Prescription issue ?Just wondering like

[lynzpower]

Hi all

 

Had a phone call from my GP today saying shes got back my results from a UTi Ive got. Told me to stop taking the prescription, and to come to the surgery to pick up new prescription. I hadnt actually started the previous one as too lazy to get to a chemist, BUT if I had, I would have been 7.00 down or whatever the prescription charges are.

 

Just for future reference, any chance of getting this back?

[cheddar]

Hmm thats a good point, I think that it would depend on the reasons why they told you to stop taking it, if it was because they gave you the wrong presciption thern they should provide you with some evidence of this and you would have been able to claim it back via the Prescription Pricing Authority (they have forms for this I believe).

 

Best bet would be to call NHS Direct and get some professional advice but I would wonder why in the first place. It would worry me if I had been prescibed something to be told at a later stage I shouldn't have been taking it. That to me shows possible signs of malpractice?

[lynzpower]

WEIRDER & WEIRDER!! Sorry I just had to add this in case anyone saw.

 

IM on MSN with my sister at the moment adn the strangest coincidence.

 

Last night, she felt unwell and visited the loos in the train station, where she was pi55ing blood. She was taken to hospital, where they told her that she was having "a reaction" to the meds for the UTI she'd been prescribed a few days previously. What a surprise- this is the SAME medication TRIMETHOPRIM , that I was told over the phone yesterday to stop taking as it the UTI "wouldnt respond to it". So two sisters one in london, the other in Manchester, get Utis the same week, both get given the same prescription one(her) starts taking it, the other ( me) gets told by GP to stop taking it immieidately. Both of us are told "it wont react to the Uti" She ends up in severe pain, fainting and losing a lot of blood in hospital, me fine, as I never started taking it.

 

Any thoughts - surely this is one coincidence too far?

[cheddar]

OMG! The only thing I can think of is that something has gone very wrong in the prodigy or similar databse. This is a database GP's and other health professionals use to give advice on best treatment for something. Although I would have thought prescribing for a UTi should be straight forward, or maybe they are told to check the database for updates and Trimethoprim was put on there as a cure by accident.

 

This may be worth mentioning to your GP surgery and maybe your Primary Care Trust as well. But I would certainly get your sister to make a complaint to her practice manager.

[lynzpower]

But how would MY GP know that there was a problem with it? Possibly they were told on a missive not to prescribe it I guess, and had to go through the comouter & find who was on it and phone them & tell them to stop. If there are issues over the quality of prescription drugs ,which there obviosuly is if my sis ended up in hospital then, surely? I should have been told??!! Not just, oh it wont work for your UTI

 

So glad I was a tightwad about it lol, but devastated for my sister, sounds VERY horrible.

[deeian]

Trimethroprin is an anti biotic so if you GP diagnosed you with a UTI it was the right prescription.. After a couple of days he would have had further results back from the labs telling him exactly which bacteria was causing the infection and which was the best antibiotic to specifically treat it with which is probably why he told you to stop taking the first and collect a new prescription. The problem your sister had sounds like a reaction to a specific drug so she should remember this and mention it if she ever needs antibiotics again for everything. Hope this helps.

[lynzpower]

deeian

 

Out of interest, I would have thought that a "catch all" medication for UTIs should "cure" what Ive been given. Whats the point of giving a prescription thats possibly/likely going to be wrong? Why not wait until the results are back ?At worst you could end up in my sisters situation ( poor lamb) or at best being 7. odd out of pocket, and rinsing the NHS for an inappopriate prescription and whatever their/ taxpayers contribution is?

 

Any thoughts?

[deeian]

You're right. The first anti biotic should cure it. Its usually one that is known to treat most of the 'usual' bacteria that cause infections. I can only make a half educated guess but I would imagine that when any test results came back your gp found one that would treat you better and/or quicker. If he hadn't given you anything to start with your infection might have got worse in the few days waiting time and then taken a lot longer to clear. Also in probably 9 out of 10 cases, if not more the first prescription would have been ok. I understand what you are saying about the prescription charges though. Having worked in the health service for longer than i care to remember most people want a prescription NOW and won't listen to GP's explaining about waiting for test results. Usually a broad spectrum antibiotic works. Hope this makes sense

[cheddar]

Trimethroprin is an anti biotic so if you GP diagnosed you with a UTI it was the right prescription..

 

I'm sorry but I don't think that advice like that should really be given, we have absolutely no idea if that was the right drug for this person, we don't know their medical background or reaction history at all. Not critising you directly deeian, upon research I tend to agree with what you say but your words reminded me of an incident on another forum that got out of hand! LOL!

 

I think we may be looking into this a bit deeper than we should be to be honest and I think has simply been a co-incidence between lynzpower and her sister. I also only suggested her sister contact her Practice Manager or PCT if she actually has a complaint.

 

I think we may have to have a disclaimer on this particular forum or maybe some guidance notes to say that we shouldn't give out any kind of medical advice. I have seen this become a problem on other forums and liability can become an issue as well.

[lynzpower]

Nah fair enough, maybe it was the panic of hearing my sister on about it this morning, and my own illhealth that made a very odd coincidence seem more sinister.

 

I'll ask my GP directly if the product has been taken from the market over the next few days & as I have contacts in the NHS, I'll see if they can corrobate.

 

I havent taken any "medical" advice as it were from here, but others might in the end and there does need to be a disclaimer ( at the very least, where people work, is it a professional or personal opinion eg, Im an assistant social worker based in an older peoples social work team in central london) that might help new users of this forum.

 

Cheers though, much appreciated x

[deeian]

i was only trying to help.

[cheddar]

i was only trying to help.

 

Please don't take offence I know you were only trying to help, just as I am.

[heppy23]

I am an ex nurse. Trimethoprim is very commonly used for UTI's. It has been around for many years.

[cheddar]

I wasn't disputing what it is or what it does. Just making sure that people (professionally qualified to do so or not) are not giving advice out to people. Deeian didn't directly do this but it was bordering on it.

 

It is a problem that happens on some forums where the NHS or medical issues are discussed. I have seen such things happen, once with rather disasterous results. I just wanted to kerb it now and make people aware. Anyone can look up the name of drug and describe it in detail, what we don't want is people saying '.....its for such a thing so you must be able to take it....' or '...I took it and I was fine...' etc I know it hasn't got to that stage but like I said I just wanted to make people aware.

[Maxie]

Just as a general point, and as someone who is medically qualified Trimethoprim is one of the 'brusier' type of antibioitcs. Someone presents with a suspected UTI you give then Trimethoprim as a 'broad spectrum antibiotic' (kills lots of types of bacteria) and when the urine sample comes back from the lab, if it comfirms a UTI it will also have details of the type of bacteria involved and a list of antibiotics that are recomended or that that bacteria are sensitive to.

 

If Trimethoprim is one of them they you just keep on going, if not you advise the patient to stop taking it and issue a new script.

 

The point is that there is likely to be an infection, better to treat now than risk not treating and the problem getting worse while you wait to see what is the most appropriate treatment.

[chipsandsausages]

I have a little knowledge of medications. (Worked in NHS for about 14 years).

 

What was mentioned re:broad spectrum antibiotics is right. Although I am NOT giving you medical advice - that must come from your own healthcare provider.

 

When you send a sample off to the lab, they generally try to grow cultures on it. In the meantime, you wouldn't be happy to wait for your treatment until the GP had the results so he treats you with a "cure all" antibiotic.

 

When your result comes back it will have a list of broad spec antibios and next to their names - "resistant" or "sensitive".

 

If your particular infection was resistant to trimethoprim then you would need a different antibiotic.

 

It's nobody's fault, and I doubt you'd get your money back.

 

Have a nice day anyway x

[djh1697]

If a UTI is diagnosed at a STD clinic is a hospital you would be given treatment there free of charge.

[chipsandsausages]

It is different rules for Primary care (GP practices).

 

You wouldn't pay at AED either - it's emergency medicine.

[Vital Spark]

deeian

 

Out of interest, I would have thought that a "catch all" medication for UTIs should "cure" what Ive been given. Whats the point of giving a prescription thats possibly/likely going to be wrong? Why not wait until the results are back ?At worst you could end up in my sisters situation ( poor lamb) or at best being 7. odd out of pocket, and rinsing the NHS for an inappopriate prescription and whatever their/ taxpayers contribution is?

 

Any thoughts?

 

No antibiotic, antimicrobial even will kill all bacteria, virus or fungi. If someone presents with a UTi the doctor may well prescribe the antibiotic which is known to kill the most likely/commonest cause of that ailment. Test may then reveal that the infection is by an entirely different and less common bug, which cannot be killed by the already prescribed medication.

 

The doctor, considering the prescription limitations upon him, was acting entirely apporpriately given the situation: UTis should not be ignored or asked to hang about waiting for test results: I would have thought that an urgent label could have been stuck on the samples since UTis can cause much damage if left untreated.

 

However, this is not a defense of doctors' prescribing. The prescribing of drugs is mostly governed by large drug companies who cannot rake in their massive profits from us being well/healthy.

 

For instance, I was on a vast amount of prescribed medication for a number of years. It got to a stage in which I was being prescribed drugs to combat the side effects of other drugs which I had to continue using: these secondary prescriptions led to furtehr ill side effects. I became a walking disaster.

 

This was costing the NHS a small fortune.

 

Through trial and error, I discovered a number of natural remedies/treatments therapies, which work and much more efficiently so than did the prescribed medications. None of them leave me feeling drugged.

 

One such remedy I discovered was serrapeptase (Welcome to Good Health). The enzyme, serrapeptase, is produced by a small bug which lives in the gut of the silkworm.

 

The silkworm's cocoon is covered in a hard shell but the emerging beastie doesn't have the necessary "tooth" to break it's way out of this shell. Also, silk worms live on mulberry leaves wich are very tough: how did they manage to digest them?

 

These questions led to the discovery of serrapeptase: the enzyme which digests dead material particularly proteins.

 

This simple enzyme was recommended to me for asthma when I was experiencing a particularly bad spell of attacks requiring the use of a nebuliser 4 and even 5 times a day and often 3 or 4 times during the night. (Yes, I'm a bad patient who doesn't like to bother the doctor: a fact which does bother my doctor).

 

I was advised of serrapeptase by my sister whose voice I only vaguely recognised when she telephoned because she was breathing easily. My sister suffers from emphysema: previously, her voice, on the telephone, could only be mistaken for a dirty phone call.

 

She had taken the serrapeptase on recommendation for thrombosis around the site of an intercapsular fracture of the neck of her femur. She took the serrapeptase to get rid of clots.

 

It did just that by the next day after commencing taking them. The pain also went as did all swelling which subsided rapidly: she took high doses initially.

 

After a few days she noticed a marked improvement in her breathing. She telephoned me with her suggestion that I try it.

 

I ordered it immediately after speaking with her so my order was placed around 11am. The serrapeptase arrived dead on 12 noon the next day. I took 3 tablets (have to be taken on an empty stomach about 4 hours after last eating, and at least 30 preferably 45 minutes before eating). The next 3 I took before bed.

 

I fell asleep and awoke, automatically reaching for my inhaler before realising that I didn't need it. "DRAT!" was my first thought: "I've only slept for a few minutes", but the clock said 7 and it had to be am.

 

I'd slept the night through without need of my inhaler. I haven't had steroids since apart from a run in with some concrete dust, which seriously threatened my life. I carry my reliever inhaler as a precaution: I rarely require to use it.

 

Side effects: cleared up my arthritic pain, my IBS, reduced my varicosed veins and has even reduced a wide, rough, thick scar I've had for 47 years to a fine line of very smooth soft conective/scar tissue. this ability to digest scar tissue and so promote better healing must have been taking effect in my lower spine also as I have not had to use morphine derivatives (metabolise into morphine when taken,) since shortly after commencing the serrapeptase.

 

This with some other natural therapies is saving the NHS a small fortune but, unfortunately, natural remedies cannot be prescribed so I have to be able to afford them and theya re symptomatic not cures. In most cases the chronic ailment prevails but the symptoms which cause the disability, are relieved. If, however, they were licensed for prescription, they would still save the NHS a small fortune.

 

There is no "catch-all cure" for infection.

 

Colloidal silver is the best, broad spectrum antimicrobial around. It kills bacteria, viruses, and fungi (pre and probiotics should be taken along with it). Drug companies don't want it used so they've poo-hooed it until the emergence of MRSA has forced them to reconsider so silver dressings are now commonly used in hospitals and other medical institutions.

 

Colloidal silver can be applied topically or taken internally even merely under the tongue.

 

Oh and bugs don't mutate when killed by colloidal (nano) silver so they don't become immune to it. Problem is, anyone can make it using a wee battery package with two fine silver electrodes and some distilled water. The drug companies, therefore can't make their profits from it.

 

Colloidal silver kills around 650 strains of bacteria. That's massivley more than any drug company's antibiotic.

 

Sorry to rabbit on like this but there is a lot more to be considered in you and your sister's cases. Lynzpower, than merely the prescribed drug, your differing reactions to it and the medical advice you each received. Perhaps your sister was passing kidney stones or had an entirely different strain of infection to that affecting you.

 

Check out the nofreelunch site: No Free Lunch - UK Homepage

 

ABOUT US

 

Scrutinise this one in particular: Information for Patients - No Free Lunch - UK

 

And, please, act.

[zippygbr]

It is different rules for Primary care (GP practices).

 

You wouldn't pay at AED either - it's emergency medicine.

 

apologies for the thread resuscitation but A+E take home prescriptions are chargeable

[Sali]

I have a question relating to the original post. I always thought that it was ill-advised to stop taking an antibiotic midway through prescription (per chance this did not happen to the poster) as it was supposed to increase the likelihood of bacteria becoming resistant and hence the possibility of superbugs.

 

So whether or not the GP was right to prescribe the medicine in anticipation of them being right in their diagnosis is by the by - would it have been right to advise the patient to stop taking the drug immediately, or would it have been better for them to complete the course - presuming that the patient had no adverse reaction?

[hightail]

If test results come back negative then there's nothing there to become resistant.

[Sali]

But the OP says there was a bacterial infection, but it seems that the anti-biotic originally prescribed was not the most effective for the task. Does a bacteria only become resistant because it has been exposed to that anti-biotic, but not killed by it or does the bacteria automatically have immunity?

[zippygbr]

I am an ex nurse. Trimethoprim is very commonly used for UTI's. It has been around for many years.

 

 

apols for thread resus it's still the first line in one pregnant individuals ...

 

resistance to an ant biotic is different from being not sensitive to the antibiotic... different families or bacteria behave differently hence the range of different families of antibiotics

[lynzpower]

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