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[bear]

Hi girls,

MIMS has added Sandrena gel and Estraderm MX (all presentations) to the shortages list, estimated to last until second week of December.

BeaR.

[dahliagirl]

https://members.tortoisemedia.com/2019/11/28/the-great-hrt-scandal/content.html?

Very interesting article on the reasons for the HRT shortage.

[Hurdity]

Thanks dahliagirl very informative - but I must admit I glazed over at all the complexities and detail which I found a bit tedious  . However the drugs shortages are widespread globally, and also in UK not just for hRT, and can probably be summed up through the headlines in that recent File on Four (FoF) programme - that there is a multiplicity of reasons which have  combined to bring us to this point. A recent podcast by a gynae said that someone at the Dept of Health - had "taken their eyes off the ball" - as there are fora and committees etc which are supposed to monitor this. The FoF programme cited globalisation as a key factor = which is highlighted in the very detailed example given in this articlle but which applies across all sectors and drugs. The supply chain is longer and therefore more fragile with lots of raw material coming from China and there was a suggestion that we bring back manufacturing to Europe. What happens after Brexit is anyone's guess and anyone who cares about the future of NHS and the cost of drugs etc should not vote Tory full stop.

Also another factor highlighted by this programme (FoF) was the dominance of the market for certain drugs by one or two manufacturers and this is very obvious when it comes to HRT. There simply are no generics which is appalling. Even when the patents expire it seems that another company just takes it over as a "branded generic" eg with Testim ie produces the same product with same fillers - so not a generic as such.

I like to draw a parallel (in my head) with the food industry and supermarkets. They source and supply a huge range of products - which also include a lot of very specailised raw ingredients - but there is very rarely a significant shortage because the raew ingredients and many of the finihsed products are not exclusive to one comapny, leaving industry to respond to shortgaes and source their materials elsewhere. I realise that pharma is enormously more expensive with drugs costly to produce and market because of all the trials but i would have thought the same principles of supply and anticipating it do apply and are in operation long before a product might be needed?

ANyway that's my take on it - we need generics produced in the EU for the EU (and stay in the EU or have a agreement to continue to buy the drugs from EU) so we can import our own (EU) ingredients and produced by sevreal companies....like aspirin , and thyroxine etc.....

Probably far too simplistic a view from someone who knows very little about it all 

Hurdity x

[bear]

https://members.tortoisemedia.com/2019/11/28/the-great-hrt-scandal/content.html?

Very interesting article on the reasons for the HRT shortage.

The author is a MM member, although her post has been deleted 

BeaR.

[EmmaHartley]

Yes! I could not have written this article if I had not met BeaR on here, who is a genius researcher. She has proved absolutely invaluable. Thank you Menopause Matters.

[bear]

Yes! I could not have written this article if I had not met BeaR on here, who is a genius researcher. She has proved absolutely invaluable. Thank you Menopause Matters.

Hi Emma,

Thank you! Looking forward to working with you again! Keep posting!

BeaR.

[dahliagirl]

  Emma


Here is  Hurdity's File on Four episode link:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bfhx

It is shocking that it has been allowed to get to this level.  It is not only HRT either.

[Joaniepat]

I have just obtained half my prescription of 6 boxes of Estradot 100 from Lloyd's Pharmacy, with the rest due on Monday.

Boots still cannot supply Estradot. I showed them the BMS update of 26 November and they made a phone call (to whom I don't know) but still no joy.

That aside, I feel as though Santa has come early  , as I've been trying to get Estradot since August.

JP x

[Joaniepat]

That is such good news.😊 I got 8 boxes of 25mcg Estradot from Boots about 4 weeks ago - they thought this would be a solution by sticking 4 on at a time to make up the 100......said I needed  another prescription though which I did present, but they advised after this that they could get no more and direct orders are no longer possible to Novartis,  so I've given up.🙄

Even if I were able to get Evorel, they give me a terrible rash and wrinkle. Estradot really are the only ones I get along with.

I go really bonkers if I start/stop HRT with symptoms, so am havng to try the alternative I posted about in my other thread as at least it is consistently available - just not sure how the hell I'm going to feel on it though.

Enjoy, Joaniepat! I really am so glad for you. Good news is always welcone.😊

Thanks Lola50, and I do hope you get on OK with your other option.

I recently went through the business of using up combinations of odds and ends left over from earlier regimes (25 mcg patches, Sandrena,  Oestrogel), so it will be lovely to get back to the real thing!

JP x

[Wilks]

Thanks ladies, I never thought of trying an online pharmacy

[Orangefoot]

I found Emma's link on twitter - thank you! It explains why a lot of us who want Estradot have 'been able to get' Estraderm (as if it's a luxury!)

Estraderm is awful. The 75mcg is a massive patch 5cm x 5cm and no wonder Estradot is preferred.  I bet all this Estraderm was ordered at the same rate as Estradot but sitting on the shelves, unprescribed as Estradot was prescribed more and more. 

Now that the NHS has put anyone off even selling HRT to the UK what we've got now is what was left on the shelf.

It's bad enough that in many areas Utrogestan is on the RED list of the CCG Formularies defining it as specialist prescription only. Then nationally they go and move all the HRT into the fixed price cupboard making it pointless supplying it.

I can't tell you how mad I am. It doesn't help that my husband gently stroked by thigh when I got into bed and the stupid Estraderm rolled right off my leg. I couldn't be bothered to get out of bed to put another one on and ended up going 12+hours without it and I've had a very frustrating powerless and tearful afternoon whilst negotiating the sale of a house (I'm an estate agent) and writing oodles of letters to all sorts of people. Thank goodness this is my own business!

[Dandelion]

I found Emma's link on twitter - thank you! It explains why a lot of us who want Estradot have 'been able to get' Estraderm (as if it's a luxury!)

Estraderm is awful. The 75mcg is a massive patch 5cm x 5cm and no wonder Estradot is preferred.  I bet all this Estraderm was ordered at the same rate as Estradot but sitting on the shelves, unprescribed as Estradot was prescribed more and more. 

Now that the NHS has put anyone off even selling HRT to the UK what we've got now is what was left on the shelf.

It's bad enough that in many areas Utrogestan is on the RED list of the CCG Formularies defining it as specialist prescription only. Then nationally they go and move all the HRT into the fixed price cupboard making it pointless supplying it.

I can't tell you how mad I am. It doesn't help that my husband gently stroked by thigh when I got into bed and the stupid Estraderm rolled right off my leg. I couldn't be bothered to get out of bed to put another one on and ended up going 12+hours without it and I've had a very frustrating powerless and tearful afternoon whilst negotiating the sale of a house (I'm an estate agent) and writing oodles of letters to all sorts of people. Thank goodness this is my own business!

Hi I'm writing about the bit of your post that I have bolded.
I am addicted to valium and take 200mg utrogestan daily as it is cross tolerant to valium.
For this reason I cannot take a cheaper progestin as it will mess up my GABA receptors with disasterous results.
I read that red list drugs are hospital only prescriptions and it takes ages to get a hospital appointment in my area.
I am worried about running out of utrogestan, the menopause expert Elizabeth Vliet says it is like a strong benzo, so altering my dose or removing it will either have disasterous effects or it will kill me.
I cannot order online because no one takes conti progesterone 200mg daily, so the online doctor will not approve it.
I don't know if it is on the red list in my area. I tried to check online to see if it is on the red list in my area but I can't check. I think it needs a clinician to check.
The independent pharmacy don't sell utrogestan.
What am I to do?
I can only order so much at a time, and worried that when I come to order it next on 3 Dec I will find that it is on the red list.
What is the way forward?
I'm too young to die or suffer disasterous consequences by changing from micronised prog.

[Hurdity]

Dandelion I have answered your last post on the thread about Utrogestan prescription as this thread is about the general shortages issue rather than what docs will prescribe - OK? Do not fret

Hurdity x

[Hurdity]

***LATEST UPDATE FROM BRITISH MENOPAUSE SOCIETY ON HRT SHORTAGES ***as at 26th Nov

https://thebms.org.uk/2019/11/british-menopause-society-further-update-on-hrt-supply-shortages-26-november-2019/

Very comprehensive list it is too - so looks like the situation may well improve soon judging by the dates on the list - fingers crossed!

Hurdity x

[bear]

Hi girls,

Latest update from MIMS, 27th Nov. Tostran is back in stock. Yay!

https://infogram.com/drug-shortages-linked-1hmr6grnw37z4nl

BeaR.