Asthma/coronavirus

[Palette]

I have mild asthma and take Symbicort, I am over 70. I have not received a letter but my husband and I are staying at home as instructed. I am reluctant to phone my GP to ask if I should be in the extremely vulnerable list, but am concerned that should I be unable to get medication, I have ordered on Echo with Lloyds pharmacy but not convinced it will all coordinate with my GP. Should I phone GP to check if I should do more?

[Hidden]

Echo will have been in touch with your GP & the surgery will now have them listed as your preferred pharmacy. There’s no point phoning the GP as they’ll just refer you back to Echo. But Echo will let you know when your stuff is ready. If you go into your account with them, it should give you an up to date status of when your prescription will be ready. But they’re quite slow at the moment. If you only have a few drugs you should be ok with Echo, but they don’t seem able to cope with anything complicated

[Palette in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for the reassurance, your reply helped.

[Palette in reply to Hidden]

Happy to report my inhaler arrived via ECHO app, earlier than expected. Huge relief! Thanks for your reassurance.

[twinkly29]

Asthma wise you may well not get a letter if Symbicort is your only medication for asthma. But you're doing the right thing by protecting yourself - having the letter doesn't really change anything other than when people need them for work.

[Palette in reply to twinkly29]

Thanks, your reply helped

[Braces71]

I didn’t find Symbicort effective. So went back on to a regime that Prof Gibson at the Freeman Hospital put me on . It’s 2 puffs ventolin 2 puffs fluxotide 2 puffs serevent twice each day. It has kept my asthma stable for many years. Gibson told me upto 20% of people don’t react well to combination inhalers.

As for the letter if you read the government advice it is only going to severe asthmatics who are taking regular courses of steroid tablets.

Stay safe.

[Albertdog]

I am 83 with COPD and medication listed by NHS as priority. Have contacted Surgery - filled in questionnaires - transferred to other questionnaire providers - but still no replies as to am I supposed to pick up my medication which is now due for collection (on repeat) in two days. ........😥

[CRP386 in reply to Albertdog]

Albertdog - are you on Facebook? There are lots of local coronavirus community help groups popping up, where volunteers are assisting others with shopping, medication etc. Try typing in your local area and coronavirus and see if anything comes back. If you are also clinically vulneable, you can register for support here: gov.uk/coronavirus-extremel...

[Thomas45]

Some interesting statistics about my age and my ailments. There are nearly 9 million people in the UK who are aged over 70 . There are 5.4 million who have asthma, (4.3million are adults), around 1million have been diagnosed as having atrial fibrillation, around 200,000 have lymphoedema, about 50. In every 1,000 will have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, every GP will have 30 male patients with benign prostate problems. So that's where I fit in. I don't expect a letter, but , aged 74 with moderate asthma I started to self isolate 17 days ago. I live with my godson who's younger. We text each other when we're going to the kitchen or bathroom., So as to avoid each other. I've not actually seen him in those 17 days.