WASHINGTON — An international vacation typically involves months of advance planning, from renewing passports to finding flights and booking hotels. But even the most carefully planned itinerary can be knocked off course by an unexpected health problem.
If you're traveling in a country where you don't speak the language and your insurance isn't accepted, even a basic errand like filling a prescription can become a complicated ordeal.
Last year nearly 61 million Americans traveled abroad either for business or pleasure, with trips peaking at 6.8 million in July, according to the U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries. The most popular overseas destinations included Europe, the Caribbean and Asia, which together accounted for nearly 80 percent of all trips outside North America.
Here are some tips on getting the medical care you need, no matter where your travels take you:
PRESCRIPTIONS: It's far easier to bring an ample supply of medication from home than to refill it overseas.
If you're going to be traveling for a few weeks, most pharmacies will give you an extended supply of medication if you show them your travel itinerary. All prescriptions should be kept in their original bottles that clearly display your name. This is important when traveling through foreign customs where your baggage may be searched.
"Generally speaking, any medication that is prescribed to you must be identified as such and be in the properly marked bottles," said Dr. Sal Pardo, vice chair of emergency medicine at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center. "That's the most reasonable and fail-safe way to travel with medicine."
If you have any kind of narcotic-based pain medication, for example codeine, you may want to check with the U.S. embassy in the country you're visiting to make sure the drug is not considered illegal. A list of embassies and consulates is available on the Department of State's website at http://www.usembassy.gov/ .
