Vitamin D stopped

Vit D shouldn't be necessary and can harm the kidneys, like many of the vitamin pills do, so I wouldn't worry about not taking any. Oily fish is better for you.
There should be enough in the food you eat as well as being outdoors whether the sun shines or not.

I used to buy jars of malt and cod-liver oil during the winter months, but stopped it since taking warfarin as it interferes with the dosage.

. . .marydoll . . . if you lay naked in Dubai you probably wouldn't be getting any vit D . . . . you'd be locked up!! lol

The NHS is struggling so the Doctors have to cut don on prescribing things that people can buy in the supermarket or chemist,paracetamol is really cheap in supermarkets & so are vitamin tablets.I think we all have to realise that we can’t get everything free on prescription.There is no way the NHS can survive if we want everything free.Its different for people who have special health problems but on a whole I think we should all pay for paracetamol ,vitamins & sundries.

i buy my own iron tablets for 99p. its saves the NHS spending out £7.50p or whatever it is for a prescription...i was HRT for 5 years , then advised to take them no more as i could get breast cancer......i find locums interesting as they have a different view , and its solved a lot of my health problems.

I didnt ask my Dr for Vit D,but i would still prefer to see him before going off it, it is Vit D3 i buy other vitamins myself, but i reckon he must have had a reason for prescribing a higher dose
I have a blood condition so have to have regular blood tests,and a pint of blood taken every so often,if my ferritin gets too high
As it happens i still have some which will last me until i see him, he was off for 12 weeks, but could be back soon, not sure from when he was not at the surgery
I just dont want young locum Drs telling me what i can and cant have,i am sure my own Dr wont have said to stop them, also i am on livial [Tibilone] was thinking of going off them anyway, but would still rather see my own Dr
My sister was also on VitD3 and her new Dr said they had been told to stop prescribing due to cost
As far as i know most older people especially are short of VitD in this country
If i can get the same strength and my Dr agrees i dont mind buying them

Does anyone who buys their vitamins on Amazon know where those vitamins are made? What all they contain and where those ingredients were sourced from and or closely monitored for quality and or contaminants?

There's as much information on Amazon as anywhere else and most people only buy brands they know and trust.

Doctors prescribe all sorts without thinking about the cost my GP prescribed Aspirin but it's so cheap to buy I kept telling him not to bother but his attitude was you have to take it so I'm prescribing it. I just crossed it off the prescription and bought them foe something like 30p.

This thread rings more of politics than it does prescription drugs - What exactly is sacrificing what a doctor prescribes going to accomplish?

Yes, the PPG was a box tick. I chaired one, at the request of my GP. It was required, box ticked. Happy to help. We didn't try to interfere.

*There's certainly a lot of virtue-signalling on here - do those posters really see people who use prescriptions for supps/painkillers as freeloaders?

The vitamins prescribed by a doctor are usually a different strength to those bought over the counter, therefore are prescription only. If a doctor thinks it's ok to have a lower strength fair enough go out and buy them.

I take morphine for pain and that's only available on prescription as is the clexane I inject so obviously they have to be prescribed. Doctors should not be prescribing anything freely available without a prescription. Call it what you like it's wasting the nhs funds.

@FlexibleFriend, if you require aspirin, your doctor could be criticised for not including it on your prescription. It's your decision whether to claim it, and I think you made a good choice.

The CCGs are insisting that anything available OTC should be bought and not included on a prescription. But that in itself can be a hazard, if you are told to buy aspirin, and it is not in your listed medications, then it could interact with other medication and the doctor prescribing the new drug, or preparing you for surgery, would be unaware.

Locums are a major part of the NHS, adequately trained, and with any luck they will have read your notes before you come in, so a bit unfair to think they are useless and refusing to take their advice. Having said that, if you disagree with their advice, you are perfectly entitled to a second opinion.

I am fed up with people preaching to us to buy it from the chemist. Some of us have life treating conditions that are painful and we don't absorb vitamins. The ones bought in the chemist are totally different from the ones prescribed, as my doctor told me. So I feel perfectly justified in having my vitamins freely prescribed. Also when I needed vast amounts of paracetamol I was prescribed them. Now I have to take a stronger painkiller which you can't buy over the counter. If we are talking about people helping themselves more, and saving NHS money well the lets talk about smokers who harm themselves with their lifestyles etc. Rant over.

I think there has been a recent change in which prescriptions GP's are now allowed to prescribe. I take vit D3, B6 and B12 which I get from H&B. They do different strengths.

Nothing "prescribed" by a doctor is available over the counter -- nothing - Different producers, different ingredients, different monitoring of quality, different strengths - Prescribed drugs vs over the counter drugs: they are not at all identical -

I refuse to see a locum GP purely because they don’t know me and I always find they try and change my medication. I’m lucky because my GP surgery rarely have locums but if one of them tried to stop my HRT heaven help them!

I don’t agree with you rosecarmel a lot of over the counter meds are the same as those prescribed. I’m an advanced nurse prescriber and I could list probably a hundred otc drugs which are exactly the same.

I'm open to being proven incorrect, Matron - No need to list 100 - 5 would suffice -

I agree with Matron too. I am a retired GP.
Whether you claim say aspirin on your script or not ,it needs to be listed so everyone knows you are on it and can consider interactions/ side effects etc.

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

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

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?

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?