Saturday, January 16, 2010 Whangerei, New Zealand
New Zealand definitely has a drug problem that they won't admit! We can't find anything we're used to here. Before we left Michigan we worked carefully with our physicians and insurance company to obtain a full 6- or 12-month supply of our prescription medicines. But to save luggage space we did not fully stock up on over-the-counter drugstore stuff - - stuff like aspirin, ibuprofen, laxatives, acid reflux pills, and other stuff that we older folks need. For all of our hand-wringing about the so-called Big Box retailers like Walmart, KMart, Meijers, Costco, and such, they really have been a boon to consumers, both on price and variety. As to drug stores, we're always amused in the US to see an intersection with Walgreen on one corner, RiteAid on another, and CVS on the third corner of the same intersection. But I'll tell you: between them and the pharmacy sections of the Big Boxes we can get anything we want, in large bottles, and cheap! There is no such thing here in New Zealand. The grocery stores and KMarts either carry no drugs at all or only a very small selection. The pharmacy stores are what we would call boutiques, selling mostly cosmetics, with their very limited supply of other non-prescription drugs clustered within about 10 feet of the pharmacist counter. Aspirin is practically unknown here. We usually buy the orange enteric coated 325 mg tablet (standard dose is 2 of these every 4 hours), and we buy them in bottles of 500 for a few dollars. The other day we bought one package of 90 100 mg tablets (about the same as baby aspirin, marketed for "heart health") that cost NZ$20.00. You can't even buy milk of magnesia or Citrucel here. So BE WARNED all ye drug-dependent international travelers: stock up in the US before you leave.
While we're on the subject of stores, we've made some interesting observations in the grocery store produce section. The oranges and grapes and apples are from the US. Paula was appalled to find that the kiwifruit was all imported from Italy. Kiwifruit was basically invented here in New Zealand, and they are the second-largest grower and exporter in the world (Italy is first), shipping more than 100 million kiwi fruits per year. Then someone explained why all the kiwifruit in the stores this time of year is from Italy. It's too early for the NZ fruit, so the only alternative would be very expensive cold-stored fruit from last year's crop. Importing fresh fruit from the northern hemisphere when it is early summer in the southern hemisphere makes sense after all.
I hope you're finding what you need. It's very similar in England. They had everything we needed, but it was named differently, so you may just need to ask. In England, you can buy Tylenol with codeine over the counter. British Benadryl is much better than American Benadryl, too.
ReplyDeleteWe are also finding stuff here that you can't get in the US. For instance, you can buy ibuprofen with codeine over-the-counter. The most popular pain reliever is one that isn't even available in the US: Panadol (GSK brand name for generic paracetamol). I talked with the pharmacist about it. Functionally it is similar to Tylenol in that it is good for headaches and other mild pain and for fever, but it does not have the anti-inflammatory function the aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen have. I.e., it's not good for arthritis or other pains associated with joint & muscle inflammation.
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