Letrozole - is anyone else struggling to get their preferred brand?

I wonder why this chat has gone quiet - there must be many of us struggling with Letrozole and getting different brands every month.  Is there nothing that can be done to ensure people get the brands that suit them? Month after month I trail around the pharmacies in my area and am generally offered Sun or Accord, neither of which I can take.    Sun made me feel very unwell and I couldn’t stay awake, Accord was worse and I had chest pain, breathlessness and swollen legs.  Crescent is wonderful and I don’t know I’m taking it - but it’s almost impossible to source.  Pharmacies generally seem fairly unhelpful, but I guess it’s because they have no control over what is sent to them.  Could it be possible for a central register to be created so users could know what brands are available where at any given time, or is that a pie in the sky idea?

  • Hi Romilly and welcome to Cancer Chat.

    I'm sorry to hear of the difficulties you're having getting your preferred brand of Letrozole. This must be incredibly frustrating, especially when you're unable to take the other brands.

    I'm sure there have been discussions about this on the forum before, so you are not alone Romilly, and hopefully some of our members who have encountered similar issues will be along soon to share their experiences and advice.

    If you'd like to discuss this situation further with one of our cancer nurses, they're available on 0808 800 4040, Monday - Friday between 9a.m - 5p.m. They're very well informed and will do all that they can to help.

    Kind regards,

    Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Hi Romilly.i.know you posted about letrazole a while ago now ,but I've only just seen your post on here. 

    I too struggled at first as I kept getting different brands of letrazole I did some research and found out it's the coating on the tablets  on different brands that is different on each brand. I had one brand called Cippia   it didn't agree with me at all,I could hardly walk it made every muscle and bone ache in my body  so badly . I stopped taking it,I know you say the Accord Brand was one you can't take,but out of all the ones I tried it suited me better than any of the others,we are all differnt and what doesn't suit one ,may suit another. Anyway I struggled to get the Accord Brand every time at first , so I spoke to my pharmacy who asked me to ask my GP to head my prescription  Accord Brand of letrazole only said it would help. So I did exactly that, called my GP   and they changed my prescription so I got  mths supply at a time and headed my prescription Accord Brand only.  Scince then it's been sooo much better,only once scince then have I had another brand in my prescription, I checked it and said I cant take this brand, so they took it back, and text me when they had my prescription in again. I was ok as my GP had allowed me to have one mths prescription, instead of the 2 weeks that they used to prescribe to me before they changed it. It might be worth you talking to your GP and pharmacist, to see if it would work this way for you. I also order my prescription on the NHS app,and always comment can you make sure its the Accord Brand Letrazole, as per usual please.  It works for me,hope it helps you get the brand that suits you .