I’m thinking of relocating from the US to SE Asia next year (Thailand), just for a couple of years, then returning. I’ve been getting all my affairs in order, but I don’t know how to handle this one:
I have 5 prescriptions I really need. They need refilling every 90 days, and expire yearly. Of course on different schedules. Two are for anxiety/insomnia, the other two are for blood pressure, the remaining is a blood thinner. Nothing that weird.
What do people who do lengthy travel do about this?
I can see -
Travel back to the US every 90 days to pick up refills
Find a doctor overseas to prescribe. Hopefully your med is approved in your staycation country! Otherwise, see 1.
Have a friend pick up my US prescrips and ship them to me in the other country.
Something else?
Thanks for advice.
PS - I’ll be in Thailand at the end of the year and can investigate further. I’m thinking I’ll just walk into a pharmacy with my list of prescrips and ask if they’re all available in that country. Then go see if I can find a doc. Thai healthcare is excellent, but I’ve only used their equivalent of urgent care.
There are various mail-order places you can get medications from, some don’t even require proof of prescription. I don’t know if shilling businesses is allowed here, but I was a previous customer of In-house Pharmacy (ships out of Vanuatu). The service is slow, so you’d have to plan ahead – they seem to have air pickup only once per week at least as of four years ago when I last used them. But there are likely others you can use as well.
You may be able to get more medication from your US prescriber as a vacation pack. If not, you might be able to buy a larger supply if you pay for the extra medication out of pocket. Good RX, for example, is a discount coupon that may make paying out of pocket with coupon cheaper than your prescription cost, depending on your plan. During COVID, I bought extra medication not covered by my insurance so that I would have a buffer for supply chain reasons. As others have said, you may also be able to buy your prescriptions in country.
Find out from expats actually living in Thailand by asking on various message boards. I used to be very active on an expat forum in Indonesia, and so I know there is at least one really good Thailand one, but offhand I don’t know how to zero in on it. But just type something into Google like “expat forum Thailand” and you’ll get lots of starting points like this one.
I know there is at least one pretty active site for Thailand expats, so don’t bother with ones that don’t get many posts.
Anyway, your question is one that comes up constantly on the expat sites. You’ll get plenty of up to date information through that channel if you persevere and find a good one.
Medicine in Thailand is very advanced, the hospitals are mostly sparkling and new, filled with quite competent Drs.
I don’t think you’ll have the slightest difficulty. It will be the exact same drugs but under a different name, if you’re worried to just see the pharmacist, and willing to pay an Dr’s fee, ask around for a reputable clinic, lots available.
I’ve purchased prescription drugs in Thailand and it was easy.
Good point. My daily prescrips are not benzos, though I do have two “as needed” benzos for sleep and anxiety bad days. I try really hard not to use them – a 30 day supply of those typically lasts me most of a year.
And, hell, I approve of them making making it harder to get benzos, as long as it’s not completely impossible. That stuff is dangerous.
Do check what’s legal. So long as the drugs you take are legal there, it shouldn’t be too hard. I know my mom bought some of her boring prescription drugs mail order from an Indian company. They shipped them to the US.
@What_Exit I understand why you did changed my thread title, but I thought my original “doing drugs overseas” thread title was such a clickbaity perfect thing, and more people would read and maybe respond.
Funny - I suspect you’re right, and better safe than sorry, but Clonazepam was available over the counter in Indonesia for a while (it hasn’t been that way for years). I got a bottle that had 100 .5 milligram tablets, or about 200 doses since I cut them in half.
That one bottle lasted me 10 years (though I think it had lost its potency in the last few years). Of course, I treated the stuff like it was dangerous: I had very strict rules that I never broke regarding how often I let myself take it. So I never came anywhere near getting addicted.
But I guess my story is atypical. It was great stuff, that’s for sure: if I hadn’t been wary of its addictive qualities, I probably would have used it more often.
Your choices are; go to a pharmacist, (you should look up and know the name of your drug in SEAsia first and know the dosage.) Find a large, Main Street, city pharmacy not some tiny, side alley spot.
If that’s not comfortable, for some people it’s not, find a good clinic when you arrive. Easily done I promise. And consult a Dr. They may dispense the drugs as well. Probably cost a little more, in the end, but worth it if it makes you feel more at ease.
How would I do that? Isn’t the generic name good enough?
Example: I take Amlodipine for blood pressure. That’s the generic name; it has brand names that I don’t bother to know. Googling about I don’t that it has another generic name anywhere. What am I looking for and how? Thanks.
No worries, but the generic name won’t help, it’ll def be a different name. But, in SEAsia, any pharmacist, in a large centre, will be able to tell you the name of the product in SEAsia. As will any Doctor you see. They’re very familiar and used to this.
A western doctor won’t likely be familiar with the names of drugs in other markets, but Asian Dr’s see people from Europe, US, Australia, etc, on the regular. They’ll know the name in each market very likely.
You may find you don’t need a prescription for BP meds and such, just ask at the pharmacy. Pain meds, etc, it would be a different requirement though.
It appears to also be sold as; Amdepin, Katerzia, Norliqva, and Norvasc. But really, don’t worry the pharmacist or doctor will know which.
You’re going to find this much easier than you’re imagining, I think. Easiest script refill, go to pharmacy, ask. Prepare yourself, it’s probably much cheaper.
Is this really something you’ll be likely to find anywhere? A doctor who will just prescribe what you tell them to without making their own independent decision about what you need? Even without changing countries or doctors I usually end up with some sort of medication change every year or so.
