...to want to clout this pharmacist?

[OsbegaEthewulf]

I am currently stricken with thrush so I popped along to local chemist to buy a canesten pessary. I've finished a course of anti-b's a few days ago and I am prone to thrush anyway.

Chap asked me if I'd had thrush in last six months and I replied that I didn't think so and held a fiver out to buy said canesten thingy. Told me he couldn't sell me a pessary as I couldn't prove that I'd been thrush free for last 6 months- not sure how I'd do that other that taking a dated photo everyday of me fan or showing him in person.

I explained about anti biotics, me being experienced sensible 46 yr old etc etc
So I says "can I have some cream instead then"? and again he refused and said I would have to see my doctor. Replied that I needed pessary now and any appointment made now will be for next mid week.

Meanwhile shop fills up with men who all seem agog at pharmacist emphasising thrush every ten seconds.

Ended up with

me are you going to sell me it then?
him: no!

Cue me storming out, trying not to scratch my crotch.

Rang dh , explained and he went to chemist near office, bought one and was out in ten seconds with no questions etc.

I want very badly to get the bloody pessary, bang on the chemist window and wave it at him. May pour some cottage cheese over my flies just to be extra disgusting!

I am soooo tempted just for fun tomorrow to go to my knowitall pharmacist and ask for cream for piles.....then tell him how absolutely marvellous it is for reducing under eye dark circles in an emergency! Last time I read the packet it is not a listed reason for using it, but hell it works!

I had a similar issue with a pharmacist at the well known high street place when buying canesten cream for my DH. The pharmacist said that he MUST have got thrush from me, despite my not having it .

nice to see the pharmcist knows what he's talking about

oh, i'm reminded of the time, just after the rules came in that you were only allowed to buy 16 paracetamol at a time, that i went into wilko's. they had a rule that you were only allowed 2 packets of paracetamol products in any transaction, and i wanted to buy 2 packets of paracetamol and 1 packet of ibuprofen. (for the first aid box)
they refused to sell the lot because i had 3 packets of painkillers.
i had read the rules when they were published and argued with the girl that it was ibuprofen not paracetamol and that the law states i can buy 2 packets of paracetamol and whatever else i like.no it's company policy. so even though the rules said it was okay, wilko's decided they knew better and made up their own rules.

Following a nasty bout of mastitis I ended up with thrush for the first time ever, so didn't treat it as promptly as I should have done, as I didn't know it was thrush. Eventually, late on a bank holiday monday, I got some canesten from a slightly cheaper than boots high street pharmacy and found when I got home that some scumbag had nabbed the internal cream. which meant I had to march back the following day, get a refund, then go to boots for some. whereupon I got quizzed about whther I was breastfeeding (had DS with me) and whether I was pregnant, so they could decide whether I could use it. I threatened to drop my knickers and show them the thrush affected area if they didn't just SELL ME THE BLOODY STUFF. They sold me it.

fliss, you should have calmly informed your pharmacist that he actually caught it from his wife

My ds (around 3 at the time) came down with a nasty cough on a sunday.

Konowing I couldnt take medecine to nursery with him the following morning unless it was prescribed.. I turned up at our local boots and asked for a cough bottle on prescription. Ds is registered for minor ailments there. Apparently you cant have a cough bottle on prescription. You have to see a doctor. [hmmm]. Cue me having to take the morning off

On a lighter note I tried to buy tampons in Turkey.. you cant buy them in a supermarket there. You have to go to a pharmacy. Tne questions they ask.... Are you married.. little why lie... yes. let me see your passport.. its at the hotel. Girl goes off and bring out older man. He takes one look and says english tourist??? Scottish .. ok one box of 12 ....

from under the counter wrapped in brown paper

tampon and natural live yogurt is all you need

That rule about about the paracetamol really pisses me off. It's cheaper to buy them in bulk and annoying if you run out. And let's face it, how many people hell-bent on suicide by overdose go into Boots and come out saying 'Oh Dear. I really wanted to die today but as they haven't sold me enough to do the job properly I'll just turn my life around and go to counselling instead.'

If you are determined to OD you will go to several shops until you have what you need.

I once needed citric acid for a recipe. The book said you can get it in pharmacies. When I asked for it they refused to sell it to me bacause apparently it's what heroin addicts use to prepare their fix. But they do actually stock it, so my question is - why? And who do you actually sell it to? Heroin addicts? And what about all the other people who need it for non-heroin related purposes? God, it's infuriating sometimes.

I get hacked off with being asked pointless questions (is this stye cream/milk of magnesia for you? Have you had it before? Can you give me proof that you can be trusted not to ingest these eye drops, or feed them to a small child?) by some 12 year old every time I want to buy something.

No wonder all the GP surgeries are so clogged up with the non-ill just trying to solve a small problem.

And glycerin! I seem to remember someone querying whether I was bomb making.

Like I'm going to say Yes!

I don't live in the UK so stock up with paracetemol/Lemsips from Boots each time I'm home, and each time they sell me loads once I've explained.

I love it in the states. Their pharmacies are like illegal drugs dens compared to ours. I go round oohing and aahing, and buying everything, just in case. Bought some tweezers that could pluck your eye out in a nano-second, and they are so sharp you'd barely notice. Never seen anything like them in the UK. Excellent for teenage blackhead removal.

PMSL @ "On another note, my dad is a pharmacist and had someone come in and complain that the Caneston pessaries weren't working. Turned out she'd been eating them."

Oh bagged, you're a star! You've brightened up what has been such a crappy day!

That pharmacist handled the situation very badly. he shouldn't have said things like that in front of all the other customers. I would complain in the hope he learns better counselling skills and definitely some more tact

The rules for what medication can be sold for are not determined by the pharmacists. Any of them caught not asking the proper questions could be disciplined, perhaps evens struck off.

GPs and other HCP who tell pregnant women just to buy certain products shouldn't. Its not fair on the patient or the pharmacy staff. They are not allowed to sell it due to the licence restrictions even though they will often know that it is the best treatment for the patient.

Minor ailments scheme prescriptions can only be written for items on the formulary which again is not determined by the individual pharmacists. Imo a child with a cough would only need to see a dr if there was signs of bacterial infection or other complications. ( sorry I don't know if this was the case for the child mentioned above). Expectorants (chesty cough bottles) aren't allowed to be prescribed on the NHS by anyone even GPs. Many Gps will prescibe cough suppressants for chesty coughs which may stop a person coughing but will inhibit the body's ability to get rid of the gunk in their airways and therefore risk being ill for longer.

The most stupid one I've had, in Boots, when waving an empty box of antihistamines asking for the same again please, was "have you taken these before?"

And years ago, itchy, young and very self-conscious [pre over-the-counter Canesten days], I asked for Lanacane [they used to do a thrush cream then] and was directed to the Lancôme counter.

He sounds like a right control freak.

I had something similar. GP gave me a prescription for six treatments for thrush (as I kept getting it). Pharmacist questioned it in front of all the other people in the chemist!

AFAIK GPs are more qualified than pharmacists!

Does anyone know why Boots were happy to sell me a pack of 7 antihistamines when the pharmacist was on lunch break, but not the pack of 30 (same formula, just better value for money)? They said I had to come back an hour later.... Is there such a thing as an anti-histamine overdose?

In any case I just gave up, walked ten metres to Sainsbury's and bought 2 packets of their own-brand 14 (same generic drug) for about half the price anyway.

wrt the anthistamines some medicines in certain amounts are only able to be sold by a qualified pharmacist after they have given the appropriate advice and made an assessment. Smaller amounts of the drug can be bought without such restrictions.

You can overdose on anything, its just harder to overdose on some things rather than others. They probably were happy to sell it because the pack of 7 has a GSL licence and can be sold in non-pharmacies and the 30 has a P licence and can be only sold in pharmacies. However as they were a pharmacy they legally shouldn't have sold ANY medication without a pharmacist present. But ime Boots as a company are money grabbing b$*&$$ds

The smaller packs of antihistamines will be licenced as ' general sales list' and can be sold in almost any shop , but the larger pack will be a 'pharmacy only 'medicine which can only be sold at a pharmacy with pharmacist precent. This is not up to the staff .

DD1 got prescribed eye drops at the hospital eye casualty (problem in both eyes, course was a week of hourly drops, a week of 6x a day, week of 4x a day, 2 weeks of 2 x a day..... i.e. a LOT of drops) - they gave us two small bottles and said if we needed any more then to go to the GP - bearing in mind that the particualr condition she has cannot be diagnosed by a GP, and that the eye casualty don't write to the GP, only the main eye clinic, we'd have beem stuck if we'd got the "difficult" GP at the surgery who doesn't prescribe anything for anything (may be slight exaggeration). Two bottles at that prescription last almost two weeks of the 8 week treatment

So on the follow-up appointment a week later we moaned at the doctor, who wrote a new prescription underlining and circling "BOTH EYES" so they got the message, and DD got four bottles of eye drops.

PMSL at hamster
DH came in - he thought I was in pain.

I went for some good old Canesten the other day. All my neighbours were queued up in there so it was very public. I had a rare BoffinMum shy moment. Very young chap behind counter, Asian, shy. Here's how the conversation went.

"Can I have a Canesten combi pack with the oral tablet please?"
Assistant turn head to cold cure remedies and starts rummaging.
BoffinMum goes pink and has a David Walliams moment.
"I DON'T THINK YOU'LL FIND IT IN THE COLD CURES, BECAUSE IT'S A PRODUCT FOR WOMEN'S VAGINAS"
Assistant goes pink. Goes to find pharmacist. They explore shop. Eventually they come back with pessary/cream Combi pack.
"WELL I CAN HARDLY SWALLOW THOSE - CAN I? I AASKED FOR THE TABLET, NOT THE PESSARY!" Assistant scuttles off and converses with pharmacist again. Returns with correct packet.
BoffinMum mutters thanks and leaves, then realises the special double loyalty points have not been added to her card. Not brave enough to go back and point this out.

MaamRuby, you'd be going it some to get addicted to codeine in three days. I've been on opiates for a year and a half and there's no sign of that yet.