Coumadin 5mg availability in Australia

[pellicle]

A good friend of mine recently sold his pharmacy, he regularly lamented that people would come in at closing time and say they were out of supply.

One year is impressive - I always keep some extra but after this will be even more careful

This is the first time I've been without more than a month's supply in advance.

It won't happen again.

I recommend that you do the same.

This Russian war is going to put everything to the test.

 

[pellicle]

To all Australians who may be effected by this supply issue I offer the following suggestions

1. determine your exact supply for your dose in days
2. determine your present level of scripts and if you aren't currently written up for sizes which may be in supply, as a priority get that done at your GP
3. contact your usual pharmacy and ask about supply and availablity
4. its better to have some 1mg tablets and have 7 (for instance) of them a day than not have any
5. as a last resort consider skimming the lower end of your range rather than running out completely. Being INR 1.8 is much safer than being totally un-anti-coagulated
6. I would advise against acting like people did in the pandemic but with warfarin instead of toilet paper, panic buying could see someone go without

Self testers will be aware of how to do this already. (one more reason to be a self tester).

In a small way: 5hit has hit the fan it seems at least in NSW

Best wishes

 

[ATHENS1964]

When absolutely necessary
Do not eat any food with vitamin K so you can save the pills you have.
Do an INR test every day
Take aspirin
In absolute necessity, take the new noac pills. better than nothing.
However, always talk to your cardiologist and if possible go to the emergency room of a hospital, hospitals always have a stock and priority in the supply of medicines.
Here in Greece, the legislation says that pharmaceutical wholesale companies and warehouses must have a specific stock of pharmaceuticals whenever and if requested by the state in case of need, i.e. they cannot sell the entire stock to private pharmacies as they should have declared in which warehouse and in which part of the country do they have them for periodic inspection.

 

[pellicle]

When absolutely necessary
Do not eat any food with vitamin K so you can save the pills you have.
Do an INR test every day
Take aspirin
In absolute necessity, take the new noac pills. better than nothing.
However, always talk to your cardiologist and if possible go to the emergency room of a hospital, hospitals always have a stock and priority in the supply of medicines.
Here in Greece, the legislation says that pharmaceutical wholesale companies and warehouses must have a specific stock of pharmaceuticals whenever and if requested by the state in case of need, i.e. they cannot sell the entire stock to private pharmacies as they should have declared in which warehouse and in which part of the country do they have them for periodic inspection.

a couple of quick points:

1. what is your rational for daily testing? Apart from consuming strips you can be sufficiently informed by testing every 3 days and keeping a graph (which one should be doing all the time anyway. Not everyone has sufficient supply of strips.
2. In Australia the hospitals have a supply of drugs but you can count on a minimum of an hour wait while they prioritise you and then administer you a dose. They will not give you a take home bag of 50 pills just because you present and say "I can't get them at the shop". They will do this because they have their supply for their in-patients.

Its important to keep within therapeutic range, but at the same time when dealing with emergencies one needs to make plans to minimise harm.

Obviously obtaining continuity of supply is the #1 priority, the #2 is then what to do if you can't.

The patient (me) need to be aware of the possibility that there will be supply issues and work around that. I'm not talking a basement filled with drugs, foodstuffs, rifles and ammo here, just a couple of the medicines which you regularly take and your health is dependent upon. This concept (called planning) has been around for millennia ... even starting with the education of children

Best Wishes

 

[pellicle]

Just got back from the Chemists (40km each way) after they confirmed they had stock (and had just received a shipment. I got 1's and 5's

to supplement the 3's I just opened. So that's about 2 months supply right there.

I don't know the situation with the other brand or other locations, but major chemist chains are showing it available in Queensland.

Perhaps its a Sydney issue or perhaps its only just specific pills.

Anyone else got any other experiences?

 

[aussiemember]

So I’m in Melbourne and talked to my chemist and apparently they’ve changed manufacturers - bottle now a bright blue container - no availability of the new 5s at the moment which is why there is a shortage.

 

[pellicle]

So I’m in Melbourne and talked to my chemist and apparently they’ve changed manufacturers - bottle now a bright blue container - no availability of the new 5s at the moment which is why there is a shortage.

is mylan the new manufacturer?

if so then it may now be exactly the same formula, I'd bring this to the attention of your GP ... maybe they could give you a script for either ... you could then try and see if there is a difference.

BTW the difference is complex to explain.

 

[aussiemember]

is mylan the new manufacturer?

if so then it may now be exactly the same formula, I'd bring this to the attention of your GP ... maybe they could give you a script for either ... you could then try and see if there is a difference.

BTW the difference is complex to explain.

Mylan was the old manufacturer - new one is Viatris - I’m okay for a few months now but will definitely speak to my cardiologist about making the switch if supplies don’t free up by then.