Epilepsy Medication...

asbokid

peediedj wrote: »

my sons the same keeping him in food is impossible i have never seen a 14 yo kid eat so much

Do'nt mean to be funny but have you ruled out tapeworms?

My wife being a larger lady does love her food, but we really thought she was expecting again. Luckily it was just the worms. She probably caught them off the cats. We found evidence of them in the bed - like little grains of rice they are.

asbokid

If you want to have the low down on all the drugs available to treat a particular disorder, then the British National Formulary (BNF) is the druggist's bible. Every Dr Quackoff has a copy on his desk.

You have to register before you can read it, but that's free. http://www.bnf.org

The BNF also lists the prices that the NHS pays the pharmaceutical companies for their drugs. Knowing the price of a drug can sometimes be quite insightful. It can help to explain why your GP chose one drug over another...

For the treatment of epilepsy, the BNF lists the following medications..

Carbamazepine and related antiepileptics
Ethosuximide
Gabapentin and pregabalin
Lacosamide
Lamotrigine
Levetiracetam
Phenobarbital and other barbiturates
Phenytoin
Rufinamide
Tiagabine
Topiramate
Valproate
Vigabatrin
Zonisamide
Benzodiazepines
Others

Humphrey10

asbokid wrote: »

Knowing the price of a drug can sometimes be quite insightful. It can help to explain why your GP chose one drug over another...

Well the three long term medications I'm on are both more expensive than the alternatives, and I will be taking these for the rest of my life so the price difference will be quite significant in the end, so I don't think cost is the most important factor...

clivejohnson

Humphrey10 wrote: »

Well the three long term medications I'm on are both more expensive than the alternatives, and I will be taking these for the rest of my life so the price difference will be quite significant in the end, so I don't think cost is the most important factor...

eeerrrrmmm..price diffference??? You do realise, that, because you are eplileptic, that you are totally exempt form paying prescription charges? If you don't have one, see your GP about applying for a medical exemption certificate.

Torry_Quine

clivejohnson wrote: »

eeerrrrmmm..price diffference??? You do realise, that, because you are eplileptic, that you are totally exempt form paying prescription charges? If you don't have one, see your GP about applying for a medical exemption certificate.

I think that they meant the cost to the NHS rather than any personal cost.

clivejohnson

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I think that they meant the cost to the NHS rather than any personal cost.

I hope so, otherwise god knows how much unnecasarry cash they have forked out!:-)

Humphrey10

Yes, I mean the cost to the NHS.

Cartridges for use in insulin pens (or disposable pens) of insulin analogues are much more expensive per unit than animal insulins in vials for use with syringes, but you would have to try very hard to get a GP to prescribe animal insulin or insulin in vials, they'd assume you were a nutter probably.

The extra cost of analogue insulin cartridges vs the cheapest option over the lifetime of someone diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child will be massive.

But insulin pens are better than syringes for multiple reasons, and analogue insulins are better than previous attempts at insulins for various reasons, so the NHS is in this case prescribing what is best for patients, rather than what is cheapest.

Edit: the neurologist has chosen to prescribe me Keppra rather than the generic alternative, so again the NHS is choosing to pay for a more expensive medication, though I'm not sure why, I hope they have a good reason like they do with the insulin.

asbokid

Humphrey10 wrote: »

Well the three long term medications I'm on are both more expensive than the alternatives

It's an open secret that doctors are encouraged to prescribe cheaper drugs to save the NHS drug bill. Cheaper drugs tend to be older and have more severe side effect profiles than newer, more costly alternatives.

It is sensible to be informed about all aspects of medications used for treating a condition, and that includes the range of drugs available, and their cost.

The only place where drug cost information is publicly available is in the British National Formulary (BNF). The BNF also contains a large amount of background information for the prescriber, general caveats about a drug's safety and the adverse reactions to expect.

The BNF is subscription-based but subscription costs nothing.. http://www.bnf.org

Here are example entries from the BNF. The pricing for two common medications used in the control of the epilepsies are shown..

Sodium Valproate (Non-proprietary)

Tablets (crushable), scored, sodium valproate 100 mg, net price 100-tab pack = £5.60.

Lamotrigine (Non-proprietary)

Tablets, lamotrigine 25 mg, net price 56-tab pack = £2.25; 50 mg, 56-tab pack = £3.07; 100 mg, 56-tab pack = £4.53; 200 mg, 30-tab pack = £27.53, 56-tab pack = £7.51.

Humphrey10

It seems I changed my mind halfway through the post as to whether the insulins counted as one or two...

Compare the prices of insulin on the BNF, it really isn't an insignificant price difference. Price is not the only criteria they use when deciding what to prescribe.

You can always ask the GP/consultant why they have chosen what to prescribe, and ask what the price of it is compared to other available treatments, in my experience they are happy to explain.

Thea

asbokid wrote: »

It's an open secret that doctors are encouraged to prescribe cheaper drugs to save the NHS drug bill. Cheaper drugs tend to be older and have more severe side effect profiles than newer, more costly alternatives.

It is sensible to be informed about all aspects of medications used for treating a condition, and that includes the range of drugs available, and their cost.

The only place where drug cost information is publicly available is in the British National Formulary (BNF). The BNF also contains a large amount of background information for the prescriber, general caveats about a drug's safety and the adverse reactions to expect.

The BNF is subscription-based but subscription costs nothing.. http://www.bnf.org

Here are example entries from the BNF. The pricing for two common medications used in the control of the epilepsies are shown..

Sodium Valproate (Non-proprietary)

Tablets (crushable), scored, sodium valproate 100 mg, net price 100-tab pack = £5.60.

Lamotrigine (Non-proprietary)

Tablets, lamotrigine 25 mg, net price 56-tab pack = £2.25; 50 mg, 56-tab pack = £3.07; 100 mg, 56-tab pack = £4.53; 200 mg, 30-tab pack = £27.53, 56-tab pack = £7.51.

Firstly yes doctors are encouraged to use cheaper drugs. It basically means that medicines are available to us. Why should someone be prescribed a box of 28 tablets for £30 when a 'cheaper' alternative is available which does exactly the same thing in exactly the same way and cost £3.00. Think what the £27 difference can be put towards......

Id also like to point out that yes some of the older drugs do have their problems. But on a whole look at it like this. Do you want a newer drug thats new to the population and which healthcare professionals dont know much about or something thats been around for donkeys years where its know exactly how its likely to react in the body, the side effects and the overall risk? New is not always better.

Please dont quote bnf prices, its quite annoying. These prices can be way off the mark and completely out of date. As with anything the market dictates the price of drugs, and how difficult it is to make and how difficult it is to source the ingredients.

No medication especially for epilepsy is prescribed like this. It depends on the patient, the type of seizures, the risk, the side effects etc etc Everyone is individual and what works for one may not work for another. Likewise someone can be on a tablet for years and then it no longer works for them. The BNF is just a bible. It does not reflect all the information for each drug, its like a quick reference guide to be used alongside clinical opinions, guidelines etc