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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Do you work in a pharmacy? Do you judge people on their medications?

107 replies

BloodyPlantagenets · 15/01/2016 18:25

I always wonder about this when I pick up my prescriptions. I'm on a cocktail of antipsychotic and antidepressant meds and I always think they head tilt at me a bit. I'm interested to know whether this is my paranoia talking or whether the pharmacist sees the prescription and makes a judgement.

What do you think? I'd love to hear from people who do that job and I promise it's not upsetting me, it's just a thought I've had for a while.

OP posts:

CerseiHeartsJaime4ever · 15/01/2016 19:51

He could have asked, "what condition do you take this for?" Not "this dose is quite high for diabetes!" with a concerned look. If he'd asked me that, he wouldn't have had to make such a fuss about the dose because it had nothing to do with his assumption I had diabetes. Thousands of women take it for PCOS.

bananasandladybirds · 15/01/2016 20:00

Not a pharmacist but a work in healthcare- it actually never occurred to me to even consider doing this! Maybe naive, but I think the vast, vast majority of people working in healthcare would be the same. If someone does judge- or more so, make you aware of the fact they are judging- they are going against a very basic and fundamental part of the job they are employed to do, that is much more significant than whatever medication you happen to be prescribed. Honestly, OP, don't give it another thought :)

Marynary · 15/01/2016 20:05

Metformin is only licensed for diabetes. If you were prescribed it for PCOS it was being used off label. The vast majority of metformin prescriptions are for diabetes. The maximum dose is the same for both conditions. Why does it matter that he thought you had diabetes rather than PCOS? How is that "judging" you?

velourvoyageur · 15/01/2016 20:08

I worked on the till in one and would sometimes help assemble prescriptions, and also people see you as 'staff' so chat away to you about their personal medical situations. Of course I didn't judge. Many people take ADs.

Lweji · 15/01/2016 20:14

Not really judging, but I find it interesting that if I just ask for the highest concentration ibuprofen, they start dishing out advice, asking if I have taken it before, telling me how to take it, and so on.
Now I tell them straight away I need them for my period and nobody says anything at all.

ThomasRichard · 15/01/2016 20:15

Marynary I feel judged when I have to 'admit' to being at high risk for type 2 diabetes, because it's so closely associated with being overweight, which in itself is something that people are judgemental about. In my case, I have a rare medical condition that puts me at risk but I'm still quite self-conscious about it.

TheWoodenSpoonOfMischief · 15/01/2016 20:16

I have had quite a few debates with a judgey pharmacist friend. She's the most judgmental person I know and judges people all the time.
She has mellowed out a bit and I hope she continues to do so.

Marynary · 15/01/2016 20:27

ThomasRichard You don't have to "admit" to anything. If you are on metformin healthcare professionals are going to think that you probably have diabetes. That doesn't mean they are "judging" you. Do you really think that they have got the time or inclination to judge the millions of people who are on metformin? They have better things to do.

Whatwhatinthewhatnow · 15/01/2016 20:29

Marynary he immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was for diabetes when it wasn't. Perhaps based on weight, perhaps not. I know at least 7 women who have taken it/take it for PCOS and trying to conceive. NICE recommends that. So it's a judgement because he automatically assumed she was type II!

MrsJorahMormont · 15/01/2016 20:36

I think most pharmacists are extremely professional but the staff on the counter in a few local pharmacies are nosy and gossipy and I would avoid going there for anything other than throat lozenges.

Whatwhatinthewhatnow · 15/01/2016 20:44

And if cerse had been a woman of childbearing age collecting a prescription for metformin who wasn't overweight, might he have thought "perhaps she's trying to conceive" and asked what it was for first?

Marynary · 15/01/2016 20:44

Whatwhatinthewhatnow So if a healthcare professional thinks someone probably has a certain medical condition because they are prescribed a medicine that is licensed only for that condition they are being judgemental are they?

The assumption was not based on weight, it was based on the fact that metformin is only licensed for diabetes and nothing else. There may be a few women taking it off-label for PCOS but they are far far outnumbered by those taking it for diabetes.

Marynary · 15/01/2016 20:46

And if cerse had been a woman of childbearing age collecting a prescription for metformin who wasn't overweight, might he have thought "perhaps she's trying to conceive" and asked what it was for first?

He wouldn't think anything as it is not that interesting.

LalaLyra · 15/01/2016 20:47

I found the pharmacist here really nosy when I first moved. It's a small place so a kind of 'everyone knows everyone' type of thing. Mostly it's just chit chat, but it sometimes felt like an interrogation. However, he was the one that spotted that a medication DD2 had been prescribed last year was v.v.similar in terms of reactions in people to one she'd had several years ago and reacted badly too. It was also him who flagged up that she couldn't take a new one prescribed and stay on one she had been on for several years. The GP had missed that (not really that surprising given the number of medications) and the alternative that he suggested was one the GP hadn't thought of and worked brilliantly. I don't mind his nosiness now.

I don't think they'll be anymore judgey than any other walk of life. They might know what medication people take, but they don't know how people got to that point.

MrsPnut · 15/01/2016 20:51

I take a couple of unusual meds and they have to be ordered in when I hand my repeat prescription in. I use my village pharmacy which is great when I need extras of something or like the recent situation when my dd2 needed a new aero chamber for her inhaler and I was waiting for the surgery to do the prescription. The pharmacist gave me one and said they would arrange to collect the prescription themselves for it.

SaggingTits · 15/01/2016 20:55

I've been wondering the same. My mum is also on a cocktail of drugs, for MH and a lifelong physical condition. Never thought pharmacists would think much of it but since changing pharmacist's my mum regular gets questioned about why she's on so much and does she really need it.

I suppose they only question it if they have concerns? But it does annoy me as yes, she does need it all. She has a rare disease and I'm sure the consultant who specializes in rare and tropical disease knows more than a pharmacist.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 15/01/2016 20:55

I'm on repeat dizzy pills and my pharmacist brings them to me at the top of the stairs... I've fallen down the stairs twice before.

frikadela01 · 15/01/2016 20:59

LalaLyra this is why phrmacists are invaluable. Their knowledge about medication vastly outweighs that of most doctors.

abbsismyhero · 15/01/2016 21:08

ive had them questioning the fact that my middle child was on adult dose gaviscon for awhile (severe acid reflux) ive also had a pharmacist carefully explain my dosage twice when my thyroid went off the roof and my heart was pounding i was given some tablets (to slow my heart rate) and i wanted to know what time of day i should take them the explanation was (to me) long and complicated i just looked like so pharmacist readjusted their expectations and said take them NOW

the funniest was when they carded me for my daughter's prescription they gave me my prescription then asked me for photo id for my daughters i was a bit as my medication can be just as dangerous and her meds was just two temazepam literally two tablets!

BeaufortBelle · 15/01/2016 21:22

When I was a student and on the pill (a zillion years ago) I got the bus to the next town because the pharmacist in the village lived opposite my mum!

This has just reminded me of when I had to send DH for more maternity towels after DS was born. He came home and told me very gravely that he had told the lady they were for his wife.

mummydarkling · 15/01/2016 21:33

I am a Pharmacist used to work in a community pharmacy and we were never judgemental. We just want your medication to be safe and effective. I always thought of the people prescribed Methadone that they could be you or me given a different set of circumstances. We had to guard against OTC products being misused so may have appeared grumpy at times.

mummydarkling · 15/01/2016 21:36

Regarding the photo I'D Temazepam is counted as a controlled drug so they needed to ask abbas.

YesEinsteinsMumDid · 15/01/2016 21:41

I love our local pharmacists but they tend to look scared and back away when I come in with prescriptions that aren't standard repeats. They just know that we are going to spend at least an hour checking through and cross referencing allergies and permitted when competing rules. Although my favourite was when I asked where I could find accurate rules about what could and could not be taken abroad medicines wise, which required a doctor's note to say it was prescribed and why etc.
Sometimes I feel sorry for them. But mostly I am just very grateful they are so good at their jobs. although i do suspect they hate me for being so difficult about the prescriptions and the resulting phone calls to change stuff with the GPs

universallyhated · 15/01/2016 21:47

I hope they don't judge, mine have seen me in the middle of a panic attack and in floods of tears when the medication I was on wasn't working. They do look at the prescriptions because the woman behind the counter started asking how I am when I was picking them up. She's seen me each month for years picking up the DCs insulin and never asked until I started on ADs. I've not seen her for a while, I think she's left.

UndramaticPause · 15/01/2016 21:47

Pharmacists can I ask a question. I dropped off a load of my nans medications for destruction after she died and was asked if there were any controlled drugs in there but not told what drugs are controlled even when I asked so erred on the side of caution and said yes.

I take a couple of controlled drugs but nothing my nan was on.

Do they get destroyed differently?

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