My husband didn't know Lemsip has paracetamol in it..

[bbcessex]

HUGE HUGE apologies to a reasonably recent OP who posted about paracetamol .

I did not think there was anyone out there who didn't know about the risks of taking too much / medicines that contained paracetamol but seems I should have looked closer to home.

It is not a placebo .. confused 650mg paracetamol is enough to have an effect

You misunderstand; I was talking about the placebo effect in the case where people thought that the paracetamol in Lemsip is more effective that any other paracetamol. It's not that a dose of 650mg paracetamol is in itself a placebo.

I know many PP have said 'read the label/leaflet' but how many of the people taking medication of all sorts are being cared for, have poor eyesight etc.

I have to take warfarin permanently so have to be careful about what I eat/drink and take. However, most of my fellow warfarin patients are elderly/infirm and may easily struggle with remembering what they can and cant take. Add a well meaning carer and it is easy for the whole thing to go wrong.

In which case, run it past a pharmacist.

CockacidalManiac was that to me?

I can see what you are saying but an awful lot of people dont see the pharmacist themselves (medicines collected by friends/relatives/carers). Add to that many people think that what is sold in the shop is safe, that anything prescribed will have been checked by the doctor etc etc. Add that an awful lot of people self-prescribe a variety of OTC medication.

As people get older IME they take more and more different medication. My DM in her late 70s is taking a bucket load every day to treat a variety of relatively minor ailments. Some of these will affect her cognition. Put a cold/flu on top of that it would be easy to see how overdoses can happen.

Pharmacists are a fantastic resource; when I worked in the community I rang them a lot. Most of them are very happy to clarify things over the phone, especially the pharmacy that issues your prescriptions. They have your repeat prescription records.
Frequent medication reviews are a good idea too, to identify medication that may not be required any more. Pharmacies will often do that too.
Pharmacists are great.

Gotcha.
It's probably marginally faster acting than a standard tablet due to the powdered format. The decongestant and also the caffeine in it act too. i suppose it's no more effective than a sudafed, a cup of tea and two paracetamol but it's easier to take. Utterly rank though, they are foul concoctions. I find grated ginger, lemon and honey better to wash down my cold related pharamaceuticals. Not that they're sold here for some reason...you can't even get sodding vaporub (menthol/respiratory depression apparently...)
Nanny state... grumble grumble

gnome there's a really good new drug that might be suitable for you instead of warfarin. It's called edoxoban. Ask your doc. Far fewer interactions (but more expensive...)

The supermarkets (or any shop) have a limit of 2 boxes of paracetamol to be sold in any transaction etc, does anybody know if it flags up if you have 3 lemsip or 2 boxes of paracetamol and a box of lemsip

Yes it does - you can only buy 2 paracetamol containing products.

On what planet is Lemsip a nice, comforting hot drink?!

It's fucking rank!

It is one of my pet hates that people pander to stupid, tbh.

Like a McDonalds coffee having "Caution! Hot!" stamped on it. Or a bag of peanuts warning you that it contains nuts.

Just fuck off with that.

Anatidae where do you live? I'm weirdly fascinated by the different culture around health/meds in other countries.

"Caution - hot" goes back to a woman who spilt her coffee in the car and ended up with serious burns on her lap - the coffee was way hotter than you would expect coffee to be.

So. "Stupid" people. Generally, they are either of low intelligence, distracted by life issues, poorly educated and ignorant (I'm the non-pejorative sense of the word), or careless. Lots of those types of "stupid" ate not their fault, and even if they are, they don't deserve to be made sick because of them. If it's easy to prevent their accidentally overdosing, and it doesn't cause major problems for others (e.g. making sure drug names are printed as large as or larger than the brand, putting the drink prefer and the drug powder in separate sachets, or not selling dangerous drugs in an unusual format that isn't usually associated with drug delivery), then why not do it? There are plenty of changes in legislation that have helped to make you safe - regulations on where you can obtain medications, patient information leaflets, even listing out the active ingredients in a medicine, didn't used to exist. But now they're there, for your safety.

how could it be "hotter than you would expect coffee to be"?? I'd expect it to be about as hot as the water that came out of my kettle at home

Yes I'm aware of that case apparently it was virtually steam! WAY hotter than from a kettle.

Iced a friend of mine is a paediatrician in another country, and has been campaigning for children's medicine (eg Calpol types) to have child-proof lids.

That's something we absolutely take for granted in this country, but how many accidental overdoses have been prevented as a result?

How far should we go though to legislate for people who just can't be bothered to read the label? Should we make alcohol only available for sale in off licences as well so that no-one can buy it if they're on medication which might be contra-indicated? certain foods which clash with certain medications - should we discontinue those just in case?

People need to take responsibility for their own health. And yes, to the pP who asked whether supermarkets have systems in place to only allow you to buy certain numbers of medications, I know that they do online because I tried to buy paracetamol and something else for two different reasons and couldn't.

I am on warferin now because of a blood clot in my heart, and I check absolutely everything if there's a chance I have to take any other medication or even if I was using natural products such as essential oils. A bloody lot is contra indicated, and although I can't read the labels (I am VI) there are plenty of (reputable) online resources where you can check these things.

I don't think paracetamol should be prescription only or only available at the chemist.
That would make it even harder for some people to buy them who have to take them.
Pharmacist by us are only open selected hours, but the supermarket is open till late.
It annoys me enough that i can only get 2 boxes of paracetamol.
I can understand things like codeine, however i wouldn't want that prescription only either.
Not everyone can simply ring their surgery and get an appointment with a doctor on the same day, or afford to take a day off work if they've simply got a migraine, problem with their tooth etc.

The problem with making drugs prescription only is that you are then restricting who can have them. My view is always that you wouldn't take someone else's prescription medication, by making paracetamol prescription only you are essentially making it restricted to those you prescribe it for.

Added to that, a&E is over-crowded enough as it is, imagine what it would be like when you start getting people down there with hangovers/headaches/sore throats because they can't get a GP appointment and need a prescription for paracetamol?

Alexandriaaaa

It was 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit, which was significantly hotter than competitors' coffee.

McDonalds also said during discovery that, based on a consultants advice, it held its coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees fahrenheit to maintain optimum taste. He admitted that he had not evaluated the safety ramifications at this temperature. Other establishments sell coffee at substantially lower temperatures, and coffee served at home is generally 135 to 140 degrees.

Source: Lectlaw

Ok can see there'd be issues with prescription only (though I still think codeine should be it is in many other countries).

But at the very lest pharmacy only. I include pharmacist manned counters in supermarkets in that. There's always a pharmacy open near you, they run a rota for outside standard hours.

Also: peanuts don't actually automatically contain nuts. Peanuts are ground nuts- the warning is for people who are allergic to tree nuts (e.g. hazelnuts) and pick up a peanut packet, expecting it not to be contaminated in processing.

Anatidae thanks for that, unfortunately I am stuck with good old fashioned (fistfulls of) warfarin. I have APS and the haematologist wants to be able to vary my levels of coagulation which isnt possible on edoxoban.

You do know that lots of people actually do share prescription medication? I know they shouldn't, but they do, especially painkillers.

I may or may not use my DH's prescription paracetamol* when I run out of the ones I've bought. TBF I could not possibly tell the difference once they are out of the boxes, as we buy a load of generic from the same chemist.

*He gets free prescriptions as he has diabetes. His GP seems to like prescribing things he can get off prescription - he had to stop the GP prescribing cotton wool. So if he goes in with, say, a strained neck or virus which he's not sure how to treat, and the treatment is heat pack or rest and paracetamol, the GP will pop some paracetamol on his repeat he's doing at the same time.

haven't read all the replies but I worked with someone once who knew a girl who had accidently OD'd (died) on Lemsip, she was taking it with 2 paracetamol every 4 hours for a few days.

I have also met people who don't realise it contains paracetamol.

Glad your husband is ok though