Bringing Prescription Medicine into the US

[Sha-Lee88 26]

Greetings,

 

My fiancée will be arriving in the states under our K-1, hopefully this summer. When she arrives, she will need to take medications with her. Some of them are prescribed, others are over the counter, sans a prescription.

 

One of the meds she has is a Schedule IV opioid, Tramadol. Her prescription for a 90 day supply would entail over 300 of these pills. As you can imagine, I am deeply concerned that showing up with that many Schedule IV pills may lead Customs to not allow her into the country.

 

My initial thought is to tell her to not bring any, despite how she needs them for pain. She can get letters from her doctors and the prescriptions, but I'm still worried that she would be denied entry.

 

Has anyone else ever dealt with a similar situation? How was it handled? What amount is reasonable?

 

I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

[W199 290]

9 minutes ago, Sha-Lee88 said:

Greetings,

 

My fiancée will be arriving in the states under our K-1, hopefully this summer. When she arrives, she will need to take medications with her. Some of them are prescribed, others are over the counter, sans a prescription.

 

One of the meds she has is a Schedule IV opioid, Tramadol. Her prescription for a 90 day supply would entail over 300 of these pills. As you can imagine, I am deeply concerned that showing up with that many Schedule IV pills may lead Customs to not allow her into the country.

 

My initial thought is to tell her to not bring any, despite how she needs them for pain. She can get letters from her doctors and the prescriptions, but I'm still worried that she would be denied entry.

 

Has anyone else ever dealt with a similar situation? How was it handled? What amount is reasonable?

 

I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Tramadol may have some narcotic properties, but isn't really considered a narcotic, or addictive  and as such is widely prescribed.

I was on it for many months and never got addicted. Its pretty mild.

 

Plus a 3 months supply is not significant.

 

And its crazy if not cruel to tell her not to bring her medications with her, as long as its less than 90 days and in the original bottle with the prescription label.

 

Furthermore, the FDA allows a foreign national to bring in a 90-day supply of prescription medication. Therefore, I don't know why you are worried at all since she has a legal prescription.

 

 

 

Edited May 22, 2023 by W199

[Crazy Cat 41,010]

10 minutes ago, W199 said:

Tramadol may have some narcotic properties, but isn't really considered a narcotic, or addictive  and as such is widely prescribed.

I was on it for many months and never got addicted. Its pretty mild.

 

Plus a 3 months supply is not significant.

 

Furthermore, the FDA allows a foreign national to bring in a 90-day supply of prescription medication. Therefore, I don't know why you are worried at all since she has a legal prescription.

 

 

 

You sure about that? It has been a class IV since 2014.  It can be addictive.  @SalishSea, your thoughts?  I would make sure I had COMPLETE documentation before bringing 300 tablets into the US.

Edited May 23, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[Lemonslice 4,699]

Whatever you do, make sure your spouse can see a US doctor soon after arrival.  Copy of their medical file will also be useful.

[Sha-Lee88 26]

10 minutes ago, W199 said:

Tramadol may have some narcotic properties, but isn't really considered a narcotic, or addictive  and as such is widely prescribed.

I was on it for many months and never got addicted. Its pretty mild.

 

Plus a 3 months supply is not significant.

 

And its crazy if not cruel to tell her not to bring her medications with her, as long as its less than 90 days and in the original bottle with the prescription label.

 

Furthermore, the FDA allows a foreign national to bring in a 90-day supply of prescription medication. Therefore, I don't know why you are worried at all since she has a legal prescription.

 

 

 

Thanks for the response.  300+ pills seems to be a lot to me.  Again, she does have a legitimate prescription, but perhaps being from a West African doctor may make it more suspect.  The other issue is that the labels on the prescription boxes are hand-written, at times, in Ghana.  They don't all have the printed labels for the packages like we have here in the States.  Perhaps I am just too concerned about xenophobia in this regard.

[Crazy Cat 41,010]

17 minutes ago, W199 said:

I was on it for many months and never got addicted. Its pretty mild.

Are you a health care professional?  

[W199 290]

11 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

You sure about that? It has been a class IV since 2014.  It can be addictive.  @SalishSea, your thoughts?  I would make sure I had COMPLETE documentation before bringing 300 tablets into the US.

Yes. Class IV are really mild, and even Valium, one of the most widely prescribed drugs is class 4.

 

The class 3 narcotics are far more serious, such as Oxycodone, ...

 

I know you will read everywhere that Tramadol is a narcotic, but I have had extensive experience with is, with the top Harvard medical doctors etc.. and they all say its really not a narcotic or addictive.  As I said I was on it daily for many months. Never got addicted at all.  

 

Since it is a 90-day supply which is allowed by the FDA, and its not a class 3 drug, it should be fine as long as it has the prescription label and in the prescription bottle.  They are not even going to look at it.

[W199 290]

4 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Are you a health care professional?  

Practically every doctor I have gone too, including the most famous ones, have all said they have learned from me.  I even developed my own cure for something that doesn't have a cure (and saved my life literaly).  This was written up in JAMA, the most widely read and respected peer reviewed journal that doctors read.

 

So while I'm not a health care professional, in the areas that I have studied, I know more in many ways, else I'd be dead.

 

The same way you know more about certain immigration topics than lawyers do.

[Crazy Cat 41,010]

5 minutes ago, W199 said:

The same way you know more about certain immigration topics than lawyers do.

I am also a retired Registered Nurse.  Tramadol has long been thought of as having narcotic properties.  As I said, I would be careful when bringing it into the US.

Edited May 23, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[W199 290]

2 minutes ago, W199 said:

Practically every doctor I have gone too, including the most famous ones, have all said they have learned from me.  I even developed my own cure for something that doesn't have a cure (and saved my life literaly).  This was written up in JAMA, the most widely read and respected peer reviewed journal that doctors read.

 

So while I'm not a health care professional, in the areas that I have studied, I know more in many ways, else I'd be dead.

 

The same way you know more about certain immigration topics than lawyers do.

 

10 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

Are you a health care professional?  

Just to add to my last reply, the information about Tramadol is not something I made up myself. I had more than enough doctors tell me, from Oncologists, to pain specialists, and from different medical institutions from east coast to West coast.   I am just parroting what they have told me, and from my own personal experience which confirms what they said.  That said, there are always aome people that will react badly or complain about any medication, 

[W199 290]

1 minute ago, Crazy Cat said:

I am also a retired Registered Nurse.  Tramadol has long been thought of as having narcotic properties.  

Yes, the very first sentence in my first reply above I said "Tramadol may have narcotic properties" but its not considered really a narcotic by most well informed doctors. 

 

Thats nice! Nursing is a under appreciated and challenging job that do all the hard work for the doctors and keep them in line.

[Boiler 44,700]

The big question is will she be able to get it or something similar when she is here.

 

I was given a prescription for Oxycodone after some dental issues, did not take them, later found they have quite a good second hand value.

[Lemonslice 4,699]

43 minutes ago, Sha-Lee88 said:

Greetings,

 

My fiancée will be arriving in the states under our K-1, hopefully this summer. When she arrives, she will need to take medications with her. Some of them are prescribed, others are over the counter, sans a prescription.

 

One of the meds she has is a Schedule IV opioid, Tramadol. Her prescription for a 90 day supply would entail over 300 of these pills. As you can imagine, I am deeply concerned that showing up with that many Schedule IV pills may lead Customs to not allow her into the country.

 

My initial thought is to tell her to not bring any, despite how she needs them for pain. She can get letters from her doctors and the prescriptions, but I'm still worried that she would be denied entry.

 

Has anyone else ever dealt with a similar situation? How was it handled? What amount is reasonable?

 

I would appreciate any advice. Thanks.

See:

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1160?language=en_US

 

Supply for 90 days should be fine, if you're unsure, want to validate specifics, they provide a phone number to get more info

I would print the article, the prescription, etc., in case they ask questions when immigrating. 

[W199 290]

2 minutes ago, Boiler said:

The big question is will she be able to get it or something similar when she is here.

 

I was given a prescription for Oxycodone after some dental issues, did not take them, later found they have quite a good second hand value.

Of course, its very widely prescribed in lieu of a class 3 narcotic like Oxycodone,

 

That being said, a good doctor, is going to examine her and make sure that is the right medicine, and if there is a better method to treat the issue, and try to treat the underlying issue.  They won't blindly prescribe it if its not necessary. Some bad doctors overseas will prescribe it to mask the symptoms or due to the lack of availability or knowledge of more advanced drugs to treat or dx the issue. Same with many bad doctors here, so many are bad, just like immigration lawyers.  

 

A 90-day supply is good because it often takes that long to get an appointment with a top specialist.

 

 

[SalishSea 17,383]

No doctor in the US would ever prescribe that many Tramadol.

 

The only patients who can get long-term PO narcotics are cancer patients, and even then it would likely not be Tramadol, which is general used in the short-term for surgical pain.