Traveling Tips: Bringing Your Meds & Supplements

Hey Guys,

I wanted to take a moment to give you a pretty simple, yet overlooked tip when it comes to traveling abroad, and that deals with bringing your medicines and supplements with you. One thing I experienced on my recent trip is that this isn’t as necessary as you would think. The reason for this is that a lot of other countries, as opposed to the US, you don’t need a prescription to buy almost any medicines, including pain killers, antibotics and even steriods.

You can also get almost any other kind of supplement from either a conveinent store, pharmacy or shopping center. You will find generic versions of many every day brands. However, there are a handful of items I was unable to find during my trip, and I wanted to highlight them here.

1. Fiber Pills – Of course you can just eat some fruits, such as prunes, bananas or berries to get some fiber, but occasionally you need a little extra boost to your system. I tend to get a little irregular when I’m away from home, and Fiber Pills help. I wasn’t able to find them while I was in Thailand, so I settled for a bag of prunes. If this is an issue for you, you may want to think about one of those small packs of chewable fiber pills for your trip.

2. Airborne/Emergen C – You guys may have heard of this product(s). It’s basically a vitamin supplement that you can take just before you get sick to boost your immune system and help you fight off the potential cold. Both Airborne and Emergen C come in either a power or pill that dissolves in a glass or water. It’s similar to electrolytes, although it additionally has a high amount of vitamins such as B and C in it, as well as some other herbal supplements in it. Once again, you may want to pack a little bottle of these prior to your trip if you subscribe to this.

3. Advil - You can get both Tylenol and Ibuprofen in Thailand but you can’t find Advil. I tend to like Advil a little better, because there is a little known fact that Advil contains a small amount of caffeine in it, which works in addition to the NSAID to relieve pain. What the caffeine does is actually lower your blood pressure a bit. So while the pain reliever is doing it’s thing, the lower blood pressure will result in reduced swelling, which will also cause less pain. Once again, I couldn’t find it, so if you dig Advil, then pack it.

I believe there may have been a couple more items on the trip that I had a hard time finding, but I can’t think of them at the moment. You may want to also consider bringing your own protein shake mix, fat burners, and other work out supplements with you, as you will not be able to find as many specific brands as you can in the States.

I would love to be able to continue adding to this post with input from other people. If you have a product that you had a hard time finding overseas, please message me and I will add it here. Thanks.