no prescription necessary

one interesting discovery i have made here in egypt is the lack of prescription that is necessary to purchase most drugs at the pharmacy. that isn’t to say that there isn’t any control on any of the drugs-- narcotics, pain killers, and the more “serious” drugs are by doctor’s prescription only, but most are not controlled at all. you can go to any pharmacy, request the drug by name, and it’s yours.

this has its advantages and obvious disadvantages. drugs can be more easily abused or wrongly self-prescribed. sometimes here it seems that if someone is feeling the slightest bit sick, they march their self down to the pharmacy and start requesting antibiotics or who knows what else, to treat it. but those drugs may not even be the necessary treatment for that illness at all. one afternoon i was cramped over with a stomach ache, and my relatives were quick to start naming various drugs to pick up at the pharmacy for it. guys, i ate our housekeeper’s terrible cooking and i’m a little bloated. it’s all good.

over-prescription and over-use of drugs just like antibiotics is blamed for causing diseases, bacteria, and infections to have become resistant to the once more powerful medicines. we are finding it more difficult to fight common infections that are now resistant to our normal treatment methods. and in the US, we are also so quick to approve and administer new drugs when we don’t always know what the actual side effects are-- or will be. how often do we hear that the drug everyone was raving about 5-10 years ago is now causing all these law-suit-requiring side effects?

however simultaneously, it is not always necessary to have to go to a doctor to tell you your infection requires a treatment of antibiotics. if you cut your finger and it is oozing out green goo, you have an infection; get antibiotics. and if for example, you choose to take contraception, do you really always need to go to the doctor to renew that prescription annually? or to even take it to begin with? especially in the US where doctor visits are insanely expensive without insurance, obtaining something as essential to many women as birth control, could cost as much as $600+. (that is forgetting about planned parenthood or medicare, etc). it’s really not that complicated, a pharmacist should be able to administer it to women, just like plan b is non-prescription and administered. i understand the need to be checked out and advised by a doctor, but i don’t believe it’s completely necessary, and although women may not be able to afford a doctor’s visit, that should not prevent them from their choice to control. but let me not ramble about my passion for women’s rights regarding contraception.

when you have an illness and don’t necessarily need to see a doctor to prescribe your medical solution, you should be able to ask the pharmacist. they do go through an extensive amount of medical training to have their jobs. the flaw in this is that the pharmacist has an incentive to sell you whatever drugs you request: his/her business.

my first experience at a pharmacy here was this past week when i walked in, totally stressed and overwhelmed by some personal family drama, and in my moment of weakness, requested alprazolam- known here as prazolam. my dear friend, xanax. i wasn’t even sure they would sell it to me without a prescription, so i kept a straight face and tried to look neither stressed nor insecure. i was asked which dosage, i chose the higher one, and i paid all of $1.20 or 8 LE, for a box of 20 pills. he even gave me his card in case i needed more later or even better, delivery. i walked out feeling as if i’d just gotten away with committing a crime. $1.20? what!? did i just go in there and buy some xanax!? it certainly helped to calm me down and all, but i’m not sure that it was necessary. i can’t stand those nyc housewives who get stressed and “need a xanax” to cope.

at first, i thought it was funny. i felt like a badass. i was asking friends back home for requests: name some good drugs to go get my hands on. what else can i buy? but see, that is abuse, and that’s how it begins. this site shows some alarming statistics. we fear addiction and abuse of cocaine or heroine, but look at all the abuse of prescription meds.

in sharp contrast to this recent experience with xanax, three years ago when i was preparing for a business trip to australia, despite all my love for flying, i felt overwhelmed by the upcoming 30-hour journey there. 30 total hours to get to Cairns from NYC. 30 total hours confined to a tiny little seat. flying over land; over the pacific ocean... i was absolutely excited, but i was starting to freak out. so prior to leaving, i talked to my doctor about this anxiety, and asked, “am i allowed to ask you for a prescription for xanax for this?” and she looked at me with a twisted brow, “umm yes. i’m a doctor, how else would you get the prescription?”

and i’m the kind of person who doesn’t even take tylenol when i have a headache. i hate taking medication unless it is absolutely necessary, and i avoid them as much as is logically and healthily possible. and while i do have my own prescription of this anxiety reducing medication, something about the experience didn't feel right. a little ironic that i'm complaining about a greater freedom here than i have at home, right?

so the more consideration i give to this system, the more i am opposed to it. it benefits me here while i’m uninsured and broke, but it is unsafe and unhealthy. there is seriously an overabundance of pharmacies that exist in cairo. i’d imagine that you could pharmacy-hop and accumulate a massive quantity of drugs if you wanted to. who or what is to stop you?