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Emergency insulin supply from where

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SB2015

SB2015

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I will start by making it clear that I am nt in this position now, but having dealt with a problem over the bank holiday by filling a pump cartridge from a pen cartridge I am left with a question.

Is there a way of getting an emergency supply of insulin when you cannot get a prescription. I know that this should not occur, but with the best laid plans things do go wrong sometimes.
 
I am not sure about insulin but I was out once and had forgotten my metformin. I popped over to a chemist nearby and explained and they sold me one. I daresay if you show your prescription form and some kind of ID that it is you, that they might sell you some. Not as much as you would get on prescription, just enough to get you by and of course it will cost you regardless of whether you are exempt or not as they do not have a prescription to present to whoever.
 
a few years back I ran out of insulin on Easter Sunday... due to the fact that i thought i had insulin in the fridge but instead there was empty packets never in my life had i had done that before... any how, on easter Monday i took a copy of the repeat prescription request form to my local pharmacy at asda who knew me and knew i was diabetic and the worker wss diabetic too.. . i was already sky high sugar wise and literally had no energy but they turned me away...so off i went to a walk in centre who too turned me away... so i rang 111 who got me an out of hours gp appointment... just as I turned up to the surgery i was vomiting... so I was already in DKA... in the waiting room I was walking back in forth to the toilets being sick I don't know how i had the energy... i got the prescription for the insulin, had extremely low BP and was told i didn't need to go to a&e except i damn well knew that i did!! so off I went..and was in hospital for a week, and was told that it could have been prevented if Asda had just given me emergency supply of insulin!
so yes it is possible with proof but i guess some pharmacies are strict!
 
http://www.webmd.boots.com/nhs/running-out-of-medicine-over-bank-holidays :-
Pharmacists can often help with genuine emergencies where medication has run out and your GP's surgery is closed.
It will help to have a copy of a previous repeat prescription form or the packaging from the medication you've run out of with your name and details on it.

The pharmacist will make sure you are usually prescribed the medication and if there's a clear and immediate medical need for it, as well as being no other way to get the prescription.

The pharmacist will also make sure that the dose you ask for is considered suitable. A charge may be made for the medicines and this service, which may vary between pharmacies and the part of the UK where you live.
 
One bank holiday Sunday a few months ago, I ran out of my quick acting insulin, so I rang 111. They took my details and gave me the number of a nearby chemist that did emergency prescriptions. I rang them and made sure they had the humalog in stock. They told me to come down any time after 2pm that day and bring the empty box if I still had it. I went down and filled in a very short form for why I needed an emergency prescription (was pretty much just tick boxes) and was handed the humalog! All in all it was really easy!
 
I was staying at my mums house when my insulin went funny a few years back. We've since learnt that it was that my step father had the fridge too cold. It froze my insulin.

My mum at the time lived a long distance away. My gp wouldn't send a prescription to a pharmacy near my mums saying that I should visit her doctor. Her doctor wouldn't give me a prescription saying my doctor should send it down.

We did a walk in clinic and they would have turned me away too if it weren't for the fact that one of the nurses overheard me explaining my dilemma. Her sister is a type one and so she understood. She gave me a prescription but said normally they don't do that.

Since then I've been scared of this exact thing happening. So I think I would just go directly to the hospital if ever I was stuck. Especially being on the pump now. Just a couple of hours off the pump and my sugars will be sky high. A couple hours more and I'll be in diabetic ketone acidosis.

Oh, another time I was coming back from London (its when I lived there and came back at weekends) and someone stole my insulin case. I hadn't noticed until after I had eaten my dinner because I usually inject after food. I had had McDonald's too.

My diabetes centre who I rang back in Bognor agreed to leave a new pen and insulin with my husband (I was lucky, it was 6pm and they were officially closed but they were in late for a course). But that three hour coach journey home was the worst of my life. I was so ill.
 
A few years ago (well, now I think of it, it was quite a few years ago), I was driving from New York to Toronto and had an overnight stop en route. When I arrived in Toronto I realised I had left my insulin in the fridge of the hotel I had been staying in for the stop on the other side of the border. I went into a pharmacy who sold me enough insulin to last for the rest of my trip, as well as syringes as Canada had not discovered pens at the time. The pharmacist told me that a prescription was not needed. As I recall, you could then also get insulin in the UK without a prescription, if you were prepared to pay for it. I think it was made prescription-only when it was discovered that body-builders were abusing the stuff.
 
Not something you can necessarily rely on, but there are Facebook pages like Type 1 & 2 pay it forward where you can post just such a dilemma and if there is someone near you with same insulin etc, the idea is they help. Fortunately not yet been in the position to try it.
BrokenPancreas that is a shocking story 😱
 
Thanks for all the information.
I shall hopefully avoid the problem but good to hear of these solutions.
 
Not sure about smaller towns etc but, in larger cities, there is usually a pharmacy open somewhere on a holiday Monday. Even the big supermarkets have a pharmacy counter.

You could try turning up with an empty box/pack/phial/cartridge and asking for help.

If they can't help, they should be able to direct you to somewhere that can.
 
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