Flying to Frankfurt in 10 days. Travelling through Germany and Belgium for two weeks for the Christmas markets. I see conflicting info on prescription medications. Will I be ok taking my pill organizer and a list of the medications? My vitamins and supplements I do not worry about - I can't pack all those bottles. I have never been questioned before but I do not want to blow it. Anyone experience customs in Germany and have any issues with prescriptions?
Thank you.
You should be fine, but yes, bring copies of the prescriptions. If you have any critical medications (like if you stop taking things go bad) then I would get a letter from your Doctor indicating why he prescribed, dosages and the generic name of the drug. It would help if you dump your organizer across the floor of the train station, lose it, or otherwise cannot take the medication. Replacing requires going to a doctor there and having them prescribe what is needed.
If you take any controlled drugs (serious pain meds for example) or narcotics (for a variety of psychological ailments) those I would leave in their original labeled container, and have a letter from your doctor.
For all your medications, take only what you need, plus a buffer of a few days, don't take a 90 or 30 day supply for two weeks.
Whether customs wants to look into your bags is random chance, though it rarely happens; the good news is they are really not concerned about small amounts for obvious personal use.
I don't mean this exactly as a review, but I found the four-row, hard plastic weekly pill organizers I bought at Walgreen's were a disaster in my suitcase. The compartments tended to release, dumping pills into my clothes. I did recover most of the pills, and kept them in zip-lock bags after the first unpacking.
I've been to Europe fifty times, and have never been asked about my medicines, ever. I expected to be asked in Singapore (maybe, no Sudafed allowed?), but it didn't happen, at least in Business Class (!)
Thank you for your responses. Very helpful.
Here's another one who has never been asked about my medications (including in Germany), which are usually packed in small 2x2 ziplock bags. I figure if they want to see my Rx, I can pull up MyChart to show them, but no one has ever asked. :-)
Little Pill baggies from Amazon take up MUCH LESS room
Take what you need and a few days more just in case. Have copies of the prescriptions. (Copies of the labels on the bottles.)
But as noted previously, if any of your drugs are narcotic or controlled substances, keep them in their original container. And make sure they are allowed in Germany.
Thanks everyone. I have one sleeping medicine (Lunesta) that I use due to a generalized anxiety diagnosis. I researched this today and in 2009 it was not approved for sale in the European Union. EU approved the drug but did not allow the 10 year period of no generics because it was deemed to be too similar to Ambien and others like it. So the drug company pulled its application. I've been to Europe twice since I started taking it in 2012 so I am just going to go for it. Ambien is approved but it made me loopy so I switched. So I cannot buy it there but I am going to assume I can take it there since I have a legal script in the US. Ugh.
Many people take Ambien, it just did not work for me. And, I strongly believe it is ok to talk about how taking care of our mental health is as important as any of our other health issues.
Wish me luck!! I am sure it will be fine.
Happy holidays. Let's keep travelling!
Pamela
