Portable fridge for IVF meds

[Kitekat81]

Hi ladies, this might seem like a strange question!

I am going to be travelling for IVF (within the UK) and will be taking my meds with me. I'm hoping to mostly be staying in AirBnBs with a fridge for my meds, but due to uncertainty around dates I might need to stay a few nights in a hotel here and there to fill the gaps between AirBnBs (likely cheap hotels without fridges...). I was planning on buying a portable mini-fridge (they are about £80 on Amazon) which I could plug into the cigarette lighter in the car when driving, and then plug in in my hotel room - this would then give me a lot of flexibility in terms of where I can stay. They look pretty good with some decent reviews, but some reviews say things about not having much control over the temperature, people finding ice in their drinks etc, and some say not suitable for perishable goods like medications. So now I'm thinking my great idea might not be so great after all!

Just wondering if anyone else has any experience of this particular conundrum?!xx

@Kitekat81 I think most hotels should supply you with a fridge for medications if you call ahead and request it, diabetics need to store insulin in fridges so I think it will be a fairly common request. I know those really tiny fridges aren't actually fridges at all, so not sure about the more mid sized range. But I imagine for something reliable it will be an effort to cart it in and out of a hotel.

Check the storage info on your medications. The ones I have that are stored in the fridge say they are fine at room temp for 3 months.

The whole fridge thing is so you get the maximum shelf life out of them - some have a use by date of over a year so if you want to use them in a years time then yes they need to be stored in a fridge

If you are using them on your active cycle then they don't really need to be refrigerated

You cold also use an ice bag and have the kitchen give you ice or put it in their kitchen fridge.

Hi, I used a medical cool bag with ice packs for transport then the hotel put them into their fridge for me. Some hotel rooms also have a fridge in them. I didn’t have any issues.

For my meds (bemfola and cetrotide) I think freezing is a much bigger issue than keeping at room temp if it is less than 3 months, so I decided safer to keep at room temp when travelling than risk freezing if wedged between ice packs/shoved into the back of a fridge in a hotel. If you might keep them long term they do need refrigerating, but check the instructions and you’ll probably find you don’t need to if you’re just taking what you will use.

I'm type 1 diabetic and frio wallets are fab for keeping stuff cool for a few days.

Thanks so much everyone for your replies!

@Gardenlady543 I hadn't thought of asking the hotel, good idea! You are right they must be used to this type of request.

@Spinningthewheel @andivfmakes3 good point! I had a look and the bemfola and cetrotide both say store below 25°C, it's only the ovitrelle that says 2-8°C. The pharmacy told me to store them all at 2-8°C, that's confusing! So it's only the ovitrelle I need to worry about keeping cool.

@Delectable @alwayswithhope yes looks like I need to be looking for some kind of cool bag rather than the portable fridge!

@limesoda I haven't heard of frio wallets - thanks for the recommendation I will check them out!