Dr Myhill Stripped of her Right to Prescribe Valtrex off label

Remy

Administrator
From an email Dr. Myhill sent to her patients

13 August 2016


[fright]
Stop-idea.jpg
[/fright]We have a problem with me prescribing valacyclovir.

Yesterday I attended my annual appraisal. This is something all doctors have to do in order to revalidate with the General Medical Council. The appraisal is done by another doctor who looks at all aspects of one's medical practice to make sure that professional standards are being maintained..

My appraiser was concerned about the idea of me prescribing valacyclovir for EBV post viral chronic fatigue syndromes. Whilst valacyclovir is licensed for acute viral infection it is not licenced for post viral chronic fatigue . What this means is that should anything go wrong, (and that may not even be the prescribing which is at fault), then I would be blamed and be left without any defence. My appraiser would also be part responsible.

If I should go ahead and prescribe valaciclovir for post viral CFS then I would not be revalidated and then I would lose all prescribing rights. The fact that I would be following the guidelines as developed by Dr Martin Lerner is of little or no consequence.

The bottom line is that I cannot prescribe valacyclovir for post viral CFS until either the drug company (Glaxo Smith Kline) has a license to use this drug for post viral chronic fatigue syndrome or I can get ethical committee approval to do this.

Of course I shall be writing to the drug company and also to local ethics committee to see this can be put in place.

In the interim I cannot prescribe valacyclovir for post viral chronic fatigue syndrome. This is very disappointing because I now have several patients who have seen marked benefit as a result of this drug in the prevention of viral flares."
 
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Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
Yes they do. It's amazing that one appraiser can have this much impact. It's a very different system than in the U.S.
 

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
Two of my doctors were temporarily barred from practicing while some Health Board checked their records. One of them told me - not to worry I'll be back up in a couple of days. :)
 

Who Me?

Well-Known Member
My old pcp was scared sh*tless of the dea and would only rx two weeks of ambien at a time And wanted me to come in for every refill. That's insane. The year before he gave me 6 refills from one visit.

my current one is afraid of medicare.
 

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
I know everyone is hoping to have ampligen and rituximab approved for cfsme etc but there needs to be a big push also for treatments like antivirals for cfsme with high viral titres and maybe certain abx for chronic bacterial infections. Maybe just acknowledge chronic viral, Bacterial and fungal infections exist in spme cfsme and should be treated with drugs currently available . This could also include other autoimmune drugs to treat those cfsers with ongoing autoinflammatory issues.

So all these current treatments used in cfsme for co existing issues in cfsme, although not a cure but could possibly increase quality of life, need to be approved. Also insomnia treatments for chronic use as its a severe chronic symptom for many of us.

This would allow many drs to prescribe helpful treatments without the threat of losing their license to practice and insurance companies and health systems having to allow these treatments.
I think there's going to be a subset for every one of those treatments mentioned. It will just take time. I wonder if Dr. Unger's multisite studies are going to help with that regard - she is tracking treatments I believe.
 

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