Listing Medications and Supplements in a Medical Quote Request

The Line on the Form Patients Skim Past

Most quote request forms have a box asking about current medications. Most patients either leave it blank, write "nothing major," or list the two prescriptions they remember. That is understandable. When you are asking how much a procedure costs, your daily pills do not feel relevant to the price.

They often are. Medications influence whether a procedure can be scheduled when you want it, what testing the clinic orders before surgery, how the anesthesia team plans, how long you may need to stay before flying home, and whether your home doctor needs to be involved before you leave. Each of those can show up in the quote. A medication the clinic only learns about on arrival can mean a postponed operation, extra nights of accommodation, or a changed plan.

This article explains how to write a medication list a surgical team abroad can actually use, and which categories deserve a specific mention.

What a Usable Medication List Looks Like

The goal is a list that a nurse or anesthesiologist in another country can read in one minute and understand without calling you. That means every line answers the same questions.

The easiest way to build this is with your actual bottles and boxes in front of you, not from memory. Many pharmacies can also print a medication history, which is useful as a cross-check.

Do not forget the "not really medicine" items

Patients routinely leave off things they buy without a prescription. Include:

• Over-the-counter pain relievers you take regularly
• Vitamins, including high-dose single vitamins
• Herbal products, teas taken for health reasons, and supplements
• Sleep aids
• Inhalers, eye drops, creams and patches
• Hormonal contraception or hormone therapy
• Anything you take "only sometimes," with roughly how often

Categories Worth Flagging at the Top

Some medication types tend to prompt specific planning before surgery. If you take anything in these groups, put it at the top of the list and say so plainly in your request rather than leaving it buried in an attachment. This is not an exhaustive list, and only your clinicians can tell you what applies to you.

GLP-1 drugs for diabetes or weight loss

Injectable and oral GLP-1 receptor agonists have become very common, and anesthesia teams pay attention to them because they slow stomach emptying. In multi-society guidance announced by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (2024), the societies said most patients at low risk can continue these drugs before elective surgery, but identified higher-risk groups, including people in the dose-escalation phase, people with gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or vomiting, and people on higher doses. For those patients the guidance describes options such as a liquid diet for a day before surgery or deferring elective surgery until the escalation phase passes.

What this means for your quote request: write the drug name, your current dose, when you started, whether your dose is still being increased, and whether you have stomach-related side effects. That gives the clinic what it needs to tell you whether your preferred date works.

Blood thinners and anti-platelet drugs

Anticoagulants and anti-platelet medicines are prescribed for serious reasons, such as heart rhythm problems, stents or prior clots. Stopping or adjusting them before surgery is a medical decision that usually involves the prescribing doctor. Flagging them early gives time for that conversation to happen before you book flights. Include the reason you take it, because that affects how the team weighs bleeding risk against clotting risk.

Diabetes medications, including insulin

Surgery and fasting affect blood sugar. List each diabetes medication, your typical readings if you track them, and your most recent HbA1c result if you have one. The clinic may ask for updated labs.

Steroids and immune-suppressing drugs

Long-term steroid use, biologic drugs for autoimmune conditions, and transplant medications can affect healing and infection risk. These are important for the surgeon as well as the anesthesia team.

Herbal and dietary supplements

The American Society of Anesthesiologists' patient guide on supplements and anesthesia (2020) notes that an anesthesiologist may recommend stopping some supplements at least two weeks before surgery, and gives examples such as garlic, ginkgo, ginseng and vitamin E being linked with bleeding risk, and kava, St. John's wort and valerian with effects on anesthesia. It also recommends bringing the actual bottles to the pre-surgery visit. For a quote request, a photo of each label works well.

Write It Once, Use It Everywhere

Your medication list will be requested repeatedly: in the quote request, on the clinic's health questionnaire, at the pre-anesthesia assessment, at admission, and again by your doctor at home afterward. Make one clean document and reuse it.

The allergy line deserves the same care as the medication list. "Penicillin" is less useful than "penicillin, hives in 2015." Reactions to anesthesia in you or close family members belong here too.

Translation is optional, clarity is not

Many Colombian clinics that treat international patients work comfortably in English, and generic drug names are recognized internationally. You do not need to translate your list. What helps is avoiding abbreviations that are common in one country but not another. Write "twice daily" instead of shorthand, and spell out units.

How Your List Can Change the Quote

Patients sometimes worry that disclosing medications will lead to a higher price or a refusal. It helps to think about what the clinic does with the information.

• Timing. If a medication requires a planned pause or adjustment, the clinic may suggest a later date or a longer gap between arrival and surgery.
• Testing. Certain medications prompt specific pre-op labs or a cardiology review. If those are not included in the base quote, you want to know.
• Stay length. Some situations call for closer monitoring after surgery, which can affect the number of nights in a facility or the earliest date you can fly.
• Coordination. The clinic may ask for a letter or clearance from the doctor who prescribes a medication.

Each of these is easier and cheaper to handle when it is known up front. A quote built without your medication list is a quote built on incomplete information, and it may not survive your pre-op assessment.

What Not to Do

• Do not stop or change prescribed medications on your own because you read about a guideline or because a booking date is approaching. Changes should come from your clinicians.
• Do not leave items off because they feel embarrassing. Clinicians see every kind of medication list. Recreational substances, alcohol intake and tobacco or nicotine use can matter for anesthesia and healing, and the team needs to know.
• Do not rely on the clinic to work it out at admission. By then your flights and time off are already committed.

Bringing Medications on the Trip

The CDC Yellow Book chapter on medical tourism (2026 edition) advises travelers to bring enough of their regular medications for the entire trip and to share their full medical history with both their home and overseas clinicians. Pack your medications in original labeled packaging in your carry-on, bring a printed copy of your list, and add a few days of extra supply in case your stay is extended.

When you return, give your home doctor the updated list, including anything new that was prescribed abroad, with generic names and doses.

This guide is for preparing a quote request, not for deciding how to manage your medications. Confirm every medication decision with your prescribing doctor and the surgical and anesthesia team treating you.