope!

As far as I know (and I might be wrong) the pharmacy, by law, can only dispense the exact quantity and named item on the prescription. They then keep the script and use it to get re-imbursed.

So you'll need a new script every time you want to get more vials, and the script will have to be precise in brand name and quantity as each one can only be used once.

FWIW people on this forum certainly do not find the three insulins 'interchangeable' and would not swap from one to another without careful thought/dose adjustment/caution over timing of doses/insulin profile etc.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Copepod]

Actually, there are 2 universities in Cambridge - one called University of Cambridge (which consists of many colleges and departments) and one called Anglia Ruskin University (which has some departments in Cambridge, plus others at Chelmsford).

Depending on where you are staying, most hotels, B&Bs, colleges etc have links with specific GP (general practicioner) practices, plus links with local pharmacies, although nowhere is too far from Boots in centre of city, at the junction of 2 roads called Petty Curry & Sidney Street, near Market Square.

 

[trophywench]

Ooops, forgot about t'other Uni !

Hmm scrip wordings, mine actually says the following

NOVORAPID VIAL inj soln 100 units/ml. (2) vial.

None of that 'Insulin Aspart' or 'Insulin Glargine' 'Insulin Detemir' etc thing they used to put on them. Just the trade name.

Anyone got a Humalog Scrip?

 

[bev]

Ooops, forgot about t'other Uni !

Hmm scrip wordings, mine actually says the following

NOVORAPID VIAL inj soln 100 units/ml. (2) vial.

None of that 'Insulin Aspart' or 'Insulin Glargine' 'Insulin Detemir' etc thing they used to put on them. Just the trade name.

Anyone got a Humalog Scrip?

Hi Trophywench,

Alex's prescription is :

HUMALOG VIAL inj soln 100 units/ml AS DIRECTED🙂Bev

 

[trophywench]

Well, that seems to be it then, substitute the name of your insulin!

 

[MaryPlain]

I'm really not convinced about the 28 days starting when you take it out of the fridge and not stopping when you put it back. If that was the case, how would we carry it home from the pharmacy?

I don't refrigerate the insulin I carry on long journeys, I don't even use a frio pouch. I just take it out of the fridge at the last moment before I leave, and put it into one as soon as I arrive.

I admire your pre-planning but I think maybe your doctor might have overstated the case for ensuring insulin is refrigerated 24 hours a day until you need to use it.

If I was going on a long trip with no refrigeration I'd probably try and keep it cool in a flask or a frio pack and use a fridge whenever possible.

I'd agree about sticking to the insulin you normally use. In my experience they don't all work the same. I've used all the analog insulins and I had to make adjustments each time.

 

[trophywench]

Well I've never been away from a fridge for that long, usually only about 4 weeks max and anyway most places we go in our motorhome, so it's only out of the fridge for the time it takes to walk from the back door to the front door!

I mean I have it out the fridge to fill reservoirs , so it's out half an hour or so before I start to minimise bubbles, then I stick it back in. It's over a month before I use the end of the third reservoir, and then I put whatever's left in the vial at the bottom of the 4th reservoir and top it up from a virgin one. A res lasts me 12-ish days or a bit longer esp in summer when I need less (including 'wasted' insulin for priming fresh tubing every week) so that insulin's been in and out the fridge into central heated house or hopefully red hot sunny holiday destination - though I do try and sit in a shady bit to do it when I can, and the sun is on the pump one way or the other all day ..... so it doesn't actually worry me esp considering I was going hot places with insulin before Frios were invented, and I haven't noticed any ill effect yet.

 

[Tina63]

You state about possibly needing a second prescription before leaving Cambridge. I can't speak about pump insulin, but all the insulin types my son has come in packs of 5 x 300 unit vials/pens. Therefore, to my mind, if pump insulin is packaged the same, you will have 5 vials on one prescription, 5 x 300 units, so more than ample I would have thought?

Hope you have a wonderful trip.