to be upset with the pharmacist?

[snowsuit]

i'm 30 weeks pg with twins and taking a baby aspirin a day (started before getting pregnant for migraine prevention). every midwife i've seen has noticed that i'm taking aspirin, and has said it's fine to carry on. my consultant talked to me about it too, he thinks it's a good idea to take it in twin pregnancies, and told me specifically to carry on taking it and not to stop suddenly as this might make my blood more likely to clot.

we have a friend coming to stay this weekend so DH did a big clean of the house yesterday AM, and my little bottle of baby aspirin was nowhere to be found afterwards, so i missed yesterday's dose. i looked for it today and when i couldn't find it, i thought i'd better get some more as otherwise i'd be going 3 days without it.

i managed to drive to our little local boots, hobbled in (i have horrible pgp) and presented myself, only to be told by the pharmacist that she couldn't sell me low-dose aspirin and that i'd have to get a doctor's prescription! i explained that i'd been taking it long-term, that i was under consultant care and that he'd told me specifically to carry on taking it, but she wouldn't budge. her argument was that as i was pregnant, she would be selling it to my babies, who are under 18 . i started to get quite upset as i was worried about missing another dose, especially since i won't have the car tomorrow and can't get to the shops on foot.

i then pointed out that i'd bought it at the bigger boots in town about 3 weeks ago, and said something like 'this is silly, i guess i'll just have to go there and get it' and the pharmacist said 'well i'll just call them and tell them not to sell it to you'. she then said she had to call my GP, which she did, and spoke to the receptionist, who pulled up my records and said i'd never been prescribed aspirin (which i'd already told them). in the end the receptionist managed to get hold of my doctor on her mobile (she'd left for the day) and she told the pharmacist to sell it to me, but she was still really reluctant and kept saying that 'you know this is illegal' and 'i'm breaking the law doing this for you'. after i'd finally bought it she said, in a placating way, 'i could have sold you full dose aspirin with no problem, just not baby aspirin' .

i googled and can't find any evidence that it's illegal to sell baby aspirin without a prescription - it seems like it's at the pharmacist's discretion. and being able to sell full-dose aspirin but not low-dose to a pregnant woman - is that really true??

i felt crappy and cried afterwards. she made me feel like a criminal, and like i was putting her in a bad position. AIBU??

I had a similar experience in relation to eye drops for conjunctivitis - pharmacist wasn't prepared to sell them to be as I was visibly pregnant. Given my optician had told me to buy them (they are available OTC without a prescription) and I had a red, sticky eye which needed attention I was pretty unimpressed. I sent DH in the end.

I had the same thing happen. She told me she couldn't sell it, I asked why, she told me and I said ok I understand, then left.
I think you were bvu
I just sent my dh in later on, problem solved.

As awkward as it was OP the pharmacist is doing the right thing.

Every time I go to mine - I use the same one because they know me - they go through my current meds to makes sure they won't react with an OTC med. it's a pain but it's stops nasty interactions. Sometimes I can't take an OTC and they recommend something else.

My pharmacists have been great and just like GPs it helpful if you use the same one.

My pharmacy is a boots btw.

I would complain. It's not illegal, so any risk involved to your baby is your concern, not hers. She was well over the line.

I think even though she was only doing her job she wasn't doing it in a people friendly way, so you have every right to be pissed off with her.

It's frustrating for you and I understand, but have to agree that she was only doing her job. At least she did sell it to you in the end, having confirmed that you were supposed to be taking it.

I agree that you might find it easier to get it on prescription so there is a record of it, to prevent future recurrences of this - but even that's no guarantee!
I was on warfarin after Ds1 (had been on Clexane jabs throughout pg) due to a blood clotting condition. Got the first scrip filled at the hospital pharmacy, no problem. Second scrip (also from the hospital) I took to Tesco pharmacy, with DS1 in the pod in the shopping trolley. Pharmacy assistant called the pharmacist, who quizzed me about my need for warfarin, and then phoned the hospital pharmacy to confirm that she was ok to sell it to me. No drama after that, but she needed to take those precautions because I had a baby and was breastfeeding.

So a prescription is no cast-iron safeguard either! But it does at least provide a paper trail.

Problem is if you tell a pharmacist your taking something that's contraindicated - aspirin in pregnancy, phenagan for sleeping, they are legally not supposed to sell you the item. It's their license if you have told them your not using the meds correctly or taking something in a situation that's should be under doctors supervision and they sell it to you.

You could easily come back and sue to pharmacist for selling the aspirin if something bad happened.

Given the unusual situation that you decided to take the aspirin without a prescription or recommendation of a doctor, I absolutely agree with the pharmacist. She only had your word that the GP knew about this. This is the purpose of a prescription. As it happens you would be prescribed aspirin at that dose in my trust however you would always be given a script (mind you, prescriptions are free here).

A pp mentioned that a midwife suggested they take aspirin, I find this shocking, a midwife should never be recommending aspirin. Women also should not be taking it without the advice of a doctor, I hope op you have a plan with your consultant as to when to stop taking it as you should be anticipating not going full term and you don't want to go into labour with aspirin in your system.

I really am shocked that women would take this drug in pregnancy without the advice of a doctor

I'm sorry that this was so upsetting. I have been in situations like this and cried in pharmacies.

but the problem they have is that the HCP care can be so fragmented and confusing, they really have to take responsibility. I have been advised (when pregnant) to always tell the pharmacist that I am pregnant when getting a prescription, because the GP may not have been fully informed about the drug. I have also found that GPs do get distracted and forget things mid consultation and give conflicting advice. I have also found that when you are in a situation which is a bit complicated and on-going (like pregnancy + an existing health issue + a new, acute health issue + an allergy - or something) then you really have to manage your care yourself because you will see someone different each time and no individual at any appointment is likely to really have it all in their head at the same time. So, you do this, but you are still not an expert on drugs. Given that sort of circumstance, I am not surprised that the pharmacists take their responsibilities very seriously.

How was the phrmaciat taking her duties so seriously if she said she'd have sold her full aspirin no problem, just not baby? If one is harmful, the other must be too?
Imagine if the OP did not get the aspirin and something did go wrong with the pregnancy - this wasn't something she could easily shrug about and get on with her day,

Don't take a pp advice about splitting the tablet into 4. The concentration of the drug may not be evenly spread through the tablet.
The pharmacist has to cover herself. She would be foolish not to! We live in a very litigious society. Next time, if they ask you if it's for yourself, just say no!

Exactly the same thing happened to me in a Boots pretty much this time last year when about 30 weeks pregnant (not with twins though...). I also did an AIBU about it!

Naturally I think YANBU. Maybe the regulations need changing for pharmacists but I was really irritated that they wouldn't provide them for me - when I could have easily taken them off the shelf and bought them from the self service checkout. I told my consultant about it (in a conversational way, not in a complaining way!) and she said that the pharmacist was being ridiculous and that even if I was a 'mystery shopper' they would have been absolutely fine to provide it to me.

A pregnant friend of mine was denied Night Nurse for her ill husband by a pharmacist just in case she was actually thinking of using it for herself. I think stripping pregnant women of their agency like this is actually quite offensive.

Before we're too quick to condemn the pharmacist for handling this badly, let's also remember that a customer's view can sometimes be less than positive if they've simply not got what they wanted

I've no idea of this applies here as I wasn't there and can't possibly know, but that doesn't change the basic principle - and most pharmacists will confirm that those who are quick to complain about a perceived "attitude" from a professional giving perhaps unwelcome advice are sometimes the first to complain if things go wrong

How was the phrmaciat taking her duties so seriously if she said she'd have sold her full aspirin no problem, just not baby? If one is harmful, the other must be too?

^^This.

If a pharmacist won't sell low dose aspirin to a pregnant woman for her personal use because it's not normally recommended for use in pregnancy, how on earth does it make any sense for the same pharmacist to say she'd have sold the same pregnant woman aspirin for her personal use that's 4 times as strong?

I do understand why a pharmacist would be cautious over dispensing medicine, it's their neck on the line if they give out stuff without prescriptions that could interact badly with other health conditions or medications, but that bit in particular makes no sense.

we had it a few years ago - DH has an odd prescription 1g Amoxicillin 3 times a day for 14 days if he gets a chest infection - treated by Papworth hospital

He had an infection on a Sunday so we phoned our helpline at Papworth who couldn't access the list of pharmacist fax numbers as it was the weekend or the computer was down. So they asked me to go to the pharmacy and get the pharmacist to phone papworth.

I took an appointment letter with the number on & the call number of the Doctor the pharmacist needed to speak to

First they refused to believe the number was Papworth's (even with the letter) so they looked it up. Then they spoke to the doctor (after confirming with reception that it was a proper doctor) argued with him about the prescription & the doctor said he would fax it to the pharmacist.

The pharmacist got the prescription refused to dispense it - rang our GP out of hours, who said Papworth take the lead on DH's treatment and they are rarely wrong
He still refused to dispense it - so we took the prescription & went to a different pharmacy - who looked at the prescription looked it up, on his computer dispensed it (after ringing Papworth again to ask if DH needed steroids as well because they are normally dispensed together - he didn't)

But that was complicated & unusual, not like this

I've stopped going to boots for this reason, I find them much less helpful than other pharmacists (was refused the morning after pill at the age of 19 once too because it went against their beliefs you're in the wrong job then mate)

Anyway, I had the same with baby aspirin last week, I just went to tesco and bought it instead

I just used to buy 75mg aspirin off the shelf in Tesco when I was pregnant. It got scanned at the checkout with my groceries and no questions asked.

it's ridiculous.
the nhs drs are advised not to prescribe to save money.
the pharmacists are not allowed to dispense because it's against their license.

the time when very pregnant and I needed over the counter meds for dh ill with swineflu was, erm, interesting.

it reeks of discrimmination tbh.

Blue2014 not pharmacist related but your morning after pill story reminded me of something that happened to me. When I was 20, my GP refused me the contraceptive pill because I wasn't married! He told me I should not be having sex before marriage. At the time I just accepted it but thinking back it was outrageous!

It is available here at 75mg in Asda, as one PP pointed out for 85p. The OP could have looked it up herself rather than go to a pharmacist.

But then again, her DH lost her medication when he cleaned the house and left her at 30wks pg with twins to go to Boots herself. Why the hell didnt he go?

God, Cake that's awful!!

Off the subject of pharmacists but when I was about 8 months pregnant with ds2, I was refused service in a pub and that still massively pisses me off.

I was with dh and ds1 and we'd had lunch. Ds1 was going through a running stage (and could be down off the chair and gone in 2 seconds flat) so DH stayed at the table and I went to the bar to get drinks...a small glass of red for dh and a coke.

The barman took one look at me and refused to serve me because 'you shouldn't be drinking in your condition'. I was taken aback and said the wine was for dh. He refused to believe me. I went to get dh who came up to the bar and said it was for him. Barman actually dug his heels in and still refused to serve even dh in case he gave it to me ...I don't think he thought it was possible that a man would order red wine

We left pretty soon and I wrote a letter of complaint and we got a refund on our meal plus a voucher for a free meal. We went back a few weeks later (I was still pregnant and overdue this time) and I made a point of steering myself towards the same barman...and this time ordered two glasses of red (it was only me and dh there), just to see the look on his face I thought he was going to burst from the frustration as he handed them over!

refused the morning after pill at the age of 19 once too because it went against their beliefs ... you're in the wrong job then mate

I completely agree - there's all the difference in the world between refusing medication for health or regulatory reasons and doing so because you disagree with it. It's called the "conscience clause", and though they're technically allowed to do this, they should also direct you to someone else who'll dispense, preferably nearby and on the same day

The problem, of course, comes with the few who'll mulishly refuse and turn away - in which case the answer is to complain strongly

I've also been refused the morning after pill as the pharmacist didn't agree with it, and without being directed to an alternative pharmacy. I found a Boots that was open (this was a Sunday 15 years ago) and the pharmacist was lovely, I cried on her as the first pharmacists judgy attitude upset me so much.