T3 Capsules

[Lavender-Blue]

Hi All

I have been prescribed T3 by my endocrinologist; I have been picking the T3 up from the hospital until the Shared Care Forms that need to be done have been completed and sent to my GP.

I have gone onto my NHS and can see the meds are now available to order. However, they have given me capsules.

I have been into the surgery to pass a message on to them to say that this needs changing to tablets.

However, I have had a missed call and then a message to say that the capsules cannot be changed to tablets!

However, I have got used to Morningside and do not want to change this now.

I understand also that the capsules cannot be cut, am I right or is it a hard capsule that can be cut? I am guessing from what I have read on here that the capsule form of T3 will be Roma brand; am I right in understanding this.

I am just waiting on the phone now to the GP surgery to challenge this!

[Lalatoot]

This happened to me. I told the surgery that I needed to cut the tabs in half to get the prescribed doses so they changed my prescription to say tablets. If the prescription says capsules then the pharmacy will provide Roma.

[Lavender-Blue in reply to Lalatoot]

Thanks Lalatoot!

Is Roma a powdered form of T3 in a gelatine / veggie capsule?

[Lalatoot in reply to Lavender-Blue]

Yes it is.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

this is primarily a price/cost issue

How much T3 are you taking per day

Do you split the dose …..if yes …..what doses

current prices NHS pays

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Lavender-Blue]

I am currently taking 45mcg. 15mcg in the morning and 3 x 10 mcg split throughout the day.

My endocrinologist has actually wrote in the letter to prescribe 10's and 5's so I won't have to keep splitting a 20mcg. This has been the case due to me paying for it myself (cheaper that way) via a private prescription.

However, the GP practice has prescribed 28 x 20mcg, 28 x 10mcg and 56 x 5mcg!

[sparkly]

This is totally down to costs. The cost of all your capsules is about £50 cheaper than 3 boxes of Morningside for the month, that's if you agree to be prescribed just 20mcg tablets and split them yourself. Otherwise having Morningside prescribed in the 3 different strengths would be an astronomical price. This is why they have said capsules. Capsules you can't split so no good for when you need dose increase. I would argue that you have been settled on Morningside with no adverse effects and changing to different brand can cause you issues.

Would help if endo could write telling gp Morningside only brand and just 20mcg tablets.

I have Morningside only brand and is written on my prescription. My endo wrote stating this to gp as I have shared care.

Good luck as I know how daunting having to change brand is

[helvella in reply to sparkly]

Current NHS dm+d database prices for Morningside and Roma levothyroxine:

Liothyronine 5microgram tablets (Morningside Healthcare Ltd) 28 tablet 2 x 14 tablets

10094 (price in pence)

dmd-browser.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/a...

Liothyronine 10microgram tablets (Morningside Healthcare Ltd) 28 tablet 2 x 14 tablets

15244 (price in pence)

dmd-browser.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/a...

Liothyronine 20microgram tablets (Morningside Healthcare Ltd) 28 tablet 2 x 14 tablets

9500 (price in pence)

dmd-browser.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/a...

Roma 5 and 20 - 5500 (price in pence)

Roma 10 - 6500 (price in pence)

[sparkly in reply to helvella]

I still do not understand why 5, 10mcg are so much more expensive than 20's. What is the reason for this? It surely should be the other way round 🤷🏼‍♀️

[helvella in reply to sparkly]

It goes to show that cost of medicines has nothing to do with the cost of the active pharmaceutical ingredient within the individual tablets in many, many cases.

A spectacular example is Teva 12.5 microgram levothyroxine which is £11.31 for a pack whereas their 100 microgram is 53 pence.

[Lavender-Blue in reply to helvella]

That's a big difference!

This link (EMC), says Roma are hard capsules?

[helvella in reply to Lavender-Blue]

Yes - but the expression simply means a thin wall of relatively hard gelatin (or whatever else they can be made from) rather than a squidgy one.

Typically things like vitamin D in oil or Tirosint gel caps are "soft" and I think they have only started to say "hard" in contradistinction.

[Lavender-Blue in reply to helvella]

O.K. Thank you, that clarifies the hard capsule thing for me!

[Fluffysheep in reply to helvella]

Those 20mcg tablets have gone back up a bit haven't they?

I know that for quite a while the tablets were the same price as the capsules, and actually slightly cheaper.

I managed to get my prescription changed to tablets on the basis that a) I'm vegetarian, so would prefer not to have gelatine capsules where possible and b) the tablets had come down in price to around the same as the capsules.

Surprised to see the tablets have gone back up so much.

[helvella in reply to Fluffysheep]

The trouble is that the prices often quoted are the NHS Drug Tariff prices. Which automatically apply to the medicines when they are prescribed generically.

However, if a company charges more than that, the pharmacy would experience a shortfall and might be unwilling to dispense that product.

That is one reason I stopped posted NHS Drug Tariff prices. And, instead, I have links for each and every product to the dm+d database which has the prices individually.

[Fluffysheep in reply to helvella]

Interesting. I was/am completely naive about this and assumed that the NHS drug tariff prices were what the NHS got charged. Didn't realise companies could charge more. Scandalous really.

[helvella in reply to Fluffysheep]

Yes - it is never-endingly confusing.

NHS Drug Tariff is what the NHS will pay - but if prescribed as a branded product then the dm+d database prices apply.

[Lavender-Blue in reply to sparkly]

Thank you!

I have spoken to pharmacy technician this morning, she said she would change it based on my continuous stomach issues I am having.

She is still having to run it by the main pharmacist.

I am speaking to my endocrinologist tomorrow, hopefully he will support me with a letter stating Morningside only!

What a palarva!!

[sparkly in reply to Lavender-Blue]

Fingers crossed 🤞Also if you have any issues of the pharmacy not being able to supply Morningside then get in touch with Springfield pharmacy. They have to supply my Morningside as no local chemist can supply quantity I need without mixing brands up.

[Lavender-Blue in reply to sparkly]

Thanks. Do Springfield accept nhs prescriptions?

I did use Springfield when I was getting my private prescription dispensed.

[sparkly in reply to Lavender-Blue]

Yes, mine are nhs 👍

[Lavender-Blue in reply to sparkly]

Thanks. 😊