Walk into any Walmart, Target, Kroger, or Publix in the U.S., and you can buy a pantry’s worth of over-the-counter medications. There are aisles and aisles of pain relievers, cough syrup, allergy medications, eye drops, and more. It’s a self-medicating paradise for those who dislike going to the doctor (or who can’t afford to go).
Before leaving the U.S., we stocked up on pharmaceuticals like NyQuil, Tylenol, and Pepto-Bismol. We’d heard some things we use regularly can be hard to find, and if one of us got sick soon after arrival, we wanted to be prepared without the additional stress of locating the medications we might need in a new country. But we weren’t too worried. After all, we could go to the grocery store and pick up what we needed when the time came, right?
Wrong!
If you’re new here or trying to understand how everyday life actually works once you move to Spain, I’ve laid out the bigger picture here.
In Spain, over-the-counter medications work very differently.
Most common cold, pain, and flu medications are sold through pharmacies (farmacias), not grocery stores.
We made several trips to our local Mercadona before it dawned on us that we had never seen acetaminophen or ibuprofen there. We hadn’t spotted a single cough syrup or allergy medication, either. Where were all the usual medicines?
This was one of our first reminders that daily logistics here don’t work the way we expected. I talk more about those early adjustments here.
Following one of these supermercado visits, which left me a little befuddled, I used my ChatGPT app to ask, “Where can I buy OTC medications in Spain?”
I quickly learned that all medications–OTC and prescription–are more regulated in Spain and the European Union. In other words, you can only buy medications like Frenadol (a popular OTC cold and flu med) in a farmacia.
You explain your symptoms or needs to the pharmacist, and they can help direct you to the best medication for that ailment. It’s a bit old-fashioned, but it makes a lot of sense if you think about it.
The pharmacist can help you avoid mixing meds that shouldn’t be taken together and direct you to the one that works best for your symptoms rather than just guessing.
This system prioritizes pharmacist guidance over self-medication, which is fundamentally different from what many Americans are used to.
Our family spent nearly all of January 2025 recovering from a couple of different illnesses. Within a couple of weeks, we were out of liquid NyQuil and DayQuil and had started on the tablets.
Knowing those would go quickly, too, I began researching what sorts of medications have similar symptom relief. We are lucky enough to have a farmacia just around the corner from our apartment entrance, so we could go there, but I wondered … can you buy OTC meds online?
Yes, you can!
I did a little cheer when I found okfarma.es. Associated with a pharmacy in Ciudad Real near Madrid, they operate 24/7 and offer online purchases with delivery within 24-48 hours. Perfecto! We could have what we needed within a couple of days without having to venture out of the house and spread whatever nasty bug we were fighting.
The longer we’re here, the more I’m discovering there is almost nothing we have to do without. (For the record, Frenadol is terrific for treating cold and flu symptoms.) The items may look or be branded differently, but whatever we need is typically available somewhere–often without leaving the house.
I thought I would have to learn to do without in many ways, which I didn’t like, but I was willing to make the trade-off, and I still am if the situation calls for it. However, I am also learning that adapting and integrating into this new culture requires a willingness to pivot repeatedly; life becomes much less stressful if you can do that.
This experience ended up shaping how I approach a lot of the bigger systems here, especially the ones that initially feel intimidating. I wrote more about that here.
I write here about building a life abroad—slowly, imperfectly, and with a lot of trial and error.
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If you’d like to reach out directly, you can find me at jen@jeninspain.com.
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When you are very ill you visit a doktor. He will give medicine.
In Netherlands we also can by paracetamol, ibuprofen etc at Kruidvat. So i miss something like that.
The Spanish like to talk about everything and that includes their choice of medicine - problem is, when your Spanish isn't great, it can be hard work. We lived near Valencia and the local pharmacist preferred to speak Valencian, which made it hard work, haha.