ummm...psychiatric medication

so, I am currently taking Zoloft (sertraline) and Lamictal (lamotrigine) as prescribed by a psychiatrist for my diagnosis of "purely awesome".

I am curious of the availability of these medications in places like Hangzhou, Tianjin and Beijing.

will I need a prescription from a psychiatrist?
how much these might cost?

I take 200mg of Zoloft  and 150mg of Lamictal.  currently I get my health insurance through my job, which I will be quitting to go to China so I won't be insured by a US company.  not really sure how it will work.

thanks for any advice!!

Brian

Hello, not sure of the answer to your question. I hope someone does, but I just wanted to say good luck with your awesomeness. 

I happen to know that while there are treatments for awesomeness, finding a way to constructively channel it is a great coping mechanism. Making a positive change in your life (e.g. going to China), sounds like a great outlet for your copious level of awesomeness.

Feelings of stifled awesomeness can be exacerbated by having a lame job, debt, and being surrounded by shallow, materialistic people.

Go forth with your awesomeness and do great things with it.

Best of luck to you good sir!

It is almost impossible to get drugs like that in China.  There is a stigma attached to any psychiatric problems and they go mainly untreated.   

We had one member have to return to the USA to get medication.  She found out that psychiatric drugs will only be given when you are admitted to a hospital.  They are not available as outpatient medication.

You will have to bring the drugs with you from the states. 

What he said. You can also buy drugs over the intertube from India, that's how I re-upped my supply of Prozac. But that ain't cheap and if I had to do it all over again, I would either have a buddy ship stuff to me from the States or bring along more next time.

It's a shame that Valium isn't OTC here. Some particularly rough days after teaching the kidlets, a Valium and a belt of Scotch might be just what the Doctor ordered.

The visa application asks something like "Have you ever been diagnosed as having psychiatric illness?" I think it's near the one asking questions that hint at tattoos and sexual perversions, which gives clues to the local attitudes.


They aren't really cool about this kind of thing here at all as DS says, despite the fact that I sometimes think the whole country could be improved with zoloft or somehing like this in the drinking water. At least it would be funner* to watch, but they would think it some kind of attack.

I am sure I got something like valium OTC when I had a superbad neck spasm for about 3 months a couple of years ago. Doped me up but admittedly not as much as valium would have done. Couldn't find the packet, though, and wife doesn't recall.

*funner. New word to me I encountered recently.

Although the above is true, as with everything in China, YMMV.  

A doctor working at any of the truly international hospitals or health centres in tier one cities will probably fill you a prescription for what you need without too much trouble (expensive).  You may even be able to take the prescription elsewhere to get the actual drugs more cheaply.

I have a friend who gets Prozac here in Shanghai without too much trouble.

There are other issues too though, like making sure you get the real stuff and not fake.

Read your post with interest, because every year I come back armed with drugs to last a year.  I am planning not to go home this summer, so asked my colleagues for help with finding medications for me.

I work at a small medical college, and it seems that all three of my medications are available without any difficulties.  Maybe you just need to ask at the right place.

I take Endep and Celepram, which are both anti-depressants, and also Zimstat, which is a cholesterol controlling pill.

I gave my colleague the packets from each of these, so that the chemical formula were available, and she went to the head of the nursing department (nursing teacher).  The Zimstat is available at our very small affiliated hospital, next to the college, and the two anti-depressants are available from the 'mental hospital' on the other side of town. 

I have been told that the brand names are not the same, but have also been assured that the formulae are exactly the same.

But, the best bet is to bring in a year's supply.  No problems at the border, although the first time, I did carry a doctor's letter with me, to confirm that it is prescription medicine. 

Not sure of the situation in the US, but in Australia a prescription will only give enough for six months supply, but a doctor can use a different form, so that I can pick up the whole twelve months' supply in one hit, from the pharmacy.

Hope this is useful.

Lin
Zhaoqing, Guangdong.

 

Actually, you CAN get anti-depressants fairly easily, in about any large pharmacy.
They just probably won't necessarily be THOSE anti-depressants...

The general rule for China seems to be that they do stock a great many Western meds, but those meds tend to be a couple of generations or so behind the current latest-and-greatest available in our home countries.

So, older drugs like Prozac and Paxil aren't hard to find. Zoloft has been around a while, so it may well be worth a look. Lamictal...probably not.

People with chronic conditions needing medications- not just depression!- should consult with their doctor, explain the situation, and see if he can cover your needs with a regimen of older meds available in generic form. Try to get an e-mail address so you can consult with him from China if a different drug needs to be found. You may have to find a very big pharmacy, or even travel to the nearest major metropolis, but most conditions can be adequately covered without having to resort to drastic measures such as returning home all the time or having to buy and carry a whole year's worth of pills.

But please...if your doctor advises against coming to China, for medical reasons, then by all means PLEASE do yourself a favor and listen to him. Disappointment is far from the worst thing that can happen to a person, and China is most very definitely NOT a good place to be seriously ill.

It may be that the worst obstacle for some drugs isn't availability, it's PRICE. I take anti-depressants myself...and while I could easily find the meds I needed, I simply couldn't afford them. Chinese pharmaceuticals are, inexplicably, dosed with tiny Chinese people in mind, not enormous hulking foreigners. At the dosage I needed, Prozac or Paxil ALONE would have cost me over 500 RMB a month, and with a small child and a psychotic Chinese wife in tow there was no way I could afford that.

But, things do change. Would it be possible for any of our kind and helpful members to shag over to your nearest multi-floor mega-pharmacy and check the current availability/price of Prozac (fluoxetine), Paxil (paroxetine), Zoloft (sertraline) and Lamictal (lamotrigine), and report them here?

Finally, one thing I strongly recommend to all of you is to go to a larger Xinhua bookstore and pick up a good medical dictionary. While most of us have Chinese friends or FAO staffers who are happy to go to the doctor or pharmacy with you, bear in mind that nearly all of them are completely unprepared to translate medical terminology. A medical dictionary will be tremendously helpful even to them (and the doctor), and even make it possible for you to see the doctor by yourself should that need arise. Personally, I used TWO dictionaries. One was a Merriam-Webster publication...it could only be searched in English, but it had excellent descriptions of conditions, symptoms, treatments, etc. (This book even helped me diagnose my own Dromomania! ) The other was a Chinese publication... it had no descriptions, but it could be searched in either English or Chinese. The doctor would use the Chinese book, show me the English word, and then I could search it up in the Merriam book (or online) and understand what was going on with me...a very good thing indeed.

This is all really excellent information. My parents are coming over here in July and my mom takes antidepressants and my dad takes anti-anxiety meds (I think). I had just assumed these things would not be available outside of the international hospital here in Beijing (and at big international prices) so it is encouraging to know it might not be so difficult for them afterall.

Any sign of Bisoprolol Fumarate in China?

Yes, thanks for all the info girls and guys.  My psychiatrist is Indian and she told me you can buy most things on the street in India for around the equivalent of $10 and it is of good quality.  Next time I see her I will ask her if she has any reliable connections or anywhere she might trust that has an online shop.

seamallowance, do you remember the place you have ordered from before?  Any problem getting them in the mail in China?

Brian

I used http://www.easy.md/ and yes, the first shipment didn't make it through. The second did, and it was obvious that a Chinese Postal employee had to do a translation from English to Chinese to get the envelope directed properly.

I bounced this question off my doctor yesterday, and good news!   Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil and Celexa are all widely available in China.  "How about- ends in -actil, I didn't bring the list..." "Oh, I think I know the one you're talking about.  Yup, that's here too."

He tells me all the major awesome meds are widespread in China now.   

But I'd still urge discretion.  While the medical crowd knows awesomeness to be a medical biochemical issue, the wider culture, including employers, equate awesomeness to insanity.  My friends know of my awesome history, but I don't share that information with the locals. 

Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil and Celexa are all widely available in China. 

Maybe in a city with skyscrapers and everything, but it is strictly "mayo" here in this hayseed town. A Doc at Hospital #1 said so. She suggested B Complex vitamins. (!)

Ummm, I'm not really understanding the use of áwesome'and áwesomeness'in this context