That Time When You Forget Your Inhaler...

So... we did it again. We were going on vacation to see family and I couldn't forget to pack my inhaler, albuterol vials, and the nebulizer. Some of you may remember my post about our last trip where we thought, “We won’t need the nebulizer this trip – we’ll just bring the inhaler instead." Boy, were we wrong!

Preparing for vacation

This time we packed all the medicine. I saw my husband take the nebulizer bag and albuterol vials out to the car and assumed he had packed the other medicine bag. Sadly, it takes 2 bags for us to pack all of our different medicines for a variety of chronic conditions.

When we got to our family’s house 4 hours away, I unpacked and I looked for the bag to take my medicine. Then I realized it was nowhere to be found.

My husband had left the second medicine bag sitting on the kitchen counter at home. Great.

We forgot to pack my asthma inhaler

So, now what? My pharmacy doesn’t have a location where we were staying. I could call my pharmacist and ask him to call in a 48-hour supply to a chain pharmacy near us. Sometimes pharmacies can give you an "emergency supply" if you find your stay extended, your prescription expires and they have to contact the doctor, you lose your medicine, etc.

But, will insurance cover another maintenance inhaler or will they say that it's too soon for a refill? It's important to take your maintenance inhaler every day to keep the swelling down in your lungs.

I have my rescue inhaler and nebulizer, so that’s the most important thing. If I have an asthma attack, I have all the medicine I need.

Should we go home?

I wondered if I should cut my trip short and head home the next day. There were some other daily medications that I really shouldn’t skip.

Hmmmm.

Update: We are back home now, but we had a little family emergency – so I didn't get a chance to call my pharmacy. But... I could feel a big difference in my lungs by missing only 2 days of my maintenance inhaler. I had to use my rescue inhaler every day while we were there.

Have you ever forgotten your asthma inhaler on vacation?

Have you ever forgotten your inhaler or medication while on vacation? What did you do?