I have been taking Adderall (for my ADHD) for the past 3 years and I'm moving to Italy in a few months. I'll be a civilian living in Vicenza near the US Army base there. Will I be able to continue my medication there using an Italian physician? How do people who are on medications such as this, which are highly controlled in the U.S. obtain them in Italy if at all? Thanks!

Your best bet is to get a doctor in switzerland and get your prescrition filled there. Its nearly impossible to get a prescription for adderall and ritalin in Italy. The belief here is not favorable towards these kind of medications. I think the medical community here has bought into the hype that everyone is overmedicated with these types of drugs in the U.S. and they are wary to prescribe them here.

quote:

Originally posted by JFER1980:
I have been taking Adderall (for my ADHD) for the past 3 years and I'm moving to Italy in a few months. I'll be a civilian living in Vicenza near the US Army base there. Will I be able to continue my medication there using an Italian physician? How do people who are on medications such as this, which are highly controlled in the U.S. obtain them in Italy if at all? Thanks!

Will you be a civilian employee at Caserma Ederle? If so, the post clinic has a pharmacy with most of the same drugs available in the US. For the few things unavailable you can use www.express-scripts.com . The few ointments etc my wife has been prescribed by an Italian specialist we bought at the farmacia and were partially reimbursed.

we just went to get a prescription filled for stratera at the vatican. i am still in shock. what a great way to maintain the socio-economic disparity of haves and have-nots.
IT'S 250 EUROS PER MONTH!!!!@#$%

our daughter was taking ritalin at home, but forget that. who's going to let their kid take speed without the regular observations of a child neurologist (wot's that, they ask, in spite of the fact that the association was establishedhere). even if you can get it in switzerland (why go to switzerland for something like that?). So we finally found a really nice and i think professional chap here who gave us the low-down on the absolutely primitive situation here. and then a prescription to try something else, something new, something that may even be better for her.

BUT 250 EUROS!!!
what about local italians who can't afford that? or is it covered by their HMO?
what about expats for whome a g a month actually hurts.

I'm relatively new here, and i promise not to go foaming at the mouth or badmouthing the natives or any other of those regular expat-type disorders. but this seems to be just a wee bit ... well ... (dare i say it) wrong?