Antibiotics - do you live in the UK and visit Thailand for vacations?

Do you live in the UK/Europe and take vacations in Thailand?

When I arrive in Pattaya, one of the first things that I do – in addition to having my toenails cut in Beach road (!) – is to stock up on Amoxicillin at Boots the Chemist on the second floor of the Royal Garden Plaza. Why? Because if you try to get an appointment with a doctor here in the UK you could wait days or weeks, and for most bacterial infections (not viral infections) you will be prescribed what is called a “broad-based antibiotic” of which Amoxicillin is the favourite. It is principally designed to deal with a range of conditions including throat and nasal Staphylococcus, tonsillitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, gonorrhea, and infections of the ear, nose, throat, skin, or urinary tract, and tooth infections (abscesses) that require, for example, root canal treatment (to name but a few).

If you are under 60 years of age in the UK then you will pay about £8 for this antibiotic if and when you get to see a doctor – and there is no guarantee that he will prescribe the much coveted antibiotic, in view of various directives appealing to medics to restrict the prescription of antibiotics. Over the age of 60 it is free. So, I buy a few packets of Amoxicillin when I am in Patts to take back to the UK and use them when, and if, required. Please, please don’t reply with lots of good advice about the risks of self-diagnosis etc. for I know what I am talking about in this respect.

The cost of a course of 21 tablets (three a day for one week) of 500mg tablets in Thailand – about 150 Baht (about £3.75).

To quote an old TV advert, although I cannot remember which one, “You know it makes sense!”

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Originally Posted by poshglasgow

stock up on Amoxicillin at Boots the Chemist on the second floor of the Royal Garden Plaza. Why? Because if you try to get an appointment with a doctor here in the UK you could wait days or weeks

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A number of Western countries ask whether you are carrying prescription medication with you and you may have to go through the "Red" channel to declare it

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Originally Posted by frequent

A number of Western countries ask whether you are carrying prescription medication with you.

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Certainly that is true for entry to Australia. It is item 1 on your Incoming Passenger Card.
https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=i&r...89964907691178
(Click to enlarge image. Sorry about the photo quality - blame the Govt.)

Do you have to fill that in when you return to your own country?

I purchase Amoxicyllin.

A few years back I had a tooth infection that starts the entire side of the face swelling. On a Friday, so my dentist isn't available until Monday.
I know he's going to prescribe Amoxicyllin and the medical advice is to start right away before the infection spreads further. However if I get this infecton on a Friday, I'm waiting 3 days to see the dentist. After 3 days, he prescribes Amoxicyllin.
Much better to have some of this stashed in the back of the freezer, to save waiting.

After root canal treatment, I hope the issue isn't going to flare up again. If it does, I'm ready.

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Originally Posted by Brad the Impala

Do you have to fill that in when you return to your own country?

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Aussies and Kiwis are totally anal when it comes to customs declarations. Since both are surrounded by sea and want to maintain a "clean, green" marketing image, "biosecurity" ranks high - there are even whole reality television shows filming travelers arriving - or residents returning - being ritually humiliated via their baggage searches and interrogation by customs officials. There are mandatory screenings on all incoming aircraft warning all passengers about making false declarations and threatening substantial on-the-spot fines

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Originally Posted by Brad the Impala

Do you have to fill that in when you return to your own country?

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Yes. Every time any person enters the country. It is never stated, but a letter from your home-country Doctor confirming your need for the drug(s) carried is usually enough for Customs (but don't bet on it, esp if a dog has been sniffing around your bags between the aircraft and the carousel.)

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Originally Posted by frequent

Aussies and Kiwis are totally anal when it comes to customs declarations. ..... and threatening substantial on-the-spot fines

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Totally anal - Yes ! Also a damned annoyance. And it contributes not-very-much to stopping the flow of illegal drugs.

Fines: Yes, anything from a few hundred dollars to 50,000. If you have been very naughty, serious gaol-time will result. Then deportation with a life-long ban on re-visiting.

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Originally Posted by Yraen

Totally anal - Yes ! Also a damned annoyance. And it contributes not-very-much to stopping the flow of illegal drugs.

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You've missed the point completely. It's about biosecurity - plant & meat products and by-products, not illegal drugs (asuming you mean heroin and cocaine). By-products can include some pharmaceuticals. It also includes honey - a food. No sane person expects customs declarations to catch drug smugglers.

Some pharmaceuticals available overseas are banned in some countries because they are not licensed for sale. Nembutal (Pentobarbital) for example is available in some countries including I believe Thailand more or less legally, and is the suicide drug of choice for euthanasia advocates, but is banned in many other countries including, so I'm told, Australia.

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Originally Posted by Yraen

Yes. Every time any person enters the country. It is never stated, but a letter from your home-country Doctor confirming your need for the drug(s) carried is usually enough for Customs

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i have never transitted at Dubai but recall there was a scare when Qantas entered its alliance with Emirates. Allegedly Dubai requires the copy of a doctor's prescription for all medication - even panadol. Anyone know if this is fact?

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Originally Posted by fountainhall

i have never transitted at Dubai but recall there was a scare when Qantas entered its alliance with Emirates. Allegedly Dubai requires the copy of a doctor's prescription for all medication - even panadol. Anyone know if this is fact?

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A quick search of Tripadvisor will tell you more than you ever need to know - including the difference between transiting Dubai and entering Dubai. Gay Qantas flight attendants stopping over may run more of a risk.

And thank you for that wise comment. Links are always useful - but sadly some are too lazy to post them.

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Originally Posted by fountainhall

And thank you for that wise comment. Links are always useful - but sadly some are too lazy to post them.

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Lazier than posters not doing their own research in the first place?

Oh you are always so funny - read stupid! Yesterday you happily posted this link in another thread -

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The River Queen was also covered in this post http://sawatdeenetwork.com/v4/showth...rn-(Siem-Reap)

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So who is lazy? In fact, here's one link I read before making my post -

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it is recommended to leave all but absolutely essential medicines at home if you are going to or via Dubai, even as a transit passenger. In some cases the consequences are pretty severe, but many other people have been inconvenienced to the extent of being detained for some hours before being released . . .

Carrying more than 10 paracetamol tablets has been known to cause trouble at Dubai customs. (“Trouble” meaning being detained, strip searched and interrogated. It’s best avoided.) Even such traveller’s basics such as Lomotil are banned! Catherine Wolthuizen, chief executive of Fair Trials International, said Dubai customs authorities were using highly sensitive new equipment to conduct thorough searches on travellers.
“So many people now travel to Dubai and, as we’re seeing, many have no idea what risks they’re taking or their vulnerability to this very strict approach,” she said. “If they find any amount – no matter how minute – it will be enough to attract a mandatory four-year prison sentence.

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http://diytravelexpert.com/dubai-danger-medicines-drugs-and-you/

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Originally Posted by poshglasgow

...If you are under 60 years of age in the UK then you will pay about £8 for this antibiotic if and when you get to see a doctor......I know what I am talking about..

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Actually, my dear Posh, you absolutely don't :D

Would you like to either reconsider your statement or move back to Scotland - as you clearly don't live here - where you'll find that, irrespective of your age, prescription items are totally FREE and you wait usually no more than 3 working days for a routine GP appointment or are seen the SAME day in an emergency.

I believe that prescriptions are also free in Wales BTW

:D

On the point of your post - I always stock up on antibiotics in Thailand (or Vietnam), but I tend to go for the more modern ones. Amoxcyllin is pretty old and I stocked up on some Azithromycin last time - which amongst other things has the ability to treat Chlamydia (which is *rife* amongst sex workers) in a single dose.

And i do know what I'm talking about :mocking_mini:

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Originally Posted by Yraen

Yes. Every time any person enters the country. It is never stated, but a letter from your home-country Doctor confirming your need for the drug(s) carried is usually enough for Customs (but don't bet on it, esp if a dog has been sniffing around your bags between the aircraft and the carousel.)

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Yet another reason not to visit!

Saw one of those "Customs Patrol" tv programmes a couple of years ago where officers from Australian Customs gave a woman who had just landed off a flight a really hard time and a significant fine because instead of eating a banana she was served on the flight she had but it in her handbag for later, thus "importing" it!!

I've never had any desire to visit Australia, but if that's the sort of bureaucracy and petty officialdom they have then I don't see me changing my mind anytime soon

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Originally Posted by scottish-guy

I've never had any desire to visit Australia, but if that's the sort of bureaucracy and petty officialdom they have then I don't see me changing my mind anytime soon

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You are starting to get a decent list of the places you'll not visit with Australia being added to Singapore. More's the pity as far as you are concerned as both are amazing places to visit, at least for a short time. Here in Singapore it's as cruisy as ever and never a problem with joiners.

Sydney is one of my favourite cities. You may pooh pooh the idea of a banana being confiscated, but you forget that Australia has a huge agricultural industry and is a very isolated island to boot. One pest in one foodstuff is all it would need to set off a nasty chain reaction. After all, some idiot introduced 24 rabbits for hunting purposes - and by the 1990s there were 10 billion of the buggers causing all sorts of mischief.

The Thai government is strict about bringing medicines into and out of Thailand. You may be required to declare them 2 weeks before arrival. This was all quite a shock to me as I have not once had a problem bringing my meds into the country.
This advisory is from the Vancouver Thai Embassy:
http://www.thaiconsulatevancouver.ca...medication.pdf

ronnie...sweety darling...prostitution is also supposedly illegal in thailand...get with the program

Don't be an idiot Latin. Drugs/medicine are on a completely different legal scale to prostitution. Even you must know that.

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Originally Posted by latintopxxx

ronnie...sweety darling...prostitution is also supposedly illegal in thailand...get with the program

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The problem with many drugs is that beyond a reasonable quantity (so if you're here for 2 weeks and have a 2 month supply) you can get them confiscated should customs decide you are looking dodgy! Also, if you are thinking of getting generic drugs sent from India, you're also a candidate for trouble. I don't mean the erection enhancing variety. But if like a friend of mine you have several ailments each requiring a substantial quantity each month and medication from India is a fraction of the price, the packet is most likely to be opened and then confiscated on the grounds that the same medicines are available in Thailand!

arse...hol......ive been stopped once (yes only once) leaving BKK swampy airport with 10 packets of kamagra...after explaining it was for personal use I was allowed to proceed...no paperwork needed...no back handers either...

If you say so Latin.

Just out of interest - what are the latest arrest/conviction statistics for "smuggling" antibiotics out of Thailand for personal use?

Zero? Yeah, thats what I figured.

We're not talking about taking legal stuff out Scottish, we're talking about taking stuff in.

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Originally Posted by poshglasgow

...stock up on Amoxicillin at Boots the Chemist on the second floor of the Royal Garden Plaza...

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I had great success with ciprofloxacin for treatment of diarrhea. After getting it prescribed once or twice, I decided to get it by myself the next bad case (often it clears up after two or three days, by itself of with charcoal, but if it takes longer, I have to take steps). I took it only half a week, to keep the rest of the package (10x500 mg) for the next case. Then I traveled, and the diarrhea came back (should have taken the whole package, general advice to continue treatment after diarrhea is gone). So I bought more in Korat, where I found the price to be only half of what I paid in Bangkok! Then I bought another pack in a non-touristy area of Bangkok, where I paid the same as in Korat.

Long story short: in a local pharmacy you might get if or for half the price you pay in Royal Garden Plaza.

There might be a reason why some stuff is only available on prescription in civilized countries, but sold over the counter in third world. Keyword: Multiple Drug Resistance.

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Originally Posted by arsenal

We're not talking about taking legal stuff out Scottish, we're talking about taking stuff in.

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Ok, in that case:

Just out of interest - what are the latest arrest/conviction statistics for "smuggling" antibiotics into Thailand for personal use?

Zero? Yeah, thats what I figured.

:D

I know it’s not that easy to do but try and check the Expiry Dates on Antibiotics. There are several branches of Boots in Pattaya and I’m assuming they are OK but I’ve seen expired stock of other drugs in smaller chemists. Personally I wouldn’t take ciprofloxacin, which is potent stuff, and not something I’d take without medical advice. If you do take it bare in mind that it increases your skin’s sensitivity to sunlight which could be more important in a sunny place like Thailand. Amoxicillin is dished out like sweets in Thailand and seems to be the antibiotic of choice and is the only one I’d consider taking.

I thought Azithromycin was the option for diarrhea & Cyproflaxin the more powerful less preferred option.

Amoxillin's what I've seen prescribed for gum infections.


I would be researching that much more carefully if getting regular diarrhea episodes, as some people above seem to.