medicine

[whittler]

Hi whittler here. Next Sept I will be coming to Thailand for a 6 month
trial. A very good friend recomended Udon Thani, and I have a question.
I take quite a few meds How could I find out if they have these meds or
subsitute,and how much they would cost? Here in the US I can get them
foe $3.00 a perscription. I don't think they will send them out of the US.
I will have a 1000 questions for you guys, I will try not to bug you too much.

whittler

[banpaeng]

Welcome to the Forum Whittler. Sounds like you might be getting your scripts from the VA. I doubt you will be able to get them anywhere near that price in Udon.

A tip that may work. You will have to have an address in the US to be able to keep money or securities in a bank. This is because of homeland security rules. Maybe you are using a relatives address, get the VA to mail to that address and have them forwarded to you. The only drawback with this is you will have to come back to have either your annual or semi-annual appointment. If you are going to do visit anyway it will work.

If you are retired military there is another thread that has a military laision that might be able to help you more. I really don't know.

[yorkman]

I will have a 1000 questions for you guys, I will try not to bug you too much.

whittler

Bug away, its no problem. The problem here is that unless you can strike up a relationship with a doctor that is not more interested in selling medications at a profit (usually in unmarked bags, so you are not quite sure what it is), than in your welfare, you will pay much more. There are many surprisingly excellent medical facilities here, but you need to tread carefully.

I would suggest you get a stock for your stay, but I would hesitate about bringing that through the airport.

[Mr. Bean]

Hi whittler here. Next Sept I will be coming to Thailand for a 6 month
trial. A very good friend recomended Udon Thani, and I have a question.
I take quite a few meds How could I find out if they have these meds or
subsitute,and how much they would cost? Here in the US I can get them
foe $3.00 a perscription. I don't think they will send them out of the US.
I will have a 1000 questions for you guys, I will try not to bug you too much.

whittler

If you are rated 100% from the VA you can obtain an APO address in Bangkok and have the meds sent to the APO address, same goes for being retired Army etc. The only draw back will be having to go to Bangkok to your APO box once every 90 days. But, it's not really a draw back if you want to do some shopping or other fun things.

Welcome to Udon the more the merrier.

[businessman]

Welcome to the forum.Plenty of guys here on medication of one form or another.

I would try and find out if the Thais make a generic version of the drugs you take as imported farang drugs are very expensive.Try a google search with the drugs constituents and Thailand in the search box.

Marcus.

[whittler]

Hi everybody, whittler here, sorry for the delay in responding. I'm not VA, but a retired city worker. As of noe the insurance said they would consider a one time mail order for 6 months. But I will have to ask for authorization closer to the time of my departure.

Thanks for the advice, I will keep you posted.

whittler

[polehawk]

$3 per prescription? Hard to beat that price anyplace you might go. Thought VA prescriptions were $7 for a 30 day supply but could be wrong. I can surmise that the retail prices for brand names or generics are a fraction of what you would pay in the states. A friend of mine took a list of my meds to a local pharmacy in Phuket while he was vacationing there recently and prices did range from 50 - 67% less than I would have to pay over the counter at my local druggist here in Florida.

Then again, on a more positive note, a healthier diet of Thai food/vegetables and life style in Thailand could result in being able to drop a few of these meds in due time. =D>

[Garnet]

This came my way January 31st, written by William Campbell Douglass II, MD:

Golf and poker night: Cures for heart disease?

Despite the romantic prevalence of so many real or fictional man-as-solitary-loner archetypes in literature and pop culture (Henry David Thoreau, the Old Man and the Sea, the Lone Ranger, etc.), what men truly need in order to be as healthy as they can be is social interaction - yes, even rugged, individualist men like the Marlboro man. And now, there's credible research that shows just how important frequent and fulfilling bonding among males really is.

A group of researchers from Sweden conducted a fifteen-year health study on a pool of nearly 750 men of varying backgrounds and determined that those with the greatest amount of social interaction - contact with many friends they saw on a regular basis - were less than half as likely to have heart disease, all other factors being equal (smoking, weight, job-related stress, etc.).

Furthermore, the study's men who showed the most evidence of a deep emotional attachment to their friends (not simply frequency of contact) proved only 58% as likely to DEVELOP heart disease as their more loner-esque counterparts. These findings amount to an astonishing reduction in risk - far greater, I'll wager, than any prescription drug can credibly boast.

What does all of this mean? It means your best buddy need not have dragged you out of a burning building to be saving your life. It means that your monthly poker night or round of golf with the boys (or whatever the bunch of you do for fun) is not only good for your soul - it's crucial for your heart and every other aspect of your health, too. Yes, even if you down a few belts of good scotch or smoke a cigar or two (especially so, if you ask me) in the course of having fun.

If anyone in your life thinks otherwise, simply show them this article, or look up the study itself as proof. Published in the European Heart Journal (January 2004), the research offered up no hypothesis as to WHY social interaction made such a difference in the heart disease risk of the study's men, but do we really even need to guess at the reasons? Isn't the answer obvious?

Of course it is. Common sense should tell us that the personal happiness and a sense of belonging we derive from spending quality time with people of like mind and sensibilities (friends, in other words) is vital to life - and to REALLY LIVING - no matter what our sex.

And it takes no high-falutin' study from Sweden to prove it, but it was Swede of them to do it.

[valentine]

Personally, not being a mans man. I find an evening in male company increases my blood pressure, listening to endless tales of sexual exploits and boasts of alchohol consumption does nothing for me. I much prefer an evening at home with my delightful wife

[beer monkey]

This came my way January 31st, written by William Campbell Douglass II, MD:

Golf and poker night: Cures for heart disease?

Despite the romantic prevalence of so many real or fictional man-as-solitary-loner archetypes in literature and pop culture (Henry David Thoreau, the Old Man and the Sea, the Lone Ranger, etc.), what men truly need in order to be as healthy as they can be is social interaction - yes, even rugged, individualist men like the Marlboro man. And now, there's credible research that shows just how important frequent and fulfilling bonding among males really is.

A group of researchers from Sweden conducted a fifteen-year health study on a pool of nearly 750 men of varying backgrounds and determined that those with the greatest amount of social interaction - contact with many friends they saw on a regular basis - were less than half as likely to have heart disease, all other factors being equal (smoking, weight, job-related stress, etc.).

Furthermore, the study's men who showed the most evidence of a deep emotional attachment to their friends (not simply frequency of contact) proved only 58% as likely to DEVELOP heart disease as their more loner-esque counterparts. These findings amount to an astonishing reduction in risk - far greater, I'll wager, than any prescription drug can credibly boast.

What does all of this mean? It means your best buddy need not have dragged you out of a burning building to be saving your life. It means that your monthly poker night or round of golf with the boys (or whatever the bunch of you do for fun) is not only good for your soul - it's crucial for your heart and every other aspect of your health, too. Yes, even if you down a few belts of good scotch or smoke a cigar or two (especially so, if you ask me) in the course of having fun.

If anyone in your life thinks otherwise, simply show them this article, or look up the study itself as proof. Published in the European Heart Journal (January 2004), the research offered up no hypothesis as to WHY social interaction made such a difference in the heart disease risk of the study's men, but do we really even need to guess at the reasons? Isn't the answer obvious?

Of course it is. Common sense should tell us that the personal happiness and a sense of belonging we derive from spending quality time with people of like mind and sensibilities (friends, in other words) is vital to life - and to REALLY LIVING - no matter what our sex.

And it takes no high-falutin' study from Sweden to prove it, but it was Swede of them to do it.

Play golf,play poker,drink alcohol,smoke cigars, why-not enjoy those things now, as we all know you are a long time dead. [-o<

[BangkokButcher]

listening to endless tales of sexual exploits and boasts of alchohol consumption does nothing for me

Sounds like you've been out with LA a few too many times....

[laphanphon]

I much prefer an evening at home with my delightful wife

i also enjoy night out with the little lady, wait a minute, we talking about yours or mine. lol, hope to see you saturday at clock.

Sounds like you've been out with LA a few too many times....

must be a case of mistaken identity.

[BangkokButcher]

no pun intended LA

[AznBigG]

I'm looking for a specific medication, called SOTALOL hydrochloride, brand label known as Beta Pace, which is an anti-arrhythmic.

Has anyone heard of this med? AEK has advised me that they don't carry it and claims no availability throughout Thailand.

I miscalculated and will run out of this med after today. I have refills being sent, but it was shipped 7/20 via USPS Express Mail, not via UPS/FedEx as I had requested. So I'm not sure if it will be here by tomorrow. I'm looking for a small supply to last till my refill arrives.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[valentine]

I'm looking for a specific medication, called SOTALOL hydrochloride, brand label known as Beta Pace, which is an anti-arrhythmic.

Has anyone heard of this med? AEK has advised me that they don't carry it and claims no availability throughout Thailand.

I miscalculated and will run out of this med after today. I have refills being sent, but it was shipped 7/20 via USPS Express Mail, not via UPS/FedEx as I had requested. So I'm not sure if it will be here by tomorrow. I'm looking for a small supply to last till my refill arrives.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Betapace(R) Sototal Hydrochrolic. Is a drug listed as not for use outside a medical enviroment so it would be unlikely a pharmacy would stock it, however most larger hospitals should have a supply but whether they will sell it because of this classification is another matter.

[arjay]

There is a lot of information on the drug on Google.

I don't know if the webpage link below may help. I found it by typing in "alternatives to......" ..

Click Here!


I note it can be ordered via the Internet, but guess that would take longer than the order you already have en route.

Have you tried the Paulo hospital in Udon as another possible "long shot" alternative source?

[AznBigG]

Hi Arjay and Valentine

Thanks for the insight. I checked with the three hospitals here in Udon Thani regarding my Sotalol and they all confirmed that Thailand does not carry that specific meds. So I'll have to wait for my package to arrive.

Valuable lesson learned .... refill my meds early . I assumed Thailand had every meds here, or at least a better equivalent of it ... I was wrong