Are my prescription medications available in Costa Rica?

Many medications can be purchases here with no prescription. The best way is the march in the farmacia, and ask for a refill. If they can't they won't. But I would not even suggest to them or put in the sentence the possibility of needing one, to give them ideas. You may be surprised," advised one expat in a discussion about prescriptions on the Costa Rica forum.

Another expat added, "In general, you can get many medications in CR without a prescription, but most medications will be generic rather than brand name. I don't think that they are any better, but they should meet your needs. I take blood pressure and thyroid medications. I cannot get one of the thyroid medications that I prefer, only the generic version of the most common medication. Pills generally come in "blister packs" with each pill sealed . That is fine for infrequently used medications and is good for protection against humidity, but it can be costly for regularly used medications. For example, my wife takes ibuprofen regularly for back pain - a bottle of 100 pills from the USA is much lower cost than blister packs of individual pills in CR! I now have caja and can get most regular prescriptions at no additional cost."