Does anyone know if pred 2.5 mg comes in gastro resist coating...my go says no...my IBS flares with normal ones...makes reduction hard

[Katrinaroper]

Gastro resist?

[PMRpro Ambassador]

You are in the UK? Then gastro-resistant pred not only comes in 2.5mg it also now comes in 1mg tablets to make reduction easy-peasy (well, as easy-peasy as it can be). Never trust a doctor - ask the pharmacist, though even they don't always know.

I'm appalled the GP says 2.5mg g/r isn't available as it has been marketed for YEARS, I was on it 8 years ago. I'd let him off the 1mg as that has only been on the market since August 2016. %mg is red, 2.5mg is brown abd 1mg is yellow.

medicines.org.uk/emc/produc...

medicines.org.uk/emc/produc...

[Katrinaroper in reply to PMRpro]

Typical of my disinterested dr

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Katrinaroper]

I think that is very restrained of you!!!!

[nevagivup in reply to PMRpro]

GP's would rather not prescribe gastric coated because it costs a bit more. Mine tried telling me it made no difference. Oh, but it does, if you have a stomach and oesophagus that needs as little damage as possible from corticosteroid pills.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to nevagivup]

The slight extra cost of g/r pred is outweighed by the cost of prescribing the PPI...

30 tabs plain pred: £1.31

30 tabs of g/r pred: £1.86

30 tabs of PPI: £1.86

Dispensing fee paid to the pharmacist: from 70p to over £1 FOR EACH ITEM PRESCRIBED. So the £1.86 for the PPI goes up to well over £2.

The figures may be out of date but were provided by a dispensing chemist.

At one time there WAS a big difference between g/r and plain (it was claimed to be 17-fold but still not really a lot as plain pred cost pence) and it was decided that it should be discouraged to save a few quid and GPs agreed. Then many of their patients came complaining of gastric problems and required a PPI or something similar, adding to the cost and the layers of side effects. The GPs were surprised at how many patients had problems - and regretted their decision and discussed it again. It was agreed that patients who needed it could have it. And the suppliers had also jumped on the bandwagon and put up the price of plain pred anyway so that there was no longer as much difference.

[Soraya_PMR]

Yes. In the UK.

Even when I was on plain pred, any 2.5’s came as GR.

[Rugger]

Yes, yes, yes to 1mg, 2.5mg and 5mg gastro-resistant in the UK. I have all three.

[Sho-Sho]

Yes, Same as Rugger, have for the last two years have had all three doses as gastro-resistant.