Pharmacies in Spain and Italy
 

Have you bought any drugs there that you'd need a prescription for in the USA?
Is there anything you'd recommend?

If you bring the packaging with you and show to the pharmacist, they will sell the product to you OTC. My sisters were able to purchase various drugs for friends on long-term meds at substantailly lower cost than in Ireland.

It's true that some drugs that are Rx in the US are OTC in europe - but NOT most. If you go in with a story that you dropped your pills they might let you have a few until you can get to a doctor. But RPhs simply can;t dispense whatever they want without an Rx. It's illegal there - just like here.

Some countries can dispense certain drugs OTC, while the country next door might not be able to. You might also find that the dosages are different than what would be available Stateside.

A friend was in Panama when she took ill. Working for a physician back home, she contacted him and he advised what she should inquire about and the dosage. She was able to get the meds in Panama, but instead of as 20mg pills needing a script as they would have been dispensed in NYS, they were available OTC, in 2mg pills. She had to take a handfull of these to meet the 20mg required.

Just be prepared for differences and being turned down.

Well, I just got some pain killers in Spain that really work, but am not sure if you'd need an Rx for them here--called Robaxial. I asked a doc friend about them and she said that they're like motrin, with composine (sp?) and a muscle relaxer, adding that she thinks that the over the counter European drugs are superior to ours. I think this is the case with this one. And it was inexpensive. I bought some extra--would have even gotten more, but was concerned they might take them away at U.S. customes.

Every time I traveled to Europe my mother would ask me to bring home boxes of an antacid named RENNIE. White chewable tablets in a red box..sold in many countries. She told me that they worked much better than Tums or any of the others we can buy here in the US.

Don't you have Rennies in the US? :)
They are what we grew up on..

I cannot compare to the US but compared to Australia and Britain drugs which are prescription only in those countries are less likely to be in Spain or Italy, especially in the major cities. But there is no hard and fast rule that I am aware of. I have been able to buy 'prescription' drugs OTC in Rome and Como but was refused the same in a small town and told I needed a prescription. I showed the packaging etc.

No, we don't have them here. Or perhaps we DO have them but I have never seen them. Everytime I would ask my mother what she wanted from France or Italy or Spain (a leather wallet, a silk scarf, etc) she would just ask me to get a box of Rennies!

Now you mention it, I am not sure we have theme here in Ireland. There are so many indigestion remedies now, and I tend to avoid the foods I know will spark trouble, rather than take stuff.

What you can/cannot buy OTC varies so much from country to country. Ireland has restrictions the UK does not, which makes the proximity of the border a blessing.

When my dad goes to Italy and/ or Spain he always buys his cholesterol and blood pressure medicines. The prices is a fraction of what he pays in the US. They pretty much will sell you anything.

A great story of the kindness of the Spanish people: While in Santaiago I lost my BP and cholesterol meds. As I was to be in country for a month, I went on a Sunday morning, with copies of my US prescriptions, to the hospital emergency room hoping to find out how to replace the lost stuff. The staff immediately pointed out a potential problem: Identical meds often have different names in different countries because who knows what "zocor" means in Hungarian. A doctor spent an hour pawing through a whole shelf of books trying to locate the Spanish equivalents of my stuff. One translation was in question so he called the drug rep at home [Sunday morn]. The rep said he'd try to run down someone at the home office in Madrid to check dosage questions. He later called my hotel to say that he had not been able to make a contact in Madrid but would call the next morning. The next day when I returned to the hotel from breakfast there was a hand-delivered message from the rep giving me specifics of the medicines to ask for at the local pharmacia. I walked around the corner and got what I needed.

For me, it doesn't get much better than than that! In the US, chances are not good of getting an ER MD to spend an hour researching your question, calling a rep at home on Sunday, and then getting a hand-delivered note the next morning. And my friends ask why I go to Spain so much!

This identical question came up the other day in our house. DH, DD and I are due to leave Friday for Italy and DH said he felt like he was coming down with something. He wanted to know if he could get antibiotics in Italy if he got sick.

My only experience has been in Germany. On our first trip, I got a sore throat. I went to the Apoteke (sp?), they asked me to describe my symptoms (alot of hand signals!) and gave me the best 'cold' medicine I've ever taken! It had to be something that would classify as a prescription here in the US. It was too effective too quickly.

H

Thank you, all, for your replies. If anyone has anything else to add, I'm finding this very interesting.

Hi cia,

Got a great antibiotic spray in Italy when I had a sore throat.

Tylenol and Codeine no. 1 is sold OTC. Great for really bad headaches.

((I))

I got great Migrane tablets in Spain, they worked much better than my own ones i buy here on prescription in Ireland, and are a fraction of the price, I bought a load of packets , and was worried the customs might think i was a major drug smggler!!:)

lucielou, which tablets were these ? :)