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Medications and travel to Costa Rica

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hurryupnwait

Question

I d like to travel to Costa Rica to visit my in laws and stay about 3 months.  My mother in law is not healthy and my wife, son and I want to stay to help her.

What can I do about the medications I receive from the VA?  I also get hydrocodone.

It seems that my options are:

1.  Let the VA send them to my address of record and have a good friend mail them to me in Costa Rica, except for pain medicine, because I will not be there to sign for them.  I guess I could have someone else sign for them and send them to me but Costa Rica does not allow narcotics in the mail.   I could get a pain reliever like hydrocodone in Costa Rica.  With this option the VA may think I no longer need pain medication since I am not refilling them regularly for three months.

2.  Ask my PCP, who does not think I should be able to travel any where if I am IU, to fill 3 months worth of prescriptions to take with me.

 

Any ideas

 

Thanks 

 

Paul

 

 

When I count my blessings I count my family and friends twice.

If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.

Well done is better than well said.

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I would be careful and here is why I say that. I am someone who happens to live in a beach resort which has a VA primary clinic. Traveling veterans are turned away daily because they have to make an appointment different then normal to be seen. I saw a guy wait for an hour just be told he could not be seen there. This is just an example only of the way the VA operates. Now if it is emergency go to any medical facility and contact VA to get reimbursed.

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Being IU does not restrict or preclude travel. That you can travel has nothing to do with whether or not you can work. 

 

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(I AM NOT A RATER- I work the claims BEFORE they are rated, annotating medical evidence in your records, VA and Legal documents,  and DA/DD forms- basically a paralegal/vso/etc except that I also evaluate your records based on Caluza and try to justify and schedule the exams that you go to based on whether or not your records have enough in them to warrant those)

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Yes, Broken, I agree completely but this is the opinion of my PCP so his help may be very limited.

When I count my blessings I count my family and friends twice.

If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.

Well done is better than well said.

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I would talk to the pharmacy and see what my option are. Just in case take your prescription with you to Costa Rica. Medicines are usually in other countries. Have fun in Costa Rica. It is a beautiful country. Hope your mother in law gets well. Pure Vida!

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