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[bear]

Hi Bobidy and girls,

Oestrogel has its own UK website now https://oestrogel.co.uk/understanding-my-oestrogel-treatment/ and the 'new' Oestrogel depicted has the clear cap.

The website has very interesting info and even a printable journey diary.

BeaR.

[Ladybt28]

Yep defo VERY interesting Bear and explains some but not all of ladies very recent comments??
but it's still Besins though BeaR and the website and registering as Besins UK and a new pack with a clear cap must have to do with Brexit I would suggest, rather than any reformulation of the product...of course unless there is a "science" bit I have missed?xx

[Dotty]

Hi the picture on the website is the old packaging of Oestrogel (cylindrical shape and a clear / opaque plastic cap.) The new packaging is exactly the same colours and designs on the box and the container, but the container is a different shape and it has a green top. The pump is also different. I received the new shape bottles in November 2019, but I believe if was available a couple of months before this. I read Ona bother forum that the new boxes are tamper proof. X

[bear]

Hi girls,

Ladybt28, I can't comment on the gel itself, I haven't used Oestrogel (old, new) or Oestrodose. If Besins says they're all produced by the same manufacturing plant, the only logical explanation for different texture and smell, and potentially different rates of absorption and return of symptoms, would be different store conditions, but a recent (1/7/2019) change in the leaflet section 6.4 - Special precautions for storage to 'store conditions updated to no special requirements' puzzles me.

Dotty, there are many pics of Oestrogel on many websites (including MM) with the turquoise (green) cap, some from 8 years ago, so I don't think the 'new', and I have put it under quotation marks for a reason, bottle has the turquoise cap. The Oestrogel UK website is brand new, why would they choose an 'old' pic?

Here you can see the turquoise cap version on Besins UK website (date 2016) https://besinshealthcare.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Oestrogel.jpg

It would be interesting to know which ladies have the turquoise or the white (clear) cap versions with respective expiry dates. Or wait for Besins reply.

There's another change in the leaflet updated on Dec 2019 'Change of the excipient name from "Triethanolamine" to "Trolamine"' and before anyone asks, they are synonyms, but it would definitely tell if the Oestrogel you have is the 'new' version (or at least the new PIL).

BeaR.

[Dotty]

BeaR.....I have been using Oestrogel for 2 years and I can assure you that the new bottles with the green cap are the new packaging. I cannot find any pictures of the new packaging online. The expiry dates on these new bottles are 2021. X

[bear]

Hi Dotty,

Thank you. Now I'm definitely puzzled. Can you post a pic? I would post some pics, but if you say you can't find any pics of the new packaging online, it would be interesting to see which one you have.

BeaR.

[Dotty]

Hi BeaR I'm not sure how to post pictures on here.  The new packaging is the same shape as the Oestradose bottle but the same colours as the Oestrogel ( except for the lid ). The box is the same as the previous Oestrogel box but it's bigger and it has a different seal on the box lid.  X

[MIS71MUM]

I agree with you, it's an old picture on the website. The new one is a teardrop shaped bottle with a green lid.

I?ll post more later but to upload a picture you may need a laptop or device other than a phone, but could be wrong!

[bear]

Hi MIS71MUM,

Yes you can upload it from your phone if you have the image hosting website app. OK, if you say the turquoise is the 'new' packaging, does that mean the 'old' one had the clear cap? I don't remember seeing it online, except on some Russian websites. And the teardrop shaped bottle is like the Oestrodose bottle?

BeaR.

[bear]

Hi stellajane,

Thank you. So... the 'new' UK Oestrogel looks like the French Oestrodose regarding the shape of the bottle and both have a turquoise cap. Is that right?

BeaR.

[Hurdity]

May I groan!!!! Like I said - companies change their containers all the time....what is this obsession with different canisters?!!!!! Oestrogel and oestrodose have been supplied in umpteen different shaped canisters over the years all at the same time.....

I've emailed Besins to ask about the formulation.

Just to be clear, I'm comparing oestrogels as have never had oestradose. If my memory serves me right they are differing ingredients/carriers between oestrogel and oestradose.

I'm the same as you Bobidy, my brain is telling me that it's the same, however, my body is telling me otherwise. 

To be honest, if it's the case of increasing the new stuff, then 'that's what I will do, but it would be good to get some form of understanding 'what's changed between the two.

I?ll post back when I get a response from Besins.

Night all x

Ah thanks for clarifying this Mis71mum - I thought it was the old chestnut coming back to bite! Forgive me for being a bit blase - it's just we went over all of that a while back. Would be interested to hear back what Besins say. It may be that the proportions of some of the fillers etc have changed with the new packaging (which could account for a slightly different consistency) although the active ingredient and concentration is still exactly the same.

Hi MIS71MUM - previous letters from Besins have always confirmed that there is only one gel which they manufacture.  There are not two with different carriers.  As I said, it is possible that something may happen in the repackaging plant, in the mere act of decanting the gel from the manufacturer and putting it through the alternative bottling process but they have always confirmed they manufacture just one gel.  Oestrodose and Oestrogel are one an the same gel manufactured and supplied by Besins but Oestrogel is relabelled by repackagers in the UK.  It may have to do with import licence or import tax or some such thing I don't know but I do know the Besins gel is relabelled.  I am not sure but I believe on the really long running thread there may be links to their confirmation letters or definitely excerpts from them.  Hurdity did a huge amount of investigation into it and another lady who is no longer a member of the forum and it is an issue which comes up time and time again.

Just to clarify Ladybt - they do not rebottle the gel - which is why it's unlikely something has happened to it  unless stored under different conditions which Besins has no control over  - this was covered extensively in THAT thread . The gel is sealed inside an inner flexibile pouch - of some plasticky material can't remember exactly - they did tell me. it is the bottle/canister itself which is changed sometimes by parallel import companies and this will say on the leaflet or bottle.

I'm going to find and bump that thread - but unfortunately it was a bit derailed by conspiracy theorists and dragged off onto irrelevant tangents discussing out of date formulations and leafelts and such-like. However  (thanks Ladybt) I did reproduce Besins correspondence as written and also wrote to Dr Newson and posted her response too.

However Mis71mum we await your response with interest...

Hurdity x

[bear]

Hi girls,

I think this is it.



BeaR.

[Nairn]

Hi everyone

I confirm that I have the bottle in the photos and just had a prescription so it's defintely the current one, unless it's different in Scotland!

[MIS71MUM]

Yes me too, 'that's mine, the one in the photo. Up until recently I had the one from the Besins website, cylinder shape and white top.

I've checked my bottles and expiry dates are 02/2022 and 07/2022 and the ingredient is listed as Triethanolamine in the patient information leaflet.

[Bobidy]

Hi all

Yep that's the one. I hope I haven't stirred up a hornets nest here that wasn't my intention.

My expiries are the same too.

Im really trying not to be paranoid about it as it makes no sense at all to think like that but literally within 4 days of swapping to this one most of my peri symptoms are back with a vengeance: Creaking joints, numb buzzy ****ly hands and feet, ringing ears, bulging Arnie veins in my roasting hot hands, flush face, adrenaline rushes, yada yada...

I do NOT want to go back to that living hell again that's for sure.

I'll try upping the dose from 4 to 5 pumps for a few weeks and see if that makes a difference it could just be my ovaries have totally conked out now or something. I really don't want to go higher than 6 pumps though for sure.

Failing that I'm going to try to get some oestrogen 100 patches (if there are any) instead and see if they work any better.

I think I'm going to stop the Androfemme for a while until this is sorted out as I don't want to risk higher T.

I'm gutted! I was doing great.