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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

oi...Mr Pharmacist. yabu!

62 replies

ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 22:22

DD has a corker of a cold, which means it will go through the whole house soon.

i asked DS, 19 to nip to pharmacy to stock up on cold remedies as we all like to take different things when ill, i like day nurse, DD likes sudafed, etc etc

the bloody pharmacy wouldnt sell him more than ONE frigging thing.
is it unreasonable to expect to be treated like a sane responsible adult, read the labels and know not to mix the meds? can i not be trusted now with sudafed AND shock horror day nurse? ffs

im 39. i have a responsible job and 2 children and a DH who so far i have managed not to kill when they have a common cold by overdosing them on anything.

im sick of the nanny sodding state.

OP posts:

ladysybil · 17/03/2011 22:24

but it wasnt you going to the shop was it? it was a 19 year old boy. who may well look younger than he is.

pharmacists have guidelines they have to follow. dont blame them for the state we have put ourselves into.
just do what anyself respecting drug addict would do, which is to go to different pharmacies and buy up the amount the government lets you each time

Original poster

ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 22:26

he took ID and that wasnt the issue - i rang them and asked if i came down if it would make any difference and it wouldnt. so i just went 10 mins later and got what i wanted. in my pyjamas. fuckers.

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eaglewings · 17/03/2011 22:28

Flip this on its head, if your ds had been sold too many tablets and your ds had died of an over dose, would you be complaining that he did not follow guidelines?

having seen someone die very slowly from a paracetamol overdose before the rules were changed I'm with the pharmacist. He is saving his job and possibly someones life

AimingForSerenity · 17/03/2011 22:29

It's an absolute pain but the law is a maximum of 32 paracetamol in any one sale over the counter except at the pharmacist's clinical discretion when it can be 3 x 32 but is unlikely to happen for a 19 year old.

There are also restrictions on the decongestant in cold meds which limits the amount you can buy.

ladysybil is right, if you want more you have to "shop around"! :)

Original poster

ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 22:34

but thats the point im making - i would not under any circumstances overdose anyone. i read labels and i have a brain and an ounce or two of common sense thrown in for good measure.

did it make any difference in the end because i just went and bought the fuckers myself. trust me. it did not save any lives in this household because im not stupid and i can, (believe it or not,) be trusted with the key to the medicine cupboard. its not rocket science. i know you dont mix meds or overdose on more than one at a time. what next? are they going to start sending our search parties to check you dont own contraband lemsips AND paracetamol?

im just pissed that i had to go out in pyjamas.

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Original poster

ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 22:36

i wanted day nurse and sudafed. thats all. just those 2. not 1000000000 paracetamols or 30 packs of crack cocaine....

just sudafed and day nurse. but noooooooooooo

i felt like going and emptying my meds box out on the fucking counter and asking what theyd like to take out....

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Original poster

ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 22:39

i need a

im a bit cross. i think its that time of the month.

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AimingForSerenity · 17/03/2011 22:40

I understand your frustration. Once children are older, if you're all ill, one packet of paracetamol goes nowhere and I feel the sameas you do, I too can read, count doses and be trusted.

It has to be said though that the death rate from overdoses has plumetted since these regulations were brought in so although it's a pain it is unlikely to change.

When there's articles in papers suggesting that medicines labels need to be dumbed down for average people to understand them I think we're on a losing wicket.

essenceofSES · 17/03/2011 22:40

I can understand your frustration but the pharmacist was complying with the law. It may be a stupid law which you can get round in a variety of ways, but he didn't personally make it and needs to follow it.

ednurse · 17/03/2011 22:41

Legally any place isn't allowed to sell more than two pharmaceutical products in one transaction....so yes YABU.

BlueCat2010 · 17/03/2011 22:42

Original poster

ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 22:45

but i only wanted 2!! he wouldnt sell 2. he would only sell 1.

i wanted day nurse (1 item) and sudafed (1 item)

so he was being bloody unreasonable. and annoying. and made me go out in pyjamas.

(oh and dunk your biscuit, guess where.)

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TheHeathenOfSuburbia · 17/03/2011 22:45

They've both got pseudoephedrine in them, which is an ingredient in some illegal amphetamine-type drug IIRC, maybe why they were a bit about a teenager buying them...

essenceofSES · 17/03/2011 22:46

But selling 2 is breaking the law!

GreenEyesandHam · 17/03/2011 22:46

YABU, understandably because your deeply hidden Sudafed/Day Nurse addiction has become public knowledge :o

I remember trying to buy something for my DH, some cream or something and the pharmacist asking if he had allergies or asthma.

'no, no' says I, reassuringly.

Spent the rest of the transaction scarlet faced as 8yr old son tugs on my sleeve pleading 'yes he does Mum, that's why he has his puffer? He does Mum, he DOES!!'

Original poster

ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 22:47

i rang up and explained what they were for. still no go. so he got the sudafed and went in 5 mins later and got the day nurse. and just for good measure i bought night nurse too....thatll teach em...

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BlueCat2010 · 17/03/2011 22:51

Dunk my biscuit in my tea? Ok!

The guy was doing his job, as required by his overseeing authorities. You are ill and cranky, so can only see it from your point of view, which is that he 'made you' get out of bed to get what you had sent a young man for.

Original poster

ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 22:53

i am very cranky and im not even ill yet though ive got a sore throat...thought id better not tip him over the edge and ask for merocaine...

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IwishIwasmoreorganised · 17/03/2011 22:54

I was very ill before Christmas, DH was ill too but not as ill as me .

We both had severe sinus pain and were struggling. We have 2 young sons.

I struggles to the pharmacy and had to literally beg to be sold a pack of sudafed each - each pack lasts 3 days only (for one person). I even offered the pharmacist my phone number to ring my husband at home to confirm with him that he needed this medication - she declined to do this and sold me the medication instead.

While the pharmacists ANBU, there should be some cases where they are able to use their discretion imo.

Joolyjoolyjoo · 17/03/2011 22:55

This is why I buy cold remedies/ paracetamol whenever I shop

I probably have enough stockpiled to kill us all!

You need to stockpile in times of good health, woman!

FreudianSlippery · 17/03/2011 22:56

Sorry you feel so shite (time of the month AND an oncoming cold? Hope you've got lots of lovely junk food and chocolate ready :)) but YABU. Rules are there to protect people and the pharmacist wouldve been breaking the law if he'd sold the stuff.

And nobody MADE you go out in your jammies!

edam · 17/03/2011 22:57

Vicar, I know it's a pain in the bum, but it's not a stupid rule. It really does save lives. You may be perfectly sensible but there's no workable way of creating a system that checks the intelligence, judgment and emotional and mental state of every customer before completing a sale.

AimingForSerenity · 17/03/2011 22:58

It's even more fun to stockpile if you ever go on holiday to the US. I came back from Florida with a suitcase like a drug dealer, they still sell painkillers in packs of 250, or did a couple of years back. :)

ratspeaker · 17/03/2011 22:58

Its not the pharmacy its the law
Thats why every time I do a supermarket shop I buy either ibuprofen or paracetamol and store them at home for "just in case"
5 adults in the house, it wouldnt take long to get through them.

Many people dont realise that there is paracetamol in cold remedies and take too much which can lead to liver failure, having said that anyone determined to overdose could walk along the High St and go from chemist to chemist to supermarket and buy enough to OD

If you really need a lot of painkillers i.e. for shingles your GP can write you a prescription which I didnt know til recently

Original poster

ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 22:59

i know. im going to go and buy one thing each week...until i have enough to sedate a small elephant. or a big elephant. or a herd of elephants. then im going to photograph it and go and send it anon to the pharmacist. i black my face out and stand with a banner...

(im scaring myself now)

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