Anyone else having difficultly getting 2.5mg pills? I've been waiting 3 weeks for my pharmacy to get more stock in, and they rang me today to say they couldn't get my usual un-coated ones so they are giving me the coated instead. Also the last batch I got in October had a use by date of May 2020 which seemed a bit odd, as they usually have a much longer use by date. They were obviously old stock.
Pred shortage: Anyone else having difficultly... - PMRGCAuk
Pred shortage
Written by
palewolf
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43 Replies
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I use the plain 2.5mg but haven’t ordered any for a while, they are not routinely used so maybe they don’t order enough in?
Ask them to pursue it after Christmas.
palewolf• in reply to
Thanks, I will.
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Watch out if you are combining costed and uncoated - coated take a lot longer to be absorbed so maybe cutting 5mg plain tablets might work better.
Good point, I never thought of that. Fortunately I still have some 5mg so will do that instead.
Strangely out chemist attached to doctors didnt have a pharacist a couple of weeks ago so everyone needing their prescriptions urgently had to go elsewhere. Apparently everyone went to the chemist at sainsburys and when i collected my tablets from them ecause they had had such a run on pred they had given me coated 5mg rather than uncoated 5mg but fortunately i have enough uncoated 5mg to go for about 5 months so dont need to work out in advance when i need to take coated!! Far to much work for my sleepless brain!!
Just take it before bed! It won't keep YOU awake ...
Ha ha. Guess not!x
Silver lining is that they have given you the coated ones instead , so it will be good for the tummy.
Perhaps you can use that as an excuse to ask the GP to give you coated Pred from now on because you found them easier to take , take care x
I was thinking that too because my stomach does complain quite a lot and I cannot take the ppi's because they upset me even more so maybe they have done me a favour. As you say every cloud .....
Definitely , if you can't take a PPI and you do have stomach symptoms they have no excuse not to prescribe you the coated ones for all your Pred anyway . A polite but firm request at the Doctor's will be worth it , take care xx
And worth speaking to a pharmacist who can provide the relevant costs. The usual excuse for plain pred plus a PPI is cost - except the difference is minimal when you get down to it.
Yes , an actually I just thought , we don't often think to ask our Pharmacists to advocate on our behalf with our surgeries about what they have available and how it could be better for us , but they will phone and speak to the GP if you have a good , regular Chemist.
When I collected my repeat prescription yesterday the pharmacist called me over and asked if I would need more 2.5mg. I explained that my dose had been raised due to a flare and that I needed all - 1s, 2.5s and 5s - to make up appropriates doses while reducing down again. She is good, and put note on my script that this was the case. Said she wasn't aware of shortages but that they had been asked to check. All mine are enteric coated.
Sounds a bit suspicious doesn't it. I've now got 1's and 5's uncoated and 2.5 coated. Don't like mixing them, so I'm thinking of asking the pharmacist to change them all to coated when I pick up my script. I just hope that changing to the coated pills doesn't complicate things as I've been used to the uncoated from the start. What a flipping hassle.
• in reply topalewolf
Some (Most) Pharmacists will only dispense what’s requested on the ‘script so you’ll have to ask your GP to change it or reissue it.....
palewolf• in reply to
My script was for uncoated ( 1's, 2.5's & 5's) but they rang me to say they couldn't get the 2.5's and have changed them to coated. So if they can change the script for them, surely they can change the others. I'll plead my case later today when I pick up my script.
• in reply topalewolf
I remember once needing 40mg of a Specific Drug & GP had written 2x20mg (as she didn’t know there were in fact 40mg Tablets) but Pharmacist sent me round to the GP to get it changed due to Cost etc.......
Coated Pred are marginally more expensive than plain Pred so there may be the cost element to consider. Pharmacists may send the ‘scripts back to the GP when they give an alternative ie Coated as opposed to Plain due to Supply Issues.
Let us know how you get on.
palewolf• in reply to
Will do.
palewolf• in reply to
Just got back from chemist. Had long discussion with pharmacist about taking coated with uncoated and the fact that the coated took much longer to absorb into the blood and that maybe I should change all of my Pred to coated, She said that there was no difference in absorption rate between the two and that it was fine to take coated and uncoated together. When I queried the fact that one dissolves in the stomach (and therefore absorbs quickly) and the other has to travel further into the body before it absorbs (and therefore takes longer), she said as far as she was aware there was no difference and she would have to speak to the manufacturers about that. I also asked why there was a shortage of the 2.5 mg uncoated. She didn't know but said it could be that they are changing the packaging (?). Anyway came away feeling a bit miffed. So frustrating when they are not as clued up as we are. Still. onwards and upwards!
I honestly don't believe my eyes!!!! Enteric coated are coated with a gastro-resistant substance so they pass through the stomach. If a pharmacist doesn't know that makes a difference I'd suggest they need sending for some re-training and a complaint made to try to ensure that. And they encourage us to go to the pharmacy for advice ...
• in reply topalewolf
Really, sometimes they leave you speechless 😶
I think maybe we could find an article on that subject & drop it off with your Pharmacist, it’s really quite worrying......
palewolf• in reply to
I know, it's bad enough having a medical condition that is complicated without the ignorance of some of the so called professionals. I mean it is so obvious that coated take longer to absorb, but she wasn't having any of it.
Good old Wiki! It says "The time required for an enteric-coated dosage form to reach the intestine mostly depends on the presence and type of food in the stomach. It varies from 30 minutes up to 7 hours, with an average time of 6 hours."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enter...
"I'll have to contact the manufacturer ..." my foot!
My pharmacist can only get coated 5mg. As I am on 6.5 I am using this to give my body a rest from PPI's. The coated don't make any difference to my absorption rates I am able to take them same as uncoated
Also my pharmacist didn't refer back to the GP. He just said that when he knows there might be a shortage of a drug he orders as much as he can of what is available. I really do not notice any difference. Some of my other meds change brand every month.
Yes, I try to have refill well ahead of time. Also have some 20mg from a year ago which I can cut into 4, if nedexxary. I also try to keep some 1 mg on hand as these can also be hard to refill.
Do check the expiry dates though - some people have found they seem to degrade quite quickly.
The last batch I got in September only had 6 months but this latest batch have till 2021.
My last prescription for 5mg tablets, collected only last week, were already out of date....October 2019!!!!
Needless to say I took them straight back. Although, the staff kept looking over at me as if it was me who had done something wrong!
ALWAYS check it before leaving - then they can't say it was you. Bet they thought you'd found an old lot and were trying it on!!
I’m afraid it wouldn’t have made any difference if I had checked the date straight away as I collected it from the out of hours box. However, you could be right and they did think I was trying it on 😧
They should really be complained about - they need to keep a closer eye on expiry dates,
What’s an out of hours box? Or rather how does it work? It sound as if it might be useful....
I use it all the time as I don’t want to wait around for my prescription to be made up. When it’s ready I receive a text with a 6 digit code, I can then return to the pharmacy at any time within 7 days. There’s a machine on the outside of the building, a bit like a cash machine so you can use it at any time whether the pharmacy is open or closed. I enter my 6 digit code and the machine dispenses my prescription. I take my prescription to a Well Pharmacy, I don’t know if any other pharmacies have one but it works very well.
Thanks - that’s interesting. I’ve genuinely never heard of this before. It certainly hasn’t reached the North of Scotland yet as far as I know!
That's terrible, what was their excuse?
No excuse just an apology!
So I would contact Trading Standards - just as I would if a supermarket was handing out out of date items without getting seriously concerned when it was pointed out. Such things happen - but it is mainly because SOMEONE isn;t doing their job properly.
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