Seasons greetings
I picked up my prescription from the pharmacy on Christmas Eve & noticed that usual brand I have taken for the past twelve months was different.
The brand prescribed is Mercury Pharma 25 mcg & Actavis 50mcg. I usually take a 75 dose.
My question is should I return them & ask for my usual brand ? They are unopened but I shall need them to take tomorrow.
Hi HartHill42. Hope you had s good crimbo. What do you usually take? Actavis don’t make a 25mcg tablet so have to be spilt. Mercury do a 25 and a 50. Sorry, it may be my thyroid brain, but I can’t understand from your post what your usual brand is. I wouldn’t change brands personally unless I absolutely had to, but there may be people in here who feel differently.
Thank you, I cannot remember my brand, I have none left & have binned the package. I shall take them back as I have read posts about Mercury Pharma not agreeing with a lot of people on TUK. Christmas good 🙏
To clarify, when you write that "the brand prescribed is ..." do you actually mean the brand you have been dispensed? I've not heard of recent problems with Mercury Pharma (AMCo), of late it seems to be Teva that some people are having issues with.
"that usual brand I have taken for the past twelve months was different." - do you mean that (in what way is it different?) or do you mean that you've been given a different brand?
"the brand prescribed is Mercury Pharma and Activis" - so that is two brands, rather than one. What has changed, what have you been given, are they actually specified on the prescription, why aren't you prescribed say, Mercury Pharma (AMCo) 50 & 25 mcg instead of different brands?
Did you originally have these brands specified for a particular reason / had problems with other brands? I've never had a problem with Levo in that regard, and have always taken what ever was dispensed without noticing any difference; others are more sensitive. If you need to return the tablets but can't do so until tomorrow, I would advise at least phoning them today, so that if they need to try and source something other than what has been dispensed, they have today to do so.
Yes two different brands given, to the usual one. Thanks 🙏 I am going to pose your question.
Normal practice is that once you've left the premises you can't return any medication. If pharmacy bag is checked whilst inside the pharmacy and still on the premises they can be exchanged but not once you've gone through the door. You may have a problem returning the unwanted tablets.
Why not try them and see how you get on. Chances are you may have no problem. If you do, ask your surgery for another prescription (because of adverse reaction to the brand given) and get your usual brand - from another pharmacy if necessary.
The brand we hear most about regarding members reacting badly is TEVA.
I'd return the tablets and request the make you want. Changing different . My chemist ordered the make I wanted because some were making me more unwell. I think it is the fillers/binders in the hormones that affect us although few doctors would probably agree.
Since I did this, before I leave the chemist I double-check that I've got the ones that suit me. We might never recover if we take different makes each time. We used to have a couple of brand names but now they are all generic.
If you return them, the pharmacy has to throw them away (it doesn't matter whether they are unopened - they have been out of the door), so, unless the brand is specified on the prescription, they probably won't take them back.
Do you know how pharmacies dispose of old pills?
Re pharmacy disposal of unwanted meds, info here, from the PSNC: psnc.org.uk/services-commis...
Not part of my remit when I used to train for the Coop pharmacy, so I just know the basic rules for dispensing.
Thank you for your reply & to all who responded to my question.
Update on my recent post. I took the two different brands back to the pharmacy, they exchanged them with no problem. The Chemists also said they would note that I had received two different brands. Great Customer Service, I don t know if the 3 month prescription of Mercury Pharma shall male any change to me ( still cannot bring the brand to mind )
A Happy New Year to all.
It's difficult to recommend brands to anyone as they all contains a selection of fillers and these can be the problem that means we have to try another band. The fillers are necessary to provide bulk so we can see our medication and also stability. So what suits one may not suit another so we have to try the different brands ourself. But when you have done that and found one you are happy with then asked your doctor to name it on your prescriptionand ask the pharmacy to make sure it goes on the card they keep of you.
I once got home and found they had given me a different brand and they refused to change it as I'd taken it out of the pharmacy. I said I didn't think I needed to check as they had been giving me this for the last 25 years! So the boss joined it and pointed out I should have asked to have it but on my card so I said I thought I had! Can't remember what I said last week so going back 25 years, no chance. So the boss has a look, showed it to the girl who told me off and passed me the brand I needed! Did I get an apology? NO! but at least I didn't have to get a new prescription!
Thank you for your reply, this has been now noted on my prescription however, I shall check before I leave the pharmacy.
I also check in the bag before leaving chemist, it actually says on my prescription the brand i have, they know they havent given me the correct tablets as prescibed and hope i dont check before leaving. Im checking out another chemist who i can trust to order me whats on my prescription
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