Legitimate offshore prescription drug sources?

[RyanMichael]

My wife has been suffering for a long time with constant eye irritation. It's not like "Oh, my eye is itchy," it's, "I just got something in my eye and it hurts to exist." She suffered with it for a long time, through multiple doctor visits, emergency room stops, and optometry appointments, all the while encountering reactions ranging from misdiagnosis, to indifference, to being completely blown off and treated as if there wasn't a problem.

It was hard for me to understand it. I get something in my eye, I blink a few times, and it goes away. She gets something in her eye, and she spends the next hour in agony trying to figure out if she got it out and hoping the pain recedes.

She finally saw an opthamalogist, who immidiately realized it was chronic dry eye. She's not producing the damned tears that keep your eyes from itching the fuck to death.

So she got prescribed a drug called Restasis, which was completely life-changing. She gets something in her eye, blinks a few times, and it's gone.

Then the problem: This shit is expensive. 30 days is $300. We had insurance through her employer, but she was laid off in March, and haven't had insurance since June.

We haven't gotten signed back up for insurance, and even if we did, she wouldn't have coverage for 6+ months.

So is there anywhere reliable and safe to get this sort of thing outside of the US? Canada is just a stone's throw from Detroit...

[Sarkus]

Due to some lack of insurance issues a few years ago, I did end up ordering a pretty common medication from one of those Mexican outfits. I had no problems, but felt nervous about the whole thing. I suspect the more expensive/potent/controlled the medication, the more careful you have to be.

I'm considering ordering some of the same medication again to get into the new year without having to visit the doctor. This is mainly because of some screwed up stuff having to do with my current medical insurance and what it will cover the rest of this year (nothing) versus early next year (everything), and how the clinic I've been using for the last few years chooses to bill despite my actual income level. Basically, if I go to the doctor now it will cost me far more then if I can wait until after Jan. 1st. I just don't have quite enough of the one medication to make it.

[Chris Nahr]

My wife has been suffering for a long time with constant eye irritation. It's not like "Oh, my eye is itchy," it's, "I just got something in my eye and it hurts to exist." She suffered with it for a long time, through multiple doctor visits, emergency room stops, and optometry appointments, all the while encountering reactions ranging from misdiagnosis, to indifference, to being completely blown off and treated as if there wasn't a problem.

It was hard for me to understand it. I get something in my eye, I blink a few times, and it goes away. She gets something in her eye, and she spends the next hour in agony trying to figure out if she got it out and hoping the pain recedes.

She finally saw an opthamalogist, who immidiately realized it was chronic dry eye. She's not producing the damned tears that keep your eyes from itching the fuck to death.

So she got prescribed a drug called Restasis, which was completely life-changing. She gets something in her eye, blinks a few times, and it's gone.

Then the problem: This shit is expensive. 30 days is $300. We had insurance through her employer, but she was laid off in March, and haven't had insurance since June.

We haven't gotten signed back up for insurance, and even if we did, she wouldn't have coverage for 6+ months.

So is there anywhere reliable and safe to get this sort of thing outside of the US? Canada is just a stone's throw from Detroit...

I'm having trouble parsing this. Are you saying your wife has never even tried regular cheap moisturizing eye drops, or that they didn't work?

[kerzain]

All I know is that when I look up the generic drug equivalent of that drug it's the same stuff (1 & 2% concentrations) they use for dogs at $20 a bottle.

[RyanMichael]

I'm having trouble parsing this. Are you saying your wife has never even tried regular cheap moisturizing eye drops, or that they didn't work?

Didn't work. They wear off quickly, and are no substitute for a constant flow of natural tears.

All I know is that when I look up the generic drug equivalent of that drug it's the same stuff (1 & 2% concentrations) they use for dogs at $20 a bottle.

This medicine doesn't go off patent till 2014, so there shouldn't be any generics available.

[Chris Nahr]

Didn't work. They wear off quickly, and are no substitute for a constant flow of natural tears.

Okay, that makes sense. I often have dry eyes myself but nowhere near as bad, so the occasional moisturizing drops are good enough for me. Didn't know that there was a drug specifically to encourage natural tear flow in severe cases.

[MatthewF]

All I did was google "Restasis Pharmacy" and got this: http://www.northdrugstore.com/buy-Restasis.html

It appears that there is a generic of it, at least in Canada. You're going to need a prescription, though. Any no-script sites will charge you a ridiculous premium, and then there's still the chance it'll get seized at the border. A few years ago when I was basically in the same situation (no insurance, etc), I needed to find a cheap place to buy the Clonazepam I use to treat my panic disorder, and I managed to find a no-script Indian pharmacy that shipped by courier. Couriers have a better chance of being ignored by customs. It's illegal to import prescription drugs from outside the country, and they will seize your shit if they find it, so keep that in mind.

[kerzain]

Didn't work. They wear off quickly, and are no substitute for a constant flow of natural tears.



This medicine doesn't go off patent till 2014, so there shouldn't be any generics available.

Well, when it goes off patent the generic name will be cyclosporine ophthalmic, which is the same stuff they use on animals. Unless the human dose is wildly different that the canine dose (aside from the fact that the canine version has some sort of vegetable oil in it I'm sure the stupidly expensive magical human variety probably doesn't have), I just thought the price differences were shitty.

[RyanMichael]

All I did was google "Restasis Pharmacy" and got this: http://www.northdrugstore.com/buy-Restasis.html

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth here, but I can google as well as the next guy. What I'm looking for are sites people have actually used and haven't been ripped off by. As much as I'd like to trust northdrugstore or anyone else who pops up in results, a ton of scammers in the foreign prescription drug category and I'd feel safer dealing with a site that people have actually used.

[MatthewF]

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth here, but I can google as well as the next guy. What I'm looking for are sites people have actually used and haven't been ripped off by. As much as I'd like to trust northdrugstore or anyone else who pops up in results, a ton of scammers in the foreign prescription drug category and I'd feel safer dealing with a site that people have actually used.

I think I still have a couple bookmarked on my netbook at home. I'll PM you the links when I can. However, that site is CIPA-certified (you can look it up if you like) so it should be safe. It's really too bad drugbuyers.com closed their forums, that was the best resource for finding out which were the scammy sites and which weren't. However, this site has sprung up to replace it. I'd recommend reading the testimonials in there.

[JeffL]

Matthew, you might want to check out this site and do some asking:

http://www.pharmacyreviewer.com/forum/

[MatthewF]

Matthew, you might want to check out this site and do some asking:

http://www.pharmacyreviewer.com/forum/

Err, first of all that's the site I linked to, second, I'm not the one asking; that's RyanMichael :P.

[JeffL]

Err, first of all that's the site I linked to, second, I'm not the one asking; that's RyanMichael :P.

Yeah that's just illustrate what happens when you take drugs from Mexico and post. ;)

[Eightball]

Not really. It's more a side effect of the FDA being simultaneously underfunded, overprotective, and industry-friendly. Two would be okay, but you really can't have all three.

It's not an industry friendly FDA any longer. The pendulum has swung the other way; it's now an industry-unfriendly FDA under Peggy Hamburg.

[Sarkus]

Just to update I did an order for a common medication I'm on through the United Pharmacies link and am not having a good experience. They promise 7-14 business day delivery, but it took them a week to send me the tracking info on the order, which still hasn't left Hong Kong 10 business days after ordering.

[JeffL]

Hopefully it will turn out all right, just slow. I did a LOT of research on offshore pharmacies (and the Mexican ones in detail) for an article (that I have yet to sell.)

FWIW, some conclusions based on the research:

1. It is scary how easy it is to get all kinds of pharmaceuticals from places like Mexico. You can literally send money today and get a few dozen Vicodin or Oxycontins delivered to your door the very next day. Any time you like.

2. The odds of these being intercepted or you being busted is extremely low. Not zero, but extremely low.

3. If you are dealing with "reputable" dealers - those vetted by people you have connected with and who have credibility - the odds of being ripped off are very low.

4. Places other than Mexico tend to take a long time to deliver, and seem to have more variable results.

5. In spite of all of the above, a general rule of thumb is don't send more money than you can afford to lose, because there is always a chance you'll lose your money and get nothing in return. With the correct diligence the odds are low - but real.

[Sarkus]

The odd thing in this case is that they are shipping via the USPS and have provide me with a tracking number. But the tracking number shows no updates in a week, so I'm not sure what the deal is.

[JeffL]

Sometimes things coming USPS from overseas like that get held up in customs, and this time of years things may be slow.

[Sarkus]

I thought about that but the tracking updates imply it finished that process. USPS took posession then at the end of that week processed it through. Just nothing since.

I tried contacting USPS about it but none of their email customer service links seem to work.

[tiohn]

USPS is notorious for not updating their tracking information for days at a time. What their information indicates won't have much at all to do with where the package actually is.

[Sarkus]

Hopefully you are right and it will show up soon!

[Sarkus]

Looks like you were right about the crappy tracking info, as it has suddenly updated to show it's already in the area. The funny part is that earlier today I sent the shipper (United Pharmacies) a note asking what was going on and I got back a ridiculous response tonight claiming the order had only been out for 3 business days even though I placed my order on the 15th of this month. I sent back an angry email and then decided to check the tracking a short time ago only to discover the order will probably arrive tomorrow or early next week.

[Papageno]

Yeah, I've had that happen before with USPS tracking. No news at all for a long time and then POW it's updated on the day the thing gets delivered.

[Aleck]

Yeah, I've had that happen before with USPS tracking. No news at all for a long time and then POW it's updated on the day the thing gets delivered.

Ha! My experience is usually that it's updated *after* it's delivered!

With respect to Restasis, I don't have any really good advice except that I was given that stuff like it was candy when I had lasik (about 2 years ago). I can't imagine that it's that expensive, given how free they were with it!