Coversyl in Australia without a prescription?

March 10, 2005 7:57 PM

How can I get Coversyl 4mg tablets in Australia without a prescription?

I take a Coversyl 4mg tablet once per day for hypertension. It does the trick, and there are no side effects. My doctor usually gives me two repeats with each prescription. This means that every three months I have to waste an afternoon and a chunk of money getting another prescription. I'd much rather buy a 10x10 pack online once every few months, monitor my own blood pressure and save Medicare a few bucks.

posted by obiwanwasabi to health & fitness (5 comments total)

You certainly can't buy it legally in Oz without going to the pharmacy. It requires a prescription.
I can't imagine there's any bogus supply houses online here - they would be shut down in a minute.
That doesn't meant you can't get it from an overseas drug supplier of course...

But the big problem - and this is what you have to think seriously about, especially because you say that the present medication works fine with no problems - is that you don't know that what you buy online is the exact same medication.
There's a great variation in efficacy between generic/trade products. And yes!! it may make a big difference. Each preparation may contain perindopril 4mg but they may have different bases, different preservatives, different tablet coverings for example (possibly) - and it is these differences which may interfere with you obtaining the proper blood levels of the drug at the proper time after ingestion for the proper duration.
ACE-inhibitor drugs are not candy or even paracetamol - I reckon you will be doing your long term health a favour by just 'wearing' the inconvenience/costs of your present system.
Maybe ask your Dr. if you can have extra repeats of the prescription??
But if you do decide to go under the radar - become fully informed - research any products and then ask your quack or another Doc if your proposal is outlandish or within the bounds of reasonable behaviour.
posted by peacay at 10:36 PM on March 10, 2005

First, ask your doc if you might increase the time between visits to 6 months. That doesn't seem unreasonable.

Second, you shouldn't really monitor your blood pressure at home. The guidelines were established using BPs taken in a doctor's office by a nurse wearing a white coat. Believe it or not, these things actually influence the measured BP.
posted by ikkyu2 at 12:26 PM on March 11, 2005

"The guidelines were established using BPs taken in a doctor's office by a nurse wearing a white coat. Believe it or not, these things actually influence the measured BP"

I can't for the life of me understand what you mean by this. Are you suggesting that the nurse gets him 'hot' and drives up the BP? Balderdash! It's just a 'resting BP', which could be done at home, in a Doctor's surgery or on the goddamn moon (gravitational effects notwithstanding)! As long as the person isn't particularly stressed at the time, one location is as good as another.

More to the point might be time of day, relationship to medication intervals and documentation of the day's previous activities for example. Meaning: many things can affect BP - the measurement has to be read and understood 'holistically', given the circumstances of the patient's life.

There's nothing wrong IMHO (especially these days when accurate electronic sphygmomanometers [BP device] are available) with people monitoring their own BP - as long as they share the info with their GP of course. In fact, this can be extremely useful in so far as a patient at home is able to repeat the measurement at the exact time each day (or at various regular intervals) which in itself may demonstrate a trend that's not readily discernible in the GP's office. It would be particularly useful for people in the country of course. But this is a regime of 'intervention' which, as always, should be discussed with the GP before being instituted.

FMD!!! People who sprout alleged (insert relevant key term such as: medical, political, german shepherd etc &c) wisdom like confetti ought to be licensed!

[no, I'm not a Doctor....but I have sufficient relevant qualifications to voice an informed opinion]
posted by peacay at 5:18 AM on March 12, 2005

I unreservedly withdraw all snarkiness from that last post - given that I now know Ikkyu2's occupation.
That's not to say I wouldn't argue with you Ikky...to an extent....but not in here......I have obviously mistaken you for another door to door snake oil salesman.
(And on reflection, I sense our thoughts are not mutually exclusive)
Please accept my apologies.
posted by peacay at 5:05 AM on March 13, 2005

No worries.

My point is simply that if you are comparing your blood pressure to published guidelines, you need to replicate the conditions under which those guidelines were established. It's been shown time and again that home BP machines fail at that particular task - they don't serve the purpose their users intend them to serve.
posted by ikkyu2 at 7:39 PM on March 13, 2005