T3 Liothyronine

[5stripes5]

Hi everyone. My GP informed me this morning that T3 will be being withdrawn this year by the NHS because of the cost and has no suggestions as to what I can do about it and said that there are currently no substitutes. I am prepared to travel abroad or order from a chemist online, but obviously would like to make sure, if ordered online that it is from a reputable company. I would be so grateful for any advise/idea of cost and also whether I will need a prescription from my GP as my practice are extremely unhelpful. Drew

[TappedOut]

Whoa. Hi Drew. UK can't get straight t3??? I'm American (Houston, Texas) and new to thyroid so I don't know much about the different meds. However, your comment is concerning. I don't know if this is an option but, here in the US, we have compounding pharmacies (I imagine you do too). However they operate separately from franchise and major pharmacies. So they do not take insurance and the cost is entirely on the patient. However, even though we have to pay cash for compounded drugs, we have to have a prescription from a doctor. So, I wonder if you can get a script from a U.K. doctor, without regard to citizenship since this is outside of insurance model medicine, and fax it to an American (of any country) compounding pharmacy?? I know there are some online sources too, but like you noted, you want to be sure they are credible and healthy and actually selling what you purchased. I would ust google compounding pharmacies + United States. You should get several numbers and names. Call a few and ask if they know the perimeters of international compound scripts, whether a U.K. patient can order through them. Good luck. Please let me know how you come out. Also I wonder if you can order direct from manufacturers of t3 like Cytomel.

[Bengalgal]

People are trying to change this. And it's beyond understanding why a generic drug that costs less than 50 p a pill in most countries is going for so much more here.

If you have a T3 success story you can email it here:

[e-mail]

If you would like to get involved with the campaign please email - [e-mail]

[startagaingirl]

Hi Drew, it is possible to get t3 in uk if your NHS doctor withdraws it, but only by private prescription which the doctor will charge to issue. You then have to pay full cost of drugs, currently £256 for 28 X 20 mcg. With a private prescription you can, however, source from another European country such as Germany where it is a more reasonable price. Or you can go the same route as the majority of us and self-source from other countries where it is available otc and import it. Legal to import for personal use from Europe with no import duties, etc. From outside EU you may well be stung for an extra bill for vat and import duties.

People in the forum do have sources that they could give you, but generally will want to know a bit more about your thyroid history, recent test results, etc first. This because there are many people who abuse t3 for weight building or weight loss purposes who have been known to come here asking for sources. I am not saying you are in that category, but a bit of history would back that up. Suggest you stick it in a new post asking for sources.

Btw, if you can persuade your GP to keep monitoring you that should save you some money.

Gillian

[5stripes5 in reply to startagaingirl]

Fab - thank you for that. I will send another post with history details

[Angel_of_the_North]

The curent NHS guidelines say that T3 should NOT be discontinued on cost grounds alone for patients who are doing well on it. I can't remember the link, but I'm sure someone will post it. So your GP should not be stopping it (although I'm sure s/he really wants to avoid the cost).

[5stripes5 in reply to Angel_of_the_North]

Wow, I'm amazed at this news. I cannot function without it and feel like I got my life back when my private Dr, Dr Skinner recommended it. I do hope that someone posts the link as this would give me great grounds to pursue my GP practice. Many thanks, Drew

[5stripes5 in reply to 5stripes5]

Hi

I don't suppose anyone knows where I can find this link please?

The curent NHS guidelines say that T3 should NOT be discontinued on cost grounds alone for patients who are doing well on it.

[loueldhen in reply to 5stripes5]

british-thyroid-association...

Fight it. It is not 'being withdrawn'.