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stopped my Nitrazapam due to positive sample

Posted By Neon979

"stopped my Nitrazapam due to positive sample "

About: Guernsey House

(as a service user),

When I was here seeing the doctor I was taking 25ml of Diazapam and as she were leaving she suggested I reduced these and went on Nitrazapam.

I then started seeing a different doctor who I got on with and they did say my Nitrazapam would not last for ever and we would have to start talking about reducing these.

One day I could not make my appointment so I had to see another doctor I had not seen before. Within 2 minutes they had stopped my Nitrazapam because my sample had come back positive for crack. I tried to explain that I did use this but had cut my use down vastly. my previous doctor explained that I would have to reduce eventually and we had a plan to do this.

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Responses

Response from Guernsey House 10 years ago
Guernsey House

Submitted on 02/10/2013 at 10:53
Published on Care Opinion at 11:02

Thank you so much for taking the time to put your comments on our Patient Opinion page. This is a really common discussion we have with patients and hopefully I will be able to explain why this has happened to you.

Our service does have a policy of ending the prescription of sedative drugs eg nitrazepam when people are using stimulants as we know that they counteract the effects of each other. Most people who use stimulants struggle to sleep and feel anxious at times. It is important to work on stopping stimulant use rather than using potentially addictive prescribed medicines with significant side effects to address the difficulty.

We have lots of help and support to offer people who want to stop stimulant use so please don't think medication is the only answer.

We really try to enable patients to see the same doctor but this is made really difficult for us when patients do not attend booked appointments and we have to find an alternative prescriber at short notice. Patients can really help us to achieve this by using their booked appointments and letting us know in good time if a genuine emergency prevents them from coming. We really recognise the importance of buiding a relationship with a prescriber or keyworker and working to a consistent plan.

Dr Gaynor Radley

Clinical Director Primary Care Addiction Services Sheffield

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