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Living with Multiple Sclerosis

The Living with Multiple Sclerosis blog has now been retired. We appreciate all the wisdom and support that Peg Shepherd, RN has brought to the WebMD community throughout the years. You can get great information at the MS Health Center. To talk about MS with other members, visit the MS Support Group message board.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Medications, MS and Travel
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For those of you who don't know, I spend the winters on the coast of Mexico and that's where I am now. Thanks to the wonders of computers, I can keep up on issues and developments regarding MS even though I am many, many miles from a medical library -- and the nearest one is Spanish-only!

Sayulita used to be a small seaside village. In the past 10 years or so it has unfortunately been "discovered" -- with the result that it is now much more of a bustling small town rather than a pueblo. Many of the locals have sold their homes to Americans and Canadians. It's not easy to learn Spanish here because you don't actually need it. English is understood and/or spoken widely.

Health care is very different here than in the US and that's one of the challenges of traveling here with a chronic disease. And with MS particularly, the challenge is being able to get and store refrigerated medications here. My prescription drug supplier won't ship things to Mexico. So I have to stockpile a several-month supply of my meds and then make sure I can store it appropriately as I travel south. I travel in a small RV, so that is less of a problem than it might be.

And, as an FYI for other MSers out there, if you are taking Avonex, you can request the 'old' form (not premixed) of it if you are at all concerned about having adequate storage. It is not ruined by a short time at room temp, unlike the premixed version.

More later ...

Related Topics: Travel Related Illness, Packing for a Healthy Vacation

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Posted by: Peg Shepherd, RN at 9:34 AM

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