The ibuprofen barrier (also the paracetamol barrier)

[cimorene]

Tragically, the supply of ibuprofen we bought the last time we went to the US - in 2017 - is running out now! Ibuprofen is more expensive in Finland and you can only buy 30 tablets of 400mg each at a time, and you can't mail it internationally, but you can bring it in your luggage, so in the past, I have just brought back a bunch of bottles each time I visited the US. (Technically, you can only bring your own medication for personal use, but we've never had a problem.)

The even more tragic part is that my sister was here just a year ago, but I forgot to ask her to bring it. Obviously it would be unwise to go there in the near future now, and I'm not sure if it would be fully safe even for my white middle-class family members to leave the country in case they had trouble going back (although they don't have any travel plans in the near future, because my dad, being quadriplegic, is immunocompromised and air travel is an elevated risk for him, and he's been in and out of the hospital lately).

When I was a teenager and young adult I used ibuprofen heavily for cramps, but in my 30s the severity lessened dramatically and I was often able to skip painkillers or get by with a small dose of paracetamol/acetaminophen, so the supply from our last visit has lasted longer than expected. (The last bottle has an expiration date in 2020, so possibly it is only working by the placebo effect at this point.) Concurrently with the perimenopausal symptoms I've started getting over the last few years, though, the cramps have started to worsen again and a couple of times in recent months I think they've been more painful than when I was a teenager! (But I also can't be sure because it's about 25 years ago.) A few years ago I was advised to try 1000mg paracetamol + 600mg ibuprofen together in case of emergency, and I now typically need to do this a few times per month. And also to buy paracetamol approximately every 1.5 months, because you can't buy more than 30 (500mg) tablets of paracetamol at a time either, and Wax and I both get migraines (not bad migraines by you Migraine Sufferer standards, but they are still headaches)! I've just never happened to bring paracetamol/acetaminophen back in my luggage because (a) I didn't know I could and should use it instead of ibuprofen until I was in my late 30s and (b) until recently there was always a larger bottle of it around leftover from various prescriptions.

Ugh, and I hate big Finnish 400mg ibuprofen tablets, too. They're not nearly as nice as the standard round coated ones you get in the US. And if you buy gel caps you can't break them! Come to think of it, I also don't like the big paracetamol tablets, but I don't have any clear memories of the size and shape of acetaminophen tablets to compare them to. But, honestly, they would have to be fairly awful tablets to be worse than the inconvenience and annoyance of buying them 30 at a time.

Comments

[lilysea]

That sounds incredibly frustrating! :(

Can you order from overseas online?

Because Australian pharmacies will sell you 96 Nurofen brand-name ibuprofen tablets - coated in a sugar coating to protect your stomach, small caplets easy to swallow - for $20 Australian plus postage.

This pharmacy ships from Australia to overseas

https://www.chemistdirect.com.au/delivery

"International orders will be shipped via Australia Post Airmail. Please allow up to 14 days for international Airmail delivery.

All parcels will be sent in plain and unmarked packaging to assure security and privacy. Orders will be dispatched once payment and prescriptions (if applicable) are received.

Chemist direct orders are processed on business days (Monday to Friday). We do not dispatch during weekends and NSW Public Holidays. All orders are shipped from our Sydney, NSW warehouse."

[cimorene]

No, they can't be mailed over the border!

[torachan]

Yeah, we had trouble in Japan because we only brought a tiny amount and Carla used it up quickly for her sore feet, and then we found that you can only buy it at pharmacies behind the counter and there was only one hotel on Disney island that has a pharmacy. Very inconvenient!

[cimorene]

It's only sold by pharmacies here, but it's stocked on the shelves with other non-prescription drugs. Still inconvenient though, especially as it is easier to run out when you can only buy such small boxes. If there are two of you you can each buy one, and you could buy another from a different pharmacy, but they aren't usually very numerous or close together and they aren't open as long as grocery stores.

[torachan]

Yeah, it's only small boxes in Japan, too. And I misremembered about the pharmacies. Real pharmacies can sell it on the shelf, but some convenience stores or grocery stores might also stock it, but in that case it has to be behind the counter and only a licensed person can sell it, not just any cashier. So the hotel shop in our hotel actually did have some, but the entire time we were there, there was never anyone who had the license. We did buy some from another hotel that had more of a pharmacy section in their shop and so had someone able to sell it more frequently, and we got some from a larger pharmacy when we were outside of the hotel area and were actually able to buy it off the shelf like normal then. Meanwhile here we buy it in two packs of giant bottles from Costco lol.

[cimorene]

Oh, that sounds like the way it was in England, unless I'm misremembering. We got some at a convenience store but they had to have a special cashier.

[cesy]

In the UK you can buy 32 pills at a time of paracetamol and ibuprofen, at any pharmacy and most supermarkets. It doesn't need special staff, you just have to be over 16. It's reduced overdose issues but it's really annoying if you need a large amount but not large enough to get bulk packs free on the NHS.

[cimorene]

I thought I remembered having explained that there was something special about it, but maybe it was just that we had to go to a pharmacy specifically.