I am coming from Finland to Japan for one year for study abroad. I have a prescription for antihistamine pills (Loratadine, but others should work as well) for skin problems. In my country it is allowed to buy only up to 3 month supply with prescription at once. I will buy that amount and apply for Yakkan Shoumei to bring them.
Now, I have two options for the pills (9 month supply) for the rest of my stay:
1. I buy them with over-the-counter-price in my home country and bring them with me
2. Buy them with over-the-the-counter-price in Japan.
3. Get a prescription for them in Japan and buy them with that.
(4. I also have a prescription that allows the purchase overseas, but I doubt it is applicable in Japan?)
What I want to ask is, how are antihistamine-pills priced in Japan? How much price difference is there with over-the-counter and prescription and how much would a visit to get the prescription cost me? (with national health insurance) If you can point me to any reliable source for prices, I would be really grateful.
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If you have Japanese national health insurance (or employer-based equivalent), most medications are quite cheap (under 1000 yen, or $9 USD). Medicine is highly regulated, and your payment is typically one-third of the official price.
Over the counter is more expensive (maybe twice the price?) and might not be available. However, there are several choices for OTC allergy meds. I forget the exact name, but one is something like “Allegion” and in a purple box and heavily advertised.
I needed antihistamines for hay fever this year. I went to the doctor and the prescription gave me a months worth for around 1000 yen. At the drug store it was 3000 yen for 2 weeks. Get a prescription.
Just curious, is the skin problem acne? Does this actually work?
If a box of 100 Loratadine pills in Finland is 20 euros (Yliopiston Apteekki), unless you take a handful of pills every day, it will probably not be worth it to try to go to a doctor for a prescription here. Of course, assuming that you are allowed to bring 9 months’ supply with you…
In general they won’t give you more than a four week’s worth of pills at a time, and then you have to go back for a check-up to get more. Each visit, including medicine, will likely be around 1000-2000 yen with the health insurance deduction. For example, I’ve been steadily going to a doctor once a month for a few years now, just to get some allergy medicine and creams…
I couldn’t find any Loratadine for sale here, but if you know some equivalent brands, you can search on Rakuten Ichiba or Amazon to get an idea of their street price.
If prescribed by a doctor using NHI, you pay 30% the wholesale cost. I get Allegra prescribed for season allergies and it’s way cheaper at the doctors (even with the consolation fee) than OTC.
If your doctor initially gives you a short prescription (less than a month), ask for longer. It doesn’t always work, but it saves on those consultation fees when it does.