A good physician is good to have....

[10-K]

Well crap.. went to see my GP this morning for some prescriptions for my upcoming PCT hike and he told me he was retiring.

I lucked up when we moved to Erwin and got a doctor who understood "hiking medicine" and didn't have a problem with prescribing medications for "just in case" situations - something a lot of doctors won't do particularly with antibiotics and painkillers. My former GP in Wilmington didn't like to do it.... I'm not talking about buckets of pills - just enough to keep you out of pain and fight infection/water borne stuff for a few days until you can get to a real doctor.

Anyway... hate to lose him.

[ALLEGHENY]

Can the GP refer you to someone? Good luck on the PCT.

[Dogwood]

Expect more of these types of scenarios in the very near future.

[colorado_rob]

Lots of doc's have no problem prescribing hiking meds; all of my past docs, no problem. My wife's current doc, no problem. I make sure I have Ciproflaxin for all long-distance hiking and Diamox and Dexamethasone when I climb very high (well above Colorado altitudes).

A couple folks on here called my doctors irresponsible and that they should lose their license or some such nonsense; quite amusing, really.

Anyway, it pays to have mutual respect with your doctor and have him trust your judgment to self medicate if absolutely necessary (emergency situations). Like you say, not a ton of pills, some just-in-case stuff.

[rafe]

What you really mean, good drugs are good to have... :)

[Spirit Walker]

When we went to CO the first time, Jim's MD refused to give him Diamox. He ended up with altitude sickness.

[Tipi Walter]

Doctor? What doctor? Don't even have health insurance. Yet.

[10-K]

Lots of doc's have no problem prescribing hiking meds; all of my past docs, no problem. My wife's current doc, no problem. I make sure I have Ciproflaxin for all long-distance hiking and Diamox and Dexamethasone when I climb very high (well above Colorado altitudes).

A couple folks on here called my doctors irresponsible and that they should lose their license or some such nonsense; quite amusing, really.

Anyway, it pays to have mutual respect with your doctor and have him trust your judgment to self medicate if absolutely necessary (emergency situations). Like you say, not a ton of pills, some just-in-case stuff.

I've been fortunate to have only had 3 GP's in my adult life. I didn't hike with the first one so it was a non-issue. The 2nd doc I had was during 25 years we lived on the beach, in a college town, and he didn't prescribe medication unless and until it was necessary. I did appreciate that - I think a lot of docs overprescribe. The downside was that he really didn't like to give me 'just in case' meds either. He'd do it, but it was a challenge.

The doc I selected here in Erwin has treated thru hikers, knows about hiking, etc. and he's totally on board with limited amounts of a few hiker-meds. Hate to hear he''ll retire in the next few months.

[DocMahns]

if you go to alldaychemist.com you can order a lot of different medications cheaply without a prescription. I've used them for antibiotics and inhalers for allergy induced asthma because inhalers can be ridiculously expensive and antibiotics are good to have on hand for prophylaxis treatment.