If you panic bought, what will happen when they finish?

[PearlsPearl]

I have 2 pens in the fridge already (as I use the 5th dose) and panic ordered 2 pens last night from 2 of the providers that I've used before.

So that will keep me going for 4/5 months. But then what? I'm worrying that pharmacies won't allow me to order a 10mg pen with a 4/5 month gap since I last ordered one. Will they make me go back to 2.5?

I'm worried because IQdoctor don't allow a gap of more than 5 weeks between orders, and PharmacyExpress is 6 weeks.

Do you think they'll change the rules and allow the new orders a few months down the line, knowing so many people stockpiled?

(PLEASE this is not a thread to bash me for buying 2 pens. I have been so upset all last night and today, so don't need to be made to feel worse)

I have "panic" 🤔 (not sure I would call it that) bought 3 pens from current supplier when they were supporting/suggesting it before the price increase. They have my full prescribing history so it won't be an issue.

The handling of this announcement is Eli Lilly and pharmacies responsibility. It is a shitshow, but it is not down to individual patients to be aware of stocks, shortages, patient priorities or any of that information they don't have access to and any anger at patients buying an extra pen or two is misdirected and very unfair.

How do you buy extra? Mine won't let me until I get to a certain date after the last purchase?

It's not herd mentality when the owner of a pharmacy goes live to explain the situation and states they will allow orders of upto 3 pens per person before 1st September. It's essentially survival mechanisms eg adrenaline kicking in. If you look into biological responses to unexpected situations, then you will understand why people act out of the norm to do what they do.

Like I said in my previous comment to OP, I purchased 2 x 10mg and im on 15mg, by then I knew I had to purchase what I could as stock was selling out. This is why people bulk bought because their worries came true I.e. having no stock left for them to purchase.

For myself I'm going to taper down anyway, it happened to time perfectly for me as I started that yesterday which I was planning on for ages, but at bmi 24.2 I'm not even in the normal range for my ethnicity which is 23, and being prediabetic at 12+ stones and having other inflammatory conditions for years and being genetically predisposed to diabetes and heart conditions, I have massive health concerns for the future, its not just about weight loss and being slimmer for me. I would love to stay on a maintenance dose but I won't pay double/triple the cost and want to see if my body has lost enough weight and recovered, to reverse the insulin issues that I have.
Unfortunately sh*t happens and we have to roll with the punches, but I'm not going act out and blame others, because I missed out on the higher doses and the rest of stock has sold out.

You don’t understand that people would rather pay less? That’s pretty basic stuff tbh.

I was due for another pen anyway as my previous pen was delivered 16th July so timing worked for me. I think others have ordered even if previous pen ordered a week ago, whether they will be approved is another issue. Many people purchase at different times as could be away on holiday for weeks so wanting a pen delivered before you go or other situations come up. I'm sure with the price hikes, everyone will be ordering now regardless of when last purchased.

It wasn’t panic.

it was stocking up as a financially sound decision.

I bought three pens from Oushk at £180 per pen.

they have confirmed their new pricing to be £320 for the highest dose.

therefore I’ve saved £140 per pen, or £420 overall. I also put two of the pens on a 0% credit card, and the £360 spent on them into a 4.5% savings account for the next 15 months. So I’ve actually made £16.20 on top of those savings!

My pharmacy which I have been at for around a year suggested/supported it after the announcement and on a live Q&A a few hours after it, they have since restricted to 1 extra pen based on their capacity but said they will honour the orders already placed. It will depend on your pharmacy what they are allowing/how they are handling it, they are all approaching differently as they all have different setups/processes/capacities which might not be flexible enough to respond to very unexpected situations like this.

Again that might feel unfair, but the pharmacy I am at were trying to be supportive, it might have backfired on them a bit, but it also has a higher price generally, so perhaps you have benefitted in the past from cheaper prices at your supplier(s) that I haven't.

It is what it is, direct your anger at Eli Lilly or even Trump who started all this. Not the patients.

Titasaducksarse I start a new pen and then within days order the next one. Mostly because I’m away from home a lot and I can pick a convenient delivery date. I’d already just ordered before this fiasco, and my pharmacy, Oushk, said in their blog that you can place an order and ask for an extra pen at the same time, so I did that yesterday. So I’ll have 3 coming instead of my usual one. They are still showing stocks of my dose. Still the same price and still offering discount codes that save a little. Amazing service. Who do you use that won’t let you order in advance? How on earth is that manageable?

I think a lot of pharmacies have a rule where you can only order after 2 weeks of your last order - or that’s how it was when I started last year. It was to make sure you weren’t doubling up on doses (e.g. buying two 5mg pens to jump ahead to 10mg) no clue if that’s still why they don’t allow it now

Thanks to all you selfish panic buyers I now have to miss a week as my normal prescriber doesn’t have any slots available until a week after I am due to inject my last pen dose. Thanks for that.

bet you’re all still using your toilet roll socks from
2020 too.

I’ve had pen surpluses before due to stocking up on good codes etc. Oushk said that it wasn’t an issue as they have the order history. When the pens were from another provider they suggested writing when I started each pen on the boxes as evidence of ongoing use that I could take a pic of if needed. But in the end I just explained it in the comments when I reordered and it was fine.

It’s not panic buying though is it? It’s stocking up.

I’ve never panic bought a loo roll in my life. However MJ and my health journey is very important to me, so I paid attention, did my research and took the advice offered by my pharmacy. Stock of all doses are still showing as available on the Monj website.

I had trouble in the past with this - stocked up on deals and then couldn’t get another pen at same strength (12.5mg). I could show I had ordered pens but many will still insist on a valid prescription made within past 6-8 weeks, it’s not worth their licence to faff around checking

See, I see it as panic buying or people would ordinarily stock up.

Med express you can't order until 2 weeks have passed.

But you're only going to be saving for a couple of months then have to face the reality of the new prices.

With the increases I would’ve been paying the September prices (£320 with Oushk) from my next pen, which I would’ve ordered to arrive the day after I got home from holiday. I have two doses left in this pen which will see me to the trip.

So by getting three pens, and effectively 15 doses of the medication at £540, I’ve got each dose for £36. If I’d waited, and got each pen monthly, I’d be paying £960 to the middle of December. That’s £64 per dose. I don’t think it’s that hard to understand why it’s £420 saves?

It doesn’t matter, it’s still running into the hundreds. I can’t imagine many people would choose to pay more.

That said, there are many people who have decided they will be titrating down and coming off after they use what they have/have ordered due to not being able to afford it at the higher prices.

Same as the arseholes buying toilet paper in lockdown 🙄

I didn’t purchase any more toilet roll than normal in lockdown (in fact we had to use those wipes as our local shops had run out!), but this is a totally different situation.

I actually usually buy 2 pens from my provider as they usually let you buy up to 3 at a time. They wouldn’t allow that the day before the news broke (I initially thought it was maybe me and my weight and then it made sense). Anyway, I went to order from Medicine Marketplace before and if your box is dated more than 7 weeks ago you need to explain why.

I provided them with a picture of both boxes and the order from the pharmacy showing 2 had been ordered. I also explained that it had been done at the 2 weeks to go mark as the delivery company had previously failed to deliver on time and I almost ran out. They seem to be fine if you can prove why, just make sure you keep the email confirmations of dispatch.

It’s really not. People were not buying toilet rolls to make a significant financial saving.

Me too, acting on recommendations from Oushk. You can think I'm an arsehole if you like, I don't mind.

I'm not, though.

I wouldn’t say I’m a panic buyer, I have just done what I was going to do next month. I’m at goal almost (BMI 27.4 … my goal rather than a BMI goal as I am 53) so I ordered my 10mg pen on Thursday before the announcement of the price changes announcement.

Today I have ordered what I would have done next month,I have ordered a 2.5, 5 and 7.5 pen bundle from Cloud to see what maintenance dose suits me best. I have put it on Klarna.

I plan on staying with Cloud as I like their non pushy approach so they’ll have records of this for when I order again around Christmas.