Tillomed progesterone capsules

[Iheartmysmart]

Has anyone had their usual Besins Utrogestan replaced with Tillomed recently? I picked up my prescription last week and started them a couple of nights ago. They smell like gone off chip fat and are awful to swallow as they stick to the inside of my mouth. I’ve had permanent heartburn since taking them and they don’t seem to have the usual effect of helping me sleep, in fact I’ve had less than five hours sleep the last two nights. I’ve never seen this brand before and just assumed all capsules were the same regardless of make.

Not all capsules are the same, though the active ingredient is. A generic has to show the MHRA it contains the same progesterone and is absorbed in a similar way to Utrogestan, but the other ingredients (the oil, the capsule shell) can differ between makers, and that's usually where smell, taste and stomach upset come from. The leaflet in the box lists them, so you can compare it with an old Utrogestan leaflet if you still have one.

You could tell the pharmacist and ask whether they can order Besins Utrogestan next time, and ask your GP to prescribe it by brand name, which some surgeries will do after side effects on a generic. It's also worth reporting what you've noticed on the MHRA Yellow Card scheme, as that's how problems with a particular brand get picked up. If the heartburn and poor sleep carry on, mention it to your GP.

I can't offer any advice, and am not doubting your experience, but if you look on medicines.org.uk and under 6.1, for ingredients of both, (Besins and the brand you have) the contents are identical. The same oils - sunflower and soybean lecithin.

You can try asking for Besins but the reason the NHS has changed is cost- a few pence per tablet.

Thanks both. It’s very strange. The pharmacy have given me Gepretix brand before and they were fine but the Tillomed is awful. Just the smell of them is off putting. The pharmacy is only over the road so I might walk over and see if they will take them back and I’ll ask for another brand.

You get this for everything now..... I never seem to get the same statin, or BP med, or Utrogestan. And yes, they do seem to be all subtly different, even though the ingredients are the same. Maybe its just in our head!

Coming back to correct myself. JinglingSpringbells is right: I've checked section 6.1 of both product sheets on the emc site and Tillomed's capsules list exactly the same ingredients as Utrogestan, refined sunflower oil and soya lecithin inside, gelatin, glycerol and titanium dioxide in the shell. So it isn't a difference in the listed ingredients, sorry for suggesting it might be. Asking the pharmacy for another brand, as you're planning, is still a reasonable thing to try, and if the side effects carry on whichever brand you get, that's one for the GP.

Thanks @Perimenostage I took them back to the pharmacy who were a bit perplexed but swapped them to Besins for me. I’ve been taking those since with no problems. I can only think that the awful smell of the capsules was so off putting I had a bit of a psychological block about taking them.