Canada doesn't have my medication...

[hheaven67 2]

I hear ya ladies, after I had my son things were okay. Then I got my tubes tied around 10 yrs ago, as time progressed, the menstrual pain got worse every month...I finally went to my doc (after eating bottles of Tylenol-never enough to take the pain away!) and he prescribed an amazing pain killer...sorry, can't remember what it was called. I had exploratory laproscoptic surgery done in March which, thank God, didn't show anything. I finally had a partial hysterectomy in May (as I knew I needed to get 'er dun before the big move) and I've NEVER felt better!

So, if any of you are done with having kids, go for it...I had my uterus taken out, left the ovaries as they're okay and honestly, I've never felt so good! I'm not a pill popper that is for sure, and don't take anything unless I absolutely have to so it's great PLUS the monthlys are GONE!!

[Carlawarla 1]

What have you decided to do DeadPoolX? Each situation is a lot more work than just ordering it from the drugstore nearest you. I would hope you could get at least 3 months supply and only head down to the US then once every 3 months. If it's about an hour to get to the closest border, then you could maybe make it a weekend getaway with your lovely wife?!

I'm also hoping that it's not too far from being approved in Canada. Sometimes things take awhile, but they eventually get approved.

Let us know how things work out! Best of luck!

[thetreble 19]

Mandy, that was the same reason I started on birth control pills at 17. The pain was so severe that codeine would knock me out and I would still be moaning and thrashing around. My symptoms were the same as yours and I couldn't believe how incredible it felt finally not to have that fear anymore of being caught away from home when my period started and knowing that if I didn't get home within 30 minutes I would be collapsed and vomiting and in horrific pain right where I was. And if I didn't get my pain medication at the very first moment it started, then I was out of luck - once the prostaglandins got in my system, that was it - pain medication only knocked me out - it didn't stop the pain.

Ahh it's so nice to hear someone has gone through the same thing as me. It was a horror show for literally 6 or 7 years of my life. One time I almost OD'ed on pain killers by total accident because as you say, the pain meds I was prescribed (Oxycontin) weren't doing anything but making me even more sick.

After I got on the right stuff it was amazing how much it changed my body! It was seriously the biggest relief of my life.

[antda 13]

Hi DeadPoolX,

Sorry that you have to go through your medical condition and that you are unable to find the drug in Canada that you need to be able to treat it properly. I do hope that you are able to find that US medication soon, especially so that it affects your health in such a serious life-threatening way.

In the meantime, if you get a chance to, do "stock up" on as many of this medication as you can before you run out again. You're fortunate to have a father that is a physician, whom you can trust, so you should have no problems getting the medication from a US physician and having him send over the medication in the mail with the proper documentation for it. As well, since it's not that far away (you said that it was about 1hr each way), at the worst case scenerio, you can drive over the border from time to time to pick up your medications. And yes, make a day trip out of it when you go across the border (see some sights, places, attractions, etc.), so it doesn't seem as bad when you cross over to pick up the medications, as you're doing something fun in the meantime too.

Yeah, it kind of sucks that medications aren't consistent between countries. Why is it so that one country has one medication and the other doesn't? It doesn't seem fair at all, especially when people's lives are at stake because they can't get their medications to treat their medical conditions with....

Again, good luck in getting your US medications into Canada, and good luck on your "Canadian Immigration Journey" too.

Ant

P.S. By the way, this is a bit off-topic here, but I was wondering: Do they still give those "Canada Welcome Packs/Boxes" (it's a box filled with food and stuff like that) to new Canadian immigrants anymore? Just wondering if you got one of those, that's all....lol...

No, I'm not talking about food or shopping.

I require anti-convulsant medication and over the years, I've been on just about every single drug in that category. It wasn't until I found my current medication that something worked really well and with very few (if any) side-effects.

The problem is that this particular medication is NOT AVAILABLE in Canada. I've checked with London Drugs, Rexall, and Shopper's Drug Mart. None of them have it and the pharmacists have told me that Canada doesn't have it. I've found the same information on various websites, as well. It just so happens, by the way, that this drug is (quite possibly) the only anti-convulsant not dispensed in Canada, which makes all of this even more frustrating.

My father, who's been my physician for years, was shocked to learn Canada didn't have this drug, especially since it's gone generic. Of course, we were both surprised a year or two ago when we found out that Aleve is prescription-only in Canada, too. Fortunately, I was able to stock up on that before coming up here, since Aleve is OTC in the United States.

My current supply is rapidly dwindling and although I still have health insurance with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, it'd be crazy to fly down there to pick up medication. Since I'm running out of options, I've narrowed my choices down to the following solutions:

• My dad ships me my medication. Theoretically, this should work, but Customs could intercept it and confiscate it, even though it'd be prescription medication (with no "street value" whatsoever) with all the proper paperwork involved.
• Drive down to the U.S. and head to the nearest Walgreen's. I have an account with them and my prescriptions are all listed in their computers, so it'd be easy to request refills online and pick them up at any Walgreen's store. According to Google Maps, there is a Walgreen's approximately 52 minutes away (one-way) from where I am in Canada. That's not an excessively long drive, but it'd require me to pass through the border twice simply to get medication and probably do so on a monthly basis.
• Look into one of those "online pharmacies" and see if they can send me what I need. I don't particularly like or trust them, but it might be my only option if I become truly desperate.

I realize some of you might be asking, "Why not try some other medication?" Well, the answer is, "I have." In the past, I've tried just about everything on the market. The reason I'm on what I am now isn't because I particularly love it, but because it works well for me. If something else worked just as well (with few-to-no serious side-effects), I wouldn't mind switching to it. But I haven't found that to be the case.

Oh and by the way, the reason I'm a little worried about this is because if you stop anti-convulsant medication suddenly (i.e. "cold turkey"), you can have life-threatening seizures and strokes or lapse into a coma and even death. Those are generally considered bad. If you're really, really lucky, you might just end up with "the worst migraine of your entire life," but I'd rather not bank on that.

Edited September 23, 2008 by AntandD

[antda 13]

Hi TheATeam/Amy,

Glad to hear that you got your bcps in the mail from Canada from your Mom. I guess they do let "toiletries" through the border without any problems after all. Maybe they did scan it and found that it was bcps, and so they didn't bother scanning it further and simply just let it through. It's good to hear too, that you feel so much better from taking the Canadian medication now that you were used to taking before in Canada instead of having to worry about taking the US counterparts that didn't work as well for you recently.

Ant

Well, I have to say my mom just sent me my birth control through the mail, from Canada to the US. She marked it toiletries- rx's and they didn't even open it. I think it got stuck at the border for a few days, but they let it through. Medication here is definitely different than medication in Canada. I had been taking the generic form of my b/c pills here but now that I'm back on the brand name medication I feel MUCH better. My b/c isn't used just for contraception but for severe PMS, so it makes a difference.

I really hope that it works out for you. I know how frustrating it can be.

Edited September 23, 2008 by AntandD

[antda 13]

Hi Everyone (especially to all you women out there that posted on this thread),

Yeah, having PMS and other similar and more serious "women only conditions" sucks.. Sorry to all of you that have to suffer through this severely every month, and I hope you all find some sort of relief from that too. Oh the pains that women have to go through in their lives!

But with the right pills, medications, and stuff like that, it can be like the difference between the opposites of night and day...

Ant

[DeadPoolX 9]

I also don't mean for this to sound nasty, but medication that's meant to prevent seizures is probably just a little more important than birth control pills.

You didn't sound nasty and I understand why you would say that. You definitely have a condition in which you need a certain type of medication.

However, I was put on birth control because I have a medical condition called dysmenorrhea. I would literally have contractions every single month, comparable to child birth. It would often be so bad I would throw up and hallucinate. So not to tell you that you're wrong, but I literally could not function for 3-5 days a month with my condition and as you probably guess, work won't let me take a week off a month!

Well, yeah... that's a whole different ballgame. From what I've heard, Dysmenorrhea can range from extremely uncomfortable to excruciatingly painful. I can see why you'd be upset at having to take anything but what you knew would work.

I hope you get this sorted out Deadpool, it must be very frustrating indeed.

Now - tell us how you are finding Canada - tell us some good stuff, there must be some

There is good stuff, but right now, there seems to be more negatives than positives. That's not inherently due to Canada or my wife, but we're moving to another province and I'm having to adjust to the many differences between American and Canadian life all at once. At first glance, Canada and the U.S. may seem very alike (and in some ways, they are), but there are a lot of "little things" that suddenly appear and make me a do a double-take or ask, "What?"

I'm sure I'll more readily absorb the good once the initial stress and hassles of moving (both to a new country and province) have worn off. Until then, I'm a little high-strung, unfortunately.

Deadpool - good luck with getting your medication. I know that for many years the insulin that I needed was not yet approved for use in Canada and I had to wait until I got to the US to use it. We made compromises that were acceptable but not great. I wasn't able to get the most effective insulin for my needs until I moved here. I don't know if it is available iin Canada yet. At least if you need to you can always drive to the US and pick your medicine up. You will still need to have a US doctor to write the prescription, but I suspect you already know that.

Wow. That's pretty dangerous, Kathryn. If a diabetic doesn't get his or her insulin managed properly, there can be all sorts of complications. I'm glad you've got that under control now.

As for my medication, I should be able to get it (some way or another) and it helps that my dad is a physician, so he can write me prescriptions whenever I need them and probably work around the insurance companies better than I could.

What have you decided to do DeadPoolX? Each situation is a lot more work than just ordering it from the drugstore nearest you. I would hope you could get at least 3 months supply and only head down to the US then once every 3 months. If it's about an hour to get to the closest border, then you could maybe make it a weekend getaway with your lovely wife?!

I'm also hoping that it's not too far from being approved in Canada. Sometimes things take awhile, but they eventually get approved.

Let us know how things work out! Best of luck!

I really don't know why this medication hasn't been approved in Canada. It's not like it's a narcotic or anything. It has absolutely no "street value" whatsoever, so I can't see that being a factor. Maybe the drug company itself is demanding too high of a price to sell medication within Canadian borders? I don't know.

A weekend getaway? That sounds like a good idea to me.

[Reba 2]

In order to get a drug into Canadian market, the Canadian gov't office that oversees it has to do their own testing and whatever to determine if it actually is what it says it is, and does what it says it does. They don't just take the US's word for it.

Heck, for the longest time you couldn't even get toothpaste with peroxide in it, because Health Canada determined that it really had no whitening affect as claimed, so it wasn't allowed. No idea if they eventually passed it or not.

[thetreble 19]

haha Yeah. It's just like my mum has really sore muscles and joints and Aleve is the only thing that she says works for her. So I am constantly bringing bottles from the US to Canada for her. I also used to know many girls on my sports teams who had migraines and needed Excedrin. They'd be hopping to the US all the time for it.

[Caladan 19]

My mother-in-law works for the post office, and has suggested that if people wish to reduce the chances that medication will get confiscated during shipment, that they write 'seeds' on the slip. (In case it rattles.) I mention this just for the general interest.

There's a lot of small differences in drugs between the two countries, even for things that don't have street value, due to the different regulatory practices. It might not be price; there are things you can get over the counter in Canada that aren't for sale here.

Since this is a serious medication for you, DeadPool, would it be possible to work out a larger prescription (for six months) with your doctor and the pharmacist, so that you would only have to make the trip once every six months or something, at least until you're more settled and can consider (if you want) switching to a replacement med?

[Reba 2]

haha Yeah. It's just like my mum has really sore muscles and joints and Aleve is the only thing that she says works for her. So I am constantly bringing bottles from the US to Canada for her. I also used to know many girls on my sports teams who had migraines and needed Excedrin. They'd be hopping to the US all the time for it.

What's wrong with the Excedrin in Canada?

Lots of stuff I used to get off the shelf in Canada I can't get here. Like muscle relaxants, and sleep aids that don't contain antihistamines. Plus, there's always 222s for headaches and stuff.

*sigh* I miss the cheap easy drugs in Canada.

[thetreble 19]

Oh. I guess 10 years ago Canada didn't sell Excedrin. I didn't realize they do now!

[Reba 2]

I've used Excedrin for several decades actually, I'm quite sure of it. And I've only been in the US 4 years.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Well, the issue with getting the more specialized insulin available in Canada was two fold. First, it had to be tested to meet Canadian standards - and no, they don't just take the US words for it - so that was several years delay. Then second, after the testing was complete in Canada, the manufacturer had to pay manufacturing and licensing fees, etc. for the drug to be used in Canada and they refused to do that for 3 years that I know of because they wanted to create a 'demand' for it first so that it was no economically feasible to put it into production. I talked to both Health Canada and the manufacturer about it on a number of occasions. The ironic thing is that when I did get to use that particular type of insulin in the US, it wasn't as effective for me either. I gave it a year's trial here adjusting dosages and timing and such and finally we went with another type of insulin. It had just been released in the US so I got a test supply through my doctor before it was even available in the local pharmacy. So far this is the most effective insulin I have used - not perfect, but far better than the others. I don't know if this type is available yet in Canada or not.

Edited September 27, 2008 by Kathryn41