Saturday, September 22, 2012

Getting Meds in Madinat Zayed;"Same same!"

So we all know that I have been a diabetic for almost two years now.  My one concern prior to taking this job was the availability of my medication.  I didn't know if they would have all the various options that I had in the states.  I didn't know how much they would cost.  However, in my first phone interview those concerns were put to rest when I was informed that one of the biggest health issues here is diabetes because the people here love their sweets.  I know that they have a huge diabetes clinic in Abu Dhabi but where I live is almost two hours away.  I can only drive there on the weekends and it just isn't convenient.

Since being here I have gone to the pharmacy for allergy pills and ibuprofen.  Which would be typical except for the fact that you can get 800mg Ibuprofen over the counter without a prescription here.


I don't know why the word retard is on the box. lol the technical meaning is to hold back or prevent progress so maybe it means pain retard. 

I was surprised but at ease because at least I knew there were pain killers near by if I needed that strength.  I decided to take a stab at seeing how I would go about getting my diabetes meds refilled.  Granted they don't have the combination pill that I have been taking, but they do have Glucophage.


Can you see the box has braille writing on it.  Nice!
He made sure to say, "Same, same!"  It's similar to Metformin which I used to take when I was first diagnosed.  I walked in and showed the gentleman my prescription bottle and he gave me the box of 50 pills.  No prescription required.  When I asked how much it was, he said 14.50.  That's DHS not USD.  That works out to be about 3 or 4 dollars US.  I would have had to pay more in the US even with my copay.  I knew I would be saving money by making this huge transition but I didn't realize in how many different areas.  No complaints from me about having access to my medications at all.



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