Yes I saw that (and it’s been commented on). Doesn’t seem like a great idea to me, but since I’m not a medical professional and haven’t a clue about his condition or meds, I figured it wasn’t my place to comment on that.
A particular medication I was on several years back is only about half as effective if taken without food; specifically fatty food. ie, say if the standard dose if 80 mg, that’s only if the med is taken with a meal containing fats or oils. If taken on an empty stomach, the absorbtion rate makes it more like taking a 40 mg dose. But many doctors don’t know that, or at least don’t make it clear to their patients.
Oh, must have missed it. But anyway, I got the impression that the reason he got a month’s worth (of double the dosage) was because of this “desired” effect.
And it may very well be that he *needs *double the prescribed dose for the very effect the doctor is looking for…but simply taking double the dose isn’t helping his doctor to get it right. Doctor’s looking at his pulse and going, “60 beats a minute, perfect. No need to change the dose.” Instead of, “Hmmm…90 beats a minute, that’s still pretty speedy. Maybe we should try upping the beta blocker a little bit and see if that helps.”
Is it a huge hairy deal? No, probably not. If it doesn’t make him dizzy, exhausted and unable to maintain an erection, it’s probably not too much to take, safety wise. But it’s annoying. I like my medication lists to be tidy and properly reconciled. And, again, I guess I just don’t understand how pharmacies in the UK work. Here, you can’t just keep getting double your pills every month without the correct prescription for them.
When I had my wisdom teeth extracted the oral surgeon advised me he poked into one sinus and it might be prone to infection. Over that weekend the sinus was well inflamed.
I called the oral surgeon’s service as he had instructed and was told he was on vacation. I got a call back from the doctor who was covering for him. This other doc called in a script without ever seeing me in person though we did at least talk briefly.
Indeedy doody; they’re in Scotland. Didn’t cost me anything which confused me ath the chemist as I thought given I was wearing tracksuit bottoms at the time they were assuming I was on JSA or something.
And also, my normal GP is in the Isle of Man, so I am not sure how they are linked, if at all. The Isle of Man has the NHS but I have a feeling it’s technically not part of the UK NHS.
As for the comments about me doubling the dose, bear in mind that I have only recently been put on them, with a view to increasing the dose soon if necessary, so I am currently prescribed the lowest dose (1.25mg of bisoprolol) so 2.5mg ain’t that much!
As for them doing a favour for my parents - not impossible but I didn’t tell anyone who my parents were, and tbh I don’t know if they would have known them anyway. On the one hand they are probably very infrequent patients, on the other hand my parents do something medical so who knows…
It happens here in the colonies, too. Once my wife and I both came down with strep throat at the same time, me worse than her; she was able to drag herself to the doctor but I was no good for anything but keeping the couch from floating away.
She was diagnosed and prescribed antibiotics; she then told our doc that I had the same exact symptoms, and he wrote me a prescription for antibiotics too, sight unseen. I realize this is not quite the same, considering that he was our doctor and knew us both personally.