Nowhere to turn to.. safe to do this alone??

It isn't luck you need, it is planning.

Otherwise you will turn up on the day, full of confidence and then when the GP says what's wrong, you will turn into a gibbering wreck, forgetting all the stuff you have learnt and were ready to present it in a professional way.

You have the weekend to think about it and write it down on a piece of A4, so it is there written in front of you, for when your mind goes blank. Take it with you, it will be a great confort blanket.

I've lost count of the number of times I've been to see my GP, 5 mins later in the car park, I'm thinking why didn't I say I've tried that and it made no difference. Why didn't I ask him to repeat something, etc etc!

as RHGB suggests, write down exactly what you want to know. If you need to read something, or have it explained write it down. If you have to explain where you got your information from, again look at your notes.

I know first hand that it's not that easy to remember everything I wanted to say, but by writing it down I had something to focus on, get my thoughts into

some kind of order. RHGB is correct, you will forget something you feel is important, come out of the surgery thinking "why didn't I ask that, I should have told him about headaches, good luck and post how you got on

Dear dear Kentish Brilliant !! what a huge step you have taken to pave the way for your happier and healthier future and your determination to get there ...We will all be anxiously waiting to hear the result of your GP appointment on Monday . Please Please 1) Turn up and 2) Say it as it is. ! .. and hopefully all the rest will follow..I have been looking at my phone which has been willing me to pick it all week and make that call lol I still can't decide GP or refer straight ARC to try and get meds ..Some of the ARC stuff I have read sounds pretty daunting...But then they say No pain No gain !

I am so pleased that you are striving forward with this

Well done you !😍xx

Well done, but seriously don't leave anything to chance.

DO NOT wait for her to look up Naltrexone on her PC!!!

PRINT OUT THAT LINK I SENT YOU, hand it to her and tell her that you have already done some research and you want to be assessed for it.

Hi Nat. I hope I haven't put you off of ARCs. I lost my temper which is very counterproducive 😳 do what RH has suggested to Kentish write everything down. I don't believe these counsellors are used to dealing with people who have actually done some research. Now that hubby's mind is back on the planet I am going to STFU and let him speak at meeting today. Good luck and in the words of RH write everything down x

Ok have it printed will do.

No JulieAnne you haven't put me off ..it's kind of a case of me making an informed decision on who to see...I .m thinking GP now first as I know he is a great listener although this problem has not been discussed with a GP for over 25 yrs...but it will be on record somewhere so it's a starting point.Thats the go hard bit ! I will write lots down as RH suggested . There is so much help on here , I need to get my head together now and arm myself with all the right information ..I am just wondering how it might be viewed by the professionals as I am not drinking much now due to the nalmafene .. Positively I hope !

You are fighting so hard for your hubby , its fantastic he has so much wonderful support from you ... N x

Hi Nat so glad you are still moving forward. The first step is always the hardest isn't it? Hubby is doing well now. Going to take Campral to help with cravings. He still wants to start Naltrexone at some point but his mind and body need to recover. Using more CBT this time as AA does not seem to be working for him. I will be thinking of you and everyone else on here. Great bunch of people xx

Hi RH yeah absolutely! Write a plan Kentish. Brain seems to empty when I am sitting in front of a GP, soo annoying x

Nat

when you go to see your GP with your printed information about TSM, don't be surprised if he/she won't look at it. I went a couple of years ago and the dr said "do you honestly think I have the time in a ten minute appointment to read a load of garbage off

the Internet. If I read everything patients put under my nose, I wouldn't see any patients at all"

I then said, ok so you're not going to read this then, but could I ask your opinion on TSM. His reply was it's a load of American mumbo jumbo, there's wonder cures out all the time, claiming this and that, it will be old hat next week. It's just one of hundreds of drug trials that soon disappears and something else will take its place.

Its like beating your head against a brick wall. If you scroll back to when RHGB joined the forum, January last year I think (he'll soon jump in and correct me if I'm wrong haha!), the lengths he had to go through and the obstacles put in his way, is enough to drive anyone to drink or just give up. Unfortunately for the powers that be, they picked the wrong person to try and fob off. He had an answer for everything they threw at him. He was polite but firm and no way was he going to be put off in his request for campral.

be prepared to have to fight your corner, don't be put off, that's what they want. It's very unfair, this postcode lottery. I'm pretty sure, drug addicts don't have to pay for their methadone, so why do AUD patients have to buy their own drugs. Hey, that's another argument, so don't get me going on that subject.

good luck

You are quite right Vicks, it was the like the comedy of errors.

I was going to say something to Nat, but I didn't want to put her off. That she shouldn't be surprised if her lovely caring family GP of years, suddenly turns from Dr.Jekyll into Mr.Hyde once alcohol is mentioned. And wants nothing to do with the situation and says go to an ARC.

My GP told me they couldn't prescribe Campral, so I went to the GMC and the area prescribing committee, who said (in writing) at the end of the day, the medication traffic light system (red, amber, green) was guidance only and if the NHS had approved it, there was nothing to stop the GP prescribing it directly. Then she told me she wouldn't rather than couldn't prescribe when presented with this.

I still shake my head to this day. These are the same GPs that had me sent immediately to A&E from the GP surgery for suspected liver failure and then a brain haemorrhage, resulting in about ten days in ICU and overall about a two month stay in a high dependency unit, that must have cost the NHS tens of thousands of pounds.*

You'd think, knowing the history, when I came to them a year later and said, I've done a stupid thing, please help me with this medication so I can stop, they would have jumped at the chance, but no.

In the end as you probably recall, I ended up buying two months supply from abroad as a precaution and then ended up speaking to the London director of the ARC. Which to be fair to him, was a fairly decent pragmatic bloke who got the manager of the local ARC to contact me for an appointment and because it had come from head office, there was no nonsense regarding me getting a prescription for Campral.

*The only benefit was the amount of student doctors that got to come see me with the consultant. I imagine the conversation went something like, hey, I've got a treat for you today, this one isn't in the mortuary, we've got a live one in ward 20. You can actually prod a real one and he responds. Almost daily for a period, I must have had a consultant with about six to eight students come and visit me and do all sorts of tests with me.

Oh Vickylou it looks like everyone else I'm in for a battle .. Reading RHGB 's posts on here he really really has had to hack his way through the system, but hey what a determined character .I.m up for the challenge but think I will arm myself with another online pack or two of meds as looks like I.ll need it and will be in for the long haul .I don't want to go backwards . Ridiculous when you read in the press that GP's can now prescribe these meds..., the postcode lottery is just ludicrous Its made to sound so simple for all concerned but not ! .enough to drive you to flippin drink ! I will arm myself with the print outs and if the lovely GP I choose to see shows his other side and fobs me off I shall.make sure I at least leave the info with him..I won't be seeing my own GP as she has too.many strong opinions about everything !

Reading these posts is making me more determined to face them at the surgery as my first port of call. Hopefully I.ll get an appointment next week..Never give up fighting and never give up giving up 😋😋 Nat x

you can do it! Robin

Hi nat

i wasn't going to mention RHGBs mission for campral or what my GPs reaction was. However, from your posts, I decided that you would not be satisfied with a NO from your GP, and that you were very determined. That's why I told you to look at what happened to RHGB. He got there in the end!

Ok it will cost you, but you've come such a long way, that buying some extra tablets is a good idea.

Like I said before, my intention wasn't to put you off, or scare you, but more really to let you know the reality of what could happen. That way, if you encounter any problems, you won't be gob smacked and jack it all in and think it's not worth the hassle.

You never know, you may come back here and tell us you've got the medication you are entitled to

good luck and stay strong.

So appreciate all your comments Vickylou and of course from everyone on here..It fires me up with more determination to get the meds and be treated with a bit of dignity and respect when it comes to.it.Patient choices and all that

Thanks so much.I didn't realise til recently how much a forum such as this gives so such strenghth support and friendship... I could never feel this way with AA inspite of trying.I kind of felt inadequate but god lnows why ! We are all on the same road and you too Vickylou stay strong with your journey as I.m thinking of you too xx