I’m thinking of moving to Taiwan later this year. The thing that I worry about is this: I am on a medication that is prescribed off-label but can be life-threatening if I don’t have it.
Basically, I have depression and awhile back I went through a few months where I took various SSRIs and they did nothing at best and sometimes made things MUCH worse. I finally went to a psychiatrist who put me on Lamictal, which is a mood stabilizer for bipolar disorder. I am not bipolar, but it is what works for my depression - SSRIs are a nightmare for me. Lamictal is available in Taiwan and is not a controlled substance.
My worry is twofold:
There is a six-month limit on prescription amounts bringing them into Taiwan. When I worked in China, I just always brought a year’s supply with a prescription and note, and was never hassled. I could still try to bring in the supply, but would it raise flags? If so:
If I can’t bring more than 6 months, is there a chance that a Taiwanese psychiatrist will refuse to prescribe them because I’m not bipolar? I would of course bring a prescription and doctor’s not from my home country.
When I have the medication, I’m fine and normal and functional. It’s just a matter of making sure I can get it.
You run into that possibility with the NHI. But I think you’ll be fine going private.
And tbh it’s likely a pharmacy will sell it to you out of pocket if you just bring them a box to show them you take it. Unless it’s a heavily controlled substance like benzodiazepines or opioids, pharmacies will often sell it to you.
I see shrinks here too, and I’m on Valdoxan, it seems to work.
You can talk to your doctor about using bipolar meds for off label depression use. Worst comes to worst they can just enter a diagnosis for bipolar so they can prescribe it. If it’s not controlled, you can just buy it from a pharmacy. I did this for blood pressure meds while my NHI benefits needed 6 months to come back. Just that the costs may be a bit high.
As Andrew says if you visit the big pharmacies not near hospitals with old packets and or scripts etc. They’re generally very happy to keep you in supply. They’ll put your name and number in their system and then repeat visits are even easier.
Hmm I have to go back to my Dr every couple months and he refills there. I didn’t think pharmacies here actually did prescriptions. When I asked my Dr to just give me a prescription that I can refill at a pharmacy he said it doesn’t work that way here. I think he’s just trying to milk me for $
That’s why the pharmacies are happy to supply you. My original prescription for IBS for example was for two weeks but it’s a chronic condition. There’s no way I’m going to waste my time going back to a hospital for such a mundane prescription. It’s pretty hard to abuse a drug that lowers intestinal motility.
What are you prescribed for IBS? I just get imodium added to my visit because the visit is like 200, and your copay don’t go up because you have more drugs. Some of them can be a bit pricey if you buy it from a pharmacy.
It has worked that way at least a couple years now.
I’ve done it many times and see plenty of people doing it.
Only problem I’ve ever had is if they didn’t stock a particular drug.
There may be a bit of initial paperwork also.
You have to have what’s considered a “chronic illness”. Normally it’s not a problem but they may not want to give you a refillable prescription for everything.
I have IBS also but never taken anything for it. Is this one an anti-spasmadic? I was just reading about two drugs that are supposed to be helpful: Dicyclomine or Hyoscyamine
My problem is the tiniest bit of spice, or often unknown whatevers, trigger my stomach to freak out
Edit: found the non-brand name of yours: Otilonium bromide
