Medicine woes

My lungs have been a little worse then normal lately, might be related to all the bugs going around at this time of the year. I am on inhaled antibiotics, but decided this morning I really should go back on 20 days of Augmentin Duo Forte, an antibiotic that brings my lung infection under control. Doc reckons I should probably be on and off this antibiotic regularly on a preventative basis.

So anyways, off I go to my local GP to get my 20 days worth of pills. They were able to squeeze me in immediately as it was only for a regular prescription issue. The standard prescription for this drug is 5 days. The GP gives me the first two prescriptions and tells me to come back before it runs out (next week) and he'll give me the next prescription if I still need it... I go to the pharmacy with my repeat prescription and ask if they can issue both. Sometimes they do, but this time when i came to pick it up they had only issued one. Come back in 4 days for the other repeat. This means I need to go in 4 times to get my regular 20 days, and two visits to the GP.

What does this mean to society? Here I am with pretty much anti-biotic resistant bacteria in my lungs which are having a flare up requiring treatment. To get the standard treatment I need two visits to the GP and sit in a room full of sick and susceptible people and visit the pharmacy on four occasions where more sick people congregate. And do you think I feel particularly well when I have trouble breathing and wake up coughing every hour of the night? No. Does the pharmacy care? ‘Oh, regulation blah blah blah,…’. They do not care, they hear it all the time, and they must be tired of hearing about it as they certainly were not very friendly when I brought the subject up at Terry White’s at Fourways Devonport. This pharmacy recently changed hands. I think I will change pharmacy after today's really rude reception!