What to bring to a wellness retreat: medications, supplements and herbs

Picture the night before you travel. The suitcase is almost ready, your ID is within reach, and on the kitchen counter there is a bag of bottles: the blood pressure pill, the thyroid pill, the morning vitamins, the tea a friend recommended, the fish oil, the usual ointment. No one has ever asked you to put them all on one sheet of paper.

That sheet is the most useful thing you can bring to a wellness retreat. Not because something is going to go wrong, but because almost everything that matters for your safety is in that bag: what you take, at what time, at what dose and since when.

Staying as you are has a quiet cost. Arriving without the list means the person caring for you works from whatever you remember in the moment, and memory fails exactly on long medicine names and on "natural" products that people do not even think of as medicines. This guide tells you what to include, what the list is for and what to do with it.

The medical care at the retreat is provided by Dr. Diana Nieves Castro, MD, a general practitioner licensed in Puerto Rico. Her assessment starts from your history, and your list of medicines and supplements is a central part of that history.

With the list, the conversation can be concrete: what you take, what for, whether anything overlaps with something else, and what is worth keeping in mind during the week, for example around meals, heat, physical activity or travel. The retreat assessment is wellness: assessment, education and habits. It is not treatment, and it does not replace your primary care doctor or specialists.

If lab work is needed, the physician decides when it is clinically appropriate. For how that part works, read the physician visit and lab work at the retreat.

This is the most important rule in the guide. Do not stop, reduce, delay or replace any prescribed medicine, vaccine or screening on your own, either before the trip or during the retreat. That holds even if you feel well, even if you read that a "natural" product is an option, and even if you think the retreat will make a medicine unnecessary.

Some medicines can become dangerous if they are interrupted suddenly: blood pressure, heart and diabetes medicines, blood thinners, antidepressants and thyroid medicines, among others. Any change is decided by you together with the doctor who prescribes it, not by a retreat, a coach or a store.

What we ask is the opposite: bring your list as it is today, with what you actually take. That is what lets the team plan with you safely.

Many people drawn to a holistic approach already use supplements or herbs. That is your decision, and we want to know about it. These are the general ideas that matter for travel and for your safety:

The physician reviews everything you take and talks it through with you. The retreat also offers an assessment with a licensed physician, mobility coaching, meditation and breathwork, nutrition sessions, meals, lodging and island activities.

If anyone promises that a product or a protocol will fix something, ask what it is based on and what your own doctor says.

After you reserve your place, we tell you how to send us your list and your documents. In the meantime, prepare like this:

• Your complete list, written and dated.
• Your medicines in their original containers, enough for the whole stay plus a little extra in case the trip home is delayed.
• A copy of your prescriptions or the name of your pharmacy.
• Your allergy and past reaction information.
• If you use devices (glucose meter, inhaler, blood pressure monitor), bring them with spares.
• A note about any medicine that needs a fixed schedule, refrigeration or special care in the heat.

If a medicine changes, a new symptom appears or you start a product between reserving and traveling, tell us and update the list. Heat and exertion can matter more with blood pressure medicines, diuretics and diabetes medicines, so ask your own prescriber how to use them in a warm climate.

Before you travel, tell the team about conditions or medicines that changed recently, important allergies and dietary needs. To plan the whole bag, see the retreat packing list.

Activities on the island are possibilities, not promises: Examples of what the area offers and what the days may include: snorkeling, a walk in El Yunque rainforest, time at Luquillo beach, a gentle stretching session, and relaxed evenings outdoors. The activities for your cohort are confirmed with accepted guests.. Which ones happen depends on each cohort's itinerary, the weather and how the group is doing. No activity is mandatory.

That is why your list matters here too: if you take a medicine that makes you more sensitive to the sun, that needs you to eat at certain times or that makes you dizzy, tell us so the week can be planned with you. If you have a condition that changed recently, read what to do if you have a chronic condition.

"I prefer a natural approach. Will I be judged?" No. We want to know what you use and why. The physician is a licensed doctor, and the approach is integrative within medical care: assessment first, then sleep, food, movement and stress, and a review of everything you take.

"Is this a spiritual or alternative retreat?" No. It is a wellness retreat with a physician assessment, held in English, with meditation, breathwork and movement as part of the week. For the overall approach, read what a holistic wellness retreat is.

This guide is general information. It is not a diagnosis and does not replace a doctor. See your doctor before the trip, and do not wait until you arrive at the retreat, if:

The retreat runs 5 days starting November 15, 2026, with 10 places, held at a hacienda in Río Grande, Puerto Rico, in English. Applications close November 5, 2026. To see how to reserve your place, read how to apply for a place at the retreat.

For what the week looks like, see what to expect at the retreat. For everything about the first cohort, go back to the wellness retreat in Puerto Rico.