I'm asthmatic and am heading South Korea in October to teach English. Can I get my medication over there?

Question

I'm asthmatic and am heading South Korea in October to teach English. Can I get my medication over there?

Answer 1

i'm also asthmatic.

Of course you get that medicine over there.

but in my opion,you should buy some medicine in west.

it's very helpful emergency.

Answer 2

of course u can why not

Answer 3

I should imagine so, they're much more civilised than North Korea.

Answer 4

I'm also asthmatic.

First: The weather here is not good for people with asthma.  You DEF need to get a humidifier as soon as the weather gets cold.  You also need to get a special cleaning solution to put in the humidifier water to stop the growth of mold (cheap and available at most department stores/groceries).  Remember to clean it every week as well, and clean your sheets and floors regularly (dust accumulates easily).  Be prepared for some HORRIBLE asthma problems in the spring, especially around april.  Yellow dust fills the air from the gobi desert and gets in your eyes and covers all the cars with a yellow film.  I stockpile allergy medicine for april.

Medicine:

Yes, you can get many of the same prescription medicines here in korea as in the States.  And they will be much much cheaper than the U.S..  ex: My inhaler cost 3 bucks.  

That other person complaining about Korean doctors is right, but we bypass all of that by bringing empty prescription bottles and having our u.s. doctor write a LEGIBLE prescription with the commercial and scientific name of the drug along with dosage amounts.  Then we take it to the korean doctor and explain that it's our medicine from our American doctor.    Usually the korean doctor just goes, OK, and writes a korean prescription for the same medicine.  Then you go to one of the MANY pharmacies in every town and give them the prescription.  Korean doctors use a national database of drug names and uses that they can access to easily look up your perscription and find it's availability at the local pharmacy.  

The pharmacy too is able to order medicine for you that you need only wait a few days to come in.  

Of course, through all of this, it's best if you can work with an English-speaking doctor (there are a few here) or with a translator.  It's possible to do without, but much more difficult.  If you're staying in Seoul, you have a much higher chance of finding a doctor who can speak english well enough to help you.

Answer 5

Ok..I am asthmatic too. However, I really recommend you buying your medicine in the west first.  You often will receive meds that won't help you...and you'll keep paying and paying.  Here's an example.

From my asthma, I got bronchitus, and it got worse and worse and I was taking some korean medicine and anti biotics, however their medicine did nothing for me.  So I had to go back every 3 days, and continously buy more.  Luckily after a two month period I was able to go back to Canada and I got some Western style antibiotics and i was cured in 3 days.

In Korea, don't accept the "Injection" either.  There's a routine of giving almost everyone who walks into the Doctor's office some kind of injection to boost their health. Who knows what it is really.  But it's just a cash grab and 99% of all Korean Doctors don't give them to their own family. And we all know there is no cure for the common cold, however, you'll still see millions of Koreans wasting their money on cold medicine.

So don't forget your medicine for sure.  I've also known of a Westerner stuck in the hospital because of a medical mistake and he needed to get medicine sent in from Australia and it was "really expensive" for him.