I was shocked to discover this . I just hope that it isn’t the shape of things to come with other German online pharmacies . It’s worrying .
A DAY LATER AND BODFELD HAS NOW ADDED “ GROSSBRITTANIEN “ (“ GREAT BRITAIN “) TO THEIR LIST OF COUNTRIES !! IT CAN NOW BE FOUND AS THE VERY LAST ENTRY, AT END OF THE LIST , NOT ALPHABETICALLY, ’ UNDER THE “Gs” —— I AM SO RELIEVED .
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wedgewood
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Thank you for alerting us to this. I bought extra stocks from Versandapo the other day just in case it gets worse.
One can't help but wonder what else can stack up against us! I confess I didn't forsee the problems getting worse as time went on like this - I naively thought it would just be over the transition period following Brexit and then it would be OK.
If the German online pharmacies strictly observe the German Pharmaceutical rules , none of them would supply U.K. with B12 ampoules . The rules forbid them to send any pharmaceutical item to a country where that item is a prescription only item . But in the case of Bodfeld , it doesn’t add up because Ireland is still on the list , and B12 ampoules are prescription only there also .But Ireland is an EU country . Don’t know if that makes a difference . Whatever , it is concerning .
I have been registered with Bodfeld for some time , and they seem to still deliver to me . Customers registered already look as though they are OK for deliveries .
Mine live in a cool cupboard and I do a similar thing - although I confess I usually order 6 months worth at a time. The lot I've recently ordered will be going out of date by the time I use them but that won't matter a jot to me - I know they'll be just as effective and safe - and at least it means I've always got plenty available for me for as long as possible. The most critical thing seems to be keeping them dark, and ideally cool.
This is a huge worry, Wedgwood 😟 I just hope other German pharmacies don’t follow suit.
I tried to order from https Versandapo and as usual they were out of stock but I usually receive a email from them within a few days to let me know it’s back in stock and it’s been over a week now.
And when you do hear that they are back in stock , it’s best to order immediately, because they can be out of stock again in a few hours .
Yes that’s longer than usual ! If we could no longer get ampoules from Germany , we would have to resort to powdered Methylcobalamin, which is obtainable in UK. But we know the risks involved with that .
Then there’s still a problem with saline . Well, I do know of one source in U.K. , should things get that bad .
I’ve always worried it would end up being journeys to Germany….a huge problem if Covid restrictions ever come back. Only in June the receptionist at my GP overturned hospital directions for 8 weekly injections and I have had to look after myself since. So I am really wondering how to cope. It seems PAS is trying to encourage Hydroxycobalamin manufacturing companies to apply for subcutaneous license in the hopes that one day OTC or GPs will allow self management but it feels a long way off.
Curious though what’s the issue with mythelcobalamin?
The issue is not with Methylcobalamin per se, but with POWDERED Methylcobalamin, which has to be reconstituted with saline , and you end up with a large multi dose vial . We are told the safest way to inject is by using single-use ampoules . Multi-use vials constitute a hazard because of the possibility of contamination . Also saline is also a prescription-only item in U.K. . But I do know of a U.K. source .
PS powdered Methylcobalamin can be sold legally in the U.K. !
I am wondering if I misunderstood this. A license for sub-cutaneous injection of hydroxycobalamin? I thought we had previously determined that this method is fine with hydroxy. In fact my PanPharma B12 depot says so on the box. I am asking because my GP is insisting I should be IM hydroxy. Is she right? Sorry. I have asked this before but the above post concerned me again.
I believe it means that the medical authorities need to licence the sub-cutaneous method for administering B12 ( any B12 ) At the moment GPs are only licensed / authorised to inject B12 by the Intra-muscular method ( in the U.K. anyhow , Don’t know about USA . )
If the subcutaneous method was authorised/ licensed for injecting. b12 , then then perhaps GPs would encourage and help P.A. patients to self -inject ( as they do for patients who need to inject insulin . )
Subcutaneous method is considered less hazardous than I,M. The shorter needle is not so intimidating. . BUT at the moment B12 is only authorised /licensed for Intra-muscular injections .
But we all know that sub cut works perfectly .But this is not acknowledged by the medical authorities yet !
I'm sorry to hear that and hope this will help in the meantime. I am crossing my fingers that Tracy's petition will be heard, and hopefully, you will be able to get your B12 ampules OTC in the UK soon.
In the meantime, maybe apotheke.de is an alternative. I checked their website, the UK is still on the list of countries they ship to (apotheke.de/liefer-und-vers.... Shipping is a bit expensive, but what the heck?
I found this list on a Dutch website. It seems that many Dutch companies run a German online pharmacy:
Just try them out and see if one or the other also ships to the UK. There are so many, there must be some alternatives that have been overlooked, even Austrian and Polish pharmacies are on this list.
The one thing I learned from wedgewood is that having a country on the list doesn't mean they will ship there. One way to know for sure is to try and register, and see if your country shows up in the registration form. And, even that is no guarantee. mycare.de will ship most things to the US, but no longer B12. So it's getting really difficult to even know if a company will ship somewhere!
It's a shame that getting B12 is a problem for so many of us. Getting something you need for life shouldn't be such a mess. Especially if it is a vitamin.
I think I was too optimistic about finding alternatives to German online pharmacies.
Dutch is quite similar to German, so I searched a few of the above websites, since I can often translate with an approximately similar word in German when reading. I could not find any injectable form of B12 😥.
No Dutch members here in the forum who could help?
This is prescription only, how disappointing. And I thought it was available OTC in the Netherlands. So, this was obviously a dead-end road. I would have so loved to spread a little hope.
I found the below links when I was trying to find Dutch sites. These are not links to pharmacies but I think the government's medication registry. I was not able to find any online pharmacies shipping outside the netherlands. (I can speak dutch so if you have websites you find, please let me know Lunario ! )
fyi I am keeping the supplies document up-to-date whenever I see posts here.
These are extracted from the supplies document. I think these numbers match yours helvella.
For cyano, the government registry only lists Centrafarm Cyanocobalamine CF 1 mg/ml, says it’s prescription-only db.cbg-meb.nl/ords/f?p=111:....
• There also appears to be the following two hydroxo products but they’re currently sold out online and some websites say it’s only by prescription.
BUT I did find one Belgian pharmacy that says they will ship to the UK. They have standard CYANO 1mg/1ml and a high-dose Hydroxo 10mg/2ml. pharmabox.be. I ordered some hydroxo from them without issues (within Belgium) .
I also tried to scour French sites. I don't speak French but used translate apps. From what I can tell, only the Cyano form is available (OTC). They appear to be available in many online pharmacies, but I don’t know if they ship to other countries.
Greece has hydroxo but I haven't attempted to find any online pharmacies.
indeed worrying. I sure wish the expiration date hadn’t changed from 2 years to one year. I am hesitant to “stock up” now (because of this shortened expiry date) before this policy spreads to other German pharmacies. Here in the US a prescription is required but I have not had any difficulty getting it twice from a German pharmacy.
Well, with VAT it came to 70,80 and about 40 for the med + tax alone... I did enjoy making out the german language.
At first the total was an encouraging 39. Then the shock came.
Just a note for others in the US. Guess I'll have to stick with the preservatives they include here. Does anybody else think this is a reasonable price to pay? Do you all pay this much for your B12 ?
how many ampoules did you buy? Last month I bought 30 ampoules and paid $70 but $40 was for shipping. I have been unable to source single vial ampoules in US without a prescription at an affordable price so I am happy with is price. I was getting pre-filled syringes prior to ordering from Germany and paid $15/injection so comparatively, $70 for 30 injections is super cheap.
I don't remember having to pay lots of extra VAT when I ordered to the US. Just the standard costs plus $35 shipping (at the time). I think currently the prices are around 8 to 10 euro per box of 10 ampoules.
That's why it makes sense to order large amounts and frustrating that the expiration dates are only 1 year out, as opposed to 18 to 24 months as it used to be, at least for Panpharma.
I looked up the inactive ingredients in PanPharma’s hydroxy. They are sodium chloride, sodium acetate, acetic acid and water. This seems similar to other brands I have had in the past. I think the bigger vials, with 30 ml likely have more preservatives. I, like you, look for the smallest amounts of inactive ingredients in everything. It can all affect absorption.
You can also try shop.apotal.de/ shipping to the US according to the website is 30 euro and a box of 10 panpharma depot (hydroxy) is 8.13 euro right now. shop.apotal.de/vitamin-b12-...
I'm registered with Bodfeld and placed an order mid Oct, I received order within 7 days....I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can continue to place orders with them because I've been registered with them for over 18mths and my address is already in their system.
Yes , I know( lived there for 20 years ) They have tagged it on after Vatican and use “Großbritannien “ not Vereinigtes Königreich . But now on this new site , they have put the country first on the address page , which makes everything easier than having it at the end . It’s imperative to enter country FIRST , before postal code , street or town , so that the rest of the address will be accepted . This has caused confusion in the past ! Best wishes !
But i still get worried. I bought some more a few weeks ago, and the date is Nov 2023, which is the same expiry as ones i bought 4 months ago.
Ironically ones i bought in March had Feb 2024 as their expiry date.
My problem is i now have enough to last me through til Nov 2023, so i can't do more orders for maybe 6 months so that the expiry date in the online stores finally moves into 2024. I worry if i order any sooner than that they'll just send me ones that run out in Nov 23.
But i stress that not ordering for 6 months will mean in 6 months time there's no online places left that ship to the UK!!
From my understanding I think this is due to the UK postal strike rather than them not delivering to UK - so presently on hold. Clearly they don't want B12 lingering around for longer than it has to and causing a decline in it's efficiency if stuck somewhere for longer than needs to be for prompt delivery.
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