On holiday and forgotten my statins - advice please!

[Satinstatin]

I have only just recently been prescribed statins. Have taken them for just over a month and the Dr confirmed yesterday that my blood tests show my cholesterol has come down from 7.1 to 4.9 and that the liver function tests show no ill effect. I am now on a repeat prescription.

Today I merrily packed up my 2 prescription blood pressure tablets in my handy pill dispenser but completely forgot my Lipitor! I only noticed when I came to take it tonight.

So, tomorrow is Sunday and I’m guessing I’ll have to wait till Monday to phone my Doctor in my home city (in Scotland). And usually it’s 24 hours before I can collect the prescription and I imagine they will have to fax/email it through to a local pharmacy (also in Scotland). So I will have missed at least 2 doses, possibly 3 before I get it sorted.

Does anyone know whether this is dangerous? I’m guessing as I’m new to the drug I’ll probably survive but will it make me feel odd? Does anyone know whether I can just go to a local pharmacy on Monday and get an emergency prescription directly from them within a few hours? Or would I need to be seen by a Dr.

I’m kicking myself for being such an idiot. Or the statins are making me more forgetful than I usually am.

Hope someone can advise!

Are you in the UK? If so get to a chemists tomorrow and explain, they might be able to provide an emergency supply.

Is your local pharamacy one of a chain of chemists, Boots or Lloyd’s? They might be able to phone it through . Worth asking .

Your doctors might be able to fax it quicker than 24 hours if you have run out .

Sorry I don’t know the answer to your medical question.

Call NHS24 and they can organise an emergency prescription through an out of hours service. I had to do the same on holiday.

(On 111)

Ran out of mine for 3 days and felt fine.

I really wouldn’t worry for a week or two. If you were talking most meds it would be different but statins will be ok

It's not dangerous to miss doses unless you have peripheral vascular disease in your legs, stroke or heart attacks. Statins are often stopped for a week or so when we start certain antibiotics then restarted. Sounds like you'll be fine.

Oh thank you so much everyone for your replies at this late hour The local pharmacy is a Lloyds so I’ll get onto them 1st thing on Monday and hopefully they’ll be able to sort me out. If I get them on Monday I will only have missed 2 doses so hopefully no harm done.

If you're registered with a Scottish GP then a Scottish pharmacy can issue you with an emergency supply of your repeat meds 😊
They may not want to, but they can 😉

Speak to a pharmacist but I would have thought no side effects of missing a few days - 2 weeks might be different. I always trya nd carry a copy of my repeat prescriptions in my phone case so if nec can go to pharmacist and get a short few days supply if nec. I also had one situation where I forgot all 5 of mine for a 5 days away. Phoned GP at 3pm they issued a repeat for collection at a pharmacy close to where I was staying and I collected 5,30pm so it is possible. And that is even though normally my GP don't do phone repeats normally. Pharmacy will want you to do try this way before emergency prescription as that is only really for if GP closed apparently

You'll be fine. Statins are a "reduce your cholesterol" drug, and your cholesterol is currently reduced. It would take days/weeks to raise up again. Being off the statins for a while will at worst put your cholesterol up back towards where you were before.

Another thing to remember is that statins are prescribed to lower the cholesterol in your blood. It would make for a depressing holiday, but you could also deal with this for the time being by temporarily skipping all animal products. Personally, I couldn’t live without cheese, but for a couple of days, I’d do it. If I REALLY had to!

Go to your nearest pharmacy on Monday once the doctors are open. They should be able to sort it out if you and the doctors should issue and provide an emergency perscription. The pharmacy will need to speak to your doctor surgery to confirm dosage and what medication etc.

I work is a pharmacy and we had a the same situation a fee weeks back. The patients surgery was extremely helpful and faxed over an emergency perscription. We need a perscription if we have no history of the patients medication.

There is no need for you to do anything at all. Honestly.

@Satinstatin you don't need to wait until Monday. I called 111 for my MIL when forgot some of her meds while visiting us, it was 111 that sorted it all out and sent the prescription to the pharmacy. We only went to collect it.

If they call your GP on Monday and theres no one available to talk, you could be hanging around for ages while they try & sort it out

Pharmacist here. You are exceedingly unlikely to come to any harm from missing your statin for a week or two if you are taking them for “primary prevention” ie you haven’t actually had a heart attack or stroke. You’ve been prescribed to reduce a long term risk of these conditions. However you can either call your GP and explain the circumstances and ask them to send a prescription to a pharmacy near where you are hols, or contact nhs111 to speak to an out of hours on call GP.

As others have said I wouldn't worry at all for statins. If you had forgotten your bp medication than it would be different, but even then for a short while it wouldn't even put your bp up. Talk to a local chemist if it makes you feel better but it's not something that you cannot do without in the short term.

Thanks again all!

I missed taking my statins for 3 days now i.m worried

Don’t be worried Hentietta. I’m the OP and still alive, and still on Statins. I never came to any harm and wondered why I was in such a tizz looking back on it now. I ended up being off them for over a week. I found the advice on this thread very reassuring at the time though 🙂