More Unnecessary Aggravation

(Wednesday) I've mentioned on an earlier blog post, that I went to our doctor's surgery a week or two ago to find out whether they had received notification from the John Radcliffe Hospital regarding my new medication so that when I made a new repeat prescription it would be up-and-running and there would be no problems. The discharge information was given to me when I left the hospital and a copy would have been forwarded to my doctor's surgery. I was informed when I went to speak to the receptionist she looked on the computer system and assured me that the new medication was record. Little did I realise that actually this wasn't the case. Or if it was, then part of the information was missing, or at least it would appear so.

I went to Sainsbury's early this morning and went to the Lloyd's pharmacy within the store, which is our nominated pharmacy for all our repeat prescriptions. We've been using them for several years now. But when I went to give them the new order I was informed by their pharmacist that they couldn't do the order without first having it on THEIR system. I would need to ring Ashfield Medical Centre and speak to them to have the new medications recorded before the pharmacy could make up the order. As you can imagine, what with having had a heart attack three weeks previously and also having Carol in hospital, this is only adding to stress and frustration which is certainly not what I want at the moment.

Having completed my shopping in Sainsbury's, I returned home and immediately telephoned the surgery. I was expecting it to take some while to get through, there also was an option on the menu which you have to select when you ring, to phone a special prescription help-line, but this 'after 11 a.m.,' which didn't exactly please me as I wanted to go and visit Carol and if left too late it would be difficult to find a parking space for the car. I just rang the normal telephone number intended for making appointments, but told the receptionist my repeat prescription was urgent. I ran through what I wanted to order until I reached Ticagrelor, which I had been prescribed especially because it's supposed to protect the stent I had put in at the John Radcliffe. The receptionist had never heard of it, which was a surprise. It now seems a doctor will have to approve this additional medication before they can make out a prescription, which will then be sent electronically to Lloyd's before the repeat prescription can be made up. There seems to be some sort of bureaucratic glitch in all this somehow.

I'm having problems with a cough, which I have mentioned in earlier blog posts. Apparently it is a side-effect of taking Ramapril. I spoke to the pharmacist about this matter, because I spent most of last night awake with this horrible cough. Nothing seems to alleviate it, no amount of cough linctus or cough sweets. I just concerns me that it might spark off something like another heart attack. The pharmacist looked at all my medication already held on their system and she saw I was on Candesartan. Which apparently does the same job as Ramapril, but without the side-effects. So it does seem odd that the doctors at John Radcliffe should charge this medication regardless of the fact that I had no problem with the Candesartan but now have to endure a horrible cough with Ramapril.  I decided to go into the Cardiology department at Milton Keynes Hospital when I went to visit Carol this morning, with the intention of mentioning this to the cardiology nurse I spoke to last week. I was fortunate to be seen by her briefly when I went in. She said that  the cough would most likely be as a result of the Ramapril but she couldn't change it for me, I would need to speak to my GP. It would appear that Ramapril is a standard medication given to patients after they've had a heart attack. So, I need to telephone Ashfield, how ever long that is going to take, and ask my doctor to see if he can change the Ramapril for Candesartan or a similar drug.

Having said in the previous post that it was getting colder, it's actually been quite warm for the past couple of days. The weather is getting so confused. I came out of the hospital yesterday and there was bright sunshine, similar to what we have today (Wednesday.)