Diabetes and Coeliac in Oz

shiv_star1

Hi,

Im planning to travel to australia in a couple of months but have both diabetes and coeliac disease. While neither of these are going to stop me travelling I am a little bit worried about how easy it is to get gluten free food and if I will be able to get my diabetes medication over there. Would i have to pay for all the medication too as I get it free here??

If anyone has any information or has experienced either of these and could give me some info on what the story is Id be really grateful!!!

Thanks

Notch000

im interested in an answer to this too

robinph

...and I am also interested in this too regarding diabetes meds in New Zealand as I may be heading there for four months'ish in July.

dazf

Not too sure if this helps but I was in New Zealand in 2003 and i found the gluten free products great, pancakes different selections of breads even down south in the countryside i was lucky enough to find a supermarket that sold gf cakes they wer pretty cheap too and tasted sweet. I would imagine oz would be similar you might want to try their coeliacs website that might help you more

missannik

shiv_star1 wrote: »

Hi,

Im planning to travel to australia in a couple of months but have both diabetes and coeliac disease. While neither of these are going to stop me travelling I am a little bit worried about how easy it is to get gluten free food and if I will be able to get my diabetes medication over there. Would i have to pay for all the medication too as I get it free here??

If anyone has any information or has experienced either of these and could give me some info on what the story is Id be really grateful!!!

Thanks

Coeliac's isn't a problem- a friend of mine has it, and had so much trouble when traveling in Ireland, in Australia she has no worries. Many restaurants cater for such, be sure to ask beforehand. Supermarkets have special sections dedicated for wheat free products, etc.

What diabetes medication are you taking? Many oral and various types of insulin are readily available at chemists (pharmacy.) Not too sure whether you would get them free here, as far as I am aware diabetics have to pay for their medications, but it may be PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) subsidised if you are registered with Medicare. How long are you traveling for? Might just be easier to bring a supply with you, and a letter from your doctor for customs.

The Sweeper

Not being deliberatly unhelpful, but try googling coeliac and diabetes on google.com.au. The australian love-affair with the internet is only just beginning, so it can be difficult to get business information online for instance, but the healthcare industry is right up there. I tried a quick google and there are support and information groups both for the whole country and within each state.

robinph

Not something that I would have expected to find on the diabetes.org.nz page, but they have a full page of details specifically for us foreigners.
http://www.diabetes.org.nz/about_diabetes/information_for_visitors_and_immigrants_to_new_zealand

Basic prescriptions look to be either $3/ $6 or $15 per item but full price if non-resident. If it's an "emergency" though, running out of insulin would probably fit on that list (?), then you can get the prescription for free but only if your from some other country that they have an agreement with. They only list Oz and UK though and then an ambiguous "etc" so I don't know if Ireland would be on the full list.

They have another site which decides what gets licensed, at least I think thats what they might do, but you can search their site to check if your meds are even likely to be available there:
http://www.pharmac.govt.nz/

One Cold Hand

I checked this out for a friend of mine recently. He's an insulin depentant diabetic.

There's no 'long term illness' plan in Australia, like there is in Ireland. This means you would have to pay for any Insulin, needles etc that you buy over here. Ireland does have a reciprocal health care system with Australia, so you can get a Medicare carrd when you come over. This means that any visit to the doctor will be free, and if you do have to buy and medication it will be at a reduced rate. You won't be able to buy medication with an Irish prescription, so a visit to the doctor will be necessary.

In summary, your best bet is to bring as much stuff as you can from Ireland, as it's free. (Not sure if you can bring needles on the plane or not, you might need to check that, but you can definately bring Insulin. Just remeber to put it in a cool pack before the flight!) Then if you run out over here you can stock up if you have to.

Don't know anything about Coeliac.

Larianne

There was a good range of Gluten-free products in the bigger supermarkets when I was there (last year). My mother uses gluten-free products so I checked out the shops before she came over to visit.