auntieginzy

I can't seem to find information anywhere about how many months of my medication I can take with me to California. I thought I'd read somewhere that it was 3 months' worth, but someone told me you could take more. Does anyone know

lansbury

It more depends on how much your GP will give you. My wife had six months when we come over.

Mummy in the foothills

I came with 6 months in my suitcase, all in the original packaging from the Chemists with my name and info on the stickers on it.

GeoffM

Officially it's three months but if you're going for more than three months (which you are) then they have the discretion to supply more. Bring them in their original packaging, unopened if you can. Most likely customs will just wave you through but it's better to be prepared.

Be aware that some meds available in the UK are not allowed in the US. If you don't mind revealing what you take then I'm sure somebody on here will say whether it's okay, or what an alternative might be.

When you get here, you'll need to have the meds re-prescribed by a California licensed doctor. Try to do this ASAP, even if you have a few months of meds left. Chances are they'll happily re-prescribe the same as what you're already on, but if they don't then at least you've got a bit of time to sort things out. Apart from the initial shenanigans with my healthcare coverage, or lack thereof, even with the new Kaiser coverage I've had to be referred to a specialist to get my eyedrops re-prescribed as the family doctor would only do them for a month - and it's taken three weeks to get an appointment with the specialist. Plus they're also a special order item, so a few more days to get hold of the eye drops - it all adds up!

auntieginzy

That sounds marvellous. right I take:
Epilim
Lansoprazole
Codeine Phosphate
Masalazine
Paracetamol
so, six months would be excellent. If any of those are not allowed I'd be grateful if you would let me know :-)

GeoffM

Ask for it by Acetaminophen, or Tylenol is a common brand name. Unlike the UK where are restricted in how many you can buy at once, over here you can buy it by the bucket load. It's probably not even worth getting a prescription for it.

Jerseygirl

Be very careful bringing anything containing codeine into the US as it's a controlled substance. You will probably have a heck of a job finding a US doctor that will prescribe it for you on a regular basis.

Here are the official rules on bringing meds into the US.

BubbleChog

I bought 6 months of most of my prescription meds over with me, all in original packaging, with chemist stickers and a letter from my GP listing what I had and why it had been prescribed. The meds I take for my Menieres syndrome is not routinely prescribed in the US for that and is a pain in the bum to find but I was expecting that so bought 12 months. I've since been able to find a really good mom and pop compounding pharmacist but it took a long time.

I also had a small prescription for co-codamol (30/500 - the GOOD stuff) which i bought with me and like jerseygirl says no doctor here wants to prescribe codeine at all - I have it for occasional back pain and probably have taken 3 in the last 12 months
Lx

civilservant

Ive always brought some Neurofen Plus with me while on holiday (12.8mg Codeine/200g Ibruprofen) - have I been illegally smuggling it?