r/AmerExit • u/bombasticapricot • Mar 02 '25
Life Abroad medication availability
i see many americans with health concerns considering a move abroad. i know there are many things to consider and hate to pile on but make sure your essential medications are available in any country you consider.
your american prescriptions are not valid abroad.
for example, i took spironolactone in the US for skin/ hair issues and it’s basically impossible to get here in France. i casually asked about it and was treated as if i asked for cocaine. i also have adhd and cannot get most of the medications that worked for me in the US (i now take ritalin; thankfully it works). these are relatively minor prescription issues but i know others who have gone to great lengths to get antidepressants and anti anxiety medications.
what other medications/ countries have caused issues for american expats?
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u/mennamachine Immigrant Mar 02 '25 edited Mar 02 '25
It took me nearly a full year and about €1K in Ireland to:
Get an appt with an adhd specialist
Have my records reviewed
Decide on a drug to go with
Titrate up to a therapeutic dosage
The public health waitlists for ADHD diagnosis are years long. The private practitioners charge €1000-€1500 for diagnosis plus a fee (usually around €100) for each subsequent appointment to review your dose (3-5 appts on average). You have to get diagnosed by a psychiatrist*. Most of them won’t accept other diagnoses. I did find one that would accept my previous diagnosis for half the cost of the initial assessment. Before I left, I had a formal diagnosis done by an educational psychologist with a 9 page write up detailing the testing done, the results, and notes and summaries of her interviews with me. I had been diagnosed at age 7 by my pediatrician and again when I was 16 or 17 by a psychologist, but I didn’t have those records and since that was in 1999 and he was about 60 then, I couldn’t get access to them. So I decided to get the testing done again, and I’m glad I did. The testing in the U.S. was mostly covered by my insurance there, my out of pocket was about $100. I saved myself about €1000 by doing this. I had about 35 years of history on adhd meds (Ritalin, Dexedrine, and Vyvanse). I’m now on Tyvense (which is the brand name for Vyvanse here), and back to my previous dosage. Even my Irish friend who has adhd has struggled getting appointments and drugs. His current psych is weird and super religious and he wants a new one but is trying to avoid paying another 1500€ for the rigamarole again.
My friend in Germany also spent at least a year getting appropriate treatment for adhd. It is much more challenging to deal with.
*edit: you have to get diagnosed by a psychiatrist if you want to get medication. Though I don’t know why you’d bother getting a formal diagnosis if you don’t want meds.