RE: Re: Erfa Thyroid. Can you get this in UK with prescription?

[Guest guest]

Adam,I think your best bet would be to email Value Pharmaceuticals to see if they would supply in 100's as your prescription is for that number.   If they will, ask the price.    If it is below £15 then there is no customs anyway.   If it is more, add about £24 on top of it to work out whether it would be cheaper from them or from UK.

As far as getting it from UK is concerned, again you will have to go round different chemists to find out what they charge because I do not think there is a standard charge for private prescription medicine.   We have had Boots charging double or even treble the price another chemist would charge.

As far as what is best, this depends on your own body.    The majority of people seem to be getting on with Erfa (which is also called Armour, but made by a company called Erfa).    It is called Erfa by everyone to differentiate between Forests Armour, and Erfa Armour.

As Sheila mentioned the Forest Armour changed formula a few years ago.   All the NDT are made very similar with the basic being pigs thyroid.   

Lilian

[Guest guest]

They should provide you with the number of tablets on your

prescription Adam. You may have to pay Customs if buying without prescription

but I don't think they charge when this is prescription medicine. This answers

your other question. Erfa 'Thyroid' is NOT Armour, if you read the information

on their web site you will see they state that they are selling 'generic'

Armour.

Sheila

Hi

Sheila,

Value

Pharmaceuticals sell only in 500 tablet quantity (http://www.valuepharmaceuticals.com/Armour-Thyroid.php).

My prescription is for 100 tablets.

It look like Value

Pharmaceuticals is based in the USA. As they are outside the EU, wouldn't

this mean that I will also have to pay Customs Duty and Import VAT, thus

pushing up the price?

Is

the any cheap EU based pharmacies where I can order from to avoid these

importing taxes?

The Value Pharmaceuticals website says that

Erfa Thyroid is just another name for Armour Thyroid (http://www.valuepharmaceuticals.com/Armour-Thyroid.php).

Does this mean that when I order Erfa Thyroid they will just send me Armour

Thyroid instead?

You can use your prescription when ordering Erfa from

www.valuepharmaceuticals.com - no matter where it came from, so long as it was

issued by a doctor Adam.

Sheila

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[Guest guest]

Adam.If you look in the files section I think there is probably information as to what you have to do to get these from the chemists (even Boots), but I think you might have to inform them because it is not generally sold so the person you spoke to might not know about it.     Also your prescription has to be marked with words something like " for patient only " , although I cannot remember what should be writte, it should be on the files.

Get yourself a cup of coffee/tea and settle yourself down to spend a little time looking through the relevant parts of the files which should give you most of the information you need.

Lilian

[Guest guest]

Boots are talking rubbish. There are many of us who get an NHS

prescription and get it filled at Boots pharmacy (incidentally, one of the

worse pharmacies for getting unlicensed medicines). Best to go to a local

pharmacy and forget Boots. Attached is a letter from the MHRA to say doctors

can prescribe Armour thyroid if levothyroxine doesn't work for their patients,

and emails from the MHRA stating that doctors can also prescribe Erfa Thyroid,

Nature Throid and Westhroid, so long as they take full responsibility for this

because natural thyroid extract remains unlicensed in the UK - but that is because

it has never required a license.

All your local Boots has to do is to contact Idis World

Medicines or Pharmarama who will source the Erfa Thyroid for them. This should

take approximately two weeks only.

I get my NHS prescription for Erfa from the little pharmacy in

the village just up the road from where I live - out in the country.

Sheila

I asked

at my Local Boots yesterday, but they told me that they do not serve Erfa

Thyroid. After that, I assumed that this would be the same for other UK

pharmacies. I may try some other local pharmacies.

Thanks.

Adam

We

have had Boots charging double or even treble the price another chemist would

charge.

It is

called Erfa by everyone to differentiate

between Forests Armour, and Erfa Armour.

Lilian

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1 of 1 File(s)

MHRA confirmation re Natur1.doc

[Guest guest]

Prescriptions from NHS doctors just need the brand of thyroid

extract i.e. Erfa 'Thyroid' with the dosage written next to it, i.e. 60mgs. The

doctor should write, " for the treatment of hypothyroidism " . This is an

ordinary prescription you hand to the pharmacist, with a letter from your GP (a

one off) explaining that he is prescribing this unlicensed medicine for you

because you don't do well on T4-only. The pharmacist then sends this off to Pharmarama

or to Idis who source it and get it to the chemist.

Sheila

If you look in the files section I think there is probably

information as to what you have to do to get these from the chemists (even

Boots), but I think you might have to inform them because it is not generally

sold so the person you spoke to might not know about it. Also

your prescription has to be marked with words something like " for patient

only " , although I cannot remember what should be writte, it should be on

the files.

Get yourself a cup of coffee/tea and settle yourself down to

spend a little time looking through the relevant parts of the files which

should give you most of the information you need.

Lilian

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[Guest guest]

Adam, it is like getting water out of a stone. I have previously

written to them pointing out that they are giving incorrect information. I

think what they mean is that Erfa is a natural desiccated porcine thyroid

extract as are other brands of thyroid extract sold throughout the world. Try

writing to them and see if you are the lucky person who manages to get them to

change this misleading and incorrect information on their web site. I have

given up.

The more people who point this out to them, the more likely it

is they might start to take notice.

Luv - Sheila

This is

straight from the Valuepharmaceuticals webite at http://www.valuepharmaceuticals.com/Armour-Thyroid.php

They

say:

" Why is it called Erfa Thyroid (Canadian brand)?

The discount Armour Thyroid supplied through the Value Pharmaceuticals network

is called Erfa Thyroid (Canadian brand), but this is not because it is generic

(copy) product! Erfa Thyroid (Canadian brand) is the same medicine sold in the

USA as Armour Thyroid and in all the other major pharmaceutical markets around

the world. "

Why

are they saying that the Erfa Thyroid they sell is the same as Armour

Thyroid?

Adam

[Guest guest]

One is as good as another Barbara, you just need to find the one

that suits you best. However, I think Erfa probably works for more people than

Nature Throid from other comments I have heard. Erfa can be taken sublingually

(left to dissolve under the tongue and gets straight into the blood stream),

and is fully licensed in Canada and NHS doctors are allowed to prescribe as

well as Nature Throid, Armour Thyroid and Westhroid if they are happy to do so

- but not all doctors are.

I don't believe getting muscle and joint pains are really anything

much to do with taking any natural thyroid extract, but I do believe it could

be that the dose could be too small, as a lack of T3 can cause these. Have you

had a recent increase in your Nature Throid, and if not, try a 30mgs increase

and see if that helps.

Luv - Sheila

is naturethroid a lot better than erfa for most people. i hesitate to switch

again because you have to take it on an empty stomach away from food and supps.

and chew it well and take enzymes with it. i have a lot of muscle and joint

pain and val said she and others had it with the erfa. is this common or would

it be the need for a higher dose or more t3 or t3 only.

[Guest guest]

I

personally would worry that the T4 and T3 cannot be standardised in any tablet.

Pigs can become hypothyroid too, and if their thyroid gland was not producing

T4, never mind a small amount of T3, you would not be getting any thyroid

hormone. They make it clear that this supplement provides nutritional support

to help balance the thyroid gland. This is like the Nutri Thyroid. It is OK to

take this daily for a while, but if you are truly hypothyroid then you will

need specified amounts of T4 or even T3, either separately or in combination.

Luv - Sheila

Is this the website you mean?

http://www.the-natural-choice.co.uk/Glandular-Support.html

So far as I know, for most people thyroid glandular extract doesn't at all have

the same effect as dessicated thyroid such as Armour or Erfa. Certainly it did

nothing for me.

Miriam

> You do all know you can get Porchine Thyroid Extract from a Health Shop in

Bristol UK on-line - they do the importing bit and you can order it one day and

have it with you by City Link the next.

> I found that out off this site some time ago by someone in Austrailia that

had got it direct from Nutri Meds in America and thought it was wonderful.

However, The Natural Choice Website in Bristol actually buy in from Nutri Meds.

It dosen't need a prescription, because unlike Armour etc which have the

amounts of hormone in it measured, this is just crushed whole desicated thyroid

and can be sold as a supplement, but I'll tell you now - it has exactly the

same affect as Armour on me.

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