Drug shortages: ‘I’m eating less and rationing pills’

Two people with cystic fibrosis have said they are having to eat less due to a shortage in a medication which helps them eat.

Charlotte Bones, 31, and Steve Horwood, 35, both take Creon to help them digest food, as the condition causes sticky mucus to build up in the lungs and digestive system.

But a long-term is affecting how many capsules they can get hold of meaning they are also having to ration their pills.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it was “working closely with industry, the NHS and others in the supply chain” to make sure alternative products were available.

Ms Bones, from Kilburn, said the shortage had meant she had been changed to a different strength of medication.

As a result of the shortage, she said she had been having less food and reducing the number of Creon pills she took in a day to stop her from running out.

“From eight Creon (for a meal), I’m taking probably four to five,” she said.

“I think I’ve got two boxes left, which is probably only about a week.

“Bearing in mind I have been cutting down knowing that there’s a shortage, I can try and make it stretch to about four days, five days (longer).”

Despite contacting six or seven different pharmacies, she said none have had Creon in stock and her hospital pharmacy was not able to signpost her to anywhere with supplies.

In the interim, Ms Bones said reducing her Creon intake had led to unpleasant side-effects, including stomach aches and diarrhoea, which were “hard to juggle” alongside her job.

“If you’re not taking Creon things can run through you, to be quite gruesome and so it is quite disruptive,” she explained.

Ms Bones added she was concerned eating less would worsen her cystic fibrosis if she lost weight.

“The fear is that the weight will start to drop off and I’d be more inclined to get an infection,” she said.

“It’s just having that resilience to bounce back; that if you don’t have that weight on you just don’t have.”