Job Discussion Forums

[wade]

Hello,
Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I'm curious to know if it's very difficult to get hold of prescription drugs regularly in Istanbul. My condition requires that I take a very specific drug--Diamox, or acetazolamide, the stuff they use for altitude sickness--every day, so it's not really possible to just go to a doctor and have him choose whichever medicine he thinks will do the trick. Any thoughts? Thanks very much for any advice.

[tekirdag]

You can get many drugs(perhaps all of them?) from a pharmacy without a perscription. Take your old box/bottle in and ask if they have it. They may not have your brandor manufacturer but most meds are here. If you want to be sure before you trudge off to the eczane, do a google search for your med. If you find it in German/from Germany, you're sure to find it here somewhere!

[justme]

You can also ask your doctor back home to tell you European equivalents, or give him/her a list of European equivalents that can be found here, and s/he'll tell you the best one.

Also, have your doc home recommend dosages, as they could be different. In general, I wouldn't trust a doctor here to tell me which medicine to take, and I wouldn't trust the eczane person to tell me dosages...

[wade]

Thanks again for the advice.

[thrifty]

Either get yourself a copy of the British National Formulary which is the handbook doctors use for drug reference. It lists all drugs that are prescribed in UK plus dosages, retail prices, side effects and all the various brand names. They have a fantastic website where you can search any drug and see the various brand names etc. There must be an American equivalent.

[thrifty]

Or be ignorant.

[scot47]

......or risk an overdose.

I notice that in many successor states toi the Ottoman Empire,. pharmacists are quite happy to give you drugs without a chitty from the doctor. Certainly in Bulgaria, Saudi, Bahrain. I tried it in Qatar but they wanted a prescription. Baaaah ! Humbug !

[mongrelcat]

humans cannot get strong (narcotic) pain medicines in this country, that much I know. I had a C-spine injury a long time ago and have used these meds off and on for a while. When I came here I was not delighted to learn that the infinitely wise government banned all these kinds of medicines owing to a former public drug problem.

so my advice is ... don't get into a car accident or fall down the stairs or anything like that.

I knew a woman who broke her arm, and the only thing the doctors could do was give her a morphine drip! so she walked around her campus pumping up. That's sure a good way to combat drug addiction!!

[howmucharefags]

Has anybody managed to get their hands on valium without problems?

[sandyhoney2]

[Mikana51]

What one may buy without a prescription seems to very much vary from eczane to eczane. To wit: I tried to buy antibiotics over the counter at one eczane in Taksim and was told no. Moved a few blocks along and bought the drugs at another eczane without problem. Purchasing drugs that affect the central nervous system (tranquilisers; painkillers; sleeping pills) is much harder.

[mongrelcat]