New T2 Diabetes Medication

[carophie04]

Have just read the e-mail from Diabetes UK regarding the new drug for T2 called dapagliflozin (Forxigatm) which sounds good as it helps with weight loss as well as controlling BS. The problem is - not only with Diabetics - new drugs are introduced by the drug companies which could help thousands of people with various illnesses today but try and get your GP to prescribe them for you and you are hitting you head against a brick wall, purely because of the cost. I am sure that doctors have had a Government directive to prescribe the cheapest medication possible for whatever problems people have with their health. I was taken off my normal blood pressure med and put on Ramipril (a lot cheaper) but within two weeks I had broken out in a most unpleasant skin eruption called Lichen Planus, immediately taken off the Ramipril and put back on Nebivolol, and packed off to see a consultant Dermatologist costing the NHS far more in consultations and treatment than if I had been left with the meds that suited me even if they were a bit dearer.

I just hope that this new medication for T2 Diabetics will not be denied to us for the same reasons. We already have to buy our own test strips to save the NHS money since GPs will not prescribe them. What is the point of scientific research into better drugs if when they are produced we are to be denied them - unless of course you can go private and pay for them! Same old story of one rule for one side of society and one for the other.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Hi carophie04 I have over the last 5 or 6 years had a totally different experience of doctors and offers of treatments some being extremely expensive as in the case of pain killing meds for my arthritis, one drug tried was £880 a month but I had side effects so it was changed, at my request, and another drug prescribed, it took 2 or 3 years but I now have a very effective pain relief med that again is not cheap.

No one will argue that the NHS reforms have caused problems especially with things like bg test strip prescriptions but any drug that is approved can be prescribed by your GP if she/he thinks it appropriate.

Ramipril is offered to many diabetics not because it is cheaper than some other BP drugs but because it is proven to help guard against diabetic kidney damage, now perhaps your GP didnt explain that to you but it sounds as though he/she had your best interests at heart (no pun intended) when switching your meds. Of cause it is a shame you had some side effects with it but thats not to say it was not worth trying as kidney damage is common in diabetics.

Despite successive governments lack of investment into the NHS I still believe that doctors still have our best interests at heart, doctors are not accountants and if they think a particular treatment is beneficial a patient they will prescribe it providing it is an approved treatment in their trusts area. Post code lottery? Yes, but again thats not the doctors fault is it, thats whats been put in place by successive governments.

 

[carophie04]

I see where you are coming from Sid but like you say a lot of discrimination as far as drugs is concerned is a postcode lottery and depends on where you live. You are fortunate to live in London where I think the NHS caters well - I used to live there myself. However, since moving South to West Sussex I find it a totally different picture. I have a heart condition which a consultant cardiologist suggested I would be advised to take Warfarin for in order to hopefully avoid strokes/heart attack due to clotting. As the nursing staff at my surgery cannot get blood from me for constant testing needed with Warfarin I asked if I could be prescribed a recent new drug which would not involve such frequent blood testing but the answer was "No" too expensive compared to Warfarin.
So my experience is that some surgeries are more concerned with preserving their own salaries at the expense of their patients.