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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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 Angry

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:
GreenEyesandHam · 17/03/2011 23:01

We had to put a pack of paracetemol back in the supermarket the other week, as we'd tried to buy two packs as well as some Calpol.

We joked that if we were planning to OD with Calpol, our teeth would be more likely to rot and give out before our livers did.

But it's the law, and you don't fuck with it. Don't blame the cashiers or pharmacists for upholding it

Original poster
ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 23:07

i uphold the law too but i use discretion. ill remember this when i next catch someone speeding...just following the rules. wonder how that will go down....mmmm,

down with the police state. oh. oops. fuck. thats me out of a job then. Grin

OP posts:
GreenEyesandHam · 17/03/2011 23:14

The cashier who took my paracetemol off me probably gets a sniff above minimum wage.

She was never going to use her 'discretion' :o Nor would I expect her to.

Or a well paid pharmacist for that matter, it's not the same as a speeding ticket, it's about health. Life or death and all that malarkey.

Anyway, it's not rocket science- go in twice, or lie :o

Original poster
ThatVikRinA22 · 17/03/2011 23:20

ah ah ah but speeding is about life and death too. maybe im just too nice to people, or give people credit where its not due but i tend to be quite good at reading people.

i do use discretion where i feel i can in my job. but if the majority of people feel that the law is the law is the law then i should probably get another job pronto. i can guarantee if i just applied the letter of the law in every single thing i dealt with there would be uproar and probably a thread or two on here.

OP posts:
BeerTricksPotter · 17/03/2011 23:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

andenuvathing · 17/03/2011 23:33

I feel your pain VicarIT.
We are a home of Me, DH, DTD@18, DTD@18, DD#12 and DS 9mnth.

Put in the mix a couple of headaches, some period pains and man flu in one week.............

After reading (some of) this thread I am relieved that my local supermarket are now happy to put all pain relief through, all be it under seperate transactions.

Smile
AimingForSerenity · 17/03/2011 23:41

There are 2 seperate isuues here.

Paracetamol - Yes, if someone is determined to commit suicide they will manage to get the number of tablets needed (which actually is surprisingly low) but the deaths from this have fallen dramatically since the sales were limited as it reduced the opportunist attempts. This is a horrible drug in overdose as the patient who is found and stomach pumped may seem to recover until their liver fails and they die a slow and unpleasant death so IMO limiting it is irritating but a necessary evil.

Decongestants - sales are now limited as they can be used in the synthesis of methamphetamine and anything that keeps this horrible drug off our streets is fine by me

BaronessBomburst · 17/03/2011 23:46

I have to stockpile EVERYTHING as anything with an ingredient in it that actually works isn't available over the counter here in Holland.
DH and I have learned to approach the pharmacy counters in supermarkets separately in order to get two boxes of Sulpadeine.

Can buy a joint over here though, should I ever want to. Confused

JanetPlanet · 17/03/2011 23:51

It's not the poor pharmacists fault!!! Their professional body would have them struck off it they sold you these things. The Pharmacy governing body has a history of being overly harsh towards pharmacists. Using their discretion could cost them their livelihood! YABU.

BoffinMum · 17/03/2011 23:52

Why can't people book in for brief consultations with pharmacists to get slightly higher quantities authorised? I thought that was why pharmacies had installed all those little rooms?

MOSP · 17/03/2011 23:55

Aimingforserenity - How many paracetamol does it take to die? If you're not found, it is a quicker process?

JanetPlanet · 17/03/2011 23:55

Pharmacists have no power, the pharmacist dispenses what the GP prescribes, the consultation rooms are for medicines use reviews and other services such as smoking cessation. The pharmacist can make a recommendation but ultimately it's up to the GP

BoffinMum · 18/03/2011 00:03

But would this not be a medicine use review of sorts?

JanetPlanet · 18/03/2011 06:58

From my understanding, the purpose of medicines use reviews are to spot interactions between medicines that could cause problems, not really so someone could get a few more packets of painkillers for a short term condition. I feel sorry for pharmacists because it seems like the public don't understand what they do and consequently they get a lot of flack, from people like the op who wants to send the pharmacist a photo of their stock piled medicines just for doing their job within the law. Great for you op if you have more autonomy in your role but pharmacists don't.

Tortoiseonthehalfshell · 18/03/2011 07:11

The same law applies in Australia, but it's not a concern about overdosing at all, it's a concern about using OTC drugs which contain pseudoephedrine to manufacture speed. (Do I mean speed?)

Whether you are a responsible adult who can read labels is completely irrelevant; you can still manufacture drugs.

gorionine · 18/03/2011 07:22

really AimingForSerenity? DH caught a really bad cold while in America for work and they refused to sell him the equivalent to Lemsip because he did ot have a local identity card. He had to send an american collegue to buy it for him (that was 3 years ago)

The pain killer thing is a law I think because there is no shop that will accept people of any age buying more tha 2 boxes of them.

The chemists probably do have to make judgements which are not always correct but "safe". Last week Ds needed antibiotics, they told me at the pharmacy there was a 30 minute wait as they had a lot of people with prescriptions to prepare. I asked them if it was possible to send Dd1 (11) to pick it up later as I could not and they were fine with it, probably because they had seen me and I asked rather than just sending her. I think that when the customer is 19 though they should be considered as an adult able to purchase medicine over the counter (unless all the items purchased did contain paracetamol in which case by law they could not).

TattyDevine · 18/03/2011 07:32

I've bought Day Nurse and Sudafed in one transaction before. In fact, last week.

I think what shits me about it is the inconsistency of it all.

Some pharmacists do, others dont. So its hardly unlikely people will assume those who dont are jobsworths. Unless those who do are breaking the law (unlikely in a large Boots) then they are being jobsworths.

I buy a lot of my pharmeceuticals online. There are certain things I like to have in the house "just in case". Buccastem M is one of them, Kaolin & Morphine is another. If you get struck down with a tummy bug in the middle of the night and you have to do the school run, you can't be waiting until you need them to go out and get them. I can't drive and projectilve vomit - it makes a mess of the windscreen!

Pharmacists probably dont get this, so I buy online.

Tee2072 · 18/03/2011 07:41

The real problem, IMHO, is the system is flawed. So I can't buy 3 boxes of ibuprofen at the Boots I'm in at the moment, but 5 minutes later I can go down the street to the Lloyds and buy a box. And then a box at Tesco. And maybe one at Sainsbury's. And buy another box at the first Boots tomorrow.

If someone really wanted to die by taking an overdose of OTC meds, they could acquire enough in a week or less to do so.

Not that it really affects me, however, as my mom brings me jars of paracetamol in quantities of 500 when she comes to visit from the States.

gorionine that's because there are sale restrictions on medicines that can make speed in the US. But there is also a central database so you can't go next door and buy more.

Morloth · 18/03/2011 07:42

Yes it is speed tortoise, DH had to fill in a form to get me some sudafed the other day.

Original poster
ThatVikRinA22 · 18/03/2011 07:53

tatty, im sure i have bought them together before, thats why it annoyed me so much yesterday, and the thing is that i got them anyway - it just meant i had to go out for them after DS got back - did the pharmacist question me about what else i took with them? no. it was just a lot of inconvenience and i ended up with both anyway. most people on here are saying they stock pile cold meds, so if its not ok to buy them together why is it ok to buy them 10 mins apart? could i not still overdose if there is a 10 minute gap in purchase? it all seems completely ridiculous to me, and i know i have bought the two together before.

i am now full of cold. pissed off with a sore throat and a blocked nose and have to work with it.

im not likely to be manufacturing illegal drugs, and i dont get how buying the products 10 mins apart stops that anyway, but ill stop ranting now and go have a lemsip.

(and to the poster who got arsey about the comment on photographing my stockpile....it was a joke, humour,... somewhere in the murky pissed off cold filled depths i thought i still had one. apparently not.)

OP posts:
catwhiskers10 · 18/03/2011 07:56

It's because they both contain ephedrine which (in huge amounts) is used in the manufacture of crystal meth.

mousymouse · 18/03/2011 08:12

you can damage your liver with only about double the daily max dose of paracetamol. that would be 2 packs in a day (32 tablets).
lempsip contains 1g (2tablets worth) so it is easy to see how to reach a safe limit quickly if you drink the stuff like tea and take tablets in addition...

Rabat · 18/03/2011 08:19

Thanks aimingforserenity - I didn't realise that the deaths from paracetamol overdose had fallen dramatically since it was introduced. It is much easier to accept the irritation knowing that! I know that was what it was supposed to do but I was quite sceptical about it for the reasons Tee2072 pointed out.

scottishmummy · 18/03/2011 08:22

pharmacist called it right- guidelines to adhere to,and bps registration to maintain

if you still wish to stock up go shop a few individual stores. like everyone else does

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 18/03/2011 08:40

You asked wrong.

What you (or you ds) needed to say was:

Dear Pharmacist use you mind
You better stock me up for the wintertime

This is how I've been able to procure Medised in the past.