Hello,
I will be moving to Japan for long term soon and as I will be changing countries, I wanted to take some of the over the counter medicines with me to Japan. Mostly because:
1.) If I’m feeling fever-ish or anything in first few weeks, I’m not too confident on how Japanese medicines will react with my body.
2.) Want to have some medicines for emergency purpose.
I am thinking of these medicines:
– Cetirizine Tablets – 10 Tablets
– Amoxicillin Tablets – 60 Tablets (3 times a day, if necessary)
– Septran Tablets – 2 Tablets
– Volini Spray (Muscle Relaxant) – 1 Spray
– Relaxyl Ointment (Muscle Relaxant) – 1 Tube
– Neosporin Ointment – 1 Tube
– Cheston Cold Tablets – 20 Tables
– Esomeprazole Enteric Coated And Domperidone Sustained Release Capsules [For Gastric issues] – 10 Tablets
– Clotrimazole Powder [To prevent any fungal Infection] – 3 Bottles [100 gm each]
– Some generic eye drops – 4 Pieces
My question is that do I need to carry prescriptions for these? These are very general level medicines and don’t contain any compound that’s considered illegal in Japan. And these are like on need to use basis.
I went to a doctor to get these prescribed, but he made a point that if he were to write all of these then it will look weird that I have all these medical conditions.
Do people travel with medicines internationally regularly? If yes, what do you think would quantify as a “normal” amount of meds that doesn’t need prescription and customs won’t have issue with.
P.S: Since these are few pieces and hardly 20 days of medication, I wouldn’t require an “Yunyu Kakunin-sho” as well, right?
2 comments
You really should not be taking amoxicillin, or any other antibiotic, without being checked out and confirming a bacterial infection first. And if it is prescribed, you should be taking the full course of it, not just a few pills for a few days. For that reason, I’d leave that one behind.
If you don’t have any actual medical problems, I would just recommend bringing the following if you have a need for them. I usually bring back every time I go back to the US on holiday:
some aspirin (or whatever general painkiller you prefer)
a bottle of Tums antacid
Pepto-Bismo, if that’s your thing
some deep heat, muscle relaxant cream
any contact lens cleaning stuff if you wear them
Toothpaste. I hate Japanese toothpaste, as do many foreigners
OB tampons if you use them
Anti-perspirant/deodorant, if you use it
You were asking about OTC medicine, but it seems to me most of what you listed is prescription not OTC