Yes, I’ve read some of the previous parliamentary debate on this subject and didn’t see anything like that. I’ll contact ciwf and ask them about it.

Thank you so much!

Yes it’s come through, thank you so much!

I have spoken about the difficulties of accessing the food bank and lack of help from the authorities on here many times before. I don’t really have the energy to type it all up again.

Thank you.

Oh, I guess they’ve taken it down now.

It’s probably a huge house, much bigger than he needs. Even the advice columnist says he should downsize.

My landlady bought the house we currently live in, in 2000, for £95K. She recently had it valued and they said it’s worth £375K, and would be worth £425K if she had the issues with it fixed.

Thank you.

Dear Dr R,

I have noticed that lately I have been prescribed only half the amount of Dermol 500 cream and e45 eczema repair cream I used to receive. I was previously prescribed two bottles of each a month but now receive only one. I would like to ask that my future prescriptions are for two bottles each rather than just one. I need to use Dermol 500 as a soap substitute daily over my entire body, followed by e45 eczema repair cream as a mosituriser and one bottle simply doesn’t last for a month. Prior to being prescribed these items, I was using ordinary soaps and body washes, and it aggravated my eczema to the point that I had open sores that regularly got infected. This resulted in frequent trips to both hospital and the GP surgery and regular treatment with both antibiotic tablets and topical antibiotics. Since switching to these items, the eczema has remained in remission and I have not had any skin infections from it nor needed antibiotic treatment for it.

I have also previously written to the surgery about my rimegapant prescription, but they have not responded. Previously I was taking rizatriptan for migraines, but since I had a stroke, the neurologist prescribed rimegapant because rizatriptan is contraindicated in stroke patients. I have tried all the other migraine treatments including nerve blocking injections in my head, none of which worked. Rimegapant, along with topiramate, are now the only things I can take that give any relief, and rimegapant can be taken daily as a preventative. The GP won’t prescribe more than 8 tablets per month, which is insufficient for use as a daily preventative. Migraine with aura, which I suffer from, doubles the risk of stroke, and as I have had one stroke already I would like to do everything possible to prevent another. The neurologist originally prescribed 8 tablets for me to try to see if they worked, but said I can increase them to daily if they help. They do work for me by ending a migraine, but as I don’t receive enough to take daily I still get migraines. Would you please therefore increase the number of rimegapant tablets I am prescribed?

I also previously wrote to the surgery about my topiramate prescription but have not received they have not responded. I received a letter saying that all female patients taking this medication must take birth control too, as topiramate can cause birth defects. However, I am not sexually active nor have any intentions to be, and I also appear to be going through the menopause. I do not need birth control and am unwilling to take it under any circumstances. I acknowledge the risks to the hypothetical unborn child that the NHS is prioritising above me. Please confirm that I will continue to receive my topiramate prescription.

Thanks for the advice, I will rewrite and repost tomorrow. The risks to the hypothetical baby are a doubled risk of autism and ADHD. It seems mad to me to make me suffer without migraine meds, or force me to take an unwanted drug, so that a baby who will never be conceived won’t have ADHD. I’m not sure how to phrase that though.

I’m biologically female, and I’ve had the same issue. I once had an elderly male acquaintance start loudly discussing my sexuality in a crowded cafe, announcing to the room that I must be a lesbian since I didn’t have a romantic partner. He went on and on about it until everyone in the cafe was looking at me and laughing.

How about something like:

Dear Dr R,

I have noticed that lately I have been prescribed only half the amount of Dermol 500 cream and e45 eczema repair cream I used to receive. I was previously prescribed two bottles of each a month but now receive only one. I am unsure whether this is an oversight or intentional. I would like to ask that my future prescriptions are for two bottles each rather than just one. I need to use Dermol 500 as a soap substitute daily over my entire body, followed by e45 eczema repair cream as a mosituriser and one bottle simply doesn’t last for a month. Prior to being prescribed these items, I was using ordinary soaps and body washes, and it aggravated my eczema to the point that I had open sores that regularly got infected. This resulted in frequent trips to both hospital and the GP surgery and regular treatment with both antibiotic tablets and antibiotic creams. Since switching to these items, the eczema has remained in remission and I have not had any skin infections from it nor needed antibiotic treatment for it.

I have also previously written to the surgery about my rimegapant prescription, but have received no response. Previously I was taking rizatriptan for migraines, but since I had a stroke, the neurologist prescribed rimegapant because, rizatriptan is contraindicated in stroke patients. I have tried all the other migraine treatments including nerve blocking injections in my head, none of which worked. Rimegapant, along with topiramate, are now the only things I can take that give any relief, and rimegapant can be taken daily as a preventative. However as the GP surgery won’t prescribe more than 8 tablets a month, I am unable to take it daily as a preventative, and so still suffer migraines. Migraine with aura, which I suffer from, doubles the risk of stroke, and as I have had one stroke already I would like to do everything possible to prevent another. The neurologist originally prescribed 8 tablets for me to try to see if they worked, but said I can increase them to daily if they help. They do usually work for me by ending a migraine, but as I don’t receive enough to take daily I still get migraines. Would you please therefore increase the number of rimegapant tablets I am prescribed?

I also previously wrote to the surgery about my topiramate prescription but have not received any response. I received a letter saying that all female patients taking this medication must take birth control too, as topiramate can cause birth defects. However, I am not sexually active nor have any intentions to be, and I also appear to be going through the menopause. I do not need birth control and am unwilling to take it under any circumstances. Please confirm that i will continue to receive my topiramate prescription.

Oh, these are good ideas, thanks! I didn’t even think of doing this. I will start working on a draft and try to post what I have tomorrow.

I don’t think I can use my foot surgery as a reason in this way though. I currently have to wear “LimbO boots,” in the shower, waterproof foot coverings as I have to keep my surgical dressings dry. So lack of a shower wouldn’t harm my surgical sites. What the lack of the soap substitute does, is mean that I have to use normal soap, which flares the eczema up badly again and then it gets infected again. Then I have to either go to hospital or be prescribed antibiotic creams.

But yes, writing about how lack of migraine meds and eczema cream will adversely affect me is good. I’ve been admitted to hospital many times when my eczema gets very badly infected. I was going to use the cost of this as a reason why they should keep prescribing me the cream - it must be expensive for the NHS to keep admitting someone to hospital - what do you think?

The cost is the argumentative lever they are using to degrade your supplies and you don’t want to give it any merit in your appeal.

I don’t have any real proof that this is why they’re doing it though. The pharmacist did complain that my migraine tablets are very expensive, but the actual GP hasn’t said anything about that. He just started giving me prescriptions for half the usual amount of eczema cream/soap substitute without a word about why, and has simply ignored my previous request for him to prescribe a full months worth of migraine tablets instead of the 8 a month he prescribes now.