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[joziel]

Can anyone comment on this, in terms of what they experience with their GP?

I have to request my HRT monthly because my GP won't prescribe for any longer than a month at a time.

Due to the Estradot shortage, I've been calling up Pharmacy2U each month to find out what they have in stock (dosages of Estrodots) and then putting through my request via my GP for what they have. This has been working well, until this month...

This month Pharmacy2U said they had 37.5s in stock, so I called up and left a message with my GP to that end. However, after the prescription went through to them (4 days) it turned out that they didn't really have any and it bounced back to me with a code I could use in any other pharmacy. Except of course no one has any... So I called them up again and they said that they seemed to have some again, so I put the prescription through again... waited 4 days.. and again it came back to me with a code.

By this point I am getting desperate and running a bit short, so I decide it's come time to accept defeat and move to Evorel. Who knows if I can absorb it...

So on Weds I call up my GP to request this switch to Evorel and leave a message via receptionist. Nothing happens. I call on Friday morning again, to be told that it's on the list of things for the doctor to prescribe and do that day. Nothing happens again. So, this morning (Monday) I call AGAIN and tell them I have ONE patch change left and them I am out of HRT - and am told that for sure the receptionist will make sure the doctor looks at it today. So far (3pm) I've heard nothing.

So at this I decide I'm going to have to buy a couple of boxes of Evorel via Newson Health, because that was my back-up plan. I was told when I called them a few months ago that I needed to have another appointment by 8th August to stay registered with them. Only they tell me on the phone now that this isn't right because I only had a phone appointment then and that doesn't count because it's not a full review. But I can have a go and put a request through and try to explain that. Only it will take 3-5 days for them to even look at it.

Finally I desperately google online pharmacies and find treated dot com, where I attempt to order a box of Evorel. It looks like this might have worked as it's been approved although not shipped yet. But 1 box will last me 2 weeks at the dose I use. Hopefully that will buy me time to pursue my GP.

I have lost count of how many hours of time I've spent on hold, calling and emailing in all this. I don't even know if I can absorb Evorel (I can't absorb Sandrena and I am already on the max dose I can absorb of Oestrogel at 6 pumps). If I run out, I am basically going to be shaking through the night on zero sleep and totally dysfunctional.

Why is HRT treated like some kind of lifestyle choice? Would people be treated like this if this were any other medication? It just isn't acceptable.

Rant over. Is anyone else going through this ridiculous effort to get what they need?

[bombsh3ll]

It's horrible having to go through that.

I actually think some of it is deliberate on the part of the NHS rather than just benign bungling and inefficiency. I suspect it is motivated by the idea that making access to ongoing hormone therapy so insecure, stressful and time consuming, you will either give up taking it or get private prescriptions.

Unfortunately this tactic is frequently successful, particularly amongst those who can't afford private care. I know several women myself who have given up hormone therapy because of how difficult it was to access a timely and adequate supply from their GP.

Most people simply don't have the time, money, energy or self-advocacy skills to constantly battle for their treatment.

It must be particularly challenging when you are on high dose transdermal. I wish I had a solution.

I know it is controversial but I personally believe systemic hormone treatment should be available without prescription, because far more harm is done on a large scale by women not having access to treatment, either at all or consistently, than would ever result from people being able to just buy it.

[CLKD]

Also it depends on the manufacturer, if the NHS won't buy it the products become 'out of stock'.  This happens across much of the system.

[I ordered my omeprazole on Wednesday and have now run out - when I went to collect this morning, I was told that I can't have anymore until start of June]! 

[Nas]

My mum is struggling to obtain Premarin ( I know it’s not a common type given how it’s sourced, but it works for her).

She’s tried many pharmacies, large and small, within a huge radius. No idea when or if it will be back in stock. It’s dreadful.

Another bloody example of how women are made to struggle. Agree with bomb, most just don’t have the time or will power to keep on top of it. I bet if our prime minister were a woman, it would soon be obtainable! 🙄

[Pippa52]

I think sadly cost may have a bearing too.  Apparently the cost of Estradot patches has gone up quite a lot and patches like EstradermMX  are considerably cheaper.  I know there is a shortage of Estradot again but is that because the NHS won't pay the price for them as my niece in Spain can still get them?  I don't know if this is the case or not but I do wonder . 

joziel I so hope you get your patches ok - what a nightmare ... we women really shouldn't have to be going through this stress and worry every time there is yet another shortage

[joziel]

Hi Pippa - Thx for your kind offer BTW

Today's update is that the treated dot com pack of Evorel 100 has dispatched and should be with me tomorrow... at the cost of £33. Which will last me 2 weeks.

Having not heard from my GP today or had the email from Pharmacy2U I usually get when they receive the prescription, I called yet AGAIN just now (end of day Monday). The receptionist said the doctor had done it.... then she said... no, she hasn't.... and she would speak to her and make sure she does it today. Even when Pharmacy2U get it, it is about 3 days before it's dispatched and then a day to get here, excluding weekends.

Honestly, FFS.... 

Maybe slightly complicating things is that I also put through a request for the 37.5 Estradots using the code I'd been given last week, in an attempt to get something... arrrgggg....... I'm finding it really hard to concentrate on any work

[Pippa52]

joziel - poor you this is so unfair and wrong having to do through this!  I am so glad it sounds like you have some Evorel in the pipeline.  I used treated.com once too in desperation and they seemed very good.  Hope so much your GP pulls her finger out and gets that prescription done for you.  No worries re the offer - still stands of course but sounds like you are sorted with Evorel - fingers tightly crossed for you that they work well for you x

[SundayGirl]

In all honesty I don't think this is purely an HRT issue. The NHS will stop buying items if they think they're too expensive, and will source cheaper equivalent alternatives. (I think many of us are aware that a lot of meds are definitely not interchangeable.)

Not very helpful at the moment joziel but in future, don't wait the full 28 days between requesting a prescription from your GP. Request a repeat at 26 days or earlier if you can get away with it. Also make good use of bank holidays and your own holidays to your advantage. Order earlier rather than later. If you can get away with doing this for a while, you'll build up a stockpile which takes the stress out of reordering should there be problems in the future.

[DottyD68]

I find the whole process of dealing with my surgery, for ANYTHING, totally stressful. It appears that they make it incredibly difficult for patients even with a simple interaction. It is like a really long bad tortuous game of ping pong. So inefficient in so many ways - nothing appears joined up. I have so many examples I don't know where to start. All I would say is that I feel your pain Joziel. Fortunately we have a brilliant village pharmacy which fulfills prescriptions very quickly and bends over backwards to help out but even they struggle with supply issues at times.

[joziel]

SundayGirl, I already do that - it's why I have lots of the gel and utrogestan. But I use 300mcg of patches instead of 200mcg (my prescription) by requesting a week earlier each month. And it's taken literally 3 weeks for all this palaver, because each time I request it from Pharmacy2U it takes 4 days for them to then reject the prescription as they don't have enough Estradots.

Anyways I just heard now that they have my prescription for patches and gel and utrogestan (phew) so hopefully will be dispatched v soon, and the Treated dot com box I bought should arrive tomorrow. And I guess I will cancel the Newson order form I just put through today...

I just hope I can absorb Evorel okay... 

[Pixie]

I get 6 months supply at a time of patches. A month isn't enough. Did they say why?

[joziel]

Wow, you're lucky Pixie. It's standard procedure at my GP for all meds to just give them a month at a time. Apparently it's to avoid people stockpiling them. Although frankly it encourages you to stockpile because you always feel like you're about to run out so you order it a bit earlier each month and still end up with extra...

[Pippa52]

so glad your patches are in the pipeline joziel

[flo69]

I can get my morphine patches a week early with no explanation, but when I order Estradot off my list of repeat prescriptions, even two days early, it is refused every single time.

Estradot contains an OTC medicine, Boots sell it as Gina, yet it is so tightly controlled it's stupid. One time my prescription was issued but wasn't at the desk, they found it two weeks later down the back of a box, during those two weeks I was talked down to and disbelieved, they thought I must have picked it up, so no, I wasn't getting another straight away.

It was the same when I had oestrogel, I had to run out before I'd be issued a new script, then it can take days to find it, so it makes it necessary for us to tell lies just to get a constant supply of an essential medicine.

My doctor already told me women couldn't be trusted to take the progesterone if it's in a separate med, it took over a year of fighting to get oestrogel and utrogestan.

I can get my morphine patches and gabapentin (also controlled) with far less hassle and early if I want.

It seems misogyny is stronger than the laws concerning the control of medicines. I know when I want cocodamol or tramadol I'm refused, my husband has always been able to get them while I can't have anything ever unless a specialist advises my GP to prescribe it.

[joziel]

Geeze, that's awful flo. I agree, misogeny has a lot to answer for. Even it seems from female doctors.

Anyway, weirdly I randomly got 2 boxes of Estradot 37.5s turning up - along with the Evorel this month 

I now have the Evorels on, as of this morning. They are huge. With 3 of them on, I feel like I crinkle every time I bend over and it's quite distracting. I have them on my lower stomach...

Next week I'm going to test on day 3 of my cycle to see how much I'm absorbing from them. I'll be switching back to Estradots as soon as they are in stock properly again. Although it sounds like that might be the start of next year at this rate.