POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Questions About Treatment & Side Effects => Topic started by: 32guyMtl on July 03, 2009, 08:25:35 pm
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I posted an earlier message about crossing the border into the US.. since I have nobody to talk to and my next appt with my doc is after the travel - does anyone know how bad it would be to have three nights without Atripla?
I can take one right before my flight, and as soon as I'm home.. it will be really about 36 hours. Or am I at severe risk for complications?
thanks again.. jase ... very new to it all :/
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i don't see why you can't stash the 3 pills you'll need in your luggage. i would. no sweat.
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I may try.. but perhaps you don't know how difficult it can be to enter the US as a non American. Just looking for alternatives while I drag my parents and aunt with me :(
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put em in a sock and forget about it. you'll get in. have your pills. all is happy.
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thanks.. I'll try and relax.
have a nice weekend.
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u2 ;)
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Sounds like each day you don't take your Atripla, you increase the chance that your HIV virus develops resistance to your meds. Do you really want to take this chance? ??? As Antibody suggested, why not stash it in a sock (or an aspirin bottle)?
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i certainly wouldn't want to try to come in our country. I don't blame you for being worried.
where are you staying? Why don't you mail your meds ahead? If you staying at a major hotel they'll hold your mail until you check in.
good luck
robt
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This is purely a personal opinion and I stress that I am not an expert and that I'd still urge you to speak to a medical professional about it, but ........
Provided that you are stable on treatment, with an undetectable viral load and a good CD4 count (350+), I really can't see that it would be a problem as a one-off event.
The reason I say that is that the small-scale FOTO (Five-day On/Two-day Off) study, which presented its findings last year, suggested that an established Atripla user could maintain their undetectable viral load over a period of several months on a five times a week treatment strategy.
I am in no way suggesting that anyone adopt this as an ongoing treatment strategy; but, provided you have an undetectable viral load and a good CD4 count, I genuinely do not feel that it would be irresponsible for you to explore the idea of taking a single one-off 36 hour break in treatment.
Treatment breaks set for a come-back?: http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/A1D38A0B-56E7-41F4-9CDE-A95A53DDA0A3.asp (http://www.aidsmap.com/en/news/A1D38A0B-56E7-41F4-9CDE-A95A53DDA0A3.asp) November 12, 2008
The FOTO study: 24-week results support the safety of a 2-day break on efavirenz-based antiretroviral therapy: http://www.jiasociety.org/content/11/S1/O19 (http://www.jiasociety.org/content/11/S1/O19) 9–13 November, 2008
Treatment Interruptions May Still Have a Future: http://www.poz.com/articles/hiv_treatment_interruption_761_15621.shtml (http://www.poz.com/articles/hiv_treatment_interruption_761_15621.shtml) 13 November, 2008
Edited to:
Just looking at some of your earlier posts and you very clearly haven't been on treatment for very long and certainly couldn't yet be considered stable on treatment. I wouldn't advise you to think about taking even a short treatment break so soon after starting treatment. Explore some of the options that have been offered here, or on the other thread you started.
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Just put a couple of pills in your carry on, and a couple of pills in your checked in luggage if you have any. Put them in small vitamin bottles or just in your toiletries case.
I think you are overly afraid. Is it because your family doesnt know and you are assuming a worst case scenario??? Nobody is gonna care about a couple of pills on a three dav visit.
Seems NOT cool to skip 3 days of HAART... But Im not a doctor. You seem to be looking for ways to miss this treatment. I say, just bring the pills and hope for the best and you'll get it.
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I am glad to see that w are all of the same mind set here. I was thinking the same thing, are you worried aobut this because your family does not know about your status? Becasue really, nobody cares about pill that you are bringing with you unless it is a suitcase full.
Ii put EVERYTHING in ziploc bags. and it is nice and neat don't warrant a second glance. RELAX and enjoy your trip!
I use a pill dispenser case so there are no prescription bottles in my carry on. I do keep my pills in the carry so that there is no chance of delay or loss. That is my only "worry" or precaution when traveling.
Cheers!
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Taking your meds in your hand luggage in the original container, or a proper pill container, is the best way to take meds. In a sock is suspicious. If asked just say it's for blood pressure or sommat.
Alternatively, 36 hrs off Atripla is unlikely to make a difference if your viral load is under 50 copies. But only then.
You are at the beginning of treatment and it's important to get the best chance on your 1st combo.
- matt
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I know people who travel a lot and they put their pills in a empty multivitamin labeled bottle. People just think they are multivitamins. Also, you may want to take more than three days worth of supplies.
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Just to remind you about the caution I you gave on the other thread about trying to pass your drugs off as something which they aren't - that includes lying about what they are when challenged - because it effectively says that you are knowingly committing immigration fraud.
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thanks for the suggestions.. it's true, I genuinely don't want to lie. It's fine to relabel or stash, but I'm never comfortable lying.. perhaps this is why I'm still single.
My family does not, and will not know. They're barely comfortable with the gay thing (32, only child).
I will try and make a special appointment with my doc and see what he says. Any other vacation and this could be properly planned .. arrgh.
thanks again guys.
jase.
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You don't have to lie. Just use the suggested neutral bottles or pill splitters to keep your pills in (but if you use a pill splitter, be sure to keep it dry)
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You folks worry too much. I used to stash ecstasy in luggage and liquid ketamine in eye droplet containers -- then I'd bake it in a 7-11 microwave. Life on the edge...
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eye droplet containers
Kinda small..
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Kinda small..
Actually IIRC it was a container for contact lens fluid, but this was 9 years ago.
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short answer is... you can't take any days off from Atripla. Plan to bring it. I have travelled everywhere with Combivir, Sustiva and Atripla, and nobody even asks. If they ask, I will tell them, but they never do.
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32GuyMtl - you're traveling for a really short visit.. I'd just put a couple of pills in my pant's pocket or wallet.. this way even if by chance your bags gets routinely inspected - chances nobody is gonna body search you.. Just putting it in a different/unmarked container prolly doesn't work (if randomly inspected) coz they ain't fools and I'm sure they can identify it ain't no vitamin (they are trained professionals..), but I wouldn't worry too much - if you don't look sick there's no reason you get questioned, and if randomly picked for bag inspection - very doubtfully you'll be body/pocket searched.. isn't it wonderful that Atripla requires just one pill a day?? PS: I would bring a couple more than the exact amount needed just in case you get delayed/stuck longer than planned.. you can never know.. Good Luck!!
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I'd just put a couple of pills in my pant's pocket or wallet.
That's what I was thinking. Just make sure that if you have to go through a metal detector, you don't have any metal on you so they don't pat you down and ask you to empty your pockets.
Ann
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That's what I was thinking. Just make sure that if you have to go through a metal detector, you don't have any metal on you so they don't pat you down and ask you to empty your pockets.
Ann
Actually not having metal on you isn't a guarantee that you won't be searched.All the new archways have built in random alerts on them so they can go off regardless of what you have on you.And even the older archways the security staff are trained to randomly select every 5th/7th/9th or whatever passenger to search.
I just thought someone should point that out because the first thing they will ask you to do if they search you is empty your pockets.I don't think it's a good idea to have any medications in unmarked bottles or loose.It makes it look like you're trying to conceal things or that they might be something illegal.I don't think HIV medications would be the first thing they'd think of but it just avoids havign to answer questions.Can't you just put them in their original container in your hold luggage.It's only a few pills and no one is going to search your luggage for that.
I hope it was ok that I posted in this forum
Matthew
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Not sure if this gives any comfort but the US is looking at easing HIV restrictions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/05/hiv-visa-america-paul-thorn
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Not yet in effect but definately moving there (lifting of ban/restrictions..) hopefully by year end:
http://www.thebodypro.com/content/art52522.html
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Honestly, millions of people are on daily prescription drugs for:
-high blood pressure
-cholesterol
-angina
-antibiotics
Plus millions more take daily vitamins and supplements.
Every guard on the border sees dozens/hundreds of people every day with medical prescriptions. And, trying to tell one pill from another by eye isn't something they have a lot of time to learn about. They don't worry about a small amount of personal prescriptions.
What the guards look for are weapons and smuggling. Most of the screening is questioning people to see if they are nervous.
So put the pills plus your vitamins into a weekly pill box and have a great visit. DO NOT hide them in your jockstrap as suggested in the other thread (I'm hoping that was humor)
Assurbanipal (just back from a long weekend in Ontario -- no questions from either set of border guards about medications -- just where are you going and why -- oh, and the Canadians asked three times to be sure I wasn't going to earn any money while in Canada ;D )
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Honestly, millions of people are on daily prescription drugs for:
-high blood pressure
-cholesterol
-angina
-antibiotics
Plus millions more take daily vitamins and supplements.
Every guard on the border sees dozens/hundreds of people every day with medical prescriptions. And, trying to tell one pill from another by eye isn't something they have a lot of time to learn about. They don't worry about a small amount of personal prescriptions.
Exactly. This eternal question on this board always defies all logic and common sense. Yes, there have been a handful of situations about HIV meds in the press that everyone fixates on, but that's just cherry picking to pimp up your own anxiety level.
If you've ever travelled with a group of senior citizens overseas, going through security and customs, you'll fully understand that US TSA and similar services in other countries are completely used to seeing a traveller with 10 different bottles (or more) of medication.
I once got stopped setting off an alarm with a metal cock ring and a massive dildo in my carry on luggage and they didn't hassle me.
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I once got stopped setting off an alarm with a metal cock ring and a massive dildo in my carry on luggage and they didn't hassle me.
;D
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If you've ever travelled with a group of senior citizens overseas, going through security and customs, you'll fully understand that US TSA and similar services in other countries are completely used to seeing a traveller with 10 different bottles (or more) of medication.
Except the senior citizens don't have anything to hide.
It really is quite distasteful to see how the vacuous can be so dismissive of the very real concern people have of being confronted with officers who are trained to pick up on the natural fear of being caught.
As for the number of cases in the press: a very small tip of a very large iceberg of cases where people have been caught for one reason of another - and an iceberg that would be even bigger if so many people didn't stop taking their drugs rather than get caught.
Maybe someone needs to wake up to the reality of just how much these checks have changed since he used to smuggle minuscule quantities of recreational drugs, pre-9/11.
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Maybe someone needs to wake up to the reality of just how much these checks have changed since he used to smuggle minuscule quantities of recreational drugs, pre-9/11.
Mary, please. This "vacuous" queen has been to at least 8 foreign countries post 9-11. Were you even 12 on that date? Of course, if you look nervous then security will pick up on it. It's not my fault that I'm able to operate with ease on a higher grade of guile without any outward signs.
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Well then maybe your should stop belittling people who aren't quite as good as you at scheming and lying.
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Well then maybe your should stop belittling people who aren't quite as good as you at scheming and lying.
Thanks. I've printed this out in comic sans font and taped it to the fridge to remind myself.
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Philly, you also have to realise that you, as an American, will have a very different experience when traveling. You have an American passport. The Americans aren't going to give you grief over hiv meds when leaving or arriving through an American port. You're not going to be hassled in the country you're going to, because most other countries don't discriminate against poz people like the Americans do. Non-Americans, traveling on a non-American passport, have a very real chance of being humiliated and deported at an American port when traveling with hiv meds, unlike you. Time to wake up and smell your privilege.
Ann
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... as an American, will have a very different experience when traveling. You have an American passport. The Americans aren't going to give you grief over hiv meds when leaving or arriving through an American port.
Thank you.. that's my point. I appreciate all the replies, but they're mostly from Americans who have left the country and returned. You will always be allowed to reenter your country. It's a much different experience for a non citizen approching the border. The questions are different, the attitude is different and scary at times. I'm as clean cut as they get, but still they always seem to suspect *something* where has never been anything. It's just their nature.
However I spoke to a friend who has recently crossed the border and was searched. He's not on Atripla, but on a much bigger cocktail I'm afraid. After being searched, he was still allowed to go through.. so that encourages me.
jase
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However I spoke to a friend who has recently crossed the border and was searched. He's not on Atripla, but on a much bigger cocktail I'm afraid. After being searched, he was still allowed to go through.. so that encourages me.
Jase,
Did your friend declare his status and meds upfront? Was he asked about it specifically? or just casually searched and let in (without looking into the label of his meds or after looking and still letting in)
??