To think current painkiller law doesn't work

[Soubriquet]

I'm on a lot of pain killers and have been advised to pair it with ibuprofen and paracetamol when severe.

However I can't buy 2 packs of each in one transaction. I can however pop to the next shop and buy 2 more and again and again

I know they are trying to stop overdosing but surely if you can go shop to shop buying them, Aibu to think this law doesn't really work?

poppl lemsip and cold capsules have the same ingredients most of the time so if you do decide to sell them together you need to err on the side of caution as lots of people don't realise you can't take them together (plus the worry of overdosing the child but this is rare). There's also rules in place to prevent the sale of multiple pseudoephedrine (decongestant) containing meds due to them being used to make meth!

It was ridiculous when my housebound DM needed the maximum dose of paracetamol. She was taking 8 a day and I couldn't always get them for her. I wasn't aware that you could get larger quantities from the pharmacy but luckily her GP prescribed her 100 at a time but I know a lot of GPs won't do that (and I understand the reasons).

You can buy more if you ask the pharmacist, really very easy!

You can buy more if you ask the pharmacist, really very easy!

They need to make that clearer as I'd never heard it before and I know I'm not the only one. It would help a lot of people in the same situation as DM.

Its a pain in the ass. If i wanted to do myself harm there are plenty of more efficient ways i would it than paracetamol overdose. I have far more harmful medication that i have on repeat, failing that i could go in the park and pick various plants and toadstools, the determined will always find a way, but limiting basic pain relief like this is just nanny state gone overboard

limiting basic pain relief like this is just nanny state gone overboard

at least we can buy lots of OTC medicines though, in other countries in Europe it's far more difficult, you either have to go to a pharmacy or you can't get them without seeing a doctor at all.

I would like to see whether suicide rates generally have dropped or whether people use other methods eg jumping in front of a train.

I can see it's useful for preventing accidental overdoses though - in terms of controlling the sale of medicines that include similar ingredients that people might overlook.

I live in the US and it has never occurred to me that people commit suicide by ODing on paracetamol. I thought it just damaged your liver if your took too much over a several weeks.

Here we can buy it by the ton but we don’t use it generally for suicide because we can knock ourselves off with bullets fired from guns a lot quicker. We are a pretty free society and can also buy marijuana for recreational use in the many shops that sell it now.

The big deal here now is the ‘Opiate Crisis’ and they are really coming down hard on doctors over-prescribing them - because of the accidental overdoses.

I am a chronic pain patient and take hydrocodone daily. There are now a great many hoops we have to jump through now to get pain control medication but people like me are okay for now. Paracetamol does nothing for my pain. I wonder if people are ODing on OTC meds because they are desperate to get their pain under control and the OTC meds are just not doing the job in the recommended doses.

Marijuana helps with some forms of pain/inflammation and you can’t over dose on it, maybe it should be sold in the UK. it might also cut down on all the drinking and fighting that goes on there.

I'm another who thinks that there should be some in-between state where a GP can give you an authorisation to buy more. Even though pharmacists can sell up to 3 x 32 where needed, far more pharmacies near us seem to run on locum pharmacists who are often young, don't know the patients, etc and will not make any decision of responsibility so just say go and ask your GP. Meanwhile the GP is saying that CCG guidance is not to prescribe due to NHS cost and it is for minor ailment, etc

I think the law is a bit daft but if it saves one life then I guess it is worth it.

As a side note, my mum (who has had severe mental illness) wandered out of hospital in her pjs (she wasn’t in a psychiatric wing, she was in for stomach issues) and went to several local pharmacies stocking up on paracetamol to kill herself. She then returned to hospital and no one even noticed she had been gone. In the end she didn’t do it - she had just been feeling very desperate. But someone else may have.

The laws work because paracetamol deaths due to overdose have decreased since they were introduced. Arguing that they don't work because they wouldn't prevent you personally committing suicide is therefore pretty stupid. In my opinion, it is worth inconveniencing a few people slightly if it prevents some deaths.

I can remember starting a huge debate in the supermarket when I wanted ibuprofen, paracetamol AND some calpol.

I’m a MH nurse and whilst it is true that people will go from shop to shop if they are determined, IMO suicide is a very very spur of the moment thing, rarely that calculated and so that is why the law is effective

We tried to buy infant calpol and infant nurofen plus adult paracetamol and had to put one back. We all had stinking colds so it wasn't very useful! You're not going to od on infant calpol!

poppl more than 6 in 24 is more than is recommended on the box. If you took 8 I really doubt anyone would notice the difference. You might feel very slightly queasy I guess.

The big deal here now is the ‘Opiate Crisis’ and they are really coming down hard on doctors over-prescribing them - because of the accidental overdoses.

I could be wrong but I was under the impression that the opiate crisis in the states is not an issue with accidental overdose but more to do with people becoming addicted to prescription opiates that were once given out like sweets then once it's tightened up and they can no longer get them they turn to street drugs because they're easier to get.

SpotAGuillemot you can take up to 8 in 24 hours, not six.

It drives me insane as well. I’m very unwell with ME/CFS and have chronic pain. I’m constantly fighting to have enough co codamol. I don’t use it all the time. But frequently. I pay for body work treatment, which has greatly reduced my pain. I was on much stronger pain meds from the pain clinic before.

I just don’t have the energy to keep on going out and getting more. And I have to rota where I get it from because if I went in too frequently, I’d be assumed to be addicted, which I’m not. It has never had that affect on me and I chose to stop the other meds because they made my CFS worse. I occasionally use a packet and a half in a week. Usually one pack lasts me a couple of weeks. There’s only 24 in a pack. I understand the legislation. I would just like some kind of exemption certificate.

I also use migraleve pink so have to get that separately as well. Once when I had a migraine, a chemist allowed me a pack of migraleve pink and some cocodamol as well. It was like Christmas.

It’s all very stressful.

Not read whole thread, occurred to me that it would also prevent a lot of distress to the person who sold them.

If you were working in a shop / pharmacy and you legally sold a large amount to a person who then topped themselves, you'd probably find out in a lot of towns and although it wasn't your fault I think many people would feel incredibly guilty.

You might also get relatives in asking. And the police too, you might have to be interviewed by coroner, all sorts of things.

So from that respect it protects people who are just working in a shop after all.

I think suicide rates have gone up, particularly for women.

But by paracetamol, they've gone down.

TBH if you are going to do something to yourself, there are better, kinder, ways to go than paracetamol. Yes there are links on the internet as to what to do...but as someone who has suicidal periods, I don't think that's actually that bad a thing. It's still pretty hard to end it all, even if you are determined- the human body will do it's utmost to stay alive even if the brain is saying end it. Self poisoning is easy though as it's just putting stuff in your mouth, and once it's done it's done.

To support what others have said, I just asked my friend (a GP) and you can be prescribed larger amounts of paracetamol if you explain the problem of purchasing sufficient quantities.

Sorry roomster I was quoting a pp who had said over 6 in 24hrs is an overdose.

I dont think yabu, my gp did prescribe it for a while as i had to tke it with another painkiller 4 times a day and i couldn't get out the house to buy the sodding stuff!( only one pharmacy and one cheap shop near by) so no choice where to go! It was ridiculous.i tried to get another family member to buy the stuff on the way to work too but it was just ridiculous.
I'm another who thinks that there should be some in-between state where a GP can give you an authorisation to buy more. Even though pharmacists can sell up to 3 x 32 where needed, far more pharmacies near us seem to run on locum pharmacists who are often young, don't know the patients, etc and will not make any decision of responsibility so just say go and ask your GP.
This.

I recently needed paracetamol for me and calpol for kids in supermarket. Of course couldn't buy both.
My DS pointed out the irony while leaving store watching a man "playing jenga" of sorts with his trolley overflowing with cases of cider ( at least 20 if not 30 6 packs of cider). " we can't buy 2 packs of painkillers but he can buy all that alcohol "

Just go to the self-service till and do loads of transactions.

Good way of getting rid of change.

I don't really mind. It's not difficult to go to a few shops and get plenty, though I acknowledge it's more difficult rurally. But it's unlikely even rurally you'll suddenly desperately need tonnes of paracetamol, you should be buying a pack whenever you're near the shops so it's there when you're poorly and CBA to go out.

This thread has raised two points in my mind: one is that this is the reason so many people get them prescribed. I often hear people whinging about people taking the piss with the NHS by getting their GP to prescribe cheap OTC stuff like paracetamol, failing to realise that the majority of time it's because someone needs more than they can purchase without a prescription.

The second is that although it's irritating to have this limit, we're enormously lucky in the uk to be able to buy stronger stuff OTC like cocodamol. In the US they can't. And their opiate crisis has swung the other way and so many doctors are afraid to prescribe opiates due to being monitored and limited (even when clinically indicated) that many people in severe chronic pain find it enormously tough to be given adequate pain relief. I am on long term daily morphine here in the U.K. which enables me to live a normal life, work full time, drive etc. And if I were in America I would have very little chance of accessing this life enhancing treatment: I'd possibly be unemployed due to being in too much pain to work. I'm very glad our doctors are able to prescribe as they see fit and would rather deal with this paracetamol limit than be in a country that withholds essential pain relief from ill people.