Monday, August 6, 2012

How-To (Or How-Not-To) Refill Prescription Meds While Traveling

We had a solid Plan A.  Before we left on our trip, we had our 90-day supply of prescription meds, plus we even received from our discount prescription provider, Medco, an additional 90-day supply through their "travel" program.  Usually, they would not release more than a 90-day supply; however, they will for travel purposes.  Instead of carrying around a 6-month supply of meds (very bulky and takes up precious backpack space!), we decided to have someone mail the next 90-day supply to us while we were in Argentina for 3-weeks.  Genius, right?  Well, not so genius when...

...we figured out that according to the United States Postal Service, "prescription medication can only be mailed by registered practitioners or dispensers.  Similar laws apply to over-the-counter medications."  We can only assume that the same regulations apply to any other carrier of mail such as FedEx and UPS.  So basically, we didn't want any of our friends to get in trouble, but somehow, we needed the next 90-day supply of meds to be mailed. 

We quickly started on Plan B.  We called our primary care physician's office in Kansas, and after many questions and "hold, pleases", they basically declined to send the package to us.  We offered to pay for everything, package it, etc. but it was a no-go.  We know this was a highly unusual request, but we hoped they would be more cooperative.  

On to Plan C.  After explaining our situation, Medco was very understanding and had full desire to help.  They even took exception to all the meds already sent out previously (and sitting in our house).  Plan C was starting to sound like a closed deal when the customer service rep took our Argentina mailing address and everything...only to be denied at the end when she discovered that they can only send foreign mail to a military base address.  Even if it didn't work out, we appreciated everything they tried to do for us!

We hit the Buenos Aires streets for Plan D.  Don't worry...all legal.  We noticed that most meds in South America can be purchased over-the-counter.  Akiko, being a nurse, was very surprised by all the strong antibiotics, cardiac meds, and meds for a host of other conditions that would routinely require a physician's order to dispense.  The general 'rule' in South America is as long as the medication does not have mind-altering qualities, it can be sold over-the-counter.  We wrote down the generic names of all the meds we needed, along with the dosage.  We had to visit several pharmacies to collect what we needed.  We showed them the list of meds and the pharmacist began pulling out boxes of pills until we had what we needed!  Occasionally, the dosing was different, so we needed twice as many pills.  For the diltiazem, we ended up with a smorgasbord of 3 different brand names, but all the same generic drug, dosing, and mechanism (extended release, etc.).  Some of you may be wondering about the quality of the meds.  We have no idea, but beggars can't be choosy.  They're manufactured by major international pharmaceutical companies.  The meds were not cheap by any means.  However, we got what we needed and considering the circumstances, glad to have paid whatever was necessary.  

If Plan D didn't pan out, Plan E would've been to schedule an appointment with a physician who could re-write the prescriptions and get them filled in whatever country we were in.  

We very much appreciate our perfectly good law-abiding citizen friends who would have (and may have...you'll never know...) gladly accepted Mission Plan F of shipping the meds anyway.  We think this kind of activity unknowingly goes on all the time around-the-world.  

However, to stay within the confines of the rules, let this be a lesson for anyone planning extended travels that need to be on prescription meds.  Our advice is to either work on an advanced shipping solution with your physician's office or dispensing pharmacist, or just obtain your full supply and take it with you.  It's bulky, but at least the volume will decrease as the days go by!  You cannot count on the country having the exact medication that you need.  Period.  Better safe than sorry.