And so the inevitable has happened. As I predicted in my blog here, medicines are being stockpiled due to catastrophising, and this panic is causing a national shortage. Drug manufacturers, the NHS, pharmacies and patients are storing or panic buying drugs in case of a no-deal Brexit. Why news items have to state that there might be a shortage of medicines I don’t know, because saying this will most certainly lead to a nationwide dearth of drugs.
I only take one medication, Levothyroxine, without which I’d be dead in about 3 months, as I have no thyroid gland. There’s a shortage of Levothyroxine powder for injection, but as yet no shortage of the actual tablets. Sam tells me I should start ordering the 25mcg dose more often, even though I only use it twice a week on top of my normal dose Stockpiling boxes of 25mcg Levothyroxine would then make me as bad as everybody else! However, Sam has an answer for this. He says that these days it’s every man (or woman) for themselves, and to get there first before somebody else does.
Sad isn’t it? I slowly grind to a halt without Levothyroxine; I know because I’ve had to come off it before in 2006 to have radioiodine treatment. After two weeks I was chronically fatigued and was reduced to lying on the sofa all day. My muscles were too painful to move, I was freezing cold all the time, and my eyesight was blurry. I had no appetite and didn’t want to eat, yet put on half a stone in weight. This was all rectified after about a week of taking one little white 100mcg Levothyroxine tablet every day.
I have no intention of becoming like this again if I don’t have to. So yes, I shall take Sam’s advice and order more Levothyroxine than I need to. There are many medications that do not cause death if they are not taken, but mine isn’t one of them. I have to take Levothyroxine if I want to stay alive, because my body does not produce it. People with a partially working thyroid will be okay in a national shortage for a lot longer than I would. Anyway, on a purely selfish note, I’ve got a few more books to write yet and I want to be able to move my fingers to type!
dgkaye said:
That is truly scary Stevie. I’m wondering how you can stockpile when a prescription is to last a given time? x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Maybe buy it from the Internet?
LikeLiked by 1 person
dgkaye said:
Never!!!!!!!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
I wouldn’t either, but some do. I think maybe it’s some of the 11,000 pharmacies in the country who are stockpiling, making shortages for others.
LikeLiked by 1 person
dgkaye said:
Now that wouldn’t surprise me! 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
OIKOS™-Publishing said:
Oh my gosh, never thought this Brexit would become such a crazy thing. Its really questionable what our politicans are doing. If medicine is in need, we in the high civilized part of the world have to provide it. But maybe it shows too, we can not really trust (all) our politicans. ;-( Hope no one will get hurt by missing her/ his medicine during this Brexit disaster. Best wishes, Michael
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Trust is a big issue, as you say. No, I don’t think they’re trustworthy at all, as they’re all after lining their own pockets.
LikeLiked by 1 person
OIKOS™-Publishing said:
So true, Stevie! Same all over the world. Hope is the only thing we have. Best wishes, Michael
LikeLiked by 1 person
Phil Huston said:
My wife got the first of the two shingles vaccines. Then part two was gone. Fortunately a pharmacist found her one. The company who makes it also makes the flu vaccine, to which (reportedly) they turned all their manufacturing efforts. For reasons unknown a blood pressure medication I was put on a number of years ago suddenly became unavailable. I panicked. Then I thought, wait, what If I don’t need it in conjunction with the others? So I eased off it with what I had left, went to the cardiologist for the first time in 3 years. She said “Let’s see.” After a month, and now three of the drug out of my regimen I feel better and my BP is fine, everyone is happy and I’m $40 richer a month.
Have you wondered if the pharma companies aren’t doing as the oil companies and creating, then capitalizing on the catastrophy mindset? Artificially driving up demand and prices to clear the warehouses and raise stock prices before the board meetings?
Seriously, no conspiracy theorist, but who benefits from this catastrophy thinking?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
It’s probably the most likely theory, and I’m not surprised at all that you feel better without taking a number of tablets that all react with one another inside the body.
LikeLike
franklparker said:
I, too, hope you never run out of your life giving drug. As for Clive’s comment, the Leave campaign had only one objective and no clue about the possible consequences. The Remain campaign speculated about possible consequences – despite also having no real idea – and were dismissed as Project Fear. An article I saw yesterday pointed out how ignorant we all were – and still are – about our entanglement with the EU and how it had been made the scapegoat for all our problems. I guess, now, the reverse will happen – Brexit will be blamed for everything.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
As usual, the politicians promise much but deliver little.
LikeLike
tidalscribe said:
This does demonstrate how amazing all the anonymous scientists and chemists are who have gone before and discovered/ invented all these drugs. No doubt some people take too many they don’t need, but also plenty of folk who owe their lives or are able to be free of pain.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
It’s also why we’re all living longer I think. Before all these medicines were invented people didn’t live much past 50 or 60.
LikeLiked by 1 person
jenanita01 said:
Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Thanks for re-blogging!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Julie G said:
What a crazy world. My mother depends on antifungal drugs for a condition called Aspergilosis and without them her lungs with explode, one small vessel at a time until she bleeds to death. Sickening to think life preserving medications could be limited. 💖
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
Yes, it’s scary. Let’s hope all the panic will die down soon…
LikeLike
Clive said:
I hope this doesn’t cause you any problems, but isn’t it crazy that the country is in this situation? I wonder why the Leave campaign didn’t mention things like this during the referendum – this is a political mess and politicians need to find a way out of it.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Stevie Turner said:
And Brexit hasn’t even happened yet…
LikeLike
Ellen Hawley said:
Selfishly, I’m glad you have enough to get you through. But the whole thing’s crazy, and if anyone had handled this mess even remotely responsibly wouldn’t be necessary.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Stevie Turner said:
Absolutely. It’s sensationalism by the press to sell newspapers, which causes panic buying and eventual shortages.
LikeLiked by 3 people
robertawrites235681907 said:
I do agree with Sam, Stevie. Make sure you see to your needs.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Stevie Turner said:
I wouldn’t mind so much if I could live without it, but I can’t!
LikeLiked by 1 person
srbottch said:
Unbelievable how this could happen but when faced with dire circumstances, people will find a way to survive. I wish you the best with your health issue. By the way, I’ve been taking Lthyroxine at 100mcg for a number of years on a daily basis for low thyroid. Of course, I’m in the US.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Stevie Turner said:
I wish I was at the moment…
LikeLiked by 1 person