Doctor won’t prescribe thrush treatment

[Loserlacey]

As above.
i get it quite often when compared to others. I’ve got it to a point whereby I can control it. However I have got it again.
doctor won’t prescribe it. I must have been about 10 months ago since I was last prescribed.
i Pre pay for my medications and I earn £24k a year.

YABU but you shouldn’t be. That’s not what doctors are for really these days. It’s like asking a doc to prescribe you paracetamol. Buy it over the counter / clotrimazole pessary, not the branded stuff. I had to buy my own every month for 10 years until I grew out of it. Still prone though! Obviously doC should refer you but if it’s just a case of the meds, it’s quicker to just buy it.

You missed the point. It's about things not being on prescription regardless of whether you have to pay or not for the item.

Being pregnant doesn't get you paracetamol on prescription because you'd still be expected to pop to the pharmacy and buy it yourself. Ditto plasters. Ditto hayfever tablets . Ditto antifungal cream.
It's not hard to understand.

Entitlement to free prescriptions doesn't mean a sudden right to demand everything the chemist sells over the counter for free.

Did you miss the part where I said I’m diabetic or…

NHS guidance for thrush is that for a first episode or recurrent thrush (including due to weakened immune system including diabetics) then you should see a GP. Especially since over the counter anti fungals come with the "don't use twice in six months" label.

Its a rationing activity to say "its cheaper in the pharmacist, go buy it" when one of the reasons for keeping some such drugs available on prescription was to reflect the fact that some patient have chronic conditions or are on very low incomes.

My GP would tell me if something was cheaper to buy over the counter many years ago. It was never compulsory to prescribe over the counter drugs but it gave some flexibility for those in need.

I don’t have to though - my gp has prescribed what I need

What about Vagifem now that Gina is available OTC? Are they the same?

Clearly I did.
However, your experience of this isn’t going to be the same as many others is it.

When my sister in law goes, it’s quickly and with little warning and getting her to drink something would be a nightmare/

Much easier to provide a rapidly absorbed glucose tab on the gums!

(Which btw is indicated in certain instances).

And I’m a Doctor (endocrinology amongst other things)

The single OTC treatment rarely works for me, I have to take a couple of tablets for it to make a difference. That means lying to the pharmacist as they never want to give me a second one and tell me I need to see a GP (that might just by the shitty pharmacist in the local chemist though).

My old GP used to prescribe me a course of 5 lower dose tablets which actually worked but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be an option now. She used to prescribe them as a preventative alongside antibiotics as well.

I saw an earlier post about paracetamol no longer being available on prescription. I understood that if it was taken regularly it could still be prescribed due to needing more than you can buy OTC. I've also ordered online - last time I ordered 100. Also if you know anyone going to the US get them to bring some back, you can buy huge bottles there!

I am well over 60 but my nearest Boots has more self-service tills than not, so I just use one of those. Over-60s advantage card and all.

Income certainly no more than OP and I get free prescriptions, but trying to see the GP would be a complete waste of my time.

Not all diabetics are the same !!

I couldn’t get on with one long lasting insulin so changed to levemir split dose then I was obvious mdi didn’t work so had to get an insulin pump

jely babies / fizzy drinks etc don’t raise my bg quick enough but for some they do work

everyone is different so what works for you might not work for another type 1

YABU, jiust buy it at the chemist.
I also have a pre-pay certificate and still pay for my OTC meds (like any normal person would)

A prepayment certificate doesn't cover all medicines, it doesn't include paracetamol, athletes foot powder, cough syrup, verruca or cold sore treatments for example, thrush treatments are the same. It is an OTT medication.

thrush cream can be brought at the supermarket thrush tablets you swallow have to be from a pharmacy or prescribed by a doctor. Any of my local pharmacy’s won’t allow me to get a prescription unless I’ve seen a doctor as it’s recurring. They either want a letter or a prescription. I also have a pre payment card as with all my meds It would cost me way to much to buy them all separately. At one point I was getting thrush weekly and not being able to afford the tablets. I was then to take a 2 tablets every week for 6 months. Which the pharmacy won’t give with out a prescription so I did eventually get one from the doctor.

I’m not sure why you’d go to the doctor for thrush. But if you keep getting it, have you tried to change your clothes, your food, your environment?

I’ve had it twice in my life, both whilst pregnant. Very annoying so feel for you op.

oh you’re a doctor, you should have said!

No, they still prescribe paracetamol for chronic pain!
a friend gets it on NHS.
I was really surprised.

Why should I have said that?
None of that changes that fact that you can’t assume everyone has your experience and be so patronising about it too.

It isn’t just a free medication you are asking for- it’s the doctors time, a waste of an appointment as well as the medication.

This is the kind of nonsense that means appointments are scarce & people who are desperately in need can’t be seen as promptly as they should be.

the irony!

Are you sure it’s thrush if you are getting it regularly. Lichen sclerosis can present like thrush and that needs proper diagnosis and treatment.

Hardly.

Otc medication doesn't work for mine, tried everything from the dirt cheap to the expensive. I also get it more often than what I'd consider to be the norm. If they won't give you the cream, the last doctor I spoke to got me some tablets and they work alot quicker and keep it away alot longer. I can get you the name of it if you want.

I had thrush, and didn’t want to bother my GP with it, so I went to my pharmacy and asked to buy it. Pharmacist came and spoke to me, asked a few questions then gave me both the pessary and cream. He said I didn’t need to pay for it, as it was free on the NHS.

I’m in Scotland, where we don’t actually pay for prescriptions. To be honest, I’ve always thought that the money for this service would be better being used elsewhere in the NHS. I’m disabled and surviving on very little money, and need a lot of medications (morphine, cardiac medications etc.). However, I would be happy to buy a prepayment certificate, which works out about £2 per week (though as I’m now over 60, I wouldn’t have to pay anyway)!

@PassThePringles

Are you saying otc doesn't work but prescription does?

You know its the same stuff. Right?

The tablets are called fluconazole BTW

Can’t believe the NHS are funding things such as glucose pills. Takes the absolute piss when they are so bloody cheap to buy! No wonder it’s in such a state with so many entitled people wanting things like that.