DS's medication out of stock everywhere

[YourSpleenIsDamp]

Does anyone know if there's a quick way of finding out which pharmacies have prescription meds in stock please? DS is on liquid fluoxetine, apparently there's an issue with the manufacturer, and nowhere can get any. I've been ringing all the pharmacies locally but most of them don't answer the phone. I'd happily drive around every pharmacy til I ran out of petrol, but I have autoimmune arthritis and it's painful to drive at the moment. Boots have an online stock checker, but nothing available within 30 miles. Anyone know if there's a simpler, easier way to check pharmacy stock?

Hand you looked at the boots link? Try further from your area if you have anyone who could help. It's in stock in Portsmouth for example.

Do you have compounding pharmacists in the uk? They have them where I live.

They have the supplies to
do things like make liquid suspensions from capsules or tablets. Basically, the same sort of thing people are suggesting you can diy,but it should be much closer to the original . They often have the option to pick your preferred flavoring as well.

Have you tried the dispersible tablet?

Dissolve it in Glycerin? Are his usual meds flavoured?

Try the online prescription services. All the chemists do it.

I appreciate that you probably don’t want to have to pay for the medication, but at least at first glance it appears to be available online.
totalpharmacy.co.uk/fluoxetine-oral-solution-20mg5ml-70ml

we have had exactly the same problem and were told all the pharmacies can't get hold of it so the only way round it is to ring everyone you could possible get to to ask if they still have any on the shelf. i had pharmacists laughing when i ask. i have three children with asd so completely understand. we managed to pick up a couple of bottles by literally spending all day on the phone

Does your surgery have a clinical pharmacist or pharmacy technician working for them?
The team in our surgery help with medication shortages to identify pharmacies with stock or recommend alternatives. Maybe ask your surgery tomorrow?

I have this issue regularly with meds. As I recall there are three pharmaceutical distributors one which supplies mainly Boots, one which supplies some supermarkets but not others, one which supplies Lloyda and independents. When they call through to the warehouse they will be calling their distributor. Unusual preparations like liquid fluoxetine they mostly don't hold in stock but order in anyway. So there's no point trying different branches of Boots as they'll all be calling through to the same warehouse, but try a Tesco pharmacy, Indy and a Boots and you may have checked all the local warehouse supply. A good pharmacist may be willing to call round distributors for you, mine has done this for me.

Completely appreciate you cannot go cold turkey or easily switch to a non liquid preparation. CAMHS can change the prescription to another preparation, they may not have more luck than you getting the liquid fluoxetine.

This happens with psych and Neuro meds a lot sadly and causes a lot of stress. A phone call to Young Minds might help too,they won't have magic supplies either but they may have tips for managing supply in future to avoid this. I know epilepsy and MS charities run alert services to let people know when there may be drug shortages.

Really hope you strike it lucky tomorrow.

Good luck OP, I couldn't swallow pills until I was 16 and I also know how important it is to continue with an anti depressant.

Where in the country are you? Have you tried contacting online pharmacies pharmacy2u etc?

Will boots or lloyds do an internal transfer of stock? Looking at boots stock checked oral solution 5ml is in stock in 2 boots within 30 miles of me. It may be worth asking if they can move stock around? Or do you have relatives elsewhere in the country who can check their local pharmacies?

I used Phlo online pharmacy previously, I've switched but only because of issues with my GP, not with Phlo. Their customer service is brilliant. I'd give them a call in the morning, they'll be able to tell you if they have it in stock.

I'm with Chemist4U now, their customer service is shocking so I wouldn't bother with them, personally.

Also, does he have sugared or sugar free? The GP will be able to switch to the other version, that may be more easily available.

Hi OP, where are you? I had the same with one of my medications during a global supply shortage. In the end, it turned out that there were a few smaller pharmacies in central London that had extra stock or managed to order it from different supplier than usual. Even they restricted it (I have to go back every month) but they did have it. Would London be an option for you?

Call CAMHS tomorrow, its not great to come off meds cold turkey so they should help with this as an emergency.

Try pharmacies attached to hospitals or out of hours, they may use different stockists than the others.

I have a son who has ARFID so I sympathise with the difficulty.

Also for his migraines have you considered a suppository for pain relief?

To be clear, these were all smaller, privately run and pretty expensive pharmacies in central/west London - not the kind of place you'd want to do a big shop in, but they seemed to have a better reserve than the big chains.

We're having the same problem getting oxcarbazepine suspension, that is out of stock nationwide too from what I've been told. My little one has been prescribed tablets which I am having to crush and dissolve and the dose isn't was accurate as it is having a definite knock on effect with an increase in seizures. I have friends who are struggling to get things like antibiotics for their children too (we struggled last month but got it this month).

Do you have a clinical nurse specialist? I have found they are more helpful in this situation than the GP. Could you call your consultant's secretary for advice?

My daughter is on an SSRi called sertraline which comes in these tiny 25mg slippery tablets - they are about the size of a contraceptive pill. They are licensed for young children. Not directly swappable with what your son is on but maybe one to consider if you have ongoing problems finding the liquid.
In terms of capsules - we had a giant tablet which needed to be taken and we would put them in vanilla icecream but you would need to ask the pharmacist if this would be OK.

Online pharmacy showing this medication as in stock with Royal Mail 48 delivery:

totalpharmacy.co.uk/fluoxetine-oral-solution-20mg5ml-70ml

According to the website if you order before 4pm tomorrow it will be dispatched same day. You need a prescription to order.

There is an email contact but no phone number on the website.

Worth a try?

There may be other online pharmacies this was first result on Google.

I've found this on the internet so obviously check with a professional - but it does say you can swap directly from fluoxetine to sertraline when someone is on the dose your son is taking? You would just need to ask specifically for the 25mg tablets as they usually come in 50mg as standard. But as I mentioned earlier the 25mg tablets are tiny. I can't normally swallow tablets myself but these I could; they are about 1/3 or 1/4 the size of a tic tak.

How to switch from fluoxetine to sertraline?
Switch medication from fluoxetine to sertraline . Before day 1: reduce dosage of fluoxetine with about 20 mg per week. Day 1: when a dosage of 20 mg/day is reached, stop fluoxetine. No wash-out period is needed. Day 2: start sertraline the next day in low dosage of 25 mg/day. Day 15: increase dosage of sertraline to 50 mg/day.

Had exactly this problem last week. As advised above was told to try independent pharmacies as they can use more suppliers. Also Boots pharmacist was really helpful, the checker on their website wasn't accurate but it did enable them to track some down. Good luck, it's a nightmare x