or just naive at medication available over the counter abroad?

[PacificDogwod]

Just back from holiday (Spain) with my parents.
My father had forgotten various fairly heavy-duty heart medication (he is just 8 weeks after open heart surgery) and every single thing he needed was readily available over the counter .

Much as that was very convenient for us (no doctor visit), I was quite staggered how unsafe that practice potentially was. We had to provide no evidence that that was what he was actually on or that we knew what doses he needed, no questions were asked.

Btw, Bisoprolol (b-blocker) 2.5mg x28 tablets: 2 Euro 40
Rivaroxaban (blood thinner, NOAC) 15mg x28: 83 Euro and change
Amoxicillin 1g x30: 11 Euro + a few cent

In Thailand you can buy big bags of Valium over the counter.

Not for a while now. I went in 2007 and you could get them but in 2009 no one sold them anymore.

WideHorizon

Agree with you there, make people responsible for themselves

It's the opposite in Germany, you can't even buy paracetamol and ibuprofen in supermarkets, only over the counter in pharmacies. Herbal medicines are really popular here.

A cautionary tale about buying abroad.

I had severe dental pain so went looking for a stronger analgesic at a Spanish pharmacy while on holiday - I was thinking co-codamol or something.

The pharmacist told me about an analgesic which is great for dental pain, that can be taken IV or orally in liquid form, non-opioid.
Sounds great, I thought, and wondered why I hadn't heard of it before (hospital doctor). Took two doses and it did work well.

Got home two days afterwards and went researching about this analgesic I didn't know anything about. Turns out there was a reason for that - it was unlicensed in the UK as it had a propensity to crash the platelets, cause bleeding in people of Celtic origin (i.e. most UK people). I had a blood test for an unrelated reason and my platelets had fallen by almost half just with those two doses.

Also, we know when we repatriate patients from a Spanish hospital to a UK hospital, they WILL come with at least one very nasty very resistant infection. Antibiotic governance is nil there. Ironically, the relatives of the patient always rhapsodise about the care they got in the hospital as they saw specialists EVERY DAY - at least until the money from their insurance ran out...

So no, not really better.

You can't buy antibiotics without an prescription in Canada, at least not in the provinces I'm familiar with. There is an ointment you can put on infected skin that contains antibiotics that is widely available, maybe that's where that rumour came from?

I visited UK a couple of years ago. My 10yo got impetigo - just a little patch on her face.

Couldn't buy antibiotic cream at the chemist. Need to have a prescription.
Couldn't get an appointment with a doctor because I should have known to phone that morning between 8 and 8.04 during which time every poorly fucker in the county was calling.
Couldn't have an appointment the next day because I couldn't get through in the 4 minute window.

Nearest private clinic 2.5 hour drive away.
Took dd into the local clinic and showed the nice receptionist her face. Receptionist offered me a phone appointment the following day between 5 and 6.30pm. (queried whether any doctor on the planet would prescribe anything for a child's face without seeing said child in person).
Doctor phoned. Said he'd need to see dd's face in person. Asked me to pop in any time before clinic closes in 30 minutes.
Abandoned trolley half way round Tesco, threw kids into the car and hooned to the clinic.
Walked into Dr's room. Impetigo diagnosed before we sat down. Prescription for antibiotic cream written, plus extra prescription for oral antibiotics because in the 4 days since the first patch of impetigo appeared it had spread up her nose and onto her lips and cream may no longer be enough.

All this could have been avoided if I'd been at home and had been able to ask chemist to sell me cream for impetigo.

They would be replaced with other 'issues' The widespread addiction to OTC medication in the states is one example. It causes huge social programmes. We may be 'over protected' (I disagree) but in countries that operate differently they are often over-medicated. The widespread use of melatonin and medication for ADHD as a first option are two examples off the top of my head. Medication isn't always the answer.
I prefer not to over use pain killers so they give me some relief when I actually need them (still have some of Post-C section co-codamol two years later).
And, if you need more than 1 Ventolin inhaler a month, I would suggest a visit to the asthma specialist nurse in your surgery. It would suggest a preventative is necessary rather than just a reliever. It is an indication of asthma being out of control.

@Pikachuwithyourmouthclosed the issue there is to do with lack of GPs rather than prescribing. My surgery has a drop in for such things every morning. You may have a long wait but get there by 10 and you will be seen.

@Pikachuwithyourmouthclosed the issue there is to do with lack of GPs rather than prescribing. My surgery has a drop in for such things every morning. You may have a long wait but get there by 10 and you will be seen.

Can get Clomid and Metformin over the counter in the ME and India.

I bought the most heavy duty anti histamines once in Thailand. I had bad heat rash which spread all over my legs, had no idea what it was, went into a pharmacy and he gave me some tablets.

When I was at home a few weeks later I googled the script on the front of the packet and they were 10x stronger than average here. No wonder i felt queasy!

(And here the doctor got jumpy about prescribing me a standard one to use when I had urticaria while pg, it was awful, all over my legs, back, face swollen etc. The pharmasist clearly wouldn't sell it to me being 6 months pg. I know they have to be careful but all I needed was some clarityn!)

I can tell you for a fact that they shouldn't have sold him the antibiotics and pretty sure nothing with codeine in it either.
They might have taken pity on a tourist or be one of those places in certain areas where laws take around 10-20 years to actually be implemented.
If you were in my area of the country, you wouldn't have gotten the antibiotics without a prescription.

Can you buy codeine in Spain? I am a little worried about taking my prescription codeine through customs as DH and I are both on it for different things and I'm worried that the amount we take for a fortnight away will look dodgy. If we can buy it out there we won't need to take as much out with us

I spent a month in South America, I'm on industrial strength meds for a few health conditions, I was only stopped once, showed a photocopy of my prescription and was waved through.

Just copy your prescription.

I stock up on ventolin when I am away, saves me the prescription fee.

I bought some amazing painkillers in Greece when I broke my toe out there, I wish I had taken more notice of what they were

you are all assuming that what you are taking abroad is the same as what you would get if you were perscribed the same medication here. It won't be. Even the "identical" product from the same manufacturer will be formulated differently to comply with different laws in different countries

raspberrysuicide needing more than one salbutamol a month is poor asthma control and associated with a huge risk of death. You should get your preventer inhaler sorted put. Your GP isn't being obstructive, they have your best interests at heart.

raspberrysuicide PP's are right. Using more than one ventolin a month is a key indicator of uncontrolled asthma and a marker for people most likely to die from their asthma. Cheery stuff.
Prescribing only one inhaler at a time is included in the most recent asthma guidelines, based on a review of asthma deaths in the U.K.
The number of patients who get pissy with me for following guidelines intended to stop them dying is quite disheartening to be honest.

However I was most surprised NOT to be able to buy standard off the shelf (in the UK) antihistamines in Malta without a prescription.I won't be forgetting them again in a hurry! Really vicious mosquitoes.....

Ok, clearly I was very naive to not realise all this went on in many countries.

All of you loving all the unregulated availability of potentially dangerous medications are really not thinking it through, I'm sorry.
Yes, I was delighted about the convenience of getting my dad's meds without the stress and time and cost of seeing a doctor, but really??!

I am quite astonished how many of you do not see the possible risks.

Overuse of Ventolin/undersuse of preventer inhalers is one of the main causes of asthma deaths

Approx 1200 asthma deaths/year in the UK

I do take my prevented inhaler twice a day.
But surely if I have no ventolin and have an asthma attack I would die anyway?
I have to have 1 beside my bed and another one in my handbag.
Then another one in reserve in case one of the others run out.

Yes but those ones in your bag and by your bed shouldn't be being used and should only need replacing when they expire. If you need them more than once or twice a week, or at all at night, then your preventer needs increasing.

I bought cold and flu tablets from walmart in florida i was out my tree for 3 days it was a proper high god knows what was in it.i think being able to buy the pills for you dad unregulated is worrying.

Exactly, if they are needing replacing that regularly your preventative needs reviewing. Urgently. Asthma is no joke.

Watching tourists buy sudofed etc in the States is hilarious. "I need photo id and an address? But it's cold medicine!"

raspberry-if you're using more than one Ventolin inhaler a month, you may need some additional medication.