Image description: A bottle of Ibuprofen containing 1000 tablets.
(Originally published earlier today on mastodon.social)
this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
291 points (100.0% liked)
tails: A Place for Mastodon Posts
328 readers
1 users here now
A virtual community
Posts from Mastodon users, featured natively in a community, so you can view them without the need for them to be re-hosted or screenshoted, and reply to the original author and Mastodon respondents if you wish.
Has so far included content from Warsandpeas, Mr. Lovenstein, SMBC, Loading Artist, Low Quality Facts, nixCraft, ElleGray, and other interesting or provocative stuff I've random'd across on Mastodon.
Supported:
Comments & Upvotes
Unsupported:
Posts, Downvotes, & PD's Automod
founded 11 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Many common over the counter drugs in America are banned or require prescriptions in Europe. Ibuprofen and pesto/imodium require prescriptions, and they’re not too fond of giving you them. Fun things you learn while traveling Europe with migraines and shiting thunder. Remember to pack enough while traveling.
No they don’t?
Ibuprofen and imodium can be bought from the pharmacist’s counter and yes, are limited in the number you can ask for but like - how many do you mean by ‘enough’, there’s like 24 in a pack? And, to tell the little secret - you can go to the next pharmacy over if you desperately need more than that on one go?
Oh and even if they were prescription, you know getting a prescription is usually free or cheap right?
I’m guessing you went to a supermarket and expected to buy “Tylenol” and misunderstood what you were told.
You’re right, pain medication like Aspirin and Ibuprofen don’t require a prescription but can only be sold in pharmacies or licensed online stores. Where I live, one does need a prescription for Ibu’s above 400mg though.
Painkillers are sold in supermarkets, what are you on about?
In my country medication isn’t sold like groceries because we don’t use them as if they were groceries.
Nah, I’ve traveled through a shitload of countries and know a pharmacy from a market. It’s just a bit more inconvenient to get what we have over the counter here.
OK but what you said is just patently untrue? Ibuprofen does not require a prescription, but you do have to get it from a chemist, yknow, over the counter. Imodium is available off the supermarket shelf.
I’m generalising of course but I’m generalising from Ireland which is one of the more controlled places in Europe. In others medicine is even less controlled.
I think I prefer that to living somewhere where 50% of ads are “ask your doctor for Valium today!”
France and Germany required a pharmacist for ibuprofen, and France banned imodium/pepto. I’ve been through most of western Europe and it’s just better to not forget the most basic of things we carry at gas stations…including a gun. Jk…ish.
Do you understand that “required a pharmacist” is not “required a prescription”? When people say “over the counter”, do you know what counter they’re talking about?
Based on this thread from that other site, imodium is also available over the counter in France:
old.reddit.com/r/…/de_gasimodium/
So again the theme seems to be Yanks not knowing what OTC means because the idea of involving a trained medical person in a purchase presumably terrifies them.
I’ve been to every country in Western Europe (except Andorra), extensively, and I’ve never once bothered to pack medicine except when traveling by ferry.
It does depend on the country. In the Netherlands you can buy ibuprofen no problem for instance.