Problem with Eyedrops

tesuhoha

My husband was referred to the eye department in June by the optician. Four weeks ago he was diagnosed with the early stages of glaucoma and prescribed eye drops by the hospital eye doctor.

He got on very well with the eye drops, and has put them in every night without fail. However, it said on the packet, discard after 4 weeks.

Therefore, he was supposed to have new drops this evening and so last week from Tuesday onwards I attempted to renew his prescription. this was not easy because the doctors surgery had not received notification from the hospital and I telephoned every day and went back and forth until they asked me to bring the packet in. I took the packet in on Thursday and finally collected the prescription on Friday.

When I came out of the chemists I noticed that the eye drops were different from the ones he got from the hospital so I went back to the doctors and asked them why they had been changed. The receptionist looked them up in a book and said they were the same ones so I accepted this to be true.

This evening after my husband put the eyedrops in his eyes he had an immediate reaction. He felt a surge of pressure in his chest, palpitations and an irregular heart rhythm which made him extremely anxious. I was ready to drive him to the hospital but he returned to normal after about 15 minutes. His heart rate is slow for his age and is rated as an athlete's heart rate. This is because he does physical work on a building site.

I looked up both eyedrops on the internet and they are definitely not the same. It clearly states that the ones he has been using have two active ingredients and the new ones have only one of those ingredients. I have double checked this over and over again to make sure. I have also read patient reviews of people who have had a similar experience with them.

He says he is not going to use those eyedrops again as he doesn't want that feeling again and I agree. I think he would end up in hospital if he carried on with them. I am going to phone the doctor's surgery tomorrow.

However, I am very annoyed that they have done this. They had the packet from the drops he was prescribed and yet they have changed them to something that could have done him harm if he wasn't so strong. He says its probably to save money but it seems very irresponsible to do this to someone who is also an asthmatic. Has anyone else experience of doctors changing medication like this to save money?

usignuolo

Sometimes drug formulations are changed on the grounds that the new version is an improvement. This has happened a lot with anti asthma drugs in recent years. They will probably argue that it has been shown that one active ingredient is now found to be as effective as the only formulation and the new version replaces it.

But changing the structure of the drug can affect how you react. A few years ago I had a prescription which I got from Boots. Then a repeat which I got from a local pharmacy. The basic drug was the same, but it turned out some of the ingredients used in the overall contents, not the main drug, were different and I was allergic to one of them.

Fire_Fox

Sorry to hear there has been a problem. Please speak to a doctor or pharmacist about this, not the unqualified receptionist nor strangers on a forum. If you had returned to the pharmacy initially they would have checked and contacted the doctor to get a new prescription faxed if needs be, so you'd likely have the right drug by now.

I don't understand why you assume the reason for any change was saving money, you don't have any evidence for that AFAIK. If it's different actives rather than a generic version it's more likely there has been human error, either at the doctors or the pharmacy. Every drug has possible side effects in susceptible individuals and you cannot usually predict who will suffer, drugs don't get licensed nor on the NHS formulary if they are not proven safe and effective.

tesuhoha

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Sorry to hear there has been a problem. Please speak to a doctor or pharmacist about this, not the unqualified receptionist nor strangers on a forum. If you had returned to the pharmacy initially they would have checked and contacted the doctor to get a new prescription faxed if needs be, so you'd likely have the right drug by now.

I don't understand why you assume the reason for any change was saving money, you don't have any evidence for that AFAIK. If it's different actives rather than a generic version it's more likely there has been human error, either at the doctors or the pharmacy. Every drug has possible side effects in susceptible individuals and you cannot usually predict who will suffer, drugs don't get licensed nor on the NHS formulary if they are not proven safe and effective.

I don't see how there could be a human error when I took the package in. I did notice that the prescription was different so it was definitely the doctor who prescribed it. At first I thought perhaps they had changed it as they thought it better but they told me it was the same thing. I didn't think it necessary to ask the doctor after having been told that. I have rung the doctors this morning which was the first opportunity I could do so. I was just rather stressed last night and wrote it down rather than go on about it to my husband.

What he experienced was one of the rare side effects listed on the leaflet inside. It was my husband who suggested they did it to save money and as everyone is trying to cut back I thought that was the probably the reason.

It did not occur to me to return to the pharmacy. I went back to the doctors which is on the opposite side of the road. To be honest we are still suffering from the shock of his diagnosis.

I think however, Firefox is right and I should not be discussing it on a public forum. Therefore I am not going to make any further comment on this matter.

floss2

Perhaps the Dr who prescribed the new eyedrops was going by what the hospital had reported back to them...and maybe your OH should have gone into the Dr's for a consultation & discussion about his future treatment rather than just asking for a repeat prescription.

tesuhoha

floss2 wrote: »

Perhaps the Dr who prescribed the new eyedrops was going by what the hospital had reported back to them...and maybe your OH should have gone into the Dr's for a consultation & discussion about his future treatment rather than just asking for a repeat prescription.

The hospital had not communicated at all. When contacted they said they had a huge backlog.

tesuhoha

I'm updating this although I said I wouldn't as feeling rather upset. Today didn't go too well. I'm not asking for advice here just letting off steam.

It says on the eyedrop leaflet that if a severe reaction is experienced, to stop using them and immediately contact your doctor. So I didn't think there would be any problem. I telephoned the surgery this morning and explained to a male receptionist exactly what had happened. He said leave it to him and he would do everything he could to get us the original eyedrops. He said to contact the surgery after 5 for the prescription.

Therefore, we had to go somewhere else this evening after my husband finished work but went straight on to the doctor's arriving at 5.45pm. My husband went in to collect the prescription. He came out to say that they knew nothing about it and he had to wait. He told me to stay in the car. At 7pm he came out to ask the name of the original drops. At 7.10pm he came out and got in the car very upset. He said that the doctor said that the drops were the same and that she refused to write another prescription. He had not seen her, all this was relayed through the receptionist. I said to him they are definitely not the same because the original ones have two ingredients and the new ones have only one.

We went back in and told the receptionist. She said he had been prescribed drops with two ingredients, but the old drops are the only ones on the market with two ingredients so I knew that wasn't true. My husband said 'let's go.' because he was fed up. He said 'I'm not going to put the new drops in my eyes again.' The receptionist kept repeating, 'if you are unhappy with your medication, you need to go back to the hospital' and I kept replying 'we were perfectly happy with the medication prescribed by the hospital.'

We went home and I looked at the drops and they only had one ingredient, so I took them back to the surgery just before they closed at 8. He wouldn't come with me.

The receptionist, who was very sympathetic towards us took the drops in to the doctor. When she came out she looked very bleak and said that the doctor said that the pharmacist had made a mistake and he should have been prescribed two sets of drops. I asked if she had offered to rectify this this in any way by writing a prescription for the missing drops or phoning the pharmacy. She shook her head and said sorry, no and she said she was sorry there was nothing else she could do for us. I replied that it was just as well as there was no way he would put the new drops in his eyes again and I didn't want to have to call an ambulance for him.

I then said so we are being left with nothing? Even though she knows he can't take the drops we have and the old ones are out of date. Yet the hospital doctor told us he has to take the drops every day for the rest of his life.(it is dangerous to stop because the pressure in his eyes will rise). The receptionist nodded and said 'If you want to make a complaint, then please do so.' She advised me to speak to the pharmacist who may be able to help or as a last resort ring the emergency line. She gave me the phone number.

I asked to speak to the doctor but was told she was with a patient, and my husband had also been told this earlier in the evening.

To cut a long story short the pharmacist was unable to help or even to sell me the drops he wanted as they were prescription only.

My husband then rang the emergency line and explained the situation. Within minutes a doctor rang back and told us to go to the hospital to pick up a prescription for the drops we wanted. We finally got in at 10pm. He put the drops in - and perfectly okay.

So we have another month's supply but I am worried about what we are going to do next month to get hold of these drops. I hope we haven't got another fight on our hands.

jenhug

You can put in a complaint with the practice manager at the GP surgery. Under the circumstances I think its justified.

If this doesn't provide you with a satisfactory outcome you could escalate this to your PCT.

tesuhoha

jenhug wrote: »

You can put in a complaint with the practice manager at the GP surgery. Under the circumstances I think its justified.

If this doesn't provide you with a satisfactory outcome you could escalate this to your PCT.

Thank you. I think we might do that. My husband wants to change doctors but I want to wait to see what they say about it when we make the complaint.

jenhug

Is there more than one GP at the practice? If so, I would insist that from now on you only deal with the other one.

Good luck.

tesuhoha

jenhug wrote: »

Is there more than one GP at the practice? If so, I would insist that from now on you only deal with the other one.

Good luck.

Yes, there are several. I want to give them the opportunity as a practice to respond to this.