Purchasing Novomix 30 penfills abroad?

[Jam100]

Hello,

I hope you're well.

At the end of August I will be travelling around the world for the next 10 months and it looks like I will be taking all my insulin with me, using fridges and Frio packs (only while getting to another fridge) for storage.

The places I'm going to are USA, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand.

I was wondering if any one has purchased any Novomix 30 penfills or flexpens abroad and how easy this was?

As I said, I am prepared to take it all with me but I would just like to see if there were any other options.

I appreciate all your help.

Have a great day

Jamie 🙂

 

[Northerner]

Hi Jamie, it might be worth contacting the manufacturers to find out about availability and if they are called by different names, and also to contact the major diabetes organisations (like Diabetes UK or JDRF here) to find out if there are any rules for purchasing in the various countries (e.g. would you need to get a doctor's prescription), and would you get any help paying for the medicines (they may have reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the UK).

Exciting! 🙂

 

[Copepod]

Both New Zealand and Australi have reciprocal health arrangements for UK citizens - see http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Health...e/NonEEAcountries/Pages/Non-EEAcountries.aspx

So, in Australia, you'll be able to get insulin via Medicare. However, in both countries, you'll have to pay, at least in part, for doctors' appointments and prescribed medication.

It's unlikely that a GP in UK will prescribe 10 months worth of insulin, blood glucose test strips etc - at least, they don't have to.

Also, although time is short, have you considered using a basal bolus / MDI insulin regime, as it's much more flexible than bimodal insulin such as Novomix 30? Especially when crossing time zones, coping with irregular meal times and activities.

 

[Jam100]

Thank you for the quick and informative replies.

Northerner - Thank for your recommended sites for diabetes. I have been told the Novomix 30 penfills and flexpens are available in Australia but there is no guarantee about availability. I understand there are agreements with others countries but I would still have to pay showing a prescription, again though i'm not sure if it's just as straight forward as that. I will look into that JDRF site in more detail as that is a new one to me. Many thanks for your help. Jamie 🙂

Copepod - You have responded to one of my previous questions in the post so I thank you again for your great help. The link you have provide is very useful and I can look into the health agreements in more detail. I have been advised by my doctor that I can take the 10 month's worth of insulin with me so that is no a problem, thankfully. At the moment I am happy using Novomix 30 but I may consider changing when I return. Thank you for your help. Jamie 🙂

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Hi Jamie,
would it be possible to have the insulin in vial form and use a syringe?
This would save a lot of storage space for you.

 

[trophywench]

Australia - need to visit a doctor there, cost me Aus $60 and then pay the pharmacist for the insulin. Cost me WELL over Aus $100 for 5 prefilled Novorapid. Nobody at the Dr or Pharmacy knew anything about reciprocal agreements, they said I would have to go to the Medicare office in central Brisbane to sort it out. We can give you the address but don't know when they are open. My sister who moved out there some years ago and HAD to visit them said Forget it, they don't have an appt system, you just have to go and queue even if it takes all day. Took us about 5 hours before we were seen ..... I didn't actually want to spend a day of my holiday doing that.

So I paid for it and claimed on my travel ins (because I had actually lost my small Frio and one Pen, hence why I was running out)

They certainly do have Novomix of some sort, because that's what the twerp of a Dr put on my scrip, didn't notice till the Pharmacist showed me the box - so I had to go back again .......

 

[m1dnc]

Having done a far bit of long haul travelling in the past, like Copepod I would strongly advocate a basal/bolus (MDI) regime if you're doing a lot of travelling, especially by air. The flexibility of tailoring bolus to food make life much less stressful. And particularly when crossing time zones, it's much easier to keep control.

Lastly, and not least, as I recall a mixed insulin should be taken at least 15-20 mins before eating, and it's very frustrating to have given your dose then to have meal service on the 'plane suspended possibly for half hour or more because of turbulence. With MDI, you can wait to give yourself a bolus until the food is actually on the table in front of you.

It's worth checking, but in some countries you don't need a doctor's scrip to get insulin. In Canada, for instance, you can buy insulin OTC in a pharmacy. (I know from experience, when I'd left my insulin by mistake in a hotel fridge over the border in the USA the night before.) That leads on to another potential problem when travelling; i.e. in a lot of countries it's not customary to have mini-bar fridges in hotel rooms, so you end up having to ask the hotel management to put your insulin in the kitchen fridge.

However, the important point is that all these things have a work around and it's all part of the experience of going to new places. So enjoy your trip!

 

[DeusXM]

I would also be cautious about taking 10 months worth of insulin with you, particularly if you're going somewhere like Thailand.

Heat KO's insulin very quickly. Unless you are happy to carry around an inconveniently sized coolbox with you for 10 months, your insulin supply is going to last you a month at best. Personally I wouldn't trust Frio pouches for long-term storage and you'd need a massive one to carry all that insulin. Then you also need to consider the very real possibilities of baggage getting lost at the airport, people stealing your bag, dropping your back a bit too quickly and smashing the carts...all these things mean you need to look at ways in which you can obtain insulin independently of your existing supply when travelling. This also goes for test strips and needles.

My experience is that chemists' in Thailand will let you buy prescription medication over the counter (I've certainly done so for, uh, recreational use 😱) but I have no idea of the availability of particular mix insulins and would suggest the further you are from Bangkok, the more limited your options will be.

You also need to budget for this as well. In both the US and Thailand you'll probably have to pay full price for insulin cartridges - last time I checked, it was around ?25 a cart, so you're looking at ?100-125 for a full packet.

All this stuff is doable, but do yourself a favour, get the thinking done now. You really don't want to start having to figure these costs and storage issues out when you're in the middle of the Outback.

 

[Jam100]

Thank for your latest responses and helpful messages people! I am truly grateful

Pumper_Sue - Thank you for your suggestion. I won't be using that method for the time being but who knows in the future 🙂

trophywench - I'm sorry to hear about your experience of trying to purchase Insulin abroad. It certainly doesn't bode well for me which is why I want to take all my insulin with me. At least this way I do have it with me if I problems like you had occur. I appreciate you sharing your experience with me which gives me a great insight on what to expect 🙂

m1dnc - Thank you for your recommendations on using a different insulin. At the moment though I won't be using that formula on my travels. Taking 10 months of insulin will be challenging of course but if I have to experience what trophywench did and pay those amounts as well then I might as well take it with me and hope that everything goes to plan. I appreciate your positive words towards my trip 🙂

DeusXM - I appreciate your valid opinions and will take them into consideration. You're right though, I will be planning right up until the last minute to make my journey as comfortable as possible.

Remember 'where there's a will there's a way'

Thank you and have a serene evening

Jamie 🙂

 

[am64]

cant help you with any info just wanted to say have a wonderful trip ...are you doing a blog or anything while your away ?

 

[trophywench]

Just thought actually! - if anything becomes desperate - you can certainly get 'emergency treatment' free under the Medicare reciprocal agreement in Oz - so if you could wander in to a hospital A&E dept, you'd most likely get far better treatment and much more help than I got. But it wasn't an emergency by that stage; in hindsight I'd probably take the latter route and say (creatively LOL) Help! - I only have one jab left cos I've only just discovered I've lost some of my insulin en route ....

 

[Jam100]

am64 - Bless you for your kind words, they mean a lot. I have been asked by many people to make some sort of daily journal and I would love to write something for the Diabetes page when I return to help other people who want to travel in the future, so why not! 🙂

trophywench - Call me boring but I like to be honest in my approach haha. But if I really come unstuck then sure I could certainly look to take your advice. Thank you for the heads up! 🙂