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Bloody GP!! Seething

Sorry need to vent. Need to be anonymous however and this seemed perfect.

I am a medical student on clinical placement years. I have epilepsy. It has been stable for past 2 years.

Today I found out that my GP switched my regular brand of meds to the generic one. I didn’t realise this but they were switched last month so I’ve been taking the new ones without knowing. Checked drugs today and noticed.

I’m absolutely fuming. AEDs are one of only a few classes where you CANNOT switch brand to generic. At least without talking to me first. Which they did not.

I could have had a seziure while driving, injuring myself and others. I could have had a seziure while on placement. I could have actually died (melodramatic sure, but I’ve been staying at hospital halls for the last placement so there was no one about if I did have one) or at least caused harm to myself and potentially affected my year at uni.

I’m so so cross. I actually can’t believe it. I’m going to ring him in the morning and demand explanation.
Final year friend has advised that I make a formal complaint about him. Messing with AEDs is not something that is done. We were taught that in 2nd year. Something I would expect a senior partner GP to know also.

Pointless but necessary to vent - seething here.

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

Surely you should report this to someone (imagine youre in an SJT haha) to make sure it doesnthappen again. Good luck :smile:

Reply 2

Little Popcorns

What’d you mean from AED to generic?

Reply 3

Anonymous #1

Original post by Little Popcorns

What’d you mean from AED to generic?

Like branded anti epileptics to the generic formula anti epileptics.

So instead of prescribing you nurofen (the brand) you could be prescribed ibuprofen (generic) and that would be fine.

But in AEDs they have a narrow therapeutic window and can also differ slightly in how they work/quality etc. between brand and generic which can have catastrophic effects for the patient. This is why they are only switched with the patients consent after being told all the risks. Usually once you are stable on a type you stick to it, and changing drugs can be just as bad for an epilepsy patient as stopping them suddenly

Reply 4

Little Popcorns

Original post by Anonymous

Oh okay so what brand were you on and why is the unbranded epileptic drug version so different?

Reply 5

Little Popcorns

Sorry on the app just seen that the q was answered already

Reply 6

Little Popcorns

Why might a doctor do that? Like what are the legitimate reasons for doing this switch with the patients consent?

Reply 7

Etomidate

Before you go blowing off the handle at your GP, be aware that many GP surgeries have pharmacists that essentially audit patient cases to fiddle prescribed brands/formulations as a cost-cutting measure. They may well be completely unaware that it happened.

But yes, agree this definitely should not have been done without your consent.

Reply 8

belis

I understand that NHS is under pressure to reduce costs. I have had my own bad experiences with it. Despite my protestations my inhalers were changed. I have ended up in ITU. Whatever amount was saved was completely lost on the account of that admission.

Even more annoying is asthma nurses lying through their teeth or having no bloody clue. They all full of assurance how the cheap generic is going to be 'exactly the same'. It is priceless to see their face when I point out that not only device is different, particle size is different but actually they are trying to give me a completely different steroid.

I think you are perfectly justified to complain. There needs to be some fact finding. It might have been the GP, other prescriber or even the pharmacist who got it wrong.

Reply 9

Anonymous #1

Thought I would update you all with what has happened.

Rang the GP and managed to talk to him over the phone. Turns out the powers that be have decided that Levitrimicam is as effective and similar enough between generic and brand (keppra). That's fair enough for me, they all received an email detailing this. As I've been on generic for a month I agreed that its ok to stay on as tbh if anything was going to happen it would have happened when I changed. I did make it clear that I should have been told of this and it wasn't right to have not been contacted before it changed.
The other issue is that i was on a particular generic type over christmas but my latest pick up the generic type was a different type again.
So I have made sure that I am happy enough to stay on the generic form ONLY if it remains the same generic one as i did not want to be changing every other month as that is just asking for issues and brain function is not something to mess with lol.

So pharmacist is happy (well, he had no other choice tbh) to make sure it is the same generic type every time.

So a workable outcome, just wished I had been notified first. I'm going to be having nightmares for a while however of what could have happened. If it happens again or they cannot keep me on the same brand I probably will make a formal complaint, which I think is reasonable.