Shipping missed meds overseas

June 28, 2018 2:48 PM

My daughter flew to Israel yesterday. Yay! But she called this evening to say she forgot her meds. Boo. How can we best get them to her?

The meds are Effexor (Venlafaxine) and Clonidine. They require a prescription, but are not scheduled. We have the bottles. Fedex can ship them IF I can get a form from the Israeli government, and a bunch of other things, and they will arrive Tuesday at the earliest, which is rather late. Is anyone aware of other options?

This is complicated by the fact that I am on a plane to Italy tomorrow, so my runway for taking care of this is the next 20 hours, starting now (6 pm). Could it be any easier to take the meds with me to Italy and ship them from there?

posted by ubiquity to Travel & Transportation (12 answers total)

Can her doctor fax a prescription to a local pharmacy and have it filled there? with a generic if the US brand is not carried.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:54 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Not be alarmist, but I believe both those medications can have severe withdrawal symptoms if stopped abruptly. She should go to a doctor or clinic immediately and explain the situation.
posted by amro at 3:19 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

Best answer: Email/text her pictures of the bottles/labels so she can show a local doctor exactly what she's taking.
posted by zachlipton at 3:34 PM on June 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

I believe American Express can help with prescriptions - maybe just by finding a local doctor. If she has an Amex card it would be worth a call to their traveler services number to ask.
posted by duoshao at 4:03 PM on June 28, 2018

Her local doctor is most likely not licensed to practice medicine in Israel, so calling the local doctor will probably not help. An urgent-care type clinic is likely going to be her best bet.
posted by lazuli at 4:03 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

If her local doctor can fax over a copy of her prescription and the diagnosis (they probably wrote up one for the insurance) then she can take this to a doctor locally who can write up an emergency presciption-- ideally to cover her for her whole trip. Be careful with mailing meds since some countries do not like this and may seize the meds.
posted by frumiousb at 4:14 PM on June 28, 2018 [5 favorites]

Shipping to Israel is really difficult because of security issues. Things can get held for days before you can receive them. Nthing you're better off getting her the prescription so she can get it filled there.
posted by Mchelly at 5:41 PM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

When I've moved countries and needed prescription refills the doctors in the new country were pretty much happy to take my old doctors' notes and continue the prescription.

If an urgent-care-type clinic is not immediately accessible try a local hospital, they've helped me out when I've had similar issues.
posted by divabat at 1:35 AM on June 29, 2018

Take a copy of the prescription to a local clinic, they can assist and it'll be quicker.
posted by arcticseal at 4:03 AM on June 29, 2018

Response by poster: Thank you all for your suggestions. With pictures of the bottles as proofs of prescription, her tour staff were able to find a pharmacy in Israel that would issue emergency supplies. She wound up barely missing a dose.
posted by ubiquity at 6:31 AM on June 29, 2018 [15 favorites]

For the future: I know one person who managed to get medication filled in Israel (for something that WAS scheduled) by getting his doctor on the phone with an Israeli doctor. They seem to have reasonable latitude to exercise appropriate medical judgment in these situations.
posted by mosst at 6:44 AM on June 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ironically, when I travelled to Milan today, I left all MY meds at home. At least I know what to do now!
posted by ubiquity at 12:14 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]