Vitamins and Supplements

I usually take some in tiny ziplock bags and have never been questioned about them (or about my regular meds, either, as those also go in ziplock bags). If anyone were to ask, I'd just pull up MyChart and show them what I take (which includes supplements).

I know people can have different experiences, and whoever is working security when you go through may say "Nope; not gonna work," but we've been flying back and forth pretty much annually since 2009, with our supplements in baggies, and have never been questioned.

"YMMV," as they say.

Thank you so much!! I searched for other posts about this but they were very old. I just wanted to confirm with someone who had traveled recently.

Security doesn't care about pills. Customs might.

I travel for months at a time with enough prescription meds to open a pharmacy. In the past 11 years of traveling full time no one has blinked an eye. I decant my pills into ziploc bags.

As long as you are not trying to bring in a banned substance or you are bringing way more pills than you would need for your trip, you won't have a problem.

My husband takes 10 or so meds. One week's pills go in two of the daily pill box things (AM + PM). Depending on the length of the trip, the remainder he'll need each go in a small pill baggie with the name and dosage on the outside (written with sharpie), then put all those in a larger zip bag with a print out of his meds from his doctor showing the clinic name, etc. We have never had so much as a question about it, years of travel to multiple destinations in Europe. I don't think anyone cares unless it looks like you have so much you might be trafficking.

We have never encountered a problem in any of those countries. I always have the pharmacy print out a copy of our medications, and keep that with the meds, vitamins etc. They also print out a copy of vaccines that we have received.

Like others I travel with what my son calls a starter pharmacy. For prescriptions I peel
off the label and affix to a small zip bag (2x3) (more so I don’t get confused). For OTC I put in the same type bag (36 hr supply) and hand label. For supplements I put in a regular ziplock. I do travel with a controlled substance (pain medication for an eye condition —-enough to get me to an emergency room that has ophthalmology) in its original prescription container.
Over fifteen+ years of international travel, TSA has not had any interest in any of it but I have had random bag inspections by customs. Once I had to empty my bag because I messed up and had a forgotten apple that a darling Beagle found. Both times my meds and supplements were not an issue at all.

I pack my supplements in a clear zip bag and keep them in original labeled bottles if space allows, just to avoid questions at customs. For choosing between mood or energy boosters, this guide helped me a lot: https://herb-era.com/blogs/herbera-life/tongkat-ali-vs-ashwagandha-which-one-to-choose. It breaks down the benefits in a simple way, which made it easier to decide what to bring.

Over fifteen+ years of international travel, TSA has not had any interest in any of it but I have had random bag inspections by customs.

To be clear, TSA operates only in the US, and TSA does not care about your pills and meds. The only risk is passing through customs abroad.

If you are speaking of only Vitamins and other common off the shelf supplements, then no problem, they are recognizable as supplements, and you can pack as you wish. Maybe the only exception would be if you take a supplement that contains CBD or THC, hemp products, then you should probably leave those at home.

Only Prescription medicines are subject to labeling and documentation guidelines.

wwblyekrpe:

just don’t bring huge quantities.

I laughed and winced at this one. My husband and I take no prescription medications (crossed fingers emoji here!,) but we do take a lot of supplements. And for the last three years or so, we've extended our European trips to about 7 weeks at a time.

Two people times multiple supplements per day times about 50 days.... That's a lot of pills!

But so far, we've never been questioned. I usually decant ours into quart-size baggies, although one year Stan peeled labels from the jars and pasted them onto his stash.

On a recent flight through LHR, security pulled my personal item for additional screening. They wanted to see my pouch where I had about 40 calcium pills and 40 multivitamin pills, and the same amount of common prescription drugs (statin and reflux). These were each in separate labeled baggies in my pouch. They asked what was in the pouch ("meds") then swabbed the outside. Tested negative and I was on my way. They didn't even look inside the pouch. I never had that happen with my meds before, and I've flown both international and domestic with the same meds without the additional screening. You never know what the screeners might find interesting enough to flag...