Any downside to online drugs?

[Gaggsy]

I've been told to take iron tablets (ferrous fumarate 210mg) by my doctor.
Doc prescribed the first lot of 84 tablets, but when I was running out and needed to continue she suggested it would be cheaper to buy them myself rather than spend the £9 prescription fee.

Now I shopped around a few high street chemists and found one place selling at £6.30 for 84. However, on eBay I found an online pharmacy selling them for only £2.69 - and that was for 3 packs and free delivery, so the equivalent of £0.90 for 84. This is a tenth of the prescription charge.

What could possibly go wrong? Am I taking a risk if I use these cheap tablets?

-Gaggsy

[MaraMan]

I think you would be taking a risk, ebay is the wild west, which is ok for many things but not for drugs. You will have no idea what you are taking.

If it were me I would only buy from a reputable source, and there are plenty of those on line.

MM

[Alaric]

but when I was running out and needed to continue she suggested it would be cheaper to buy them myself rather than spend the £9 prescription fee.

If you get prescribed to take several pills on a long term basis, paying for a "season ticket" can be a good option.

https://apps.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/ppc-online/patient.do

Save money on NHS prescriptions by prepaying for them.
You can pay a set price for prescriptions for 3 or 12 months, no matter how many you need.
A prescription costs £9 per item, but prepaying for an unlimited number of prescriptions is:

£29.10 for 3 months
£104 for 12 months (or 10 Direct Debit instalments of £10.40)

[dealtn]

What could possibly go wrong? Am I taking a risk if I use these cheap tablets?

-Gaggsy

Who knows. Yes.

You are willing to save £5 at potential cost to your health?

[tjh290633]

Try Healthspan, https://www.healthspan.co.uk/products/i ... 20size=120 as an example. I see that https://www.healthspan.co.uk/products/m ... %20size=90 has iron fumarate.

They are a reputable outfit based in Guernsey.

TJH

[Gaggsy]

Try Healthspan
TJH

Thanks, but couldn't find ferrous fumarate on that site.

The ebay tablets arrived in the post. They look identical to the tablets I got in the chemist's from my prescription. The packaging is different though.

So I now have some from Alissa Healthcare Research Ltd and some from Mercury Pharmaceutical Ltd.

I'm going to try them for a couple of months until I get another blood test to check my iron stores. If you don't hear from me again you'll know why!