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Question about new immigrants obtaining birth control

Last activity 22 January 2013 by cocoisablackcat

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EPerrin

Hello! I am moving to Norway in May from America to be with my Norwegian husband and during the application process I was just wondering if it is a simple process to obtain the birth control pill or are you unable to do so until the application processes completely before visiting a doctor? My fiance has asked UDI about this which just sent him to a forum and he didn't receive the answer he was looking for, so I just thought I'd ask on here. Thanks! :-)

lovetravelstonorway

Hi EPerrin,

Your US prescription for Birth Control is not valid in Norway. (They accept some countries, but not the USA.)  I tried,  I took a handwritten script, plus my pharmacy records from the US saying I had refills, plus my actual birthcontrol package proving I really had been taking it.  There was no convincing them.  I tried more than one pharmacy. 

Once you get here, to refill your existing prescription you will need to visit a doctor and get them to write a new script for the pharmacy.  It was a simple enough to get a doctor to refill my prescription.  But, if UDI has not issued your a personnel number you'll probably find it easier to use a private clinic for a consultation with a doctor. And just pay for it.  The birth control cost here not using any insurance was cheaper in the end that I was paying with my "good" private health insurance in the US. I would also advise bringing a couple months supply with you, so you have time to sort out the system.

Hope this helps, Tif

cocoisablackcat

Does anyone happen to know if Norwegian pharmacies carry "Apri" (a brand of BC pills)
I'm about to move there, and was wondering if I have to switch brands when I move there next week.

ECS

I have access to the Norwegian medication database for my work and a quick search of it doesn't find any medicine with that name. It might be called something else in the Norwegian market though- I've found that meds are sometimes marketed under slightly different names in different countries.

cocoisablackcat

Ah, thanks for the response! Super helpful.

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