More HRT shortages - progesterone micronised 100mg capsules NW London

[MyGrandmaLizzie]

I've been trying for a over a week to get the above capsules. Out of stock everywhere and stock due into wholesalers at the end of this month, allegedly.
Has anyone in NW London/Hertfordshire been able to get hold of these in the last few days?
I have emailed my MP, told my GP but what else can I do? It's not on the NHS shortages list and the British Menopause Society are reporting no shortages.
Has there ever been a Viagra shortage, I suspect not.
If the govt want 50-somethings back in work they could at least sort this out. Madeleine McTernan was appointed HRT tsar last April but stepped down, I think, last August when it was 'sorted'. She needs get herself back on the case.

Yes agree OP. I replied on the other thread about this, there's a shortage where I live too, SE Wales. I had to ring around 8 branches of Boots before I found some! The worse thing is, some of them are so unhelpful & can't even give an idea when they will get some in! It's not good enough.

I am in east of England and was able to get some this morning after waiting for around a month. The pharmacy reported that they unexpectedly received a delivery yesterday. So it looks like some supplies are now hitting pharmacies.

Still nothing where I am in East London. Been 2 weeks now. 😥

In their defence, they are unlikely to have known when they would be getting supplies other than perhaps hoping to by the end of this month. The whole supply chain from manufacturing to distribution is currently such a mess and a branch pharmacy is small fry in all of this.

Plentiful in the North west. No shortages of any HRT, other than Estradot. Very odd.

There are national shortages of some and there have been shortages of one description or another for the best part of three years. A number have been included on the serious shortage protocol. Some have since been removed and others are now on it. Some have not been on it, but there are still issues with supply that the manufactures have acknowledged. You have been very lucky if you have managed to get through the last 3 years without having to hunt down or change the body identical HRT products you have been using. For some, it has been a nightmare.

An absolute nightmare for sure. I am on evorel patches and before tidy gel. No problem fulfilling my prescription from Asda.

Estradot is a totally different ball game. None to be found and a backlog of prescriptions to be met. A right nuisance, as I would like to try them ( evorel 100 are huge).

I'm nearly out of utrogestan and annoyingly because I order via the app, the allocated pharmacy now has to release the prescription to allow me to get it filled elsewhere, if I can! So I'll be very close to the wire...

I was on estrogel and there were significant supply issues with that including estradose being passed off as estrogel. I used an online pharmacy at the start of the pandemic as there were mega queues at our local pharmacy (3-4 hours) and I managed to get what I needed when others couldn’t. I ended up switching to a regular pharmacy when the online pharmacy had supply issues. Thankfully I get 3 months worth at a time, but every 3 months I have have ended up having to phone around over a dozen pharmacies to try and source both preparations. Not so easy when living in a rural area to get to pharmacies that are a long distance away and very challenging if you have to rely on public transport.

I changed to Estradot in the summer as the gel did not alleviate all of my symptoms. I managed to get Estradot 100 in January after getting my regular pharmacy to send my script back to the spine as they had substituted both products with unsuitable alternatives (had used in the past and had significant side effects that didn’t settle down). But alternative pharmacy was not able to supply the utrogestan. I took the Estradot and then had to go back to GP to ask them to reissue the script for utrogestan which ended up being far more complicated than it should have been. Due to a supply of utrogestan coming into the country more recently and my regular pharmacy unexpectedly receiving a delivery, I am now sorted until it all starts again in a few months time. If I can’t source what I need then, my only alternative is to stop taking HRT as there are no alternatives left for me to try. It has been bad enough finding something that works for me without the supply issues.

The Estradot is quite discreet in comparison to evorel, but if the evorel is working I would remain on that until the supply of Estradot is more stable. Note that some Estradot is allegedly in plentiful supply and only 100 are on SSP.

True ihavedogs and I appreciate their situation. However I have found some pharmacies just very unhelpful in any way at all, so as the person in the middle of them and my GP surgery, it's been very frustrating and at times upsetting to have very matter of fact replies about when or if, my essential medication will be available. Luckily I have tracked some down but that was after alot of ringing around. I am cross that me or anyone in this situation has to be chasing our HRT every few months!

I am also in East London, and in my corner supplies of Utrogestan are so far stable (touch wood). It seems pretty random. The only difference may be that I get mine from an independent pharmacy which has a different supply chain. Do you get yours from Boots @HundredMilesAnHour ?

@hellswelshy I am pleased to hear that you have managed to get what you need. I also got my utrogestan this week and I a big sigh of relief. I can’t use any other progesterone and the prospect of having to suddenly stop HRT suddenly fills me with dread.

I am sick to death of having to chase around for what I need, made worse by being in a more rural area. I have had over 2 years of chasing down oestrogel in the first instance, then Estradot and now both Estradot and utrogestan with little sign that there will be improvements in supply. Thankfully my GP allowed a very early repeat in January which has given me time to find what was needed before I ran out.

Other than the online pharmacy which I used to use not being good with communication and one staff member my local pharmacy, I have found the rest of the staff really helpful even if they couldn’t help. At times they have had to say that they didn’t have what I needed and didn’t know when they would be getting any more. I have found a Lloyds in the nearest city to be really helpful and have gone above and beyond, but sadly they will be closing any time soon.

No, I get mine from an independent pharmacy too. Specifically recommended by my GP because they are good at getting in HRT and being more responsive than the chains. But still nothing. I've rang round all my local pharmacies again and they're all still without stock.

I can’t use any other progesterone and the prospect of having to suddenly stop HRT suddenly fills me with dread.

Same. It's Utrogestan or nothing for me. Which means I have nothing right now and am using my Oestrogel alone. Not good I know but what choice do I have?!! Someone on another thread kindly offered to post me some Utrogestan but it never arrived and I don't have the heart to chase them as they were doing me a huge favour and they're more than entitled to change their mind.

@HundredMilesAnHour have you tried phoning around pharmacies in your local area in the last few days? I have been at the stage where I have searched in areas where I have friends living who would have kindly picked them up and then post them to me if necessary, if I had arranged for my script to go to their local pharmacy.

It’s an awful position to be in stopping your meds. Perhaps slightly less so if you are on a sequi regime, although still far from ideal. If you are on a sequi regime the 200mg vaginal pessary may be a suitable alternative. My pharmacy tried to sub me that recently, but I didn’t want to take 200mg when I usually take 100mg every day.

Yes @Ihavedogs I wrote in my post just above that I've rang round all my local pharmacies (and I've done this multiple times!)

My GP isn't willing to risk substituting anything as it's taken 18 months of discussing with my breast clinic, the menopause clinic, a menopause GP and my actual GP to get to the point where we all agreed which HRT would have the smallest increased cancer risk for me to take given my background and current health issues. I have been through hell to get to this point, taken out a huge bank loan and have 1 year of sick leave from my job.

@HundredMilesAnHour supplies have only just entered the county and hit the wholesalers sometime last week, hence my question if you had phoned pharmacies in the last few days. I hadn’t noticed the timeframe in which you had contacted pharmacies. I do hope that you can source some in the early part of next week.

I contacted my local pharmacy on Wednesday morning (they have not been able to supply my HRT for over a year due to shortages of at least one of the two HRT preparations on my script). They had no stock, had not had any for a while, they didn’t know when they were getting any and their system gave them no indication as to when they would receive any. Within 6 hours my prescription was ready to collect as they had received an unexpected delivery after I had phoned them. That is how quickly that the supply situation can change now that stock has hit wholesalers. I have included this information more for anyone else reading this rather than it being directed at yourself.