Shortage of HRT in the UK

My pharmacy had 6 boxes of evoril conti delivered today and I was at last allocated a box

I thought you might be interested in this. I did a long investigation for Tortoise media about the causes of the HRT shortages. And it emerged that they've been created by our own Department of Health and Social Care, through a combination of stupidity, complacency and Brexit. Basically they just pegged the price too low on the drugs tariff, trying to save money, and the invisible hand of the market did the rest. This could be fixed quite easily by changing the drugs tariff. I saw Mumsnet's research last week on how 40% of women prescribed HRT are now experiencing difficulties getting hold of it and and thought maybe you would like collectively to make some noise on the issue? members.tortoisemedia.com/2019/11/28/the-great-hrt-scandal/content.html?sig=Z7V8nuuP3aHGHU7BUVMJcGeYzW1L2GWk9SkQsqiAZZ0&utm_source=Tortoise+Members&utm_campaign=3247177e1c-SENSEMAKER_DAILY&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_efeb5ec230-3247177e1c-138423175&mc_cid=3247177e1c&mc_eid=%5BUNIQID%5D

It certainly does

Properly tested Bio-identical has long been available on the NHS anyway - oestrodiol and micronized progesterone (utrogestan) and also made of yams

Hmm... Hugo Kitchen’s sounds exactly like the treatment the British Menopause Society and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists were warning about as unsafe and increasing the risk of cancer recently:

www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/26/menopause-experts-say-compounded-hrt-is-unsafe

Well I hope if this is the wrong thread to post in, someone might direct me to a new one as it is now October. I wondered if anyone had any ideas if you can get your HRT from abroad. Evoril Conti is now totally out of stock in the UK, my GP prescribed an oral one and I just kept vomiting as I am mostly intolerant to any oral meds. I have 1 months supply left and I am mostly panicking

if you refer to me, than you're mistaken, I'm not a bot. I take HRT and was googling why there is a shortage.

ZOMBIE THREAD

Also: obvious political bot is obvious... (to adapt a well known internet phrase).

Stop blaming the Government and Brexit for this!!!

The shortages are to do with the base ingredient shortage which originated in China. Other countries have also implemented export restrictions.

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/hrt-hormone-therapy-medicine-shortage-exports-department-of-health-a9131776.html

So, I have just been to the pharmacy to get my new prescription only to be told that they now have a problem getting Novofem now! They are currently trying to see if they can order it but if not then what? Yet another change after only a few months?

This is getting ridiculous.

I hear the Doctors are bending over backwards to keep a paticular group in supply of this stuff while we have to beg borrow and steal now.

I have been affected by this on my last visit. My prescription has been changed from Elleste Duet to Novofem which appears inferior but has the same active ingredient apparently. I've been taking it for 2 month and it seems to have the same benefit so far. Because I'm only allowed to have 3 months at a time (costing me two prescription charges for the one prescription ffs!) I had better go back and get another prescription early in case out of stock.

I have stage 4 endo and was advised last year to have a radical hysterectomy which would put me straight into surgical menopause. I haven’t had the surgery for fear of hrt shortages. I’m 38 and don’t want to end up spending the next 20 years in fear of being left hormoneless!

FermatsTheorem I wondered that too. I questioned the pharmacist about it and he was a bit vague and said it wasn't that unusual to have supply problems for drugs - I'd never encountered it before, but until menopause, I've never been on any long term medication. It's hard to imagine that Brexit won't make it worse, though.

And yes, the Femoston is certainly better than no HRT at all. I also had hot flushes every hour or so before medication. I'd got so used to not having then at all and feeling normal that even having one or two a day back has taken some getting used to. I've had to hunt my fans out again! But, as I say, I don't know if it's causal or just coincidence.

Hi OP. Do check with your GP surgery if one of the doctors there has a special interest in menopause. I was really lucky - fabulous GP, same age as me, going through similar - she was really helpful. She said she wished I had come to her years ago as I had been suffering in silence since my late 40s.

DrSusan - that's interesting. I too still have one hot flush a night with femoston (still much better than without when they're hourly). I was put on femoston after the manufacturers discontinued prempak. I assumed the problem was the lower dosage of oestrogen - but maybe another brand would be better (if I can get it).

I hate to mention the B word (fast track to a thread getting derailed) but is it anything to do with Brexit? A couple of repeat prescriptions ago in the run up to the first Brexit deadline I found myself with a blister pack labelled in Portuguese (which confused the hell out of me because Portuguese names days of the week "first", "second", but they count from Sunday whereas in my head day one of the week is Monday - so I kept getting a day out). I do wonder whether with all the uncertainty (and the rumours that civil servants assigned to hard Brexit contingency planning have been sent back to their regular posts) things like ensuring drug supplies are now in an even shittier mess than they were back in March.

Yes my patches are unavailable. As I'm now 55 it was the last script I was going to get but annoying I'm stopping a couple of months earlier than I'd planned.

I've had trouble with the two usual brands- took me ages to get started because the five chemists I tried didn't have any and couldn't order it. So GP prescribed an alternative- also couldn't be found. Attempt three- oh no but the first one is in, now. So I was ok for a couple of months, then it went out of stock again. I had a break with none, then started again when it came in stock. Now I get each prescription ahead of time so I have a longer lead up time.

Yep. I’ve not been able to get Ellesse Duet for 6 months and have been prescribed Femoston instead. It might be coincidence but I’ve had some return of hot flushes since the medication change. I feel like it doesn’t suit me as well, although I asked the doctor to check and the formulation was pretty similar and the closest match out of the possible alternatives.

As caused no end of problems at our GP the chemists didn't help either when not informing the GP that it had changed brand and needed a new prescription.

I've had to change to tablets as the patches are just out of supply.

It seems to be affecting the more standard HRT formulations and not the bioidenticals like oestrogel, estrodot, utrogestan.

When I started hrt I bypassed the usuals and went straight for bioidenticals as my preference anyway, so if you choose to proceed with hrt JoyceJeffries this may be a good option for you.

I've just started on HRT and the nurse was telling me there's a supply problem with several medications. The first thing she wanted to prescribe was out if stock.
I was prescribed Evorel 50 patches, and I had to go to 4 pharmacies to get them. They couldn't order any in either, as they were showing out of stock on their computers

Well Dr H was boasting about prescribing Estradiol for a trans patient. Among the responses was someone advising of a national shortage.

Aside of that various drugs suddenly run short in the hospital I work in for various reasons. A couple of years ago there was a national shortage of a commonly used IV antibiotic because there had been a fire at the factory in China that produces it. Seems mad and scary that we might be reliant on one factory in China for an important medication but there it is. Also hospitals and individual wards and departments (at least my hospital anyway) have been stockpiling certain drugs and bits of equipment in preparation for Brexit despite advice not to.