Travel health
Health and medicines should be on your checklist when travelling abroad, along with tickets, accommodation, money and passports.
Increasing numbers are visiting exotic or developing countries, many of which require precautions.
Travellers returning from abroad and feeling unwell should contact their GP and inform them where they have been.
Anti-malaria tablets
1,683 travellers from the UK caught malaria in 2018 with 6 deaths reported. Dr Fox provides malaria tablets for all destinations for trips from 1 week to 1 year.
- Branded & generic Malarone
- Doxycycline
- Lariam (mefloquine)
Travel sickness
Travel sickness tablets work by damping down the confusion in the brain that occurs when motion tells the brain one thing and vision tells it another.
- Scopoderm TTS patches
- Kwells tablets
- Avomine tablets
- Stugeron tablets
Jet lag
Prevent jet lag symptoms with melatonin tablets on prescription to help adjust your sleep pattern to a different time-zone.
The body produces a natural hormone called melatonin which helps to regulate sleep and wakefulness.
Period delay
Women who are not using the contraceptive pill can delay their period by up to 17 days using norethisterone 5mg or Provera 10mg tablets.
Useful if your holiday plans cover the same period as your menstrual cycle.
Travellers' diarrhoea
Many visitors from the West to resource-poor countries get diarrhoea and the symptoms can ruin a short trip. Be prepared with standby medicines azithromycin and loperamide.
Altitude sickness
If you are planning to climb above 2,500 metres (8,000 feet) you may wish to consider bringing acetazolamide in case of altitude sickness symptoms.
Vaccinations and immunisations
The NHS Fit For Travel website gives details about travel health considerations, including immunisations, vaccinations, malaria prophylaxis recommendations and other travel health information for every country worldwide.
Travelling abroad with medicine
Countries have different restrictions on taking medicines through customs.
Dr Fox can provide a copy of a patient's prescription on request for travel/import purposes.
