Options for prescription medication in Japan?

5 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

   —

   **Options for prescription medication in Japan?**

   Hi everyone! I’m an Australian student at Macquarie University and and I’ll be leaving in 2 weeks to do a 5-month exchange program at Rikkyo University in Tokyo.

   I suffer from depression and it’s been particularly bad this past month, so I finally decided to give antidepressants a try and saw my GP last week about it. She highly recommended I start anti-depressants, but won’t prescribe me 5-months worth to take overseas as she won’t be able to monitor my symptoms. I do understand where she’s coming from; it would probably be a waste and irresponsible to give me such a large volume without knowing that brand/dosage is compatible. She advised me to talk to my travel insurance (which I obtained through my university) who should have a doctor who can prescribe me the medication and also monitor me over the exchange period.

   So, I emailed my university. They said that they nor the travel insurance company have any such doctor and they also can’t provide me with assistance for a pre-existing condition. They advised that I should return to my GP to receive the prescription, discuss a way to monitor me, and organise a letter confirming that I’m fit to travel.

   I’m aware that I’ll have to submit a ‘Yunyu Kakunin-sho’ to bring more than 1-month’s supply of medication, as I had to submit one for another medication I take. But this takes a few days to have processed, so I need to the prescription ASAP – OR I have to organise it in Japan… somehow.

   I’ve made another booking with my GP later this week to re-discuss, but does anyone have any recommendations or have been in a similar situation? Any info would be a big help :’)

   *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*

2. [removed]

3. What drugs are you on?

4. Ok, so first off:

   Your GP is ***absolutely right***. It would be *wildly* irresponsible for her to prescribe a giant pile of anti-depressants and then send you off to another country. Prescribing a new anti-depressant is a very tricky task, involving a lot of “Try this dosage. Ok, try this dosage. Maybe we’ll try this other medication.” And it requires *close* supervision, because the wrong dosage/medication can make your situation worse, not better. To the extent that in extreme cases people have killed themselves.

   Trying to get on anti-depressants *two weeks* before you leave for another country isn’t going to happen with any reputable doctor.

   As for doing it in Japan:

   Almost certainly not going to happen. You can’t just walk into the corner clinic and say “gimme drugs”. You’ll need to see a mental health specialist. The whole process will be lengthy and kinda nightmarish:

   1. You would need to find a Japanese practitioner who speaks fluent English which is a fairly difficult task in and of itself.
   2. Then you would need to get re-diagnosed because that’s how it works. Without an active foreign prescription the doctor is basically going to start from zero.
   3. *If* you find such a doctor and *if* you get through the diagnosis process then you’re in for weeks of literal hell as they dial in the dosage/medication for you. (See above)

   By the time you finish the process your 5 months will be over and you’ll be returning home.

   Frankly: You need to focus more on finding a telehealth therapist or someone you can count on to support you, because getting medication this close to your departure and/or in Japan isn’t something that’s likely to happen.

5. Why does it seem everyone moving to Japan is depressed?