What medicines do you travel O/S with? [No specific medical advice]

[MEL_Traveller]

Definitely pseudoephedrine. That phenyl whatever is junk. MrP gets sinusitis and we always take the real thing. I'll do a rummage and see if I can find a packet we purchased in Dubai. Definitely the same in Singapore but not Thailand.

Yep. Here's the packet. You can see the Arabic writing. Panadol sinus imported from Australia and manufactured by GSK.

View attachment 42469

Interesting the warning is for the Panadol and not the pseudoephedrine.

I can't seem to open the attachment - but interesting that they sell it! I buy mine in the USA, packet of 24 for $4.99 (requires a passport for ID).

Thailand supposedly cracked down on a whole range of medications you could buy over the counter. Supposedly from 2013 there was to be no more sales of valium and xanax without prescription! I wonder if that actually translated into anything on the ground.

 

[hummel]

It amazes me what people travel with...or perhaps I'm just lucky?

The one thing I take (not medicine) is protein powder as I find it hard to get enough when in China amongst all the other carb heavy foods.

 

[Pushka]

I'll try again

 

[Denali]

We always pack protein bars, no matter what country we go to.

 

[Milboo]

What I carry differs based on where I am heading - taking more if I am not in major cities. That said - I copped a massive sinus infection, conjunctivitis and strep throat in San Francisco a few years ago and paid about $600 in medical costs.

So basics are:
- course of antibiotics (Keflex)
- Panaedine Forte or Mersyndol Forte as I get migraines
- a normal strength painkiller
- voltaren
- Maxalon and Diarrhoea tablets
- something for indigestion
- Valium (post migraine)
- Melatonin
- nasal decongestant (plane use)
- nasal spray
- hydralite

Most stuff I take a strip of only - not the whole box.

As an aside - I don't carry a doctor's letter and have never had any issues carrying prescription drugs - even into places like the Middle East.

 

[JohnK]

Thailand supposedly cracked down on a whole range of medications you could buy over the counter. Supposedly from 2013 there was to be no more sales of valium and xanax without prescription! I wonder if that actually translated into anything on the ground.

Have tried in a number of pharmacies in Chiang Mai and Pattaya. Cannot buy either without prescription.

Although you can get valium from the guy selling kamagra, cough etc. Not that I buy them mind you.

 

[RooFlyer]

It amazes me what people travel with...or perhaps I'm just lucky?

The one thing I take (not medicine) is protein powder as I find it hard to get enough when in China amongst all the other carb heavy foods.

I hear what you are saying, but for me its just a standard thing to throw in the suitcase, even when I'm 'just' going to USA and Canada. I'm happy never to use any of it. But if you are on an expensive tour, or a series of plane trips, how much easier is it just to reach into the medical kit and get what you need to tide you over rather than fretting about getting to a pharmac_ (if there is one), or a doctor (ditto) and having your trip torpedoed. Age is a factor of course. I never used to travel with the portable pharmac_ until I was about 40

This trip, I had a week gap in work in Canada, so I decided at 3 days notice to go to Belize and Guatemala. So glad I had the kit with me!

 

[cove]

My theory on travel is that when you have quite a few miles on your time clock you start travelling to places where the health system is equal to or better than what we have in Australia. I really started thinking this way once we were both over 60.
When I had the staph infection spreading up my leg I was very happy with the treatment I received in London and I was unsure how that might have gone if I had been in the "world boonies".
Anyone else over 60 thinking my way?

 

[drron]

We are going to all the out of the way places now just in case we are not up to it in our 80s.

 

[Denali]

It amazes me what people travel with...or perhaps I'm just lucky? .

For me, it's about not wanting to be caught without or having to scramble to find. When working, it's hard to find the time to get things you need and it's not until you try to sleep does the discomfort really hit. All the things I pack, we use at home anyway, as it's preventative.

 

[Pushka]

And as long as you have had the medications before and you know the symptoms it's wonderful to be able to deal with it on the spot and not waste time in discomfort let alone trying to find a Medico and pharmac_ to dispense it.

 

[RooFlyer]

My theory on travel is that when you have quite a few miles on your time clock you start travelling to places where the health system is equal to or better than what we have in Australia. I really started thinking this way once we were both over 60.
When I had the staph infection spreading up my leg I was very happy with the treatment I received in London and I was unsure how that might have gone if I had been in the "world boonies".
Anyone else over 60 thinking my way?

I was going to say that I'm kinda the opposite, travelling to many third world and out-of-the-way countries but then re-read your '60' hurdle. By the at time, or soon thereafter I may be back to travelling to 'safe' countries. But with insurance, I hope not.

 

[cove]

I guess I could have used 70 as the mental cut off for travelling outside of Western Europe, Singapore,Canada,New Zealand, Australia and the US.
Currently we have a lady just out of London who has been hit with a virus that has paralyzed her lower body. She was 2 days off travelling to North Africa where treatment would have been difficult.
Elsewhere we have had associates suffer from altitude sickness in Nepal and Mongolia.

 

[Pushka]

I started getting a feel for altitude sickness on the top lift at Chamonix (du midi). The ride to the top is very quick with no adjustment. I realised something was amiss when climbing some stairs and I veered from left to right side. Then my legs felt like lead. As soon as we started the ride down it was back to normal.

 

[RooFlyer]

While on the subject of altitude sickness, does anyone know of some kind of preventative treatment for it? I know its not a 'disease' but I imagine there bust be some sort of compound that would enhance oxygen uptake on the red blood cells (and that's as technical as I'm going to try!)

 

[Pushka]

While on the subject of altitude sickness, does anyone know of some kind of preventative treatment for it? I know its not a 'disease' but I imagine there bust be some sort of compound that would enhance oxygen uptake on the red blood cells (and that's as technical as I'm going to try!)

Yes there is. MrP did a trek through Nepal and the travellers medical centre gave him some tablets. He didn't need them as trekking allows the chance to acclimatise. Interesting he did feel unwell at Chamonix also but had trekked much higher in the Himalayas.

 

[Sale]

And as long as you have had the medications before and you know the symptoms it's wonderful to be able to deal with it on the spot and not waste time in discomfort let alone trying to find a Medico and pharmac_ to dispense it.

And it saves the language problems!! I had a dreadful dreadful spasmodic cough in France last year which my supply of medications didn't touch.

So if you could imagine the patient (me) cough cough coughing & dry retching with a wizened little old French doctor (with NO English) and trying to explain my allergies/ various illnesses etc etc with the aid of an iPad translator into which I had typed in and translated all the info and saved as screenshots before leaving the hotel (while I had an internet connection).

So my answers didn't necessarily match his questions because I didn't know what his questions were - I just handed over the iPad and coughed & at him.

He ended up giving me different antibiotics and some syrope (yuk) so the medico bit was even more difficult than I would have imagined.

The afterword: both ended up being wrong as I had whooping cough! I finally saw my own doctor who heard me cough and said that's whooping cough and he was so right.

This year I'll take my trusty supply of Bactrim again and all the other bits and pieces. And I hadn't re-vaccinated against whooping cough since I was a child but hopefully now I have caught up with a few more dated vaccinations.

 

[Pushka]

The only vaccinations/immunisations I've had are for tetanus, polio and Hep B. Pertussis and rubella let alone the current coughtails weren't around when I was a kid.

 

[drron]

While on the subject of altitude sickness, does anyone know of some kind of preventative treatment for it? I know its not a 'disease' but I imagine there bust be some sort of compound that would enhance oxygen uptake on the red blood cells (and that's as technical as I'm going to try!)

Taking Diamox can help prevent it.
They say coca tea or Chlorophyll drops can help-though little evidence that they work.
Also told limit alcohol intake.That is obviously an old wive's tale.
But go to a hotel that has oxygen enhanced rooms.That does relieve the symptoms.

 

[Pushka]

Taking Diamox can help prevent it.

Yes. That's what MrP was prescribed.