Caution - Medication

Just as a heads up. My wife was having chest pains which got worse after a couple of days. We went to the med centre and got an appointment that day (excellent) and the doctor was worried it could be her heart. Again, excellent treatment and straight up to the nurse for an ECG and a voltagen pain killing injection. No waiting, straight in and took the ECG printout back to the doctor.
Good news, no heart problems but pulse rate was a bit high. The doctor gave her 10 days supply of tablets for the tachycardia (working after one day) and a tablet at night to reduce the pain so she could sleep easy. All working fine. Seems to be a gastric reflux problem so that made her feel a lot less stressed (when the heart is mentioned you tend to think the worst).

However, and here is the caution, she also prescribed a painkiller called Nolotil. Now, I have looked this up and found that this drug is banned in UK and Ireland. An Irish patient in Torrevieja was prescribed 5 days worth and died of sepsis as it attacks the white cells in the blood and bone marrow. Before he died, he went to see a second GP who said it was common knowledge not to prescribe this to British and Irish even though it is quite common in Spain. Although he was admitted to hospital and given iron supplements, he still passed away.
This is an article about it from the Sun
Nolotil

My wife had just taken one before I looked into it and then threw the remaining tablets away. She will stick on Ibuprofen if she requires a painkiller.
The other two meds she was prescribed are fine but just a caution to check any medication prescribed.
The doctor told us to make another appointment for 2 weeks time and I will point this out to her when we see her.

marcliff wrote:Just as a heads up. My wife was having chest pains which got worse after a couple of days. We went to the med centre and got an appointment that day (excellent) and the doctor was worried it could be her heart. Again, excellent treatment and straight up to the nurse for an ECG and a voltagen pain killing injection. No waiting, straight in and took the ECG printout back to the doctor.
Good news, no heart problems but pulse rate was a bit high. The doctor gave her 10 days supply of tablets for the tachycardia (working after one day) and a tablet at night to reduce the pain so she could sleep easy. All working fine. Seems to be a gastric reflux problem so that made her feel a lot less stressed (when the heart is mentioned you tend to think the worst).

However, and here is the caution, she also prescribed a painkiller called Nolotil. Now, I have looked this up and found that this drug is banned in UK and Ireland. An Irish patient in Torrevieja was prescribed 5 days worth and died of sepsis as it attacks the white cells in the blood and bone marrow. Before he died, he went to see a second GP who said it was common knowledge not to prescribe this to British and Irish even though it is quite common in Spain. Although he was admitted to hospital and given iron supplements, he still passed away.
This is an article about it from the Sun
Nolotil

My wife had just taken one before I looked into it and then threw the remaining tablets away. She will stick on Ibuprofen if she requires a painkiller.
The other two meds she was prescribed are fine but just a caution to check any medication prescribed.
The doctor told us to make another appointment for 2 weeks time and I will point this out to her when we see her.

and a very good warning - We should really look up all tablets online, particularly those with Spanish instructions, but that was a very scary thing to find out. Glad your wife is doing OK now.




Jan

I'm intrigued how a Spanish human differs from an Irish or a British human. Is it one of the effects of Brexit?

Thanks for the information Marcliff, I have recently been diagnosed with a reflux problem and glad to
say I wasn't prescribed those tablets but it has made me more aware of what I am taking.

Taking into account the previous comments and of course understanding the need to exercise caution, my wife recently had a major operation on her shoulder at the Quiron Hospital, Torrevieja, and one of the pain killers she was prescribed by the hospital was Nolotil. She took them for a while and they worked very well, with no side affects, until I happened to come across the article about William Smyth.
Of course my wife stopped taking them straight away. When she approached the doctor, he said that they are perfectly safe, and that Spain had done it`s own tests, but she insisted that he change her medication, which he did.
They are still prescribing it now. So how can they continue to prescribe medication that is said to be life threatening.

Different people are allergic to different things.
If something is working well with no side effects why stop using it?
Certain newspapers will always scaremonger,especially if something is "foreign".
How does a drug tell what race someone is
To stop using a painkiller that is working with no side effects is unnecessary and a bit odd.
I've used it many times and been very happy.

I wasn't putting the caution on for scaremongering or saying it was "foreign" so shouldn't be used. Several other papers, like the Dublin Telegraph, ran a similar story.
Looking it up, there are many articles on how different ethnic sources react to medication with Hispanics reacting differently to Asians, to Africans, to Caucasians etc.
This particular medication is also banned in the USA, Canada, Australia and some Northern European countries as well as UK and Ireland which may point to an ethnic difference.
One article (American) says that Ibuprofen should be used instead.
Nolotil is also used by bodybuilders to build up muscles and is used to swell vital organs in children so surgeons have a larger part to work on.
Personally, I wasn't going to take the chance with my wife and would rather be safe than sorry in a case like this.

I went to Malaga public hospital due to a virus in my eye in 2015. The Doctor told me anti biotics would not be of any help and prescribed me 5 different ointments and tablets. When I researched them on the internet I found one was actually an anti biotic and would indeed be of no help with my condition. Needless to say I didn't take it.

Personally whether I am in Spain, the UK or any other country, I always research any drug I have been prescribed before using it.

Whatever you do about your medication, always tell your doctor what you are taking...

if he/she thinks you are taking a particular tablet (and you are not) it might influence/contraindicate, another tablet he gives you

Just be careful... Spanish people are not dying in the streets because of different medication, and 5 minutes on the internet is not an alternative to 6 years medical school.... there might be odd reasons or new ideas regarding the medicine that is prescribed...

But at the end of the day it is YOUR body, and the only one you have got.... be careful what you put in it.
..

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Sorry Marcliff, I wouldn't believe anything I read in the "Dublin Telegraph".

That paper doesn't exist, or if it does I have never heard of it, and I'm from Dublin