CHOLESTEROL MEDICATION

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Posted by: anxious | 2008/05/12

Q. CHOLESTEROL MEDICATION

CD & Cornel

Thanks guys!

Its not the Lipitor that worries me - its the Ezetrol - Beg of last year I think my gp switched my medication from Simvastatin because it wasnt working and told me about Lipitor's generic Aspavor that was now available - so I took it instead of the Lipitor - but I then had to take 2x 20mg Aspavor because they dont make 40mg tablets - so Discovery phoned my gp and said why was I taking Aspavor - and he said because the Simvastatin wasnt working - so after he faxed them proof of my blood tests, they then approved my Lipitor 40mg on chronic because its cheaper than having to take 2x20mg Aspavor. Its the Ezetrol thats so expensive and I would have to go back to paying huge levies and penalties for it if I went back onto it - but I might have no choice. I am not working still and its not at all easy at the moment. I dont think the Crestor is an option either.

Thanks.

user comments

Posted by: Marthie | 2008/10/29

Ek het ' n cholestrol van 9.8 (geerfde cholestrol). Ek gebruik Aspavor 10mg nou vir 5 maande. Watse medikasie vir choletrol moet ek gebruik tydens ' n swangerskap. Het gelees dat Aspavor nie gebruik kan word nie. Is dit waar?

Reply to Marthie

Posted by: anxious | 2008/05/14

Apologies I meant Aspavor with regard to Lipitor - finger trouble!

Reply to anxious

Posted by: Cornel | 2008/05/14

I am glad to see that you are making progress with Discovery and that you are being pro-active in managing your Cholestorol.

I really think that the CRESTOR is the best meds for hyper-cholestorol. My mom is living evidence of this. She has been on CRESTOR for the past 3 months and her cholestorol went down, drastically.

I have a HDL of 4,5 and total Cholestorol of 8+ but my medical aid is in bad shape (Renaissance) and I have exceeded almost all of my limits with this latest op and I am still on unpaid-sickleave, so I am trying at this stage to just manage my Cholestorol with a low-fat diet... I am planning on going back on Discovery soon.

Keep well :)

Reply to Cornel

Posted by: anxious | 2008/05/14

CD

Ok so I was wrong! Crestor is an option. After spending the entire morning today (Wed) speaking to my gp, my chemist and Discovery chronics (not to mention the cost of phoning on a cell and having to phone a share call number - it beats me how Discovery can get away with expecting members to phone share call nos.only to them at exhorbitant costs to the members, while you just hang on while they find out something while your money is being wiped out!) it seems I finally might have made SOME progress!

I first phoned my gp and asked what the difference was between last year's episode where they approved my Lipitor because it was cheaper than the Crestor dose and the Simvastatin wasnt working and the current situation I am facing with the Ezetrol. He said I must first ask Discovery about this issue before he is prepared to get involved in it. So I phoned Discovery chronics and whined about how unacceptable it was that they refused to approve my Ezetrol on chronic and that did I now not have proof that they had to approve it on chronic as I now had blood tests to prove that when I was on the 2 together my levels were 4.34 and as soon as I dropped the Ezetrol they went up to 5.95. "No but Ezetrol is not on our chronic list bla bla bla etc." Oh and the 1st guy I spoke to said Ezetrol wasnt for cholesterol anyway. Excuse me? And he works in the chronic dept?! Anyway I got cut off then the 2nd person I spoke to was far more helpful and suggested I switch from Lipitor 40mg to Crestor 40mg for 3 months and have another test and if my levels are still above 5 they will reconsider approving my Ezetrol. Whether that does happen who knows?! So I phoned my gp back and told him Disovery's story and he said fine - try the Crestor 40mg. Then I started thinking it takes a while for chronics to process so I phoned chronics back and said what do I have to do to get it changed and they said just get your pharmacist to phone our chronics pharmacist today and you can get it tomorrow. So I phone the chemist and tell them to do that. Then I get a call from them saying they had submitted the request to Discovery, but you have to wait 7 days for it. I said but they told me it would go through as chronic tomorrow. "No they told us it will take 7 days!" So I phone Chronics AGAIN and ask what's the story, who's right?! "No just hang on - while my money's getting eaten away - "we spoke to your pharmacist and you can get it tomorrow!" What a ridiculous waste of time and money! So maddening and inefficient!

So I guess I will try this out from tomorrow for 3mths and see what happens. I was told Crestor is a newer drug (its only been around for about 18mths) and better than Lipitor. I was always under the impression that Lipitor was the better of any of the statins, its worked very well for me but now I have discovered that it doesnt seem to work for me without Ezetrol, it will be interesting to see if the Crestor does keep it down!

Thanks for the help.

Reply to anxious