Buying medication for heart disease

I get blood pressure medication here without a prescription, might want to check to see if your meds are over the counter.  Metformin is also available without a script.

Many_Moons_Old wrote:

Hi,

Can anyone give me some advice on purchasing medication for heart disease.

I will soon be living in Pampanga, but also visiting Pateros and Makati, Metro Manila.

I can get 6 months supply from my doctor here in the UK before I leave,  but once I am living permanently in the Philippines I will need a constant monthly supply.

Thanks.

Neil.

Most of the time you need a doctor to prescribe heart medications. You should consult a Filipino
doctor ASAP upon arrival.

mugtech wrote:

I get blood pressure medication here without a prescription, might want to check to see if your meds are over the counter.  Metformin is also available without a script.

It it´s not that strict, are there on-line sites where you can buy meds like generics where it´s heavily discounted? Metformin for blood glucose level maintenance is a common med that could be bought on-line.

Bought generics for 3 pesos/pill in the local pharmacy, cannot see it being cheaper through the mail.  Actually a little cheaper than when I buy 90 at a time with my script in the USA.

mugtech wrote:

Bought generics for 3 pesos/pill in the local pharmacy, cannot see it being cheaper through the mail.  Actually a little cheaper than when I buy 90 at a time with my script in the USA.

That´s almost 06 cents in US dollars. Is that for Metformin for blood glucose maintenance or for blood pressure  medications like a diuretic or a beta blocker or a combination of an alpha or a beta blocker?

robal wrote:

mugtech wrote:

Bought generics for 3 pesos/pill in the local pharmacy, cannot see it being cheaper through the mail.  Actually a little cheaper than when I buy 90 at a time with my script in the USA.

That´s almost 06 cents in US dollars. Is that for Metformin for blood glucose maintenance or for blood pressure  medications like a diuretic or a beta blocker or a combination of an alpha or a beta blocker?

It is for amlodipine besylate 5mg.

mugtech wrote:

robal wrote:

mugtech wrote:

Bought generics for 3 pesos/pill in the local pharmacy, cannot see it being cheaper through the mail.  Actually a little cheaper than when I buy 90 at a time with my script in the USA.

That´s almost 06 cents in US dollars. Is that for Metformin for blood glucose maintenance or for blood pressure  medications like a diuretic or a beta blocker or a combination of an alpha or a beta blocker?

It is for amlodipine besylate 5mg.

Ok. It´s a calcium channel blocker to relax blood vessels for easier blood flow (hemodynamics).

Visit a cardiologist or any doctor, probably the visit will cost you a 1000 pesos. Show him your scrips and have him write out a prescription for all your meds. Since you will be paying for the amount of pills, not paid by insurance, you can get any amount desired. I get three months at a time so I don't have to be running to the pharmacy all the time.

The only limitation you have is sometimes the pharmacy wont have three months supply. Some pharmacies don't take plastic only cash. Sometimes they don't have the right strength, so you have to make adjustments. Sometimes a sealed package (box) will be opened and some of the pills will have been sold to locals that can only afford in small quantities. Prescriptions do not come in bottles, they are like punch out bubble wrap, so keep your old prescription bottles and refill them.

My son goes to the pharmacy for me, he carries the prescription in his wallet, I also have made copies. You keep the prescription, so it can be used anytime anywhere. My son buys my prescriptions at TGP and Mercury Drugs.

Keep in mind that you need a prescription for 81 mg baby aspirin.

Gotta have a scrip from a PI licensed Doctor.
Quantities are any from one to as many as your scrip permits. So if your Dr, doses you for 6 months that is what you can order up.  They will even sell ya one if that is what you want.  Most are sold in individually sealed blister packs.  If the box is not factory sealed count the pills inside as some small quantities may have been already purchased by another.  The pharm techs here have always been correct but we is all only human.  If you want generic ask otherwise most likely you will be handed branded.  A significant portion of the public seems to be a little skeptical of generics.

Drug prices here are not a big problem especially for those listed as essential meds.
My worst are branded only and are 150 pesos per dose and that is identical to the least expensive mail order concern.  Sometimes have to visit 2 or 3 pharmacies to get all 6 of the daily pills.   Upon occasion have had to get the pill in double my normal dose and cut the pill in half but no problem.  Our nearby big city is less than 150K souls but we have 5 of the chain stores here.

W9XR wrote:

Visit a cardiologist or any doctor, probably the visit will cost you a 1000 pesos. Show him your scrips and have him write out a prescription for all your meds. Since you will be paying for the amount of pills, not paid by insurance, you can get any amount desired. I get three months at a time so I don't have to be running to the pharmacy all the time.

The only limitation you have is sometimes the pharmacy wont have three months supply. Some pharmacies don't take plastic only cash. Sometimes they don't have the right strength, so you have to make adjustments. Sometimes a sealed package (box) will be opened and some of the pills will have been sold to locals that can only afford in small quantities. Prescriptions do not come in bottles, they are like punch out bubble wrap, so keep your old prescription bottles and refill them.

My son goes to the pharmacy for me, he carries the prescription in his wallet, I also have made copies. You keep the prescription, so it can be used anytime anywhere. My son buys my prescriptions at TGP and Mercury Drugs.

Keep in mind that you need a prescription for 81 mg baby aspirin.

Prescription for aspirin? That´s OTC like in Brazil. Can you photocopy prescriptions in tne Philippines?
Do the original prescriptions expire?

PHP100 is really cheap for a specialist. Many are US trained. UP curriculum I heard is copied from the University of Michigan...

robal wrote:

PHP100 is really cheap for a specialist. Many are US trained. UP curriculum I heard is copied from the University of Michigan...

Believe it is PHP 1,000, still cheap.

Yes low dose aspirin is over the counter in the states but not in the Philippines. I little story about me buying low dose aspirins.

I have a re-mailer in the states, when the mail builds up I have it FedEx'd to me in the Philippines. I decided to double up and purchase some vitamins & low dose aspirins. On Amazon. com, I was able to buy 1,000 low dose aspirins for $8 usd.

The FedEx shipment of everything took three days to enter the Philippines. It took me almost a month to get everything through customs. I had to get a Doctor to prescribe 1,000 low dose aspirins and supply that to the Philippine Food & Drug agency and then get it cleared through customs.

What takes a hour to do in the states, takes a day in the Philippines. What takes a day to get something done in the states, takes months to get done in the Philippine.

W9XR wrote:

Yes low dose aspirin is over the counter in the states but not in the Philippines. I little story about me buying low dose aspirins.

I have a re-mailer in the states, when the mail builds up I have it FedEx'd to me in the Philippines. I decided to double up and purchase some vitamins & low dose aspirins. On Amazon. com, I was able to buy 1,000 low dose aspirins for $8 usd.

The FedEx shipment of everything took three days to enter the Philippines. It took me almost a month to get everything through customs. I had to get a Doctor to prescribe 1,000 low dose aspirins and supply that to the Philippine Food & Drug agency and then get it cleared through customs.

What takes a hour to do in the states, takes a day in the Philippines. What takes a day to get something done in the states, takes months to get done in the Philippine.

Nothing was stolen then?

mugtech wrote:

robal wrote:

PHP100 is really cheap for a specialist. Many are US trained. UP curriculum I heard is copied from the University of Michigan...

Believe it is PHP 1,000, still cheap.

Yeah. That´s about almost 20USD vs around $150 in the States... In Brazil it could range from 38-76USD...

LemSaDipolog wrote:

Gotta have a scrip from a PI licensed Doctor.
Quantities are any from one to as many as your scrip permits. So if your Dr, doses you for 6 months that is what you can order up.  They will even sell ya one if that is what you want.  Most are sold in individually sealed blister packs.  If the box is not factory sealed count the pills inside as some small quantities may have been already purchased by another.  The pharm techs here have always been correct but we is all only human.  If you want generic ask otherwise most likely you will be handed branded.  A significant portion of the public seems to be a little skeptical of generics.

Drug prices here are not a big problem especially for those listed as essential meds.
My worst are branded only and are 150 pesos per dose and that is identical to the least expensive mail order concern.  Sometimes have to visit 2 or 3 pharmacies to get all 6 of the daily pills.   Upon occasion have had to get the pill in double my normal dose and cut the pill in half but no problem.  Our nearby big city is less than 150K souls but we have 5 of the chain stores here.

So supply is limited. If you are a regular, can´t the pharmacy anticipate to order more of your medicine and the correct dosage?

Hi. I once had similar issue for my wife and my brother who is a GP in London use to send me meds for
yearly supply through post and I never use to pay any taxes as long as your doctor has given you a letter that the meds are for your own personal use only. You can also look into this as the meds you can get in the Philippines  will not be of the same manufacturers. Check it out and good luck.

Hello;

In this town of 150,000 I have never had to go without.  Just a few times (3 or so in a year) have i had to visit a 2nd or 3rd vendor.  Yes they do stock based on demand but 1st come 1st serve, in a place this small 1 or 2 more patients can tip the cart a bit.  Margins at retail are thin, they cannot have things on the shelf hitting the usually arbitrary (another rant against drug companies and their political contributions for another time) would be an reimbursed expense.

I get Cozzar 100mg and Inderal 40mg over the counter! Watson's carries 40mg for Inderal but Puregold only has 10mg! Cost is higher for Inderal then in the States! Cozzar is 25 peso's each which is still slightly higher then Stateside!

LemSaDipolog wrote:

Hello;

In this town of 150,000 I have never had to go without.  Just a few times (3 or so in a year) have i had to visit a 2nd or 3rd vendor.  Yes they do stock based on demand but 1st come 1st serve, in a place this small 1 or 2 more patients can tip the cart a bit.  Margins at retail are thin, they cannot have things on the shelf hitting the usually arbitrary (another rant against drug companies and their political contributions for another time) would be an reimbursed expense.

Thanks for your reply...

lasvegan wrote:

I get Cozzar 100mg and Inderal 40mg over the counter! Watson's carries 40mg for Inderal but Puregold only has 10mg! Cost is higher for Inderal then in the States! Cozzar is 25 peso's each which is still slightly higher then Stateside!

You mean Cozaar (Losartan)... Over the counter? Including Propanolol? You´re somewhat special!
Hey, thanks for the info...

A bit dicey here.
Depends on what your meds are for, for what heart condition.
I recently stopped Losartin for hbp, and will see how diet etc keep me.

But the quality of the stuff here is highly suspect: had a serious operation in the west - triple a - and docs prescribed 4 medications, but I didn't do 3 and now am trying to drop the 4th. Here in the Phils, for instance, you can get at least 4 different Losartin meds: one at Generic Pharma is only 5 pesos / tab and that was what my North American doc told me to chuck out cos no good.
At Rose and Mercury Drugs here - prob the most trustworthy - they have 3 kinds of Losartin, 8 pesos per tab, 13 and then 24. Not knowing why different prices for the same 50 mg dosage, I got some of each, mixed them up, and took as prescribed, one a day. Thought to myself, why play roulette? Just quit and see what happens.

As for you, not sure what to say because the Chinese cheats are deep into that industry here, and who knows how good the stuff is....

GL

That's why I use FedEx. . . . 2 to 3 days to arrive.

Yup! In the States I do the generics as they are as effective as the branded! Here I'm hoping that Branded has a better chance of being the real deal! L-Arginine 500mg a day does pretty much what cozzar does with one big exception and that is it's good for your kidneys.

W9XR wrote:

Yes low dose aspirin is over the counter in the states but not in the Philippines. I little story about me buying low dose aspirins.

I have a re-mailer in the states, when the mail builds up I have it FedEx'd to me in the Philippines. I decided to double up and purchase some vitamins & low dose aspirins. On Amazon. com, I was able to buy 1,000 low dose aspirins for $8 usd.

The FedEx shipment of everything took three days to enter the Philippines. It took me almost a month to get everything through customs. I had to get a Doctor to prescribe 1,000 low dose aspirins and supply that to the Philippine Food & Drug agency and then get it cleared through customs.

What takes a hour to do in the states, takes a day in the Philippines. What takes a day to get something done in the states, takes months to get done in the Philippine.

I also take 81mg of aspirin and vitamins. I buy direct through Swanson Vitamins and they send them through FedEx. Also 3 days to get to Brazil but Customs takes another month. Taxes are bad. 60%
federal and another 18% state tax.

Choice of vitamins in PI must be limited. Are prices of vitamins and aspirin comparable to the US?

daenr wrote:

A bit dicey here.
Depends on what your meds are for, for what heart condition.
I recently stopped Losartin for hbp, and will see how diet etc keep me.

But the quality of the stuff here is highly suspect: had a serious operation in the west - triple a - and docs prescribed 4 medications, but I didn't do 3 and now am trying to drop the 4th. Here in the Phils, for instance, you can get at least 4 different Losartin meds: one at Generic Pharma is only 5 pesos / tab and that was what my North American doc told me to chuck out cos no good.
At Rose and Mercury Drugs here - prob the most trustworthy - they have 3 kinds of Losartin, 8 pesos per tab, 13 and then 24. Not knowing why different prices for the same 50 mg dosage, I got some of each, mixed them up, and took as prescribed, one a day. Thought to myself, why play roulette? Just quit and see what happens.

As for you, not sure what to say because the Chinese cheats are deep into that industry here, and who knows how good the stuff is....

GL

Chinese? Do they manufacture in the Philippines or Made in China?

lasvegan wrote:

Yup! In the States I do the generics as they are as effective as the branded! Here I'm hoping that Branded has a better chance of being the real deal! L-Arginine 500mg a day does pretty much what cozzar does with one big exception and that is it's good for your kidneys.

L-Arginine is a precursor for NO (Nitric Oxide) a vasodilator that decreases HBP. It does act through intracellular secondary cGMP. It also reduces platelet aggregation which could cause thrombosis or stroke (CVA).

Some people do take Losartan in cases where they have kidney problems. Angiotensin receptor sites are blocked relaxing blood vessels for lower blood pressure.

L-Arginine is an amino acid with the lower molecular weight and does give a burden to the kidney´s
glomeruli as they pass through. I hope your kidneys are healthy to handle that. There are people that are Type 2 diabetic and already have kidney damage. Just some brainstorming.

robal

Yup! My doctor said that 500 mg is safe enough! I was type 2 diabetic but under control by diet! my A1C went to 5.2! But the big discovery while doing testing was that I have 2 bladders connected by a small tunnel! I seen if while they were exploring the bladder with the camera! They actually put it into the other bladder and it was like being in a submarine movie! Explains why I never use the potty flying! LOL!

lasvegan wrote:

Yup! My doctor said that 500 mg is safe enough! I was type 2 diabetic but under control by diet! my A1C went to 5.2! But the big discovery while doing testing was that I have 2 bladders connected by a small tunnel! I seen if while they were exploring the bladder with the camera! They actually put it into the other bladder and it was like being in a submarine movie! Explains why I never use the potty flying! LOL!

Really? That would help you a lot because in cases of BPH (Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy), there is always a residual urine in the bladder which is not expelled completely, hence the frequency of urination.

You´re indeed a rare person! Are you sure you´re not from Mars? 

Pretty sure from a planet around Alpha Centauri! Proxima Centauri b in the Goldilocks zone

lasvegan wrote:

Pretty sure from a planet around Alpha Centauri! Proxima Centauri b in the Goldilocks zone

That´s 4.36 years away from earth if you were to travel at the speed of light. That´s the closest super earth to our solar system. You should invite the next time you jettison through a worm hole!

I don’t waste time with light speed! Just fold space time between the two and wella I’m home! Need to be sure no atom spouts close by or will be vaporized

lasvegan wrote:

I don’t waste time with light speed! Just fold space time between the two and wella I’m home! Need to be sure no atom spouts close by or will be vaporized

Wormholes in other words. A conduit connecting within a universe or 2 different universes. Einstein-Rosen bridge based on the theory of relativity. Unfortunately it´s not possible yet by theory to travel through time or even to a different universe because of instability. It does need exotic matter for it to stabilize. Not the dark matter or antimatter. Scientists are constantly locating one if any. Stephen Hawking already said that travel through it is not feasible. A little scary. I will not be the first one to try and travel through it!

LOL! I think you’re way to late for that! The Egyptians were doing that before you were born! I think!

Speaking of Egypt lol! You’ll love this! In August of 2000 I measured the precise height of the Great Pyramid using I Leica GPS500 survey grade gps real time unit! Actually used 5 but 4 were ground stations to triangulate for survey grade precision! In September and October of 1999 I was part of a group that Italian geologist Giorgio Poretti put together to measure the highest mountains in the world and the Matterhorn was a great test spot! So I was able to attach a Leica gps500 to the iron cross at the summit! If ever we meet I will explain in full why I was selected for this position ! I’m retired now but I was a RCE and Land Surveyor! Of course much more to the story! I fly drones now and do survey grade 3D mapping with them and am doing some of that here! Just finished a drainage map in Lipa City area!

lasvegan wrote:

Speaking of Egypt lol! You’ll love this! In August of 2000 I measured the precise height of the Great Pyramid using I Leica GPS500 survey grade gps real time unit! Actually used 5 but 4 were ground stations to triangulate for survey grade precision! In September and October of 1999 I was part of a group that Italian geologist Giorgio Poretti put together to measure the highest mountains in the world and the Matterhorn was a great test spot! So I was able to attach a Leica gps500 to the iron cross at the summit! If ever we meet I will explain in full why I was selected for this position ! I’m retired now but I was a RCE and Land Surveyor! Of course much more to the story! I fly drones now and do survey grade 3D mapping with them and am doing some of that here! Just finished a drainage map in Lipa City area!

Very interesting job. I´m sure it´s a very lucrative occupation. And what was the height exactly of the Matterhorn? I´m familiar with the Valle d´Aosta region in Northwest Italy where Italian, Swiss and French Alps are located. I went to Breuil-Cervinia and explored areas nearby.

I don’t remember exact but think it was 4477.54 meters! I lived in Napoli for 3 years and made many trips to Zermatt! Back when the BMZ was just a cog wheel train! Simplon pass was my favorite route as there are very few ways to get there! By car only By Visp river valley from Brig!

Cervinia breuil on the Italian side is the starting point for the friendship ski trek undertaken on January 24th! My birthday! At midnight you can see the skiers come across theodul glacier with their torches! I always told my friends in the pub at the Castor Pollux hotel that they’re just coming to light my birthday cake candles lol

lasvegan wrote:

I don’t remember exact but think it was 4477.54 meters! I lived in Napoli for 3 years and made many trips to Zermatt! Back when the BMZ was just a cog wheel train! Simplon pass was my favorite route as there are very few ways to get there! By car only By Visp river valley from Brig!

I visited Napoli a lot and Sardinia when I was active duty military. I was stationed in Spain but was all over Europe due to the demands of the job. I stayed a total of 6 years in Europe.