For the past few months there has been a problem with one of my repeat prescription medications, Isoborbide Mononitrate. Not with me taking it, but it would appear that the factory that produces most of this drug has closed down. I had my repeat prescription made up at Asda's pharmacy in Bletchley at the beginning of this month and at the same time a review of my medications was done with the pharmacist. I imagine they have to do this regularly if you are on repeated medications and have a long-term health issue such as I have with my heart. I was told that this particular drug was to only be produced in 10 mg doses and that the 20 mg strength was to be discontinued, so I would need to get a new prescription for the lower dosage tablets, but then taking two tablets of 10 mg twice a day, at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. I was put on this medication after my last hospital stay when I went into Milton Keynes Hospital after a particularly severe attack of angina. I had been using a Nitrolingual Spray for such attacks, sprayed under my tongue and allowing it to work by making the heart arteries widen to increase blood flow (I was put on this when I had the first signs of a heart attack by my doctor in Bedford back in 2006, and I eventually had a heart attack over the night of 17th and 18th May 2006. See earlier post for details of this.)
I have sufficient Isoborbide Mononitrate for around two weeks, so there was no urgency to get further quantities, but this morning I decided to get a doctor's appointment and get the doctor to give me a new prescription for either an alternative medication or re-prescribed for the 10 mg dosage tablets (ie 2 twice a day as I have already been doing with the 20 mg tablets for the past couple of years. I don't want to run out of this medication so it was important that I got the prescription so that if there were further problems obtaining the medication I had time to get to however many local pharmacies to get them to make up the order.
Anyway, to cut a long story short (this seems a very long story, so to cut it short would be a huge relief as it is or has caused a certain amount of stress, to say the least.) I dropped off Carol at the Milton Keynes Academy and then drove to the Ashfield Medical Centre in Beanhill to be in the queue so that I could get an appointment as soon as possible. Fortunately I was able to see a doctor at 8.30 and I was soon out clutching my prescription for the new 10 mg medication and at 9 decided to go to Sainsbury's at The Hub to get some bread and to also get the prescription made up by their pharmacy. I was told that they would need to ring their supplier and have now been informed that they can get me the Isoborbide Mononitrate and will make sure it is in stock for me. I have further been told that prescriptions are to soon to become paperless, and that I will have to nominate a pharmacy so that the doctor's surgery can send the repeat prescription to wherever I decide so that the repeat prescription can be made up. This is all very well, but I am not so keen on the idea as what happens if the system crashes? Also, what happens if I order my repeat prescription on-line as I do now (it certainly cuts out paper and means I don't have to fill in the form and go to the surgery to hand it in.) and it doesn't go through for whatever technical reason (ie, crashes, computer goes down, or powercut, God forbid?) Anyway, I am reliably informed by the pharmacist at Sainsbury's that they can get the medication for me and that it will be delivered by around 3 this afternoon.
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