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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Refused co-codamol at Sainsbury's

112 replies

pianodoodle · 13/09/2013 08:35

Because I'm pregnant :(

Genuinely unsure if this is something I should be peeved about or not which is why I didn't make a fuss at the time but have been thinking about it since!

Am 25wks with DC2. Last pregnancy I took an absolute killer migraine one night and DH called the doctor who gave me a couple of paltry ibuprofen because I was pregnant. It was a nightmare I was debilitated with it for days.

When I next saw the GP she was pretty unimpressed and said if it happened again to get something stronger regardless as a once off. Normally For a migraine I have either taken tramadol or co-codamol 30/500.

I don't want to take either of those during pregnancy but when I was out yesterday thought I'll buy some weak co-codamol (8/500) to keep just in case.

The lady asked if they were for me and I said yes then she looked at my bump and said "oh I don't think I can sell you these you aren't really supposed to take them"

She had taken them back off the counter and put them back on the shelf and wasn't making any attempt to clarify with the pharmacist or anything. It was hot and DD was getting impatient so rather than make a fuss I just left and bought them in Boots.

I did feel like pointing out that I hadn't actually told her I was pregnant (how rude etc... I might just be very very bloated!) but DH laughed at me though he agreed it was silly considering I could freely buy a bottle of whiskey and a pack of cigars but not some painkillers! I know medicine is probably regulated differently and they may have the right to refuse but still.

I went away feeling a bit patronised nonetheless. Possibly hormones! Has anyone else been refused a chemist sale like this before?

OP posts:

elliejjtiny · 13/09/2013 09:44

I used to work in a pharmacy. The reason they won't sell you co-codamol when pregnant is because if something happens to you or the baby you can sue. I used to hate refusing to sell stuff and the customers usually blamed me.

wellieboots · 13/09/2013 09:45

Ibuprofen is safe in mid pregnancy, not recommended in first or third trimester. I took it daily in second trimester for severe PGP, if I hadn't have, I wouldn't have been able to leave the house.

NorkyButNice · 13/09/2013 09:45

A Starbucks vendor in New York refused to serve me a large coffee when I was 8 months pregnant as it would be 'too much caffeine for the baby'.

I nearly cried. But got my coffee in the end!

elliejjtiny · 13/09/2013 09:47

Oh and we were always told to ask "could you be pregnant?" or "you're not pregnant or breastfeeding are you?" even to women with obvious bumps, just in case they weren't.

gamerchick · 13/09/2013 09:47

I was prescribed Co codamol all the way through my pregnancy but had to stop taking it in the last trimester.

Jobsworths of any kind do my head in. Especially when buying painkillers for kids. I think they just assume everybody is thick.

ChunkyPickle · 13/09/2013 09:51

I shall wheel it out again - I was refused Olbas Oil in Boots, because I was still breast feeding my 1 year old.

It's ridiculous that we have to have little lies prepared to get things, because no-one will have a sensible conversation with a pregnant woman (well, except the pharmacist in Asda who was concerned about my prescription for low-dose aspirin, but listened to the reasons, and asked me to double, double check with my consultant, but still filled it for me)

KatyTheCleaningLady · 13/09/2013 09:52

Unless you get addicted to codeine, I think it's harmless to the baby. As directed (no more than three days), this is not an issue.

MrsDibble · 13/09/2013 09:53

YANBU.

I would get a prescription next time though as it will be free!

Agree with comments about faceless incubators - annoys me too. Why do people think that once you are pregnant you are public property and cannot make own decisions?

I don't feel you should have to lie and say that are for DH though I can understand why it would be simpler.

I also though co codamol were fine (if you need them, like anything else) but that ibuprofen were not, especially not in final trimester.

poocatcherchampion · 13/09/2013 09:55

I was refused thrush cream when pregnant even though it is fine to use. I considered crying.

madoldbird · 13/09/2013 10:02

Slightly off topic but I was refused proper coffee in a hotel whilst pregnant, and told I should have decaff!

Original poster

pianodoodle · 13/09/2013 10:10

Slightly off topic but I was refused proper coffee in a hotel whilst pregnant, and told I should have decaff

Wow! You see, my situation although a bit frustrating was a bit more ambiguous as to how "wrong" it was.

The coffee thing is utter madness I hope you made a scene!

My bounty pack decaff sample is in the cupboard unopened. I cut down but no way am I doing without my morning cuppa

It's the way everyone suddenly knows what's good for you that gets me. That would be irksome enough but since when do hotel staff have the right to enforce such a policy?!

OP posts:

fluffyraggies · 13/09/2013 10:11

I'm quite

Is it true? You really could sue the person/company who sold you a substance which harmed the baby if you took it?

Or is that only if they haven't mentioned the risk at the till point. How could you prove/disprove that?? Is the warning on the packaging not enough? Is it just with medicine?

All genuine questions.

I was going to post simply to say i was refused co-codomol last week and was very annoyed. (21 weeks preg.)

Now i'm thinking ... What about chemicals which give off fumes which are harmful to baby sold in Tesco? No mention of staff having to warn pregnant women there. How about weed killer bought at B&Q etc?

fluffyraggies · 13/09/2013 10:12

Oh and the co codamol was for DHs tooth ache. But they wouldn't let me buy it.

FitzgeraldProtagonist · 13/09/2013 10:13

Ditto thrush cream and pessaries without prescription. GAH! Telephoned GP, who laughed at me

Hassled · 13/09/2013 10:17

I'm always a bit wary of Sainsburys pharmacies, I have to say. Their advise/opinions are often a bit wacky - last week for example they told me that Golden Eye ointment doesn't exist anymore (it's widely available).

TheBookofRuth · 13/09/2013 10:20

Boots refused to sell me a heat pack for a stiff neck because I'm breastfeeding.

Gruntfuttock · 13/09/2013 10:21

I was refused co-codamol in Morrison's pharmacy and I'm way past childbearing age. I suffer very bad joint and muscle pains as side effects of prescribed medication and my GP had told me to take ibuprofen and co-codamol when it gets really bad. However the assistant in the pharmacy (not the pharmacist) flatly refused to let me buy it and said that my GP would have to write a note saying that I could have it! Naturally I simply buy it elsewhere. Very annoyed at what appeared to be a power-crazed assistant though.

PlotTwist · 13/09/2013 10:24

I hate it when people refuse to sell things to me. I had a stand up argument with a check-out operator the other month who refused to sell me a packet of decongestants because he'd already scanned through paracetamol and calpol. I pointed out several times that the decongestants didn't contain painkillers, even if they are stupidly packaged almost identically to the own brand paracetamol. He said the computer was refusing, I said he'd made a mistake (he had, he was trying to rescan the paracetamol). Not what I needed with a killer headache.

I would have lied and said they were for dh too.

Oh, and what really annoys me is how I cannot buy more than two painkiller items together, if the entire family come down with a cold and I need three different strengths and have to resort to subtefuge to buy all I need. Irritating.

PlotTwist · 13/09/2013 10:25

I would have lied and said they were for dh too.

sashh · 13/09/2013 10:34

Don't be too hard on these people, there is a reason some pills can be picked up off a supermarket shelf and others are kept behind the counter.

It was a pharmacy assistant who told friends of my parents not to give their 3 year old daughter cough syrup every night to get her to sleep, they had not realised they were drugging their child .

As for staff in coffee shops and hotels, be as hard as you want on them, caffeine is a natural product (not that that makes it safe) decaffeinated coffee has the caffeine replaced by another chemical (can't remember which).

Yes everyone is very concerned and would like pregnant and breastfeeding women to only have a healthy diet, no pills or other medications, but look at what happened in the past? My mother narrowly avoided an X-ray to see if I was twins, you would not X-ray a pregnant woman now unless actually essential.

Original poster

pianodoodle · 13/09/2013 10:36

Oh and the co codamol was for DHs tooth ache. But they wouldn't let me buy it

That's pretty bad as they're just saying they don't believe it isn't for you!

If someone else in the house needs something it's usually me getting it as DH is a work so I'd be cross if being pregnant stopped me getting things for the family.

OP posts:

Morello · 13/09/2013 10:39

I used Solpadeine throughout my 2 pregnancies, which contain co-codamol, without question. That was about 5 years ago.

Recently I have been to the chemist to buy some and have told they can't sell it to me because I'm pregnant, which would be fine, but I'm not bloody pregnant!!

Original poster

pianodoodle · 13/09/2013 10:42

I wouldn't flip out at a sales person for having to enforce some daft rule (like the 2 boxes of paracetamol limit) as I've had to do it myself and it's cringy when you have to say things that even you think are a bit thick!

Different if it's someone just going on their own opinion though - like the coffee thing!

OP posts:

Original poster

pianodoodle · 13/09/2013 10:45

Recently I have been to the chemist to buy some and have told they can't sell it to me because I'm pregnant, which would be fine, but I'm not bloody pregnant

How rude

I know DH laughed when I said "she just assumed I was pregnant" because it is an obvious bump but seriously my friend has really bad IBS and has been offered seats on the bus because of how it makes her tum look, so they really should ask even if they think it's obvious!

OP posts:

StraightJacket · 13/09/2013 10:56

During both of my pregnancies, I suffered with sciatica and was handed 30/500 co codamol like they were sweets from the hospital and gp themselves, no questions asked from the pharmacist either!

I wasn't happy about taking them though so often, so only did when the pain got so severe and bought 8/500 co codamol, again, no questions asked.

This was only 2 and a half years ago, things haven't changed that much, have they? Bloody hell. Or maybe it is just that they don't give a toss in my area...

BTW, not sure if they can be taken in pregnancy, but there are these tablets called Imigran which are a migraine recovery medication (I suffer too with terrible migraines, and these are marvellous!). You can buy them over the counter, but I think my doctor said they are something like £10 for 6 tablets (which I can use in a week with my bloody migraines) so better to ask your doctor to see if you can take in pregnancy and get a free prescription.

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