Traveling with testosterone: TSA, your prescription and your records

The short version

• Keep it in its original pharmacy-labeled container, and carry a copy of your prescription. CDC suggests a note from your prescriber for controlled substances and injectable medicines.
• At a US airport, TSA allows medication in carry-on and checked bags and recommends the carry-on. Tell the officer about liquids, gels and creams, and declare unused syringes.
• Leaving and re-entering the US, a federal rule lets you take a controlled medicine lawfully obtained for your own use with you, on conditions that include the original container and a declaration to a customs officer.
• Abroad, the destination's rules apply, not the US ones. Check with its embassy, and the embassy of any layover country.
• Export a copy of your records before you go.

Why testosterone needs more paperwork

In the US, testosterone is a Schedule III controlled substance · prescription only. It's listed by name in the federal schedule (21 CFR 1308.13, paragraph (f)), and a testosterone cypionate label on DailyMed carries "Rx only" and the CIII symbol (DailyMed). That status is about the substance, so it's the same for a gel, a capsule or an injection.

For travel, that means three things: customs rules for controlled substances apply when you leave or re-enter the US, other countries may control it more strictly, and the label and prescription are what show it's yours. Testosterone's compound page lists each product and its status.

Documents to carry

These come from CDC, not TSA (CDC, Traveling Abroad with Medicine):

• The original, labeled container, with your full name, your prescriber's name and the generic and brand names.
• Copies of your prescriptions, with the generic names. CDC suggests leaving a copy at home with someone you trust.
• A note from your prescriber. CDC says to ask for one "if you use controlled substances, or injectable medicines."

Photograph the pharmacy label and the prescription too, in case a bag goes missing.

Coming back into the US

CBP's page on prohibited and restricted items says that travelers with prescription medication must follow FDA's rules and, if the medication "is also a Controlled Substance," DEA's requirements as well. It says to travel only with your own medication, prescribed to you or legally obtained in the US, and that in most cases it's illegal for a US citizen to obtain drugs abroad and bring them in for personal use. (CBP, section "Medication")

DEA's rule for travelers is 21 CFR 1301.26. It lets a person who has lawfully obtained a Schedule II to V controlled substance for their own medical use enter or leave the US with it, if two conditions are met:

• it's in "the original container in which it was dispensed" to you; and
• you declare it to a customs officer, saying it's for your personal use and giving its trade or chemical name and the schedule symbol on the label (or, if the name isn't on the label, the dispensing pharmacy or prescriber and the prescription number).

The same rule sets a separate limit, in its paragraph (c), for controlled substances a US resident obtained abroad. Read it on eCFR rather than relying on a summary. This isn't legal advice: check the rule itself and CBP's page before you travel.

Used needles on the road

TSA allows used syringes in carry-on and checked bags "in Sharps disposal container or other similar hard-surface container" (Used Syringes). The sharps disposal guide covers travel-size containers and what to do away from home.

Your records while you're away

• Note where you were. A short note with an entry, such as the city, explains a gap or a late entry later.
• Timing in a new time zone is a question for your prescriber, ideally before you leave. CDC's travel page says to "ask your health care provider about any changes to taking your medicine."
• Export a copy before you go. An export is a file that travels with you. See export your records, and keep it somewhere private: how to store your records safely.