Where's the cheapest pharmacy to buy my medication and tablets in Chiangmai

[Diplomatico]

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I used to use Pharmachoice until they sold me some drugs that were duds.

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Could you advise what the duds were supposed to be and how you discovered this please?

They were supposed to have been Tramadol and I found out when they didn't ease the pain. At all.

I thought Tramadol was a mild anti depressant which also acted as a muscle relaxant.

You may be thinking of Trazodone....?

[nicksal37]

Wow what a lot of sad people on this forum.The OP asked a very simple question.Where can he buy his medication at a good price.One must feel so sorry for all the stupid replies.Wow Thai Visa never is never boring!!!

[northernjohn]

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Could you advise what the duds were supposed to be and how you discovered this please?

They were supposed to have been Tramadol and I found out when they didn't ease the pain. At all.

I thought Tramadol was a mild anti depressant which also acted as a muscle relaxant.

You may be thinking of Trazodone....?

You are rite. It is available here in Thailand now. I was prescribed a light dose before sleep to prevent Rapid Leg Moveement. They didn't have it when I got here and my doctor tells me that Thailand now has it.

Thanks for straitening me out. To many senior moments.

[elektrified]

The cheapest I have found and operated by as good a pharmacists I have used anywhere is on Walking St, a few doors up from Thapae Gate. Owned by 2 sisters they have a real understanding of pharmacy and willing give very good advice. They saved me hundreds of baht on what I was paying at PharmaChoice on just one medication. They are the first pharmacy up from the Black Canyon. Perfect English.

That is a good pharmacy and the owner is a lovely person but it is nowhere even close to being one of the cheapest in town.

[elektrified]

I used to use Pharmachoice until they sold me some drugs that were duds.

Sent from my GT-I8552 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Could you advise what the duds were supposed to be and how you discovered this please?

They were supposed to have been Tramadol and I found out when they didn't ease the pain. At all.

I thought Tramadol was a mild anti depressant which also acted as a muscle relaxant.

Try google before posting.

[Saan]

Tramadol is quite a strong opiate based pain killer.

Tramadol is not an opiate. It is not derived from the poppy plant. It is a synthetic drug that mimics the pain-killing effects of opiates.

"Strong opioids (sometimes called opiates) are medicines used to treat severe pain. Tramadol is a type of strong opioid. It works on your nervous system and brain to reduce the way you feel pain."

From patient.co.uk.

[Ulysses G.]

"The term opiate refers only to the alkaloids found naturally in opium, but is often incorrectly used to describe all drugs with opium- or morphine-like pharmacological action, which are more properly classified under the broader term opioid."

[zeekgarcia]

It all depends on what medicine you are taking.

For example: A friend told me about some medicines that they take and they went to several pharmacies because they needed to buy a several months supply of one of these medicines and they did not want to go back to the government hospital that prescribed this medicine to them because of the long wait times and they figured that the price for the medicines would probably not be that much different. So they went to check out many of the pharmacies listed on this forum. What they found out was surprising that many of the pharmacies listed on this forum were for the medicine that he needed a supply of was 75-150++% <this is not a typo) more expensive than the government hospital that prescribed him the medicine.

So when he needed medicines again he found out what times and days that are not busiest at the government hospital, which has saved him alot of money.

Edited April 7, 2014 by zeekgarcia

[elektrified]

It all depends on what medicine you are taking.

For example: A friend told me about some medicines that they take and they went to several pharmacies because they needed to buy a several months supply of one of these medicines and they did not want to go back to the government hospital that prescribed this medicine to them because of the long wait times and they figured that the price for the medicines would probably not be that much different. So they went to check out many of the pharmacies listed on this forum. What they found out was surprising that many of the pharmacies listed on this forum were for the medicine that he needed a supply of was 75-150++% <this is not a typo) more expensive than the government hospital that prescribed him the medicine.

So when he needed medicines again he found out what times and days that are not busiest at the government hospital, which has saved him alot of money.

To say the medicines fluctuate between 75-150% in price is not true. That is an understatement. The drugs can fluctuate in price as much as 300-400%. Many pharmacists in Thailand (two of whom have already been mentioned in this thread) are very wealthy and when they buy, they buy in very large quantities - perhaps tens of thousands of each tablet. For example in Chiang Mai they may sell some of their stock to clinics or other pharmacies in nearby cities. They pay a few Satang for each tablet and sell it for 2-8 THB each or more retail and of course much less, wholesale. They make huge profits. Thailand has many drug manufacturing factories and overall the quality is quite good compared to someplace like India. So it pays to shop around. There are wholesale pharmacies in Chiang Mai but if you don't know the owners or are not a Doctor, it is doubtful they will give you the time of day unless you make an order of say 8,000 THB or more.

[uptheos]

Tramadol is quite a strong opiate based pain killer.

Tramadol is not an opiate. It is not derived from the poppy plant. It is a synthetic drug that mimics the pain-killing effects of opiates.

Mimics being the operative word, nowhere nearly as effective as codeine and certainly only an also ran when compared to morphine.

[Mapguy]

It all depends on what medicine you are taking.

For example: A friend told me about some medicines that they take and they went to several pharmacies because they needed to buy a several months supply of one of these medicines and they did not want to go back to the government hospital that prescribed this medicine to them because of the long wait times and they figured that the price for the medicines would probably not be that much different. So they went to check out many of the pharmacies listed on this forum. What they found out was surprising that many of the pharmacies listed on this forum were for the medicine that he needed a supply of was 75-150++% <this is not a typo) more expensive than the government hospital that prescribed him the medicine.

So when he needed medicines again he found out what times and days that are not busiest at the government hospital, which has saved him alot of money.

To say the medicines fluctuate between 75-150% in price is not true. That is an understatement. The drugs can fluctuate in price as much as 300-400%. Many pharmacists in Thailand (two of whom have already been mentioned in this thread) are very wealthy and when they buy, they buy in very large quantities - perhaps tens of thousands of each tablet. For example in Chiang Mai they may sell some of their stock to clinics or other pharmacies in nearby cities. They pay a few Satang for each tablet and sell it for 2-8 THB each or more retail and of course much less, wholesale. They make huge profits. Thailand has many drug manufacturing factories and overall the quality is quite good compared to someplace like India. So it pays to shop around. There are wholesale pharmacies in Chiang Mai but if you don't know the owners or are not a Doctor, it is doubtful they will give you the time of day unless you make an order of say 8,000 THB or more.

There is no clear answer to OP's questions except to shop around at places usefully suggested. Wholesale purchases of drugs are quite different than routine retail sales. If a government hospital will sell you the medicine, then it will most certainly be cheaper, but would they be agreeable to wholesale sales ? They aren't private pharmacies. (Chiang Mai Ram --- a private hospital --- by the way, will not sell you medicine without consulting a physician first --- which is a sensible policy, really.) I should note that the CMU School of Pharmacy shop on Tanon Suthep is not necessarily cheaper than some private shops and does not necessarily have what you want.

By the way, whatever happened to Viagra freaks in Chiang Mai!

[zeekgarcia]

It all depends on what medicine you are taking.

For example: A friend told me about some medicines that they take and they went to several pharmacies because they needed to buy a several months supply of one of these medicines and they did not want to go back to the government hospital that prescribed this medicine to them because of the long wait times and they figured that the price for the medicines would probably not be that much different. So they went to check out many of the pharmacies listed on this forum. What they found out was surprising that many of the pharmacies listed on this forum were for the medicine that he needed a supply of was 75-150++% <this is not a typo) more expensive than the government hospital that prescribed him the medicine.

So when he needed medicines again he found out what times and days that are not busiest at the government hospital, which has saved him alot of money.

To say the medicines fluctuate between 75-150% in price is not true. That is an understatement. The drugs can fluctuate in price as much as 300-400%. Many pharmacists in Thailand (two of whom have already been mentioned in this thread) are very wealthy and when they buy, they buy in very large quantities - perhaps tens of thousands of each tablet. For example in Chiang Mai they may sell some of their stock to clinics or other pharmacies in nearby cities. They pay a few Satang for each tablet and sell it for 2-8 THB each or more retail and of course much less, wholesale. They make huge profits. Thailand has many drug manufacturing factories and overall the quality is quite good compared to someplace like India. So it pays to shop around. There are wholesale pharmacies in Chiang Mai but if you don't know the owners or are not a Doctor, it is doubtful they will give you the time of day unless you make an order of say 8,000 THB or more.

There is no clear answer to OP's questions except to shop around at places usefully suggested. Wholesale purchases of drugs are quite different than routine retail sales. If a government hospital will sell you the medicine, then it will most certainly be cheaper, but would they be agreeable to wholesale sales ? They aren't private pharmacies. (Chiang Mai Ram --- a private hospital --- by the way, will not sell you medicine without consulting a physician first --- which is a sensible policy, really.) I should note that the CMU School of Pharmacy shop on Tanon Suthep is not necessarily cheaper than some private shops and does not necessarily have what you want.

By the way, whatever happened to Viagra freaks in Chiang Mai!

From what my friend said once they went back to the government hospital I think the 3rd time (this was a new medicine that they never took before) the hospital started prescribing them 3 months of medicine at a time so once the hospital knows your history and everything is ok, ask them to start giving you prescriptions for several months or if you have taken a medicine for sometime tell the hospital this and ask them to give you several months worth of medicine at a time. My friend said the cost for the medicine was less than 150B a month where as when they visited some of the pharmacies that are listed multiple times on here, the cheapest one wanted a little over 3000B for a months worth of the same medicine. So a little patience and finding out what times and days are not the busiest at a government hospital could save you a good bit of money.

[SantiSuk]

What is "Walking Street" in Chiang Mai. Does not seem to be a name used on maps. Perhaps the street which is used for the Sunday Night Market?

 

Is the "two sisters" pharma still going and a recommended pharma on price in the area of the Old Town within the moat?

 

[Visiting Thai resident]

[elektrified]

47 minutes ago, SantiSuk said:

What is "Walking Street" in Chiang Mai. Does not seem to be a name used on maps. Perhaps the street which is used for the Sunday Night Market?

 

Is the "two sisters" pharma still going and a recommended pharma on price in the area of the Old Town within the moat?

 

[Visiting Thai resident]

It's Thannon Ratchadamnoen on the map. Pharmacy still there. Prices are high there, but fine for a small order if you are visiting.

[Dante99]

On 5/2/2014 at 8:51 AM, zeekgarcia said:

From what my friend said once they went back to the government hospital I think the 3rd time (this was a new medicine that they never took before) the hospital started prescribing them 3 months of medicine at a time so once the hospital knows your history and everything is ok, ask them to start giving you prescriptions for several months or if you have taken a medicine for sometime tell the hospital this and ask them to give you several months worth of medicine at a time. My friend said the cost for the medicine was less than 150B a month where as when they visited some of the pharmacies that are listed multiple times on here, the cheapest one wanted a little over 3000B for a months worth of the same medicine. So a little patience and finding out what times and days are not the busiest at a government hospital could save you a good bit of money.

The cheapest for what I use is Suan Dok Hospital, the government one on Suthep Road.  Doc there who I had been seeing at Ram gave me a 2 month perscription with documents for 5 refills of 2 months each so that covers a year, then another visit to the doctor is required.  Easy to go  in and buy the meds with a perscription, about 30 minutes if busy.