Supply of meds problem

Ames

Repeats at my surgery have to be done in writing, you can't phone or email. Luckily they give me four post dated ones at a time.

Dan, I'll let you know if I hear anything back about the escitalopram.

I really loved amitryptylene, it worked so well and helped with my sleep and pain problems. I'm not allowed it though because apparantly it's really bad/dangerous to overdose on.

DanE2010

Ames wrote: »

Repeats at my surgery have to be done in writing, you can't phone or email. Luckily they give me four post dated ones at a time.

Dan, I'll let you know if I hear anything back about the escitalopram.

I really loved amitryptylene, it worked so well and helped with my sleep and pain problems. I'm not allowed it though because apparantly it's really bad/dangerous to overdose on.

cheers

yeh ive been on the amitriplyne for a few weeks now and has helped with pain problems but the sleep still abit hit and miss but gonna give it a try for abit longer before I go back to the doc cause I am getting some sleep at least lol

but yeh its an old style anti D so pretty dangerous in regards to O'Ding.

Ames

I've just heard back from them that there's no problem with supply and pharmacies should be getting them within 24 hours of ordering.

sheeps68

Have had similar issues over the years and as such always make sure I order with time for disasters built in. Never get less than 2 weeks in hand but this clearly isnt an option for you. Do you have a hospital contact that could help you out eg specialist nurse as hospital pharmacies tend to do better.

Brassedoff

cit_k wrote: »

Any reason for weekly prescriptions? Can the docs not just give you a 2 monthly prescription? Mine does, keeps things much simpler.

Local chemists are better than big chains, last time I went in boots, I had to wait ages for a prescription, the local ones are always fast.

I ask mine the same, but the drugs are expensive and the max they give is 10 days. Add the hopeless reception and re-ordering and it becomes a nightmare.

I suppose it is down to the cost of the meds and the policy of the docs and how they dish it out in policy. Why not have a word with them or swap.

kazzah60

I have had several problems accessing my own anti- depressant ( sertraline)
I was told the manufacturers would prefer to sell them abroad because they received more money for them than they do from the UK ( not sure if this is true- just what I was told)

in the end the sertraline was so hard to come by- the PCT issued a notice to pharmacists that they could distribute the branded version (Lustral) rather than the unbranded generic name of sertraline.

this happened for about 7 months but now my refill has gone back to plain sertraline - which is only about £2.38 per pack of 28 as opposed to £15 for the branded Lustral

GlasweJen

You can sometimes get your doctor to write out a 2 month prescription to be "dispensed weekly".

What happens there is the pharmacist makes up 1 week boxes and you collect them on a set day every week. When you're onto your 2nd last box you'll be reminded to put in your repeat and that gives the pharmacist time to get your drugs and make up your weekly boxes before your old prescription runs out.

ramsas

The matter needs resolving because otherwise you are not going to be getting the benefits of taking the drug if there are periods where you are not taking them,they need to be taken on a regular basis with no intervals in between.
"It may take two to four weeks before you start to feel better AND do not stop taking ESCITALOPRAM without speaking with your doctor first .STOPPING SUDDENLY CAN CAUSE YOU PROBLEMS!!" best bet to do has Glaswegen mentions and get your script for a longer period to be dispensed by your pharmacy on weekly basis...important you take on a regular basis and with winter approaching always a chance of supplies being interrupted so makes sense to get your meds sorted out..same goes for anyone on regular important medicines over the winter period.. ensure you have a supply sorted in case of problems through bad weather.Be prepared.

Ames

Thanks. That's what the arrangement with Boots was, they'd sort out the prescriptions and have it all dispensed in a dosset box for me to pick up every week. Except that most of the time they didn't.

As I've said, of the three other pharmacists I could use, one has problems with escitalopram (I've tried going there two or three times for convenience but they haven't had them), and the other doesn't have opening times that suit me. So that leaves Tesco, which I use most of the time. But it's too far for them to collect the scripts and organise it all, so I have to do that. Most of the time it's fine - I either remember to order them and collect them in time, or make an appointment to see my GP as I need to check in with her regularly so get it then.

I do know that I need to take them every night, which is why I started this thread, to find out if I needed to change meds due to a big supply problem (which the pharmacist had, wrongly, implied).

And like I said, after missing Wednesday's dose unavoidably, I got the script filled last night so I'm ok now.

I don't have a CPN as they say they can't help with my problems. I'm not seeing a psychiatrist for the same reasons - she's sorted out my meds and that's all she can do, but am waiting to see a psychologist. So I don't really have a contact I can go to in an emergency for meds, and even if I did, then the pharmacies would all be shut by the time I got through - I had to have the crisis team out a few weeks ago and they didn't get here till gone midnight, after a late afternoon referral from my GP.

gardenia101

GlasweJen wrote: »

You can sometimes get your doctor to write out a 2 month prescription to be "dispensed weekly".

What happens there is the pharmacist makes up 1 week boxes and you collect them on a set day every week. When you're onto your 2nd last box you'll be reminded to put in your repeat and that gives the pharmacist time to get your drugs and make up your weekly boxes before your old prescription runs out.

GPs are only allowed to prescribe a limited number of medicines in instalments for the treatment/maintenance of addiction, so I doubt it would work in this case.

It sounds as if Ames's GP is doing his/her best by issuing post dated prescriptions for a weeks supply of medicine at a time. It may be worth speaking to the surgery about "repeat dispensing" (often called batch prescriptions) where eg:6 months worth of medicines would be issued as 1 batch of 26x7 days supply. (GPs will only do this for patients who are stabilsed on medicines & some PCTs do not like any antidepressants prescribed by repeat dispensing, so this may depend on where you are).

Ames - citalopram is the closest to Cipralex & this may be an option for you to discuss with your GP (although I guess this has already been suggested by other pharmacists). It is also manufactured by several companies, so a shortage is much less likely although not impossible.

Regarding the shortage - please don't blame the pharmacy staff! The large pharmacy chains are restricted to one wholesaler wheras independent pharmacies can often order from a variety of wholesalers (of which there are many). When they order a medicine they are told by their wholesaler if an item is unavaiable, & if they are lucky they may be given further info eg: manufacturing delay etc. More likely there will be no info automatically given & it is up to the pharmacy to check. Some medicines are now only available through one wholesaler so there is no incentive for them to improve their service as the pharmacies are sitting ducks.

I used to work in pharmacy & would spend up to 1 hour daily trying to chase up stock - manufacturers would say there was no supply problem, yet our wholesaler would say there was & there was nothing we could do about getting hold of the medicine - we were just stuck in the middle & taking the blame from irate customers (& I certainly don't blame them, just would have loved the wholesalers to take responsibility!). These supply problems were getting steadily worse when I left last year.

I did hear from one wholsaler that one chain hadn't paid their bill & that was why we couldn't get certain medicines - I'd hate to think this was true...Certain pharmacies own certain major wholesalers, so their branches will get priority over other pharmacies if stocks are low even though they will never admit to it.

Some pharmacies have been supplying Europe with medicines to make money, but this is a tiny fraction & not any of the large chains.

Many people don't know how pharmacy works, & why should they! But can you think of any other business that would be expected to supply a product (which in business terms is what a medicine is) at a lower price than which they bought it for? They could buy drug X for £12 in jan & the price then determined by the DOH could fall to £8 by may - & all the pharmacy will get paid for supply is thet £8. They can't sit on drug X until the price goes back up so they make a loss - it doesn't matter that they can prove how much they paid for it. No wonder there are hardly any independent pharmacies left & pharmacists are leaving the profession in droves.

I'm relieved not be in pharmacy anymore - I used to often work 9+ hour days with no breaks, just a sarnie while still doing prescriptions, having workloads increasing steadily but no increase in staff or pay & some days the only time I sat down was when I was on the loo (after hanging on as there was always just 1 more thing to do)!

This has turned into an essay/rant - sorry!