Two people with cystic fibrosis said they have to eat less because of a shortage of medication that 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 in the long run The lack of medication throughout Europe it affects how many capsules you can take, which means that they also have the ration of 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 ensure alternative products were available.

Mrs Bones, of Kilburn, said the shortage had meant she had been switched to a different strength of medication.

As a result of the shortage, she said she had less food and reduced the number of Creon pills she took in a day to prevent her from escaping.

“Out of eight Creontes (for a meal), I probably take four to five,” he said.

“I think I have two boxes left, which is probably only a week.

“Keeping in mind that I cut knowing that there is a shortage, I can try to stretch it to about four days, five days (longer).”

Despite contacting six or seven different pharmacies, he said none had Creon in stock and his hospital pharmacy was unable to point him anywhere with supplies.

In the interim, Ms Bones said reducing her intake of Creon had led to unpleasant side effects, including stomach aches and diarrhoea, which were “difficult to juggle” with her work.

“If you don’t take Creon, things can happen to you, to be quite terrible and so it’s quite disruptive,” he explained.

Ms Bones added that she was worried that eating less would make it worse cystic fibrosis if he lost weight.

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

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

Mrs Bones also has diabetes and says she worries if she reduces her food intake too much she will struggle to balance her blood sugar levels, which she currently manages with a body worn monitor.

“There were times when, unfortunately, I had to take six meals a day because my blood maybe didn’t have enough sugar,” he said.

“I need to eat to try and absorb something. I just hope it absorbs the sugar because if it doesn’t absorb the sugar then I’m really screwed.”

She added: “There’s just this whole spin-off that nobody seems to have thought of. They just think, ‘well, you know it’s just another medication’ and that’s it.”

“It will cost the country a lot more money if you have a lot more CF (cystic fibrosis) patients coming to the hospital because of the infection because they can’t fight because there is a lack of Creon.”

Mr Horwood, from Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, said he had to go to the Royal Brompton Hospital in Chelsea, West London, to secure his Creon because he couldn’t find anything near him.

He used to take eight capsules with a meal and five with a snack, but now only has about a two-week supply.

“I haven’t had a proper supply for about eight months now,” he said.

“It’s stressing me out a little bit. They said it’s going to be a very long time and… I haven’t had it in about two months now, so I’m thinking what’s going to happen?”

Although he has been told that he could take alternative medication, he is worried that “it will upset my stomach again”, but if he escapes Creon at all, he worries that he “couldn’t eat without stomach ache” .

He said that eating would hurt him: “It will mean being on the toilet, like 20 times in a day.”

Like Ms Bones, Mr Horwood also said his cystic fibrosis could get worse.

“If I ate without pills, I would lose a lot of weight very quickly,” he said.

“If I don’t eat well, then my chest will sag.”

The DHSC said supply issues were caused by limited availability of raw ingredients and manufacturing capacity constraints affecting how much could be produced to meet demand.

There were also supply issues with alternative brands of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy medication due to increased demand.

The DHSC spokesperson added: “We have inherited ongoing global supply issues which continue to impact the availability of medicines, including Creon.

“We know how distressing it can be for patients and we are working closely with industry, the NHS and others in the supply chain to mitigate the risk to patients and ensure that alternative products are available until their usual treatments are returned in stock.”