prelief

[MarthaB]

hi there, do any of you guys know if there is a substitude for prelief in australia, because prelief is not available here at all as far as i know, any help would be appreciated, thanks martha :)

[Rosalie]

Hi Martha
Unfortunately, we went through this search a while back and weren't able to come up with any alternatives.Unless anyone has any new information, the only way to get it is having it sent over. I was lucky enough to have my nephew bring three bottles back with him last year.
Rosalie

[MarthaB]

:) hi thanks for your reply rosalie, i was talking to my pharmacist today, and he asked me about the ingredients in prelief, and i told him i would try to find out, he said there may be something similar we can get here,so i printed some stuff out for him, but it seems like a waste of time now, since you have already tried,never mind, maybe i will get some send over, thanks again, take care martha :)

[George]

Rosalie,

Does Prelief help you?

George

[nss]

Hi Martha,

I too printed out the ingredients out for Prelief and took it to the pharmacist and they couldn't help.

I got a post reply from Betty Carson from Akpharma about Prelief:

---------------------------------
Dear NSS:

Prelief is AkPharma's brand name for calcium glycerophosphate. It is used to take acid out of acidic foods or beverages. AkPharma holds the worldwide patent on this use of calcium glycerophosphate.

Each Prelief tablet contains 65 mg of elemental calcium; the tablets also contain 0.025% magnesium stearate as a processing aid.

------------------------------------

Unfortunately postage costs so much from the US.

If you have any luck please let us all know.

Nadia

[MarthaB]

:) hi thanks for your replies, i think i may take the information to the chemist and get his opinion, oh and i would like to ask the same question george asked, does prelief work for you rosalie?? thanks again, martha :)

[Rosalie]

Yes, Prelief has worked for me. It arrived before Christmas last year and it enabled me to have some champagne and many other goodies, Yahoo! I'd been missing a little grog now and then.
I know my triggers and haven't had to use it a lot. Mainly because I'm guarding it like hen's teeth.
I don't actually have IC but Urethritis which I think of as IC's less nasty cousin. Whatever works for IC works for me. If you have anyone travelling in the US they can buy it over the counter. I think Mai got it for me at Walmart and it cost me about $50 australian for three bottles of 120 tablets.
There was quite a bit of discussion here a few months back about how much you can bring into the country but I don't think David and Mai were even questioned at customs.
Rosalie

[MarthaB]

thanks for your reply rosalie, i wish i knew someone who was going to america, but unfortunately i don't, if i had some prelief i would probleby put it in a safe,lol, see ya, martha

[Rosalie]

Martha, I have often wondered about asking some of our wonderful american people on the boards to send some prelief over.
I don't know how this sits ethically with the ICN. It might be nice to have some imput on this matter from them.
Rosalie

[MarthaB]

yeah, i agree, have to find out about postage cost first though, i am still going to take the print out about prelief to my pharmacist, i meant to do it yesterday, but forgot because i was in a hurry, so maybe he can suggest something, but i don't hold my hopes too high, i can't wait to get my cystoscopy/ hydro done on friday,i just want some answers, i am having it done privately,and it's going to cost approx a $ 1000.00, hope to get some money back from medicare, i'm not privately insured, so it comes out of my own pocket, i'm going to sleep for this, and i hope i am not going to be to uncomfortable afterwards, any way, i hope to find out one way or the other, i will let you know about the outcome, take care martha :)

[Rosalie]

Martha, good luck for friday. I had mine done about nine months ago. I was done in a public hospital using a spinal block. I had no problems afterwards except that the block took a bit longer to wear off than I had expected. What city are you in? Which hospital are you going to?
Rosalie

[MarthaB]

hi, thanks rosalie, i live in brisbane, and i am going to the mater redlands hospital, in cleveland, the reason i am having it done privately is because it would take to long otherwise,as you know our health system is not the best, and i did not want to have my appointments cancelled all the time, which is not likely to happen when you go private, do you think they will give me a photo of my bladder?? do you have one?? bye martha :)

[crybaby]

Hi Martha, this is a dumb newbie question, but have you asked your urogyno whether s/he can get Prelief ordered in for you?

[MarthaB]

:) hi, no i have not asked him yet, i can ask him on friday, but i am not sure if he is going to do the cysto himself or his locum ( if that's the right word ) and i am not sure if i am going to see him straight after the procedure, it is all so new to me, but i will ask him when i see him, and if he cannot get it, he may know of something else, i don't understand why we cannot get things like prelief here in australia, it's a joke, i am sure there are plenty of people with ic here, i asked my pharmacist about elmiron, and he had never heard of it, he looked it up on the computer, i even had to spell the name out for him, and he said he cannot recall of anyone ever getting a prescription for elmiron, i was stunned, i think the only reason that he has never heard of it is because maybe urologist here prescribe other things for ic, but we can definately get it here, anyway must go, we have a storm coming, and must turn the computer off, take care martha

[Rosalie]

Hi there Martha
I love Brisbane. My brother lived there for many years before buying into the ford dealership in and moving to Caboulture. Also my husband is from outside Allora in Qld.
Ah! I remember, before I got old and a husband, many wonderful holidays up there!
Such good looking guys. Ha.
I understand your going to private. We recently did the same for my son's wisdom teeth. Cost a packet but at least it was done during the semester break from uni. I went public for my cysto/hydro and had to wait about six months.
Best wishes for friday. Let us know how you go.
Rosalie

[MarthaB]

hi rosalie, brisbane is a nice place to live, the only trouble at the moment is all the waterrestrictions we have, the dams are very low, and we had not had proper rain for a long time, we had some rain last night, but today is beautiful and sunny, i love this sunny weather, but we really need some rain desperately, i worry for when the summer arrives, because i love gardening, and we are only allowed to hand hose, i could not bear to see my plants die, hopefully we get a break from this drought very soon, anyway i suppose i shoudn't complain, it's the poor farmers what really cop the rough end of the stick.
changing the subject, i just called my uro's office, and asked her if it is inpatient or outpatient,( the cysto) and she said it is daysurgery, still none the wiser,so i called medicare, and she said i will get some money back, for the procedure, and the aenastesia, but not the hospital stay itself, so i just have to wait and see.
My daughter had her wisdom teeth removed privately last year, we paid for it, and it was $1.700.00, she lives with her boyfriend and they have so many bills, she couldn't possibly pay for it, but she was in a lot of discomfort, so what do you do, none of us likes to see their kids suffer, i told her it would be cheaper to stay at home, we only charged her 30 dollars a week for board, and now she has to pay for half the rent, electricity, etc, and they have 2 big dogs, a doberman, and a rottweiler, and they eat a lot, anyway enough of my rambling on, hope you have a great day, take care martha

[anxious one]

Hi guys,

Martha, unfortuantely we did go down the "Prelief trail" last year and it was one dead end after another. :mad: My uro (and nadia's) is the head of the IC association of Australia and she squashed any hope when she said it would basically take years to get it approved over here and the only way to get it was to order it in from the US (with rediculously $$ postage.) There are also restrictions to how many bottle you can have sent through customs, I think it was 2, which means you are paying more for postage than the prelief itself. CRAZY!!!! :mad: I take Mylanta rolltabbs which is calcium Carbonate before acidic meals, don't know if it helps much.

Good luck for your cysto- I am too on the public waiting list. Had been on it for so long I made the front page of the local paper about lengthy hospital waiting lists! He He :) I gave up on it and am now pregnant anyway so it's a no-go. I'm not heartbroken. I am in a healthfund which would cover some of the procedure but I just don't desperately want it done. I'm a coward. Scaredy :cat: !!!! I had a laparoscopy last year which was bad enough.

We have the same water restrictions here- our dams are near empty. It sucks. My little girl pointed at a sprinkler on Hi 5 one day and said, "LOOK MUM!! It's a hole in the ground with water coming out and kids can run through it!!!!!!" Poor deprived child. :lmao: It's not really funny, the drought, but what else can you do.

Anyway, let us know how you go :)

sara

[MarthaB]

:) hi Sara, first of all i really hope your little girl will get better soon, i now what you mean about your hope that it is worms she has, and not a uti, or worse ic, i am sure the worm problem is easier to treat, does she complain about being in pain? It's terrible about the prelief, why do they take so long to get things approved here, in america they can get it in the supermarket, it's so frustrating.i do take mylanta in a roll, or rennies, but i take it for when i get a bit of heartburn, and also i found out on this site that they are a very good source of calcium.
yes the public health system is in a bad state, and when my urologist asked me if i wanted to go public or private, i really had to think about it, i did ask him how long it would take if i went public, and he said quite awhile, so i just decided then and there that i would get it done privately, i should get some money back from medicare, for the procedure, and aenastesia.
I had to laugh about your little one talking about the sprinkler, yes the good old days are gone, sad isn't it, anyway i'll be sure to let you all know how i went on friday, take care martha :)

[deviation72]

Hi all,

I'm still appalled we can't get Prelief here. It's so unfair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :headbang:

I get so frustrated at what we can't get here compared to the US. I mean I know our population is small, but this is people's health we're talkin' about!

OK, off soapbox: just wanted to say good luck Martha for Friday. I had my cysto in Nov 2002 (when waiting list was only 8 weeks) but seems waiting times have increased a LOT since then for cysto's. I hope it all goes well for you.

[MarthaB]

:) hi , thanks kirsten, yep, it looks like it's a dead end when it comes to prelief,we can only hope that one day we may get it here. take care martha

[anxious one]

HI guys :)

Martha, thank-you for your post about Claudia. It is not good news with her tests coming back negative for any infection but still abnormal None the less. I just wrote a detailed update about it in my post on the "symptoms of IC" board. It sucks, I am angry and frustrated and scared and I just feel so bad for her that she doesn't understand what is going on. She just hates seeing doctors all the time and is sick of peeing in a little cup!! She came with me to my antenatal appointment today and I had to take her into the loo with me while I pee-ed in MY cup :rolleyes: and she said="Good girl mum- that was a nice big one!!" :biglaugh: I hate to think what anybody thought if they overheard it!!!!!

Good luck with your cysto on Friday, I hope it all goes well :)

HUGS,

Sara

[chernobyl]

Hi, I know this thread was started quite a while ago but I thought I'd post this anyway. We still cannot get Prelief in Australia but I'm taking Calcium citrate and it seems to be helping. :)