A sudden withdrawal

[andrewducker]

I am an idiot who forgot my blood pressure medicine when I came down to Devon to see my parents.

So this morning I went in to the local pharmacy. Who can't help me because NHS England and NHS Scotland are two different organisations. But they told me to call NHS 111 and ask them for help.

NHS 111 said "We don't have anyone available who can prescribe, call us back after 6:30PM, or talk to a local GP as "Unregistered or Temporary Residents". So we went in to my dad's GP and they said "We don't help in that situation, go talk to NHS 111, they'll help you." - which would seem to leave me in an endless loop.

Just in case, I called my GP surgery in Scotland, who said that they can't prescribe in England.

At which point, as nobody is considering this very important, I think about the only options are to either call back after 6:30 tonight or to just do without for a week. Which, having checked online, doesn't look like a great idea.

Edit: I called them back at 7:00. Got through to someone helpful who has given me the location of a pharmacy that we're going to visit first thing tomorrow morning, who have been instructed to help us.

No idea why that didn't happen the first time!

Comments

[cmcmck]

How ridiculous is this?

[andrewducker]

You would have thought there would be a standard answer.

If this was an emergency it sounds like this would be fixed very quickly.

[cmcmck]

You're so newly on these meds that I don't think you'll come to any harm for a week or so.

[juan_gandhi]

Oh, it's horrible. And the GP can't prescribe... fuck. Somehow, in France it's pretty informal, I ask what I forgot to bring with me, they prescribe.

So, did you call back? Is everything ok? It's really serious, all this.

[andrewducker]

I can call back in 5½ hours.

[rhythmaning]

That is bloody stupid! It must happen all the time!

I hope something works out.

The situation alone would be enough to push your blood pressure up!

[bens_dad]

How long have you been on them ? If they are new the effects of stopping them may be less, but I don't know whether that is a couple of days, a couple of months or somewhere in between.

[andrewducker]

Just a few weeks. So probably mostly fine. Hopefully.

[gingicat]

I actually saw a pharmacologist yesterday and asked him about reducing my lisinopril, and he said "ok to reduce from 20 to 10, it has a bit of a long falloff life so don't expect it to change anything for at least a week or so."

So I expect you can get another 24 hours out of it. Can you get a sphygmomanometer at a local pharmacy to keep an eye on the effects?

[andrewducker]

My blood pressure was barely out of the normal range, so I'm not too worried about it.

Hopefully my tiny dosage (5mg) isn't going to cause big drama.

[calimac]

I've long felt puzzled by the way the legal system treats Scotland and England as if they're two separate countries, despite rhetorical insistence that "United Kingdom" means just that. Now here's another example of that: I'd no idea that the NHS was split up that way. My insurer in California does not operate in Georgia, which is where I was (the state, not the country) when my bag with all my medications was stolen in the airport, but a phone call was enough to get them to authorize a pharmacy there to issue me a temp supply for until I got home.

[andrewducker]

Not just two separate countries, but two separate legal systems!

https://www.ltscotland.org.uk/the-differences-between-the-english-and-scottish-law/

[armiphlage]

In Canada, Quebec's legal system is based on French legal practices and precedents, while all the other provinces and territories are based on English legal practices. Same as in the UK, history affects the present.

[calimac]

Yes, but Canada has an over-riding federal legal system above the provinces. The point is that the UK doesn't. US states can differ in the same way as Canadian provinces; Louisiana's legal system is also based on French practices. And interesting things can happen, for instance, on state borders near colleges when the neighboring state has a lower minimum drinking age.

[andrewducker]

Yes, the UK has "UK law" and "English law" as basically the same thing in many places. And then many other places where they're not. The whole setup is a mess, because nobody has ever wanted to actually fix it. And it mostly gets by. Except when it doesn't.

[bens_dad]

We are one country when it comes to the Olympics but four when it comes to the World Cup.

[calimac]

Yes, that's what I said: "the legal system treats [them] as two separate countries." In other respects I thought they weren't. There's no trade restrictions, they both vote for the Westminster Parliament. Though I suppose in those respects you could argue that the entire EU is one country (which is exactly what the Brexiteers were complaining about).

[haggis]

Different legal systems, different school system and school holidays, different money.

In this case, it's because health is a devolved issue, one of the things decided by the Scottish government instead of Westminster.

[zippybeta]

Can`t your pharmacy back home ship some overnight mail a weeks worth?

[andrewducker]

Not before the mail system shuts down for a couple of days for Christmas!

(And I don't think they do that anyway)

[aldabra]

I can post you 14 x 2.5mg Ramipril, if that is what it is. But obviously that's less useful tomorrow than any other day in the year 8-/ (If you say yes in the next 30 minutes I can first-class it tonight.)

[andrewducker]

Thank you for the thought, but they aren't.

[nickys]

Check with your GP again.
Mine prescribed antibiotics for me to an English pharmacy when a routine "yes we're sure it's fine but we'll just check anyway" test turned out to be Not Fine At All.
Talk to the pharmacy rather than the GP, as I think that's how I did it, and they can tell your GP in Edinburgh what to do, hopefully.
As you say, skipping your medication is not a good idea. The medical profession should be able to grasp that and figure out what to do.

[andrewducker]

The pharmacy said "We need an English prescriber", the GP said "We can't talk to people in England". Frankly, neither was much use.

[havocthecat]

I'm glad you found a solution. Yikes.