Korean Job Discussion Forums

aphong420 · Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Location: KOREAAAAAAH

Anyone know of a website that IDs prescription pills? I just got a prescription from the doctor - but they strangely packaged 3 pills together without any sort of identification.

peppermint · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:31 am Post subject:

That's standard at Korean pharmacies. I had a wierd drug interaction once, so I just asked the pharmacist what they were.

skconqueror · Joined: 31 Jul 2005

Korean doctors are god's.. just take your pills little sheep like the Korean public Laughing

icicle · Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Location: Gyeonggi do Korea

First thing I'd suggest is asking the pharmasist to ID them for you... Ask him to write the name down for you in English. I have routinely done that with any medication I have been prescribed ... and avoided a drug interaction I otherwise would have had with other medicine I am on. I then use an internet search to find out more information on the drug ...
Alternate if you can type in korean characters on your computer is to do a search on the korean name of the drug as shown on the script. That will often then give you the english name which you can then do more research on.

It seems that putting the medicine into dose packages is common here (I was not used to that but they grouped one set of meds I got into sets of drugs I would take at the one time) ...

I have found the relative lack of information given with medication here strange ... because I am used to being fully informed ... But especially with links on the internet to full information about the drugs ... It is possible to get the sort of information that we are used to having ...

Icicle

idonojacs · Joined: 07 Jun 2007

Good luck!

I went in for a cold, at the urging of other Korean teachers, to a doctor, or as they put it, "the hospital." Came out with between two and three pills to take at a time 3x a day.

Both the doctor and pharmacist spoke basic English. I asked both, and got little more than "I don't know."

My suggestion is if you get "I don't know," say "Sorry, I don't take pills when I don't know what they are."

Shoot, it was a cold. But I took them. Oh, by the way, it seems to be the rule that no matter what's wrong with you, you only get pills for three days, and then you come back and insist and you can get 7 days more if you are taking antibiotics. Anyone else notice this?

So I take the pills for three days, and I say, "Gee, what do they have here in Korea? I feel MUCH better." For three days. It didn't cure a thing.

So a couple of weeks later, still coughing with a sore throat, I go back and ask for antibiotics. I get three more days worth of pills. This time between three and four pills to take at a time 3x a day. Again I feel great. But I am not cured and go back 2.5 days later for more antibiotics.

But I get suspicious. I found that one pill had some misspelling of a narcotic pain reliever. I figured it was a Korean generic. So I stopped taking it. And another smaller pill I couldn't identify. One tiny round pill was an antihistamine, I figured out.

I felt horrible. So I took a half of the narcotic for one more day. Then stopped cold turkey. Yccchhhh! I was definitely getting a strong narcotic, judging from the withdrawal symptoms. It was far worse than stopping codeine after several days.

Given that you are supposed to not call in sick in Korea, this guy probably was pretty popular. The narcotic did not make me drowsy. BUT YOU DON'T TAKE NARCOTICS FOR A COLD.

Oh, and you should have seen what he gave me for my sore throat. I showed him some OTC throat spray from home. He gave me a bottle of lidocaine. One or two sprays at the back of my throat, and I wasn't able to swallow for 10 minutes. I couldn't feel a thing, and my throat muscles were paralyzed.

So all I can say is be careful.

kermo · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:53 am Post subject:

I usually get a whole pharmacopia along with the prescription I actually need, and I do my best to get information out of the doctor and pharmacist. Sometimes it doesn't work. For example, I was given an antibiotic in a package that included three different kinds of pills. I asked the pharmacist, in Korean, "What's this?" She said "It's an anti-biotic." I tried to point out that there were different pills in the package, and ask about them, but she wasn't having it. She just kept repeating "anti-biotic." Maybe she was right.

When I have been able to make out the prescription or get an explanation from a doctor, these are the most commonly added pills:

-painkillers
-anti-inflammatories
-digestive aids

HOWEVER, it definitely pays to be careful. I once got a pill that I couldn't identify, so I looked up the prescription on the web. I could only find the name on Korean websites, and it wasn't mentioned by the usual medical advice sites. It turned out to be a drug that affects dopamine levels in the brain and is used to treat cocaine addicts. Holy crap.

sojourner1 · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:54 am Post subject:

3 day pill packs are the norm here even if getting antibiotics, sleeping pills, or anything else that requires longer treatment. As for identifying pills, I spent hours and hours researching online and talking to the doctor and pharmacist on finding out what the many different pills I took actually are with no luck other than Tramol ER pills being 650 mg of acetaminophen. Acetaminophen tends to be the pain relief of choice here as that is what is prescribed for head aches, sore throats, and most other pains, though a very strong shot is usually given in the office. People are taking acetaminophen for hangovers here! Don't do that, take Ibuprofen. Those shots in the butt cheek really make you feel good which they gave me one every time I went to the doctor. I am very sure it's a strong narcotic with something else to give you energy to help you do your job while sick.

I heard the 3 day prescription limits has to do with a drug control law due to doctors over prescribing and directly selling drugs to patients, er, customers. When the law went into effect, the doctors got very upset since it meant losing bonus income, but the government forced the law for drug control reasons. That's too bad, because doing a Xannax or Ambien or Percocet after work to feel good and rest is a whole lot better and healthier than drinking alcohol. When I asked for something to help me sleep and to help with migraines, it required the doctor to place a 10 minute phone call to the pharmacy next door. I then went back for more a week later for more and he said no. This is how strict drug control is here despite it not being for recreational purposes. I bet many people go to several doctors and pharmacies to get what they can though I haven't tried that.

sojourner1 · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:55 am Post subject:

3 day pill packs are the norm here even if getting antibiotics, sleeping pills, or anything else that requires longer treatment. As for identifying pills, I spent hours and hours researching online and talking to the doctor and pharmacist on finding out what the many different pills I took actually are with no luck other than Tramol ER pills being 650 mg of acetaminophen. Acetaminophen tends to be the pain relief of choice here as that is what is prescribed for head aches, sore throats, and most other pains, though a very strong shot is usually given in the office. People are taking acetaminophen for hangovers here! Don't do that, take Ibuprofen. Those shots in the butt cheek really make you feel good which they gave me one every time I went to the doctor. I am very sure it's a strong narcotic with something else to give you energy to help you do your job while sick.

I heard the 3 day prescription limits has to do with a drug control law due to doctors over prescribing and directly selling drugs to patients, er, customers. When the law went into effect, the doctors got very upset since it meant losing bonus income, but the government forced the law for drug control reasons. That's too bad, because doing a Xannax or Ambien or Percocet after work to feel good and rest is a whole lot better and healthier than drinking alcohol and staying up late. When I asked for something to help me sleep and to help with migraines, it required the doctor to place a 10 minute phone call to the pharmacy next door. I then went back for more a week later for more and he said no. This is how strict drug control is here despite it not being for recreational purposes. I bet many people go to several doctors and pharmacies to get what they can though I haven't tried that.

sojourner1 · Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:55 am Post subject:

3 day pill packs are the norm here even if getting antibiotics, sleeping pills, or anything else that requires longer treatment. As for identifying pills, I spent hours and hours researching online and talking to the doctor and pharmacist on finding out what the many different pills I took actually are with no luck other than Tramol ER pills being 650 mg of acetaminophen. Acetaminophen tends to be the pain relief of choice here as that is what is prescribed for head aches, sore throats, and most other pains, though a very strong shot is usually given in the office. People are taking acetaminophen for hangovers here! Don't do that, take Ibuprofen. Those shots in the butt cheek really make you feel good which they gave me one every time I went to the doctor. I am very sure it's a strong narcotic with something else to give you energy to help you do your job while sick.

I heard the 3 day prescription limits has to do with a drug control law due to doctors over prescribing and directly selling drugs to patients, er, customers. When the law went into effect, the doctors got very upset since it meant losing bonus income, but the government forced the law for drug control reasons. That's too bad, because doing a Xannax or Ambien or Percocet after work to feel good and rest is a whole lot better and healthier than drinking alcohol and staying up late. When I asked for something to help me sleep and to help with migraines, it required the doctor to place a 10 minute phone call to the pharmacy next door. I then went back for more a week later and he said no. This is how strict drug control is here despite it not being for recreational purposes. I bet many people go to several doctors and pharmacies to get what they can though I haven't tried that.

MarionG · Joined: 14 Sep 2006

I've been to the doctor here several times for regular meds that I take and for a specific lung problem. I have not every been given only 3 days worth.

The first two times I went for regular meds they gave me 2 months worth and the third time they gave me 6 months worth.

When I had a lung infection they gave me two weeks of meds including an antibiotic, digestive aid (routinely given with antibiotics in Korea) an expectorant etc.

Yep, and always in those annoying little glassine envelopes...

The_Eyeball_Kid · Joined: 20 Jun 2007

Just neck the lot and stop being such a puff.