# Prescription Meds in Mexico



## skip8622 (Jul 16, 2016)

I have a question, actually two:
I should point out that I not exactly a whiz kid on the computer.

First, when I use the Search function it takes me to not-so-related posts not just for Mexico, but for the entire planet. So, if I want to search the Mexico forum only for posts about prescription medications, how can I do that?

Second question is about prescription medications in Mexico. I take meds for high blood pressure, enlarged prostate, and a few others. I have insurance in the USA that would cover the cost, but it's only good in the USA.

In Thailand, where I am living now, I go to the doctor, who tells me what I need, and then I go to a pharmacy and get the medicine, no prescription needed. (can't do that for opioids and other really dangerous stuff) The amazing thing is that although I can't use my health insurance from the USA, the total cost is lower than what the co-pay would be if I did live in the USA and used my insurance. 

So.... I am thinking of relocating, Mexico being one of the places under consideration, and was wondering about the prescription medication scene there. :juggle::juggle:


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

skip8622 said:


> I have a question, actually two:
> I should point out that I not exactly a whiz kid on the computer.
> 
> First, when I use the Search function it takes me to not-so-related posts not just for Mexico, but for the entire planet. So, if I want to search the Mexico forum only for posts about prescription medications, how can I do that?
> ...


 Thailand sounds similar to Mexico. No prescriptions are needed for most medication.

I have the same problem with the search function. In fact if I want to search, I usually use a general search engine with the site:expatforum.com argument. Try:
http://duckduckgo.com?q=site:expatforum.com+mexico+medicine

Will


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

- Left click the Search pulldown in the 2nd green row at the top of the page
- There is a link for Advanced Search at the bottom of the little pop-up you get. Left click it.
- On the advanced search page, find the 3rd green bar from the top labeled Search Forums. 
- Under that there is a text box with "keywords" underneath it. Put your search terms in there.
- Then look further down the page, underneath the 4th green bar marked Search Options
- In the right half of that window, there is a sub-window labeled "search in forums"
- Scroll that down a little more than halfway, and find the mexico forum under the north america heading. Left click that line.
- Below that there is a checkbox for "search child forums" uncheck that if you don't want to search classifieds and the other special forum.
- Then look below that for the "search forum" button. Don't click it. Look just below it for the "Go" button.
- As "save search preferences" is in the pulldown to the left of the Go button, when you hit go it should save your search preferences. It does put up a pop-up that says it saved the preferences, but the next time I search it doesn't seem to have remembered them, so that part isn't working for me the way it looks like it should work.
- Click Search Now to really do the search. That works, at least that one time. You may have to redo the whole thing each time to search just the mexico forum. You get the usual two green menu bars, then under that some ads by google, then another dark green bar labeled Search: <your keywords> Forum: mexico forum etc.
Under that you have some threads, hopefully, (if I put the keyword "corvette" in I see two threads). Under that is another green bar, and other that more ads by google. 
If I just do a simple search on corvette, without limiting it to the specific forum, I get many more hits on other forums, which is not what is wanted.

YMMV.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

TundraGreen said:


> Thailand sounds similar to Mexico. No prescriptions are needed for most medication.
> 
> 
> Will


Tundra's right. I lived in both Mexico and Thailand previously, and things have tightened considerably in both countries for medications.I returned and spent all of 2015 in Mexico and in Thailand since January.

In both countries, you have the same situations where only the very largest pharmacies carry the full range of prescription pills. There has been one high blood pressure medication freely available in Mexico hat I could get in Thailand only at a hospital via a doctor.

In Mexico, I never needed a prescription for any of the reasons you listed. 

In Mexico, as in Thailand, if you look around and talk to people, prescriptions and pharmacies to fill most other things available. I've found the pharmacy prices generally cheaper in Mexico than in Thailand, sometimes much cheaper $20.00 -$30.00 for a 30 day supply versus $2.00 to $4.00 in Mexico. Speaking of generics here, and never had a problem.

The "opiods" you mention are another category, severely restricted these days, courtesy of U.S. pressure applied globally, I believe, though I'm not sure.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Since last year in Mexico, you need a doctor's prescription for opiods and antibiotics. And lots of pharmacies have chosen not to carry the former because of all the new restrictions on how the prescriptions need to be written and other bureaucratic red tape.


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

Isla Verde said:


> Since last year in Mexico, you need a doctor's prescription for opiods and antibiotics. And lots of pharmacies have chosen not to carry the former because of all the new restrictions on how the prescriptions need to be written and other bureaucratic red tape.


The farmacias' internal rules determine the ease or difficulty of filling prescriptions for opioids and antibiotics. Then, there are different classes of the former. With some, you get back a stamped receta and it's good for_ x_ amount of refills each succeeding month. Some farmacias have a strict regimen in which paper forms must be filled out Wile-U-Wait for your purchase.

Others are, shall we say more "flexible" and less demanding. With experience, you learn where the hassle is the least, and take your business there.


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## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

Anonimo said:


> The farmacias' internal rules determine the ease or difficulty of filling prescriptions for opioids and antibiotics. Then, there are different classes of the former. With some, you get back a stamped receta and it's good for_ x_ amount of refills each succeeding month. Some farmacias have a strict regimen in which paper forms must be filled out Wile-U-Wait for your purchase.
> 
> Others are, shall we say more "flexible" and less demanding. With experience, you learn where the hassle is the least, and take your business there.


Absolutely true that opioids are tightly restricted, but many pharmacies have a doctor's office right next door that offer free visits or visits for just 20-50 pesos. And I hate to tell idealists, but an extra 50 or 100 pesos to the doc will get you an immediate prescription that the attached pharmacy will immediately fill. Immediately. Of course, I doubt that would apply to an expat who doesn't speak Spanish fluently.

The large chains, on the other hand, often don't have next door doctors and vigorously peruse prescriptions for stuff that is controlled, ambien and valium, though they will fill them if they deem them legit.

For antibiotics, I don't know. Pharmacists always used to act as mini-doctors in Mexico, carefully questioning people and offering them antibiotics. Maybe not anymore. I do know that many, many Mexicans have very good relationships with their neighborhood pharmacists, a practice that apparently once existed in the U.S.

I had an entire circle of friend wiped out by drugs way back in the day and I hate their abuse. But, despite the entire U.S. "war on drugs," the tens of billions of dollars expended to halt "the flood" from overseas, it's a simple fact that heroin and cocaine are cheaper today, much cheaper today, in constant dollars, than in the 60s and 70s before the war got started, and of course, much easier to get.

The huge drive in the U.S. against prescription drug abuse has just moved more and more people to heroin and other opioids.

Again, I lived in very prosperous and proper Northern Virginia for two decades and what with kids, acquaintances across a wide range of groups, immediately as soon as kids became freshmen in high school, they knew where to score drugs.

I've been stunned at parties where I thought liquor was the big thing to have younger people tell them they had to head out quickly for a quick run to DC to buy one illegal drug or another.

From living in Mexico from the 1980s to the present, Mexican kids to the folks in highest society could make a quick drive or taxi trip to buy any sort of drug they wanted.

But to original OP, I had to make a special trip to buy some high pressure and cholesterol drugs, paying $15. $22 and $30 for a month's supply, versus $2 to $10 in Mexico, The big difference, I think, is that there are few or no generic drugs in Thailand (well, except in "male vitality" area, and those come from India). In Mexico, nearly every pharmacy stocks generics and some pharmacies specialize in selling only generics. Haven't killed me yet, so that is one positive factor in moving from Thailand to Mexico, assuming you trust generics.


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