malaria tablets thailand

nj23

I know thailand isnt really malarial anymore but planning to go to cambodia for a week and thought we better take some malaria tablets for that.
People have been saying to wait until you get to bangkok and buy them there as they are a fraction of the price. Do you need a prescription or can you buy them over the counter? do they have same brands as here?

Also while we are flying into bangkok, we are flying straight away to krabi without leaving the airport, should we be able to get malaria tablets in chemists there.

Planning to stay on railay bay for a few days. can anyone recommend which of the hotels to book. looking at Sandsea, railay bay, railay village, railay princess.
Thinking of booking sand sea, does anyone have any reports of what its like.

Frank Grimes

In Bangkok at least, Boots and Watsons (chemist chain store like Boots) sell Doxycycline over the counter. In Boots it's 9 Baht per tablet, half that in Watsons. (I was there at the beginning of the month)
I don't know about the brands sold in Ireland so I couldn't compare them.

breadmonkey

Look into the various Malaria tablets and there side effects, directions for use etc. before you go.

Malarone would probably suit a shorter stay since you only have to take it for 7 days after you leave the Malaria zone, whereas with Doxycycline you have to take it for 4 weeks. Malarone is much more expensive than Doxycycline.

Malarone is NOT available in Thailand, doxycycline is. I don't think Lariam is a runner really. There is another one that I know of but I can't remember the name.

I would advise you to go to the Tropical Medical Bureau and get a consultation. There IS malaria in parts of Thailand. The doctor will show you a map indicating malaria zones.

P.S. As a pedantic side note, does malaria get a capital M?

gary the great

Can you get an injection for malaria? Im heading to thailand, vietnam and cambodia, what injections are essential and where is the cheapest place to get them?

breadmonkey

Click on the Tropical Medical Bureau link in my previous post. You willl find everything you need to know there. There is no injection for Malaria AFAIK, it doesn't work like that.

As regards cost, I don't know how to get them cheaper but mine cost me a lot of money. I got typhoid, hep A, hep B and rabies and it cost me nearly E300 including the consultation fee. I already had a tetanus/diptheria shot which is essential. Not all of the ones I got are totally necessary.

abakan

breadmonkey wrote:

As regards cost, I don't know how to get them cheaper but mine cost me a lot of money. I got typhoid, hep A, hep B and rabies and it cost me nearly E300 including the consultation fee. I already had a tetanus/diptheria shot which is essential. Not all of the ones I got are totally necessary.

Hate to say this to you but I got my shots yesterday and cost me €160 including consultation fee of €35.

Got Hep A,B, Typhoid, Jap Enc, Yellow fever,polio, Tetanus and the doc also gave me a persciption for Malaria tablets (Malarone)€5 a day for 69 days

The clinic was Dr Ekky's in Drumcondrath,Dublin - he the cheapest in Ireland i'd say

breadmonkey

abakan wrote:

Hate to say this to you but I got my shots yesterday and cost me €160 including consultation fee of €35.

Got Hep A,B, Typhoid, Jap Enc, Yellow fever,polio, Tetanus and the doc also gave me a persciption for Malaria tablets (Malarone)€5 a day for 69 days

The clinic was Dr Ekky's in Drumcondrath,Dublin - he the cheapest in Ireland i'd say

You bastid, I hope you got placebo shots!:p

This must be the best place to get them. Website?

EDIT: Are you sure you have paid for the whole course of injections? For some of them (hep A/B for sure), you have to get 3 shots.

gary the great

Holy crap thats a lot of money, didnt realise it was tha expensive. Think i will just get the esssentials...

RDM_83

You can get doxycycline cheap of the net. its 24p (sterling) per tablet from travelpharm.com since it's a proper website you need to send them a prescription. I actually stopped taking it since I was only in a malaria zone for 3 days and didn't get bit at all- I'd recomend that you don't take it on a empty stomach (especially if your hungover) as it makes you feel real bad. When looking at other drugs remember that in some areas malaria is resistant to certain drugs.

abakan

breadmonkey wrote:

You bastid, I hope you got placebo shots!:p

This must be the best place to get them. Website?

EDIT: Are you sure you have paid for the whole course of injections? For some of them (hep A/B for sure), you have to get 3 shots.

He dosent have a website - not that i know of anyway

yep we got the proper shots - a 2 in 1 shot, a 3 in 1 shot and the yellow fever shot.

He told us about the other Irish clinics that really rip people off. He couldnt give us the Malarone tablets cheap as he had to give us a perscription to get them

esskay

I spent the last few months travelling in asia, your best bet for malaria protection is doxycycline. Not only does it protect you against malaria but it also helps prevent travellers diahorea (dehli belly) which is a definate benefit. You should be able to get them in any chemist, the ones I got where General Drugs House brand and cost 2c per tablet in Chiang Mai. Boots in thailand sell the same brand with their sticker over the label at a higher price, but its still a hell of a lot cheaper than Ireland (I got charged 1euro/tablet!!). Get all the tablets you need in Thailand cause afaik you can't buy them in Cambodia.
Enjoy you trip, thailand is class!!

abakan

esskay wrote:

I spent the last few months travelling in asia, your best bet for malaria protection is doxycycline. Not only does it protect you against malaria but it also helps prevent travellers diahorea (dehli belly) which is a definate benefit. You should be able to get them in any chemist, the ones I got where General Drugs House brand and cost 2c per tablet in Chiang Mai. Boots in thailand sell the same brand with their sticker over the label at a higher price, but its still a hell of a lot cheaper than Ireland (I got charged 1euro/tablet!!). Get all the tablets you need in Thailand cause afaik you can't buy them in Cambodia.
Enjoy you trip, thailand is class!!

What is the difference between doxycycline and Malerone. I know doxycycline is way cheaper in Thailand, Malerone you cant get in Thailand.

I think I might be getting doxycycline in Thailand is there is'nt much of a difference between the two.

Roen

esskay wrote:

Not only does it protect you against malaria but it also helps prevent travellers diahorea (dehli belly) which is a definate benefit.

and it's most common side effect is diarrhea.
.

nj23

i was in thailand last year and got the basic jabs before i went. only was there last september and going back again on wednesday so didnt bother with vaccinations this year- should i still be covered does anyone know.

also i got bymecin (think that's what its called) tablets last year and only took them for about a week. down south afaik there isnt a need to take them so i have about 15 tablets left. if i buy more dioxcycline or whatever they are called does it matter if i mix the brands?

case_sensitive

The TMB are refusing to give me a price before booking an appointment, could be massive (myself and herself Hep A, Typhoid, Tetanus), so I called Dr Ekky, they're coming back to me with a price in a few minutes.
http://www.drumcondraclinic.com

It's Drumcondra btw, might have been a typo, plus I'm just off Dorset st, dead handy.

Rugger7

I thought it'd be better to resurrect this than to start another thread. Does anyone know when I should start taking the tablets (Doxycycline), my doc said 1 week beforehand but the pharmacist said 2 days. Normally I'd just go with the doc but the prescription she gave me worked out as 2 days beforehand!

Snap!

I'll be in mexico for 2 weeks next month so need info on this aswell.
I've asked my doc who is to get back to me.

I'm not taking any chances.

Enzo_V12

Ill be heading off to australia for a year come november, im flying into singapore the start of november and traveling thailand, cambodia, some of vietnam and laos so ive to get my shots. Generally you local doctor is a better bet than going to TMB - tropical medical bureau, they will almost certainly end up costing less and will definately be cheaper if you can manage to get multiple people seen to at the same time.

Myself and two friends are getting Typhoid, Hep A, Tetanus and Malaria Prophylaxis, (think you will still require tablets once your in thailand, ive to double check this) the shots are coming to €150 but you might be able to get a better deal depending on the ammount recieving vacinations.

Neamhshuntasach

I don't even remember seeing mosquitoes in Asia. Granted i don't seem to get bitten. I got Malerone as a after the fact treatment but never needed it. So that was a waste of money for me.

killbillvol2

Neamhshuntasach wrote: »

I don't even remember seeing mosquitoes in Asia. Granted i don't seem to get bitten. I got Malerone as a after the fact treatment but never needed it. So that was a waste of money for me.

Wonderfully informative and possibly the single most stupid statement I've seen this year. Clearly they're a figment of the imagination.

You can't get specific advice for different countries here. Get proper medical advice.

Rugger7

Just re-checked with the doc and he said definately 1 week beforehand. That would mean not too safe advice by the pharmacist. I wonder if I coulda sued if I caught malaria!?

lydsie

hi there, does any know a brand of Doxycycline that i can buy in bangkok? or do i just as for Doxycycline? don't want to send up with something that is not the real deal. I will go to boots in bkk ariport. so any advise would be appreciated. :cool:

thanks u in advance

RoyalMarine

lydsie wrote: »

hi there, does any know a brand of Doxycycline that i can buy in bangkok? or do i just as for Doxycycline? don't want to send up with something that is not the real deal. I will go to boots in bkk ariport. so any advise would be appreciated. :cool:

thanks u in advance

the airports are decent vendor's of medicine. you wont really have a problem there.
also, the big shopping mall's are very nice places to get what you need.

Il Trap

I'm due to start taking Doxycycline today as an antimalarial. Im going to Thailand for a couple of weeks.
Can somebody please inform me as to whether or not its safe to drink alcohol when on Doxycycline. Results on Google do no yield any definative answers. I'm getting worried here...don't fancy three weeks away and not being able to have a beer!
Any help appreciated!!!!!

catbear

I used Doxy in SE for five months, I didn't start taking them until a week there. The important thing is to keep taking them for a month after you've been in a Malarial zone as Malaria infects the organs and can take a few weeks before it flares up.

I bought all mine over the counter in Boots in either Siam square or Koi San road. I can't remember exactly how much but it was really cheap 5c or 6c a tablet.

I had no problem consuming alcohol for the time I was on Doxy. Another thing not mentioned yet on this thread about Doxy is that while it acts as a great bug killer, my gum disease cleared up too and I never got deli belly after while taking it, it does however make your skin more sensitive to the sun.

Edit to add, mosquitos are in Thailand. We used a deet spray in our bedroom before we went out every evening. We had brought a net but only needed it once, the deet did the trick.

Stinicker

I hate to resurrect older threads but by adding my own take on the situation will make it more informative!

I am off to Thailand next month and got my first shot today. I was vaccinated with Hepatyrix which vaccinates me against Hepatitis A and Typhoid fever. In three weeks time I will be vaccinated with Boostrix which vaccinates me against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis.

My two vaccinations are costing me €105 with €70 for the vaccines and €35 to my GP. I am happy with the price and i'd say it costs less than going to the TMB. I was also prescribed Malarone to prevent Malaria and you can get a Months supply of this on the Drugs Payment scheme (providing you spend the €120 in a month) and Medical Card holders can also get a months supply free.

I didn't get the Hepatitis B Vaccine even though Hepatitis B is far worse than Hepatitis A. However the risk of getting Hepatitis B is low unless you intend to screw around with whores :eek:, in which case it is rampant in Thailand, and it takes 6 months of three shots and you can even get it free from the STD clinic, (as it is a sexually transmitted disease!).

Keep Safe!

Badgermonkey

http://www.travelhealth.ie/AboutUs/

Before a trip to Cambodia last year I visited Dr. Simon Collins (link above) primarily as he was cheaper than Tropical Medical Bureau.

I was really impressed with him, as he took a considerable amount of time with his consult, was very thorough and he let it be known he was contactable should the need arise when abroad.

I picked up Doxycycline at the medical centre in Changi airport from Singaporean Doc who'd studied at RCSI.

The only side effect I suffered was after eating nothing one day I took the meds and felt nauseous about 10 mins later but that passed within 25mins.