Prescription drug costs
As we’re staying in the jungle for a bit we needed Anti-malaria prescriptions, which ended up costing £13.50 each at the NHS (so much for a free service) for a Malarone prescription, and in the NHS Pharmacy each pill would have been £2.83 and together we would need 140, other drugs like Vibramycin and Lariam would have been cheaper but Sarah has had pretty bad reactions to these before, so why spoil a holiday? Also look at some of the possible side effects of these: Doxycycline (Vibramycin):
photosensitive allergic reaction that increases the risk of sunburn under exposure to UV light from the sun or other sources. This may be of particular importance for those intending to take on vacations long-term doxycyline as a malaria prophylaxis.
That’s nice to have when on a long holiday in a hot country! Mefloquine (Lariam):
Mefloquine may have severe and permanent adverse side effects. It is known to cause severe depression, anxiety, paranoia, aggression, nightmares, insomnia, seizures, birth defects, peripheral motor-sensoryneuropathy, vestibular (balance) damage and central nervous system problems. Central nervous system events occur in up to 25% of people taking Lariam, such as dizziness, headache, insomnia, and vivid dreams.
Fuck me that sound nice!!! So instead of getting the tablets at NHS we marched down to Boots to get it cheaper, but no no, £3.40!! per tablet, maybe, maybe we’d have to go for the nightmares and depression instead to save a buck, and then it dawned on us… Superdrug! And Voila! £2.10, amazing. So we’ve now learnt something new if you need drugs, go to Superdrugs, it’s in the name baby!