Job Discussion Forums

[avolkiteshvara]

Newbie here has a question about medication/pharmacy. How easy is it to get birth control pills and other medication. Do you need to see a doctor to get a prescription or can I just get it from the pharmacist directly? How about condoms? I don't recall seeing any on my last trip to Spain?

Thanks in advance to all responses!!!!!

[Iam]

Hi,

There's certainly condoms for sale, don't know about the pill though.

The situation re medicines seems a bit stricter than in the UK, for example, in that I think medicines are more controlled here, less available without prescription.

Supermarkets, & chemists even, don't seem to sell packets of cold cures which include aspirin/ibuprofen. Things like Beechams Hot Lemons/Lemsip aren't available, you have to ask a chemist for something specifically for your throat etc. With minimal Spanish, not so easy.

Iam.

[wldlioness]

HI,

I has no problem getting BC (i just asked asked for Yasmin, although they may have Ortho) , but other specific medications were hard to find. I.e., addictive painkillers.

sometimes, if they don't have your specific mdeiciaiton they can get you somthing similar if you show them the original bottle and ingredients.

[stoth1972]

No problem at all-I gave them the box from the pills I had purchased in the UAE, and the chemist matched them with the exact same pill under a different name. I find that in Spain people rely on the pharmacists more than the doctors for medical advice. You walk in, describe your symptoms (odds are-the more embarassing the problem, the more people in the pharmacy at that exact time), and the pharmacist recommends medication, which includes antiobiotics and other things we consider prescription only. The only problem I ever had was getting medicine for a yeast infection (thrush). I was amazed at how little everyone seemed to know about thrush, since I'm coming from a culture where the medicines are advertised heavily in women's magazines. "Canestine" is what you're looking for, if the need should ever arise!!!

[Russell Hadd]