to think a branch of Boots should be able to dispense mefenamic acid and the map without making special arrangements?

[Mintyy]

This is a fairly large branch of Boots with a pharmacy in a shopping centre in London zone 1.

Aibu?

[wowfudge]

What were the special arrangements and is a prescription required for mefenamic acid?

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Yanbu

I'm assuming the former is to stop heavy bleeding? and the second I know. I'm assuming they are both time sensitive aswell? shouldn't be difficult to obtain or prolong any possible. embarrassment

[ld7675]

No YANBU - fairly standard stuff I would have thought.

I had similar problem with ASDA (big store) pharmacy and Cerazette - somehow they could only give me 2/3 of a packet (thought as contraceptive the standard 3 month pack was what they came in). I was left with an IOU note for 63 tablets, I could never work out how they got to that number as each strip of tablets was 28. Bunch of monkeys could do better methinks.

[Mintyy]

Yes, you do need a prescription for mefenamic acid.

By special arrangement I mean ordering it in, not having it in stock.

[DoJo]

I suppose it depends on demand - I'm guessing that there may have been unprecedented call for the MAP (and possibly mefenamic acid) over the bank holiday weekend so they could have been waiting to be re-stocked. Unless this is a common problem at this branch, then it may be down to that one having been open when others in the area were not over the last few days.

[wowfudge]

Poor - especially for the map. Have they not had a delivery due to the BH? I'd go elsewhere. I've done that when the chemists only had a couple of sumatriptan and wanted to give me an IOU for the rest. Not exactly convenient to have to go back.

[Mintyy]

Isn't it a bit like Sainsburys running out of bread though? Neither of them are rare or special drugs. If there is extra demand for the map over bank holiday weekends then you might have thought that the biggest dispensing chemist in the country would have worked that out?

[LibrariesGaveUsP0wer]

Id - they wrote it out as if it was a full box of the combined pill. 3 x 21 tablets is 63. Not engaging brain.

[LibrariesGaveUsP0wer]

I am continually boggled by what's not in stock. DS needed a bog standard antibiotic a couple of months back and had to go round 4 pharmacies to get the prescription filled.

[Tapirbackrider]

I take it that you are unaware that there has been major manufacturing issues with mefenamic acid for most of this year then? Not to mention bank holiday and suppliers being closed, stocks of medicine not coming from some magic never emptying box...

If pharmacies were to hold all the stock that patients need, we'd be the size of an Amazon warehouse.

[summerainbow]

Lots of chemist have to order in its normal.

[balletgirlmum]

Last time I went to Boots they could only fill part of the prescription (dd was boarding so the Dr gave us double the amount on prescription so she didn't run out whilst she was away)

[Gileswithachainsaw]

I am continually boggled by what's not in stock. DS needed a bog standard antibiotic a couple of months back and had to go round 4 pharmacies to get the prescription filled

funny you should say that. I had to go round 2 chemists the second of which called several.others for me for a prescription of antibiotics

[Mintyy]

"I take it that you are unaware that there has been major manufacturing issues with mefenamic acid for most of this year then?"

Erm, yes I am actually. Was I supposed to know? Me just being an ordinary punter.

The woman in front of me couldn't get whatever her prescription was either, now I think of it. So 3 customers in a row turned away from Boots because they couldn't supply the drugs.

[ProcrastinatorGeneral]

A friend once had to traipse around four city centre pharmacies a few months back to find one with salbutamol in stock. We were both stunned. It's one of the most common drugs going!

[Tapirbackrider]

Just to add - most community pharmacies have online access to a list of meds that are currently unavailable, or are on restriction.

Mefenamic acid has been an issue for most of this year, along with
Trimovate cream - very unreliable supply from manufacturers,
Betnovate RD cream and ointment, along with the generic alternative,
Amoxicillin caps & liquid have had quality control issues, and there has been restrictions on stock availability at times,
Depo Medrone is on restriction currently,
Creon 40,000 is unavailable and will be for the foreseeable future.

I'm sure that there are more, but it's late, and these are the ones that spring to mind immediately.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

My experience with Boots in Central London is that they can either order something in, and it will be there in the afternoon, if you go in the morning, or they can call round other local Boots (and there are plenty of them in Central London) to find you one where it is in stock and you can collect it from there.

At your age, I wouldn't bother with the MAP, I'd cross my fingers (too late to cross legs) and think the chances of conception were pretty slim anyway.

[balletgirlmum]

I do hope the problems don't continue. Thinking about it we struggled to get dds normal prescription fulfilled previously too.

Going on mefanamic acid has meant she can live a normal teenage life & continue dancing.

[Wolpertinger]

Manufacturing problems and shortages of even really common drugs seem to be very common nowadays.

Wouldn't expect you to know this as an ordinary punter but it's sad that in anything healthcare related the instant assumption is 'you are incompetent' not 'this service might actually be hard to deliver and have more to it than I realise'

[Tapirbackrider]

OP

Pharmacist should have told you - very poor that this information wasn't passed along.

[Samcro]

how odd. M Acid is on my dd's repeat and we have had no trouble getting it

[Mintyy]

MrsS. How very dare you?? and how do you know my age?

The map wasn't for me, it was for the young couple just behind me.

I saw them in the Tesco pharmacy 5 minutes later, where we all got what we wanted!

[Tapirbackrider]

Hardest thing in pharmacy is attempting to predict who is going to walk through the door and what meds they are going to need.

[LibrariesGaveUsP0wer]

Wolf - that isn't health care. If you can't deliver a seemingly simple service in any profession people will assume incompetence. Unless you communicate the problem!

[MrsSchadenfreude]

You are the same age as me, Mintyy. And you live not far from me too.