I have a prescription for Madopar 100/25 Hard Capsules 4 times a day. My pharmacy regularly finds it hard to get them. So much so that despite ordering on 17th December I had to be switched to dispersible tablets yesterday to avoid running out. I’d like to know if it’s a problem with supply or with the pharmacy? (My GP turns the requests round in a day). This is the first time I’ve had to switch formulation, but it seems every other month there is some problem getting the Madopar that involves multiple visits to the pharmacy. Stress I can do without.
Thanks in advance for sharing experiences and any tips.
Hi @Bryen and welcome to our friendly forum. This sounds quite frustrating so I can understand why you’re stressed. Others may relate and they’ll jump on to tell you what they’ve experienced and how they solved this.
Shortages of mediation can happen from time to time and I found this post from a couple of years ago that might be helpful for you and your pharmacist to read.
Keep posting!
Janice
Forum Moderation Team
Hi, our doctor could see our problem so she kindly arranged that we get ahead with the prescription we have 3 month supply just in case! Hope this helps X
Hi Bryen
I worry about supply problems, mostly because I live somewhere rural and there’s a chance of getting snowed in.
I bought a bottle of 60 capsules of Murcuna Dopa from Biovea to keep for emergency use.
Hi @Bryen, Welcome to the forum, personally, wherever i’ve lived be it here or abroad i’ve never had any problem obtaining Madopar and i’m on 5 x 250mg. I order mine on line, usually two weeks in advance of running out, through my Doctors Surgery who send an e-mail to the local pharmacy who order it in and deliver to my door. I live in Devon at the present time. Being as it was 17th December when other people will have been ordering their supplies to take them over the festive season, you perhaps should have ordered a week earlier. I don’t see any reason why your pharmacy should have this problem. I used to have my prescriptions through Boots but i’ve been let down by them so often perhaps you need to change your pharmacy to an Independent one. Where we lived before there was an Asian run pharmacy who were super efficient, nothing was too much trouble.
Les
Thanks for suggestions - I got my GP to issue another prescription and hope to build a bigger stock. I’m finding the dispersible tablets wear off quicker, so will be happy to get back to the hard capsules (Roche or generics as both seem equally affective). I hope to stay with my local pharmacy as its about 20 minutes walk away vs a 5 mile drive, but they don’t seem to “get” why someone with Parkinson’s might get anxious about supply and I don’t get why it would take them over a week to get a delivery from the wholesaler if there’s no national shortage (even allowing for covid).
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I order mine on a Monday morning and they are delivered sometimes Tuesday pm or Wednesday pm at the very latest.
Les
Les
Do you use a national chain (in which case who?) or a good local pharmacy?
Thanks
Bryen
My Husband takes Sinemet 2x3times a day…he has not been able to get his full prescription this month…only half of the prescription. He has been waiting for 10days for the extra owed. Today he has been told that the chemist cannot get any Sinemet and the pharmacist has ordered another brand?
When I questioned if they would be suitable the pharmacist asked me why I was questioning it…
I told her that I had heard of people being given “alternative brands” which had not been suitable at all and had in fact made the PWP symptons unstable…the reply was that he would just have to try them anyway…
Is there a national shortage of Parkinsons medication? This worries me as appts with the GP are like gold dust and would not be available to my husband, we can never get through on the phone even and my husband has not spoken to or seen a PD nurse for over 2 years so the level of help would be zero if the generic brand is unsuitable…
Is there a shortage over the country?
Bryen, I would never use Boots as they never seemed to get my full prescription. We moved to Dawlish five years ago, I initially used Boots before the onset of the pandemic but as they were so unreliable I switched to Dawlish Warren Pharmacy which is the next village along and is not in a national chain, they’ve been superb. Coming up to Christmas they had one or two issues with being short but that was to be expected but they delivered my outstanding amounts with no quibble.
As I said in an earlier post, I registered on the internet with my GP Surgery and order them on a Monday morning, the Pharmacy call in regularly and pick the e-mails up. Before going with these we enquired with Lloyds and they were going to be worse than Boots !! So if you can find a non-national Pharmacy(especially Asian run, there must be some up your way) then I would go with them.
Les