Travel Medicine Made Simple

Travel Medicine? Why Is It a Travel Challenge?

Travel medicine should not be complicated. You should be able to pay a reasonable amount to get the vaccines you need and some medications to put in your suitcase, just in case you fall ill. That’s it! Why then do you have to pay over $400 for a consultation? Who knows?

We at Innovative Express Care are ready to change this.

How Do I Know What Vaccines I Need?

You can find out in 3 seconds: Just use a very easy-to-use website called Google and the keyword CDC. (Centers for Disease Control)

In your Google search engine, enter the country you are going to and add the term CDC. Yeah, that’s pretty easy!

Let’s take Cambodia as an example: Google “Cambodia CDC” and click on the first choice: “Health Information for Travelers to Cambodia Traveler View”

The CDC simplifies the question of: which vaccines should I get?

I recommend getting the “Most travelers” selection, in this case: Hepatitis A and Typhoid. Now, if you’re going there for over two months, then I’d add some of the “Some Travelers” section vaccinations/medications, but honestly, I’d talk to your travel medicine doctor about this.

Medications You Must Have in Your Suitcase

Okay, that’s for vaccines and malaria prevention. Let’s also talk about preventive medications. Say you’re in Cambodia, and you feel brave and eat some street food. Six hours later, you feel a sudden movement in your stomach… Uh oh. You know what’s coming: Diarrhea. Wouldn’t it be great if you could start the treatment right there and then? Well you can. Talk to your doctor about antibiotics and nausea medications. C’mon, the last thing you want is to find a Cambodian ER (trust me, I’ve been to one, and you DO NOT want to go). Start the antibiotic, take some nausea medications, stay hydrated and wait 24 hours. Avoid the developing world’s ERs just because you had some medications in your suitcase!

Antibiotics:

Ciprofloxacin 500mg Take 1 tablet twice a day for 3 days

Azithromycin 250mg Take 1 tablet per day for 3 days

Antinausea Medications:

Zoran 4mg ODT Take 1 tablet every eight hours for nausea

Yellow Fever

Some countries have requirements of having the Yellow Fever vaccine. The history of this disease is interesting. Click here to learn more. So here’s the deal: when going to some African countries (and other countries), you MUST have the vaccine OR a note stating that you are medically exempt from the vaccine (this must be written by a doctor). One other thing to know, this vaccine is not cheap. It is often $200 for medical clinics to buy AND to make things worse, it’s often rationed out (meaning there was a month where you couldn’t find it in all of Chicago).

Let Innovative Express Care help you with your Global Travels. Our providers know Travel Medicine, and we have the Yellow Fever Vaccine! Our prices are on our site, so there are no surprises. We can even prescribe you the medications to keep in your suitcase (we also sell them for a very inexpensive price at the clinic – $10 – $15 per medication).

Come visit us, you’ll be glad you did!

Image Source: Fdecomite