refill of US perscription?

Can one get a US perscription refilled in the UK?  We've just arrived, and I have about 3 weeks left of my medicine.  I have a bottle which has four more refills on it.  (And I did try to get extra before I left--after failing a several month battle with an admistrative blip at my US HMO, I never managed to get it)  Can I get it refilled?  Or do I have to make a doctors appointment and get a new script?

Also, does anyone have any experience in how easy it is to convince a doctor that you need the script?  Can I just show them the medicine and they'll perscribe it, or will they want to somehow determine that I  need it themselves?

Thanks,
Anne

You'll need to take your prescription to a doctor, who will look to see if the medicine is available in the UK (or if it's called something else).  If it's not available here, you should get a close equivalent.  Then you'll just take it to Boots or wherever and get it filled.

are you still covered by your US HMO?  Do they have a online/telephone pharmacy?  If so, you can go that route.

I did that for the first 6-9 months until I got everything else (car, telephone, life) sorted.

Going to the doctor here is easy- first register with a local surgery.  Sometimes they ask that you have an initial appointment w/ nurse, take blood pressure, history, etc.  I didn't have to, I just saw a doctor two weeks after I registered.  I took the bottles of the RX I was on, and he perscribed the UK equivelent.  Then you take to any chemist and get them refilled, for £6.50 each. NOTE: in the UK all birth control pills are free, and you are entitled to free rx if you fall into a long list of categories: pregnant, child under 1 year, long term illness (thryoid condition, etc), etc.... If you don't fall into one of those categories, and you get frequent, recurring rx then you can prepay for your RX, entitling you to a slight discount.   

Thanks!  I registered yesterday, and I have an appointment with a nurse, then a doctor, next week.

are you still covered by your US HMO?  Do they have a online/telephone pharmacy?  If so, you can go that route.

No, unfortunately not...  a couple more weeks of phone calls and I might have even gotten the extra 3 months they promised me (I felt like we were gettting close...), but now I can't, as I don't have them anymore

NOTE: in the UK all birth control pills are free, and you are entitled to free rx if you fall into a long list of categories: pregnant, child under 1 year, long term illness (thryoid condition, etc), etc....

Thanks, I didn't know that...  Where does one find out about the long term illness thing?  Will the Dr know?  I have to take this medicine forever, although I don't know if it would count as an illness, as they never really figured out what was wrong, just that the medicine fixed it!  It would be nice if I could get it free...

Anne

what is covered in a medical exemption certificate is not logical (at least not to me)  for example, I have a thyroid condition.  I need to take a pill for the rest of my life.  during my first visit with a doctor here, my doctor told me that I was entitled to free rxs for the rest of my life (not just my thryoid medication, but all medications).  he had a form (called FP92A) that he signed and then I signed, and they sent off to NHS.  a few weeks later I got a card in the mail.  in the interim I had to get a rx filled and paid the £6.50.  I saved the reciept for this £6.50 and took it, my new card, to a post office and got a refund. 

but... I know that asthma isn't covered by medical exemption.  look through the following links, but ask your doctor to be sure.

the following link shows who's able to get reduced or free rx's on the nhs:
http://www.cfsms.nhs.uk/files/HC81.pdf#search='medical%20exemption%20card%20nhs'

the following link show's which conditions are covered by medical exemption, page 29-30:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/07/80/85/04078085.pdf

this link is much easier.  it also covers pre-payment of rx's...
http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/09/15/47/04091547.pdf

Arden,

You've been vague about your condition, which is understandable given you're on a public board. Like meggles, I also have a thyroid condition, which entitles you to free medication not just for that but for anything (very fortunate, in my case, because I need several other prescriptions). Even if you don't get your meds for free, depending on where you live, meds are dirt cheap here compared with their cost in the States (in  southeast England, all NHS prescriptions cost £7.50). Along with hypo- or hyperthyroidism, epilepsy and diabetes, along with a few other categories, fall under the "free meds" category here. Be prepared for a lot of blood tests, though. If what you have is chronic, you'll probably be allowed to get your prescription refilled, although you might not get it for free if it doesn't fall under an NHS category. Regardless, that's one of the great things about this country. My father-in-law, who has severe arthritis, is taking a new painkiller for it that would normally cost £10,000 a year (yes, 10,000) through the NHS. He gets it for free, I believe, or, at max, at £7.50. Imagine the U.S. equivalent.

Suzanne

suzanne- i agree compeltely.  my grandmother in the US stopped taking a ostoartheritis (sp?) drug b/c it was too expensive for her.  she switched herself to calcium tablets instead.  she has now developed a irrigular heart beat which they think was made worse by her calcium tablets and going off the ostoartheritis drug.  i think how lucky i will be if i retire here- i don't have to make those difficult decisions regarding which medications i can afford. -meg

Great!  Thanks for the links!

I'll talk to the doctor, but I have a feeling I won't count.  Mostly I'm vague about  my condition because my condition is vague!  Several of the conditions listed as exempt were ones that they thought were possibilities (I must've had my thyroid tested a dozen times), but eventually the doctors threw up their hands and said "some kind of autonomic nervous system imbalance"--and since the medicine fixed my most troublesome symptom (tachycardia and shortness of breath with mild exertion) I was happy to end my ten-month tour of medical testing facilities with a cure, if not a diagnosis.

And I am very glad to be entering the NHS.  Even £6.50 a month is a bargain, so I'm happy.  I've also just left a nightmare of health insurance problems (ironically, unrelated to the above stream of tests) so I am very relieved to know I won't have to deal with anything like that here.

even if you're not able to get free rx you can buy a pre-pay voucher- which is a reduction on your monthly rx... don't know anything about it as i don't need it but ask dr.