I
recently went to see my Doctor and the practice Nurse (Linda) to talk about which
vaccinations I need for my trip. They advised me that I need to have vaccinations
for Typhoid, Hepatitis B, Japanese Encephalitis (for
my elephant safari) and Rabies just in case I have a run in with any stray dogs
or monkeys. See the great websites www.nathnac.org & www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk for more information travel
vaccinations.
These vaccinations are on top of the “normal” ones for Tetanus, Diphtheria, Polio, Tuberculosis and
Hepatitis A. The good news and lucky for me, as I’m a bit of a light-weight when
it comes to injections, needles and blood, is that I already am covered for
these otherwise I would have needed more injections. In
total I need 9 injections over the next 6 months. My arms are going to feel like a
pincushions!
The
second reason for seeing my Doctor was to obtain the prescription only
medicines Acetazolamide (aka Diamox) used to alleviate altitude sickness symptoms,
antibiotics (Ciprofloxacin) to treat traveller’s diarrhoea and anti-malarial
tablets for my elephant safari in the Terai region of Nepal.
After
reading other people’s accounts on some internet forums about unsuccessfully trying
to obtain Diamox and precautionary antibiotics from their Doctors, I thought
this was going to be difficult conversation. My Doctor was a bit of a star
though and after having a good chat (he was genuinely interested in my trip and
I even spoke to another Doctor who works for a charity in Nepal, explaining
what I was going to do), I was handed the prescriptions. Result!
This
week I’ve had the first round of injections. Two down, seven to go!
Sonny
