NHS Just topped their fantastic service for me!

[Desanthony]

Just about an hour ago I posted telling you of the fantastic service I had from the NHS getting me in to see a specialist cardio nurse and grtting me back on the list for cv and organising all this when my nurse was actually on a training day so she came in early to see me and getting blood tests etc within a day. well I finished that post saying that I would have to call my nurse (who only works Tuesdays and Wdnesdays and one other day per week as needed) tomorrow to tell her my blood test had been done when she called me (so here extra day was today this week) to say she had got my blood test results and they were good and she would fax a prescription through to my GP to get me on amiodorone which I must be on for 3 weeks before my cv! I can't believe how good she has been. She can't tell me how long I may hae to wait for my CV but once on the tablets for 3 weeks will call and say I can come in at short notice and take a cancellation. I may yet again consider paying for the cv so that hopefully I am in NSR for my knee op. Once over that will definately get onto an ablation.

Wellit just goes to show that when the NHS works it works well. It is jsut getting to get it working that takes the effort and time sometimes.

Take care everyone,

Des

[jeanjeannie50]

Extremely good service.

[Desanthony in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Not only but also - I called my GP surgery to ask if they had received the fax at 2 and not only had they received the fax they had written out the prescription and got it signed and it was ready for me to collect! I am truly gob smacked by the efficiency!

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to Desanthony]

That is amazing! Life can be full of surprises sometimes.

[Desanthony in reply to jeanjeannie50]

yes these are good surprised too.

[Morzine]

I guess the bad stories always get the headlines eh......nice to give it praise.

[Desanthony in reply to Morzine]

Told everyone concerned how happy I am with the service they have provided.

[MarkS]

Amiodarone is a pretty hard core drug, I hope this was explained to you. You may need to stop taking it before your knee op and it has lots of interactions with other drugs. See:

mayoclinic.org/drugs-supple...

[Oldiemoldy in reply to MarkS]

Mark - I refused to take amiodarone once I read the warnings. This seemed to me like “the cure may be worse than the disease”. Doc Pooh poohed my concerns because use was going to be short term during ablation recovery. BUT he went along with me and prescribed metoprolol- small dose, since halved.

Tonight I turned on tv in USA and saw one of those awful deceptive ads for a brand name version of amiodarone with people skipping about and saying their AFib was better. Given the enduring controversy about this very strong medication, I was horrified.

I don’t thing drug companies should be permitted to advertise prescription meds. What are the U.K. rules?

[MarkS in reply to Oldiemoldy]

You're right, I think the cure is worse than the disease. Amiodarone actually increases mortality:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/264...

In the UK you cannot advertise prescription meds and I'm very surprised that they can be in the US. Mind you, there are a lot of drugs in the US that are prescription only that are available over the counter in the UK such as acyclovir for treating cold sores.

[Desanthony in reply to MarkS]

We frequently visit the US as our grandchildren live there and yes, prescription drugs are advertised there so as a patient you can go to your Doc and say you have seen this wonder drug advertised and you want to go on it - this must make a Docs life difficult but the whole system is different there so we cannot compare. They also advertise various treatments, procedures, operations and ways of doing said operations so it is always interesting viewing.

[Desanthony in reply to MarkS]

Hi, Yes I had a long discussion with both the nurse and the pharmacist before starting this. My daughter-in-law who is an intensive care nurse in the US has told me all about it as well though over there it seems they use it more than we do from what she says and she was surprised I was not put on it when first diagnosed and ertainly thought I would be put on it after the cv last year.

[Desanthony in reply to MarkS]

The idea is that I take it for at least 3 weeks before another cv and for a certain amount of time afterwards. I am hoping the cv will happen before my knee op