Vitamin D stopped

Callistemon ... Yes, I'm in the US ...

And I may have assumed that over the counter products are not the same as prescribed products all over the globe - Only because evidence points more towards the fact that they are not ... Because they are not!

Say you bake a chocolate cake, from a box, and your mate does too - You use butter, your mate oil - Both are chocolate cakes, are they not? (Yes!) But are they the same? (No!)

Here is a fun article that points to and pins down the truth -- and entertains, too ..

www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/generic-drugs-the-same-but-not/388592/

I know this is not the topic, but i saw a locum a few months ago and something i had been struggling with for over 5 years she diagnosed and i will be eternally grateful, my regular GP kept fobing me off. I need to buy fat soluble vitamins for this condition but its what do i cut down on to get them. Its not always black and white.

rosecarmel why on earth would you not believe a GP and an advanced nurse practitioner?

Jane10 I wondered too

rosecarmel are you in America where perhaps medical matters are more money-driven and there could be over-prescription of some drugs for profit purposes?

Anja, this was a rigorous scientific study conducted over 10 years with a sample size of of 30,000 and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. No way was this ‘pseudoscience’. And trust me, I speak from experience, it is very, very hard to get a research paper accepted by prestigious medical journals. It is not something ‘anyone’ can do. Oh dear me no.

Locum not locus, blasted auto correct.

A locus saved my husband life as his own doctor kept saying it was his age but the young locum thought differently and my husband was admitted into hospital very quickly with a life threatening kidney problem, thankfully solved.

rosecarmel why on earth would you not believe a GP and an advanced nurse practitioner?

Mumofbadboys : "Locums are often younger and may be more up to date with current knowledge. Just saying!"

exactly this, as OH used to say after covering for his older partners when on holiday or sick. He was often amazed and more, at their prescribing, to say the least.

Alright, then - A pharmacist - Thank you for the correction - Perhaps one will respond and provide proof -- either way -

When given paracetamol to take home, following my second hip replacement, the only difference I noticed on the packaging was the manufacturer not potency to what I had, in the past, purchased over the counter.

I have read and heard time and again that the younger people in the medical industry are up to speed because they've a wealth of information at their fingertips -

But all that knowledge isn't worth a dime of they don't apply it wisely - Right now, they are doing what they want with that knowledge - And doing to whomever is in their care, sometime carelessly - They've really not enough experience, it seems -

A representative from a Japanese pharmaceutical company was given access to patients records at my gp practice. Without me seeing my gp he suggested I take vit d tablets. Issues of patient confidentiality and what was his agenda here. I’m reasonably fit without medication thanks.

It’s a Pharmacist you want to respond, not a chemist. But I can assure you the otc meds’ are the same as those prescribed. Why do you think a Pharmacist would suggest buying a drug eg Anusol if it’s cheaper than the price of a prescription?

Inert / inactive ingredients are worth taking into consideration, each carries the potential to respond differently in different bodies - Because just like people, vitamins and pharmaceuticals are not identical -

Usually, you get what you pay for - If something is cheap, it ends up being unsatisfactory - But when it comes to drugs, there's no telling until it's ingested or applied - Despite prices -

Ibuprofen isn't created equally - One brand might upset your stomach while another doesn't - One is a gelcap, another a tablet, another a capsule, another caplet -- each containing different ingredients - Each a different quality or actually contain cross contaminants from facilities not closely monitored -

Frankly, I am shocked at the professional discourtesy shown by the locum. I would mention it to your GP when he comes back.

Whether or not you could or should buy the vitamins yourself isn't really the point as I see it.

Changing your doctor's prescriptions is a criticism of him, and likely to upset or worry the patient, which is why I find it wrong of the locum.

Thank you, kwest - People who walk on eggshells, tiptoeing off to the store to buy vitamins they can either easily or barely afford, and are doing so out of fear because they think if they accept the meds prescribed to them that the system will crash, they aren't protesting anything at all - Nor are they heroes -

It does not matter which company produce say Ibuprofen. The 200 mg ones will all contain 200 mg regardless of who made them. Some drugs such as anti epileptics very occasionally have different bioavailabilty and absorb slightly differently from the gut but this is the exception. In this case it is important ,if possible, to stick to the same company's tablets .

Sorry to sound harsh but I bet if it was an emergency you’d take a Dr that ‘didn’t know’ you - and had no knowledge of your med history. This locus had all your previous notes notes. God Bless the NHS - we’d be stuffed without it and need to stop acting like it is a bottomless pit

May I ask if any of the people protesting are on the basic state pension? If so where is there any money left over for buying vitamins? Household rates have increased by a huge amount this year. Utility bills are becoming eye-watering. I cannot see where the spare funds are mean't to be. I do get annoyed when people are casual about this sort of thing. Some people are already living hand to mouth.

When a gp prescribes something such as Aspirin they don't prescribe a particular brand so the chemist will give you a generic over the counter Aspirin as long as it's the same strength.

Isn't is kind of like saying that both brand name drugs are the same as generic?

It seems, to me, that it would be a doctor's responsibility to know the difference and provide patients with such information -

Matron, can you prove that over the counter drugs are identical to prescription drugs?

For example, is the production of something as common as Ibuprofen processed exactly the same from once facility to the next?

Thus far, two (2) professions have been listed:

1) advanced nurse prescriber
2) retired GP

But no proof that prescription drugs are identical to over the counter drugs -

Is there a chemist in the room?

rosecarmel as you requested. Pain relief such as Co.Codamol (lower dose8/500mgs), Canestan, Anusol, Ibuprofen, Hydrocortisone cream &Ointment, Sumatriptan (for Migraine)

Locums are often younger and may be more up to date with current knowledge. Just saying!