Self Medicating for HIV or Neuropathy via the Internet

Today's article comes from a UK HIV site hivend.com (see link below)and talks about the findings of a European report on Safe Medicines. It is written by a doctor Sean Cummings who writes from a commercial viewpoint and promotes his own private clinic as being a safe provider of medications (the details can be found by following the link below). However,even though there is no reason to doubt the doctor's motives at all, this blog deliberately avoids advertising of any sort, to stay out of any conflicts of interest.
That said, the message of this article is excellent and is important advice for neuropathy and HIV patients who may be tempted to self-medicate via the internet. The dangers should be self-evident but nevertheless, neuropathy can make you desperate. It's always advisable to seek proper medical advice before ordering anything online - a convincing website is no guarantee of either honesty or quality.

Avoiding fake or counterfeit online pharmacies and medications
Dr Sean Cummings 26th July 2011

A European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines report, The Counterfeiting Superhighway has revealed that a remarkable 62 % of all medications ordered by unsuspecting patients worldwide are either completely fake or simply substandard.

The web is full of cheap offers for prescription item drugs which often have never seen the inside of a pharmaceutical company production line or a pharmacy. Over 95% of the pharmacies operating online were said to be fake and operating without a pharmacist or qualified dispenser and without a licence.

The report does make fascinating reading and shows both how vulnerable people will quite easily part with hard earned cash and hand over their bank details to totally unscrupulous criminals who then either supply them with fake medications such as anti-HIV medications or erectile dysfunction drugs or just keep the money and rely on the patient’s embarrassment to prevent them going to police or other authorities.

Ian Banks, President of the European Men’s Health Forum makes the point in an introduction that whilst seeking medications for embarrassing illnesses or conditions is convenient and spares peoples blushes, it does deprive people both of the opportunity to discuss health issues and underlying causes. More men than women will be ensnared by the counterfeit medication pharmacies.

Fake medicines often don’t contain any active ingredient at all and so may at best be a waste of money or at worst may not treat a condition that requires medications. Examples would be fake statin medicines. These are probably amongst the biggest group of prescribed medications worldwide and patients are often anxious to get them as cheaply as possible, hence resorting to the web. Fake medicines may also contain too little or too much of an active ingredient and so again may compromise health.

Some have suggested that the issue surrounding counterfeit medications is one invented by the pharmaceutical industry to protect profits. I can see the reason for that thought process but in reality, most of the online pharmacies offering cheap or abundant supplies of sleeping tablets, anti-depressants, anti-HIV medications and erectile medicines are just crooked sites fishing for bank and credit card details and maybe supplying something in return.

The medications most frequently peddled by counterfeiters are those which are generally hard to get such as anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and sleeping tablets and so have a huge demand and also those which have less of a demand but a high cost, such as the erectile dysfunction or impotence medications. Remember that males are much more likely to buy medicines online than their more savvy female counterparts.

The size of the counterfeit medicine market is huge with around 500,000 false medicinal products being seized in the EU in 2005 and this having increased to over 2.7 million fake medicines in 2006 – a five fold increase in just one year. The monetary value of the false medication market globally is thought to be billion dollars in 2010. A fantastically huge sum.

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Some helpful advice to consumers intending to buy medications online.

Don’t buy from medicine or online pharmacy websites that offer to sell you medications without a prescription
Don’t buy from pharmacies that do not have a registered pharmacist available to answer questions or where you can’t see a clear route to contact and discuss issues with the pharmacy
Don’t buy from pharmacies that offer to sell in bulk or discount offers or summer specials
If the service offers an online consultation then be careful and validate that the pharmacy is real and that the doctors are real.
Only buy from services which are regulated appropriately.

Other safety advice is to check the doctors registration on the General Medical Council website and that the service is registered with the Care Quality Commission. Check the pharmacy is registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council. Legitimate online clinics and pharmacies are transparent and will happily provide and supply any regulatory information you may require.

http://www.hivend.com/?tag=medications