No more ordering prescription opiates from online pharmacies after 31st July

[Zopiclone bandit]

Why are they taking Zopiclone off there for?

They have ZERO value & are truly horrible, only godamn idiots snort them & those kinda people should be locked up in a cage & sent to North Korea imho.

Kinda lucky my man dropped off more Zopiclone to me on Friday than I've ever seen in my life as his stopping them as he had a weird turn a few days ago so his turned loads to me for a very decent price.

Who's laughing now huh NHS?............

(They are the Sandoz type too, not some weird shit from India or Thailand)

 

[Zopiclone bandit]

I feel like this is part of my "initiation" into the group or something.....lmao

My God you got off light, my initation to the group went like this!??!!!?!

 

[Wilson Wilson]

Good luck getting anything stronger than Ibuprofen or Paracetemol from your GP - this isn't America. I have chronic pain and that's all they'll give me. You really need to be referred to a pain specialist to get anything stronger.

btw, the site I told you about in my private message doesn't ask any questions or require doctors letters or anything like that, so it's worth checking out

This is fully at the discretion of the individual GP and also depends on your local CCG's guidelines. I know people who have even managed to climb up to oxy pretty easily without ever seeing a pain specialist just through their NHS GP's. I literally knew someone who went to her GP, complained her tramadol was not working, and got handed an oxy script. On the other hand I have known others who just get fobbed off with co-codamol or tramadol - happened to my mate recently.

But my GP is a good one, and I have things in my medical history which will up my chances of a reasonable script. I'll see how it goes anyway. Worst that can happen is I get denied or only given co-codamol. But keep in mind I once phoned up my GP asking for DHC for another condition and was literally asked point blank: "sure you don't want anything stronger?"

This is not a GP who is skittish about handing out opioids or other CD's for that matter (my mates joke I'm the luckiest man in the country with the scripts I get). If he thinks it's necessary for me to have proper painkillers, I should get them, or so history tells me. I just need to make sure he understands I do in fact have a need for them and that they are the right option for my condition.

I have bookmarked that link though! But will see how things go with my GP first. My chances of getting at least DHC are I think reasonable. Oramorph might be a jump too far. Or maybe something for later down the line. But I can mention it without raising eyebrows because I've been scripted it before. Nothing dodgy about mentioning meds you've had scripted in the past. So I'll see how he reacts and go from there. I'm not expecting Oramorph but I also don't expect DHC to be a difficult thing for me to get.

Why are they taking Zopiclone off there for?

They have ZERO value & are truly horrible, only godamn idiots snort them & those kinda people should be locked up in a cage & sent to North Korea imho.

Kinda lucky my man dropped off more Zopiclone to me on Friday than I've ever seen in my life as his stopping them as he had a weird turn a few days ago so his turned loads to me for a very decent price.

Who's laughing now huh NHS?............

(They are the Sandoz type too, not some weird shit from India or Thailand)

I recently got my hands on Sandoz zolpidem, white blank pills with a score mark on one side, looked like those RC pellets, but they were blister packed good stuff.

But there was never any point buying zops off those pharmacies anyway, they charged insane prices I mean £50 for a single blister pack! I doubt many people were paying that...

 

[Zopiclone bandit]

Fucking how much you say?!!???!!?!?!
For that price I'd be getting around 150.

 

[LIE495]

More typical knee jerk reactions that will do more harm then good. So now they will have ppl looking for alternatives with no clue what they are doing then end up another statistic. What another body to them stacked on to the foundation of the mess they made, nothing !

 

[Wilson Wilson]

Good luck getting anything stronger than Ibuprofen or Paracetemol from your GP - this isn't America.

You know turns out you were right. This certainly isn't America. Because these days, post-"epidemic", any Yank who went to their doc and straight up asked for opiates would be marked a drug seeker and laughed out of there.

But this is the UK so I walked in, asked for prescription painkillers, and just got back from the pharmacy...

Now I simply gotta climb the ladder. GP scripted these and said - work out how effective they are and what dose you require then we'll discuss what you'll get on repeat. So this box is to test how effective DHC is for my needs and what dose is enough so we can work out what repeat script I should get.

No mention of referral to a pain specialist even though I'm getting a repeat opioid script straight off. No reluctance for any of this. Just whacked me on DHC and said work out how effective it is and we'll decide together what you'll get on repeat.

Only stipulation is my doc has made it clear he wants me on time release painkillers in the long-term as they're "less addictive". So I'm looking at either a nice high dose of time release DHC (which would be actual brand name DF118 Forte!) or a lower dose of morphine time release or both (DF118 Forte for regular pain, morphine for breakthrough pain, in which case the morphine would be IR perhaps even the Oramorph liquid I covet so dearly). Not expecting to get any kind of oxy, but to be honest I prefer morphine. So if I can get even a small quantity of morphine for breakthrough I'm happy.

But right now I'm just happy to have a proper NHS opiate script and an understanding GP who is happy to talk openly and work with me on deciding my long-term opioid treatment. Keeping in mind I do actually have real back pain and chronic back pain runs in my family so I have a legit need for these. In fact I took around ~300mg DHC today and still feel my back pain flaring up so I really hope I can get something stronger out of this even if only in small amounts for breakthrough. GP wasn't willing to give me anything above DHC on the first go which is perfectly understandable but the whole point is trying out the DHC, seeing how well it works, then discussing my needs once I've given it a go. At the very least I am getting a high dose of DHC on repeat. At best I will get something even better in place of or alongside the DHC.

Anyway god bless the NHS and thank fuck this ain't America! If anything it feels like we're America 10 years ago. Shit is handed out like sweeties. No "opioid epidemic" here

 

[Forever Changes]

Nice work

I'll have to try and find a GP willing to prescribe me some good stuff. Unfortunately all the GPs in my new surgery seem to be pretty concientous and strict, especially the young hotshots just out of med school and the wimmin docs. Years ago I had a crazy old Trinidadian GP but I believe he got struck off the GMC medical register

If you have back pain, isn't that like neuropathic pain? I thought opioids are used more for acute pain than chronic pain. I have chronic pain (which often becomes acute) and neither codeine or DHC does jack shit for it

 

[Wilson Wilson]

Nice work

I'll have to try and find a GP willing to prescribe me some good stuff. Unfortunately all the GPs in my new surgery seem to be pretty concientous and strict, especially the young hotshots just out of med school and the wimmin docs. Years ago I had a crazy old Trinidadian GP but I believe he got struck off the GMC medical register

If you have back pain, isn't that like neuropathic pain? I thought opioids are used more for acute pain than chronic pain. I have chronic pain (which often becomes acute) and neither codeine or DHC does jack shit for it

Cheers!

I also think the fact I'm only being given time release pills on repeat is a nice bit of arse covering. But I'm fine with that as long as the time release actually works properly. The focus on time release is also good because it suggests my doc is focusing more on the form of the medicine rather than the medicine itself. As in if you consider time release painkillers to be less abusable and addictive, the jump from DHC to morphine (the next logical step under NICE guidelines) is not as much of a huge deal, as long as they're time release both are considered to have less abuse and addiction potential than regular IR opiates. So it follows time release morphine would be looked at as simply having more side effects rather than being more addictive per se.

I have to say I'm happy with this turn of events. I chose to go the legit route through my doctor precisely because I want to have medical oversight. Already the way I think about using this stuff has changed. No longer am I just nabbing boxes of 100 off online pharmacies who are happy to sell me 200 a month no questions asked. Now I'm in an open dialogue with my doctor about my needs. I am taking this properly seriously. A far more healthy and medical approach. I wish I'd done it sooner.

And no, chronic back pain is not necessarily neuropathic. Chronic back pain can be either neuropathic or nociceptive or mixed. The nature of the pain will determine how the doctor treats it. The simple version is, if your pain is burning and stinging and spreads around your body then it is neuropathic and you get put on pregabalin, gabapentin, or one of a few different antidepressants. However if your pain is aching and localised to a specific part of the body then it is considered nociceptive which basically means pain caused by external stimuli, e.g. normal pain caused by some sort of injury. That's what they use opioids for. This can be chronic if the injury is recurring. According to the NHS site they have no idea why this happens in some people, but it is a common condition.

Usually neuropathic pain is considered to be "unexplained pain" i.e. fibromyalgia. Generally they will not use opioids for that, instead it's the gabapentinoids and AD's I listed above. Whereas if the pain is nociceptive they diagnose the cause as usually a torn or sprained muscle or slipped disc in the case of back pain. As they know the cause is a physical injury they're happy to use opiates for it even if the pain is chronic, just so long as the patient responds well to that treatment and follows other treatment recommendations (basically not looking to rely only on painkillers, but also exercising etc).

So if you've been told you have neuropathic pain that could very well be why the docs are reluctant to script you any opioids. They're not shown to be effective for neuropathic pain and the NHS is very careful to only give out opioids if they're believed to be necessary and effective.

 

[Forever Changes]

I have pronated feet which means I have no arches. This causes me a lot of pain when I walk and severely restricts what I can do. I don't know if it's neuropathic pain or what, but it's painful and there isn't much I can do about it except live with it

 

[Wilson Wilson]

I have pronated feet which means I have no arches. This causes me a lot of pain when I walk and severely restricts what I can do. I don't know if it's neuropathic pain or what, but it's painful and there isn't much I can do about it except live with it

It sounds to me since that's pain with a physical cause it should be nociceptive. Is the pain aching or burning? Is it localised to one injured area or does it spread? Those two questions are mostly how doctors distinguish nociceptive and neuropathic pain.

But as a layman, since your pain has a direct physical cause, it sounds to me as if you're in legitimate need of opiates. I would challenge a GP and ask why you're not being given them considering the nature of your condition and stress how bad the pain is, how much it affects your functioning and your life, etc.

 

[MomaDance]

this sucks. Going to have to go Dark

Exactly

 

[Captain.Heroin]

lol yay let's make otherwise sick and dying, in-pain people who might not be able to comfortably go to a pharmacy GO TO THE PHARMACY for their damn pills!

sick. People should be allowed to get their meds home delivered. Who the fuck cares if you support a big chain pharmacy or the small online ones. WHO CARES. What happened to free enterprise.

 

[Wilson Wilson]

lol yay let's make otherwise sick and dying, in-pain people who might not be able to comfortably go to a pharmacy GO TO THE PHARMACY for their damn pills!

sick. People should be allowed to get their meds home delivered. Who the fuck cares if you support a big chain pharmacy or the small online ones. WHO CARES. What happened to free enterprise.

To be entirely fair mate this does not affect people who are sick and dying with a regular NHS script from getting meds delivered. Codeine and DHC are either effectively uncontrolled or schedule 5 depending on the dose. That means any pharmacy - local, chain, online, whatever - can deliver it to their house if they are given an electronic NHS script. That ability is not being taken away.

What is being taken away is the ability to order online prescriptions for these drugs privately without your GP knowing just by filling out a form online. This won't impact sick and dying people as they're likely to get meds off the NHS anyway. But it will affect addicts who rely on these sites for their supply. It will push a lot of people onto the DNM or the streets and likely then onto harder drugs.

 

[Shay the supermom]

My God you got off light, my initation to the group went like this!??!!!?!

Hahaha! Thats awesome!!!?? Great movie too!!

 

[apocalypse_when]

To be entirely fair mate this does not affect people who are sick and dying with a regular NHS script from getting meds delivered. Codeine and DHC are either effectively uncontrolled or schedule 5 depending on the dose. That means any pharmacy - local, chain, online, whatever - can deliver it to their house if they are given an electronic NHS script. That ability is not being taken away.

What is being taken away is the ability to order online prescriptions for these drugs privately without your GP knowing just by filling out a form online. This won't impact sick and dying people as they're likely to get meds off the NHS anyway. But it will affect addicts who rely on these sites for their supply. It will push a lot of people onto the DNM or the streets and likely then onto harder drugs.

While schedule 1 CDs can't be sent across to the chemist electronically and haven't been able to fit some time, your pharmacist delivery driver will still drive to the surgery and collect the script, take it back to the shop and then drop the drugs off at your home as long as their is someone (anyone) there to sign for them.....

I have this done all the time for morphine pills or fent patches.

 

[Wilson Wilson]

While schedule 1 CDs can't be sent across to the chemist electronically and haven't been able to fit some time, your pharmacist delivery driver will still drive to the surgery and collect the script, take it back to the shop and then drop the drugs off at your home as long as their is someone (anyone) there to sign for them.....

I have this done all the time for morphine pills or fent patches.

That's what I was saying. This won't affect people getting regular NHS scripts delivered the normal way at all. Just the online private consultations.

Although my local pharmacy has told me they cannot deliver my meds to me because they're schedule II controlled drugs. The GP surgeries are slowly setting up new systems throughout the country that will let you request refills online for CD's now. But my pharmacist has told me that they can't deliver my meds to my house because they're schedule II. I was also told that I can't ring in advance to get them stocked so they're ready for pickup when I bring my script in because they need the script because they can put in the order with their supplier.

No idea if this is actually the law or just a precaution my local pharmacy takes.

It seems chains and independent pharmacies are different though. A chain pharmacy will have a CD safe to store the goodies along with all the extra paperwork and stock tracking required. Most independent pharmacies cba with the expense of all this so just order the CD's in as needed. And there's no chains near me only the local independents.

But yes you can send someone to pick the meds up from the pharmacy on your behalf. I know a cabbie who does this all the time. Think he has to bring ID of the person the script is for and sign some kind of form when he does it though.

Btw I think you mean schedule II not schedule I. If a drug is schedule I it cannot be prescribed. Schedule II is the highest level of control a prescription drug can have under the Medicines Act. If you look at your next script it will say "sign here for Schedule II or III medications" in that little box in the top right.

Morphine pills are schedule II under the Medicines Act. Although Oramorph 10mg/5ml liquid is only schedule 5 because it's considered low concentration which effectively makes it uncontrolled. Mad really innit.

 

[apocalypse_when]

That's what I was saying. This won't affect people getting regular NHS scripts delivered the normal way at all. Just the online private consultations.

Although my local pharmacy has told me they cannot deliver my meds to me because they're schedule II controlled drugs. The GP surgeries are slowly setting up new systems throughout the country that will let you request refills online for CD's now. But my pharmacist has told me that they can't deliver my meds to my house because they're schedule II. I was also told that I can't ring in advance to get them stocked so they're ready for pickup when I bring my script in because they need the script because they can put in the order with their supplier.

No idea if this is actually the law or just a precaution my local pharmacy takes.

It seems chains and independent pharmacies are different though. A chain pharmacy will have a CD safe to store the goodies along with all the extra paperwork and stock tracking required. Most independent pharmacies cba with the expense of all this so just order the CD's in as needed. And there's no chains near me only the local independents.

But yes you can send someone to pick the meds up from the pharmacy on your behalf. I know a cabbie who does this all the time. Think he has to bring ID of the person the script is for and sign some kind of form when he does it though.

Btw I think you mean schedule II not schedule I. If a drug is schedule I it cannot be prescribed. Schedule II is the highest level of control a prescription drug can have under the Medicines Act. If you look at your next script it will say "sign here for Schedule II or III medications" in that little box in the top right.

Morphine pills are schedule II under the Medicines Act. Although Oramorph 10mg/5ml liquid is only schedule 5 because it's considered low concentration which effectively makes it uncontrolled. Mad really innit.

Yeah, i mean schedule 2 not 1 but they definitely can be delivered to your home as I've just had this done yesterday and every week as I can't walk or drive to the pharmacy.. Maybe it's just yours saying they can't. It's definitely true that as a rule they won't order the meds in without having possession of the actual script (assuming they don't already stock it) although some small independents show leniency if they know you well personally...

I've had over a decade of schedule 2 med scripts now and have seen the law change a lot..... In fact i remember getting a MST script for a broken leg from parachuting back in 1997 and they had to be written by hand in actual pen and ink as this was thought safer than computer and less prone to forgery which in hindsight seems absurd.

There's actually a more highly concentrated oramorph in the BNF that is schedule 2 although I forget the dose but it comes in individual use plastic amps IIRC.

Also at work my oramorph was locked in the same safe as my morphine amps and IV and rectal diazepam and all went into the same CD book even though at the time they weren't all CDs in the regular sense and a senior paramedic (ECCM) would have to do regular spot checks of what i had and what i had used.... Was a pain in the arse, especially if you were sent to work from another station and your morphine and diazepam were locked in your locker at your base station and dispatch would send you on jobs without letting you collect it first..... Happened all the time....

 

[Wilson Wilson]

Hmm maybe it is just my local pharmacy who don't like doing deliveries of CD's then. No idea why, maybe there's certain regulations they have to follow to do so and they cba. Same as only chains having CD safes. Lots of regulations on how they have to be stored, what records must be kept, and so on. Easier for them to just order the shit when someone comes in with a script and tell them to pick it up tomorrow.

Private docs actually do still use handwritten prescription pads. They have white ones for normal prescriptions and I think... green was it? For CD's. I don't think it was green actually, but for sure some type of coloured paper for the CD scripts. All handwritten still though when you get scripts off private docs.

And yeah Oramorph is in practice treated as a CD usually even though it isn't. And the one that is schedule 2 is 20mg/ml compared to the normal 10mg/5ml. The 20mg/ml is Oramorph Concentrated Oral Solution.