What to do if you get sick overseas

I get sick a lot, so before I traveled to Mokpo, a small city at the southwestern tip of South Korea, to work as an English teacher, I prepared for it.

I’d had vaccinations against rabies, tetanus, and Japanese Encephalitis. I brought plastic bags full of medicine, which included two bottles of Advil, three bottles of Allegra, four 100-pill bottles of vitamins, some Dayquil and Nyquil, Pepto Bismol, and a little bit of Cipro.

But one morning, I woke up with a sore throat and a hacking cough. Later that night, my symptoms still hadn’t improved, so I told my host parents that I needed to see a doctor.

But my host father had a better idea: He pointed to a bottle of Chamisul soju, a distilled hard liquor, and a small bowl of gochu, or spicy red peppers, that sat between us.

“Do it,” he said.

Behind the table, my host mother was waving her hands, signaling not to do it. But I had an urge to impress my host father by showing him that I wasn’t afraid of a little spice and pain. So I chomped a pepper and downed a shot of Chamisul.

“Well?” he asked.

I nodded as hellfire seared the delicate lining of my inflamed throat. I smiled and said thank you. He nodded.

Unfortunately, this home health remedy did not help my sickness, so the next day, my host mother and I visited a local doctor, who only spoke a little bit of English. We struggled together to relay my symptoms. In the end, I received a ream of packets filled with five pills each to take three times a day. They seemed like a mix of antibiotics, cold relievers, and perhaps some supplements.

I also left with no idea of what illness I had caught. That night after dinner, I took my first dose of the pills and promptly vomited. I rummaged through the meds I brought from home, but I hadn’t prepared for this mystery illness.

Frustrated, I decided that I just wouldn’t take anything—maybe whatever I had would go away by itself. Flash forward to one month later: I was sitting in a bed in a tiny windowless room in Seoul, where I was staying for winter vacation.

My chest burned each time I coughed, and any pressure on my ribs was unbearable, so I couldn’t lie down to sleep. As I nibbled on a digestive cookie in a sleepless delirium, I contemplated whether I was indeed sitting in a tiny dark room, or rather, some kind of luxurious coffin. It was time to go to the hospital.

The happy end to my story is that I went to the English-speaking clinic at Yonsei Hospital, and was diagnosed with a case of nasty bronchitis that had segued into pneumonia. I received antibiotics and codeine for the rib-splitting pain. In about two weeks, I recovered—and spent a lot of time considering the mistakes I had made in treating my sickness.

If you’re traveling abroad, there are some things you can do beforehand to prevent getting taken by surprise by sickness.

First, get vaccinated: Check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website to see which shots you should get before your visit, depending on where you’re headed. It’s not just those that are destination-specific that you should consider, like yellow fever or Japanese encephalitis, but routine vaccinations as well, such as tetanus or MMR.

And brush up on local health issues, too. The CDC’s site can help you figure out what illnesses are rampant in a particular country, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s site lists a few common health issues you might want to prepare for, plus more tips for staying disease-free.

Secondly, stock up on the medicines you take regularly, infrequently, and even only sometimes.

For example, if you occasionally take Zantac for acid reflux flare-ups, bring some just in case—you may not be able to find a foreign equivalent.

“Medications overseas may not be the real thing,” says Karla Alwood, CRNP, travel health specialist at the Johns Hopkins Travel Health Program. They could be a knockoff brand or simply contain something that your body is not used to.

The way I see it, if you think you might need a certain medication, just bring it anyway. It’s better to have an extra bottle of pills in your bag than ruin your trip with a case of explosive diarrhea.

Ultimately, of course, it’s best to ask your doctor or a travel clinic for advice to make sure that you are fully prepared.

Before you go abroad, you should also consider enrolling in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), which registers your trip with the US embassy or consulate within your destination country.

Once enrolled, the embassy or consulate will send you safety information and can better help you in an emergency.

You can also check out the State Department’s website for information on travel medical insurance and emergency medical evacuation services.

If you are abroad and you haven’t enrolled in STEP, you can often find help on the embassy or consulate’s website. On www.usembassy.gov, you can find contact information so that you can call for help.

You can also browse the website for English-speaking physicians in the area, under a “U.S. Citizens Services” tab.

Just as you keep your hotel address in your pocket in case you get lost, keep the embassy or consulate phone number with you at all times.

“The embassy [should also] have a reliable supply of medications,” Alwood explains. “Certainly, people can’t travel with every conceivable drug that they might need.”

If you end up visiting a doctor, be extra mindful. Don’t point to a vague area on your abdomen and say that it hurts. Find the exact position, describe the pain as best you can—is it a sharp pain, a dull throb?

Make a list of what you need to convey before you go, and if possible, get a friend or Google to help you translate key words to tell or show the doctor. And be proactive—if you feel sick, go now rather than later. It is much better to waste a few hours at a doctor’s office than to rush to the emergency room in a foreign country.

South Korea has great healthcare, and my health mistakes occurred because of my own failure to take control. I let language and laziness get in the way of treatment. In less developed countries, travelers are likely to face even more obstacles, but no matter where you are, you can always tackle the language barrier to help yourself get better.