To think it a a bit shit that pregnant women can't buy Castor Oil?

[BlueButTrue]

Yes, I’m aware some people use it to induce labour. But some people also seriously abuse alcohol or whatever have you and are still sold it You wouldn’t even know they’re an alcoholic half the time!

Castor Oil is brilliant for the hair and eyebrows.

Boots won’t sell me anyway.

Holland and Barrett won’t sell me any.

Local chemist say they don’t think it suitable so won’t sell it.

Superdrug won’t sell me anyway.

Apparently they cannot sell to those who’re pregnant. And I’m very clearly about to drop.

AIBU to say this is a bit shitty towards pregnant customers?

I know it gets misused but so does a lot of things sold in chemists etc... And yet those are on shelves!

That's shit OP.

Reminds me of how furious I was last year when I couldn't find iodine anywhere in my town and a Boots pharmacy counter person told me 'there's no need for any member of the public to buy a litre of iodine'

This after she tried to sell me a 100ml spray bottle for £5 and I said that won't last two minutes I'm looking for a litre.

My nefarious purpose? To have it at the stables to spray the horses feet against thrush, wound care etc.

Now I'm furious again

(was only looking locally as clod hopper horse with dinner plate sized feet stood on the bottle causing an explosion of iodine and I didn't want to wait a few days for an internet shop delivery)

I did the Christmas shop a few years back and had a trolley full of booze and no one batted an eyelid. And I was HUGE.

side note - never knew it had so many other uses.

It’s ridiculous.

My pharmacy wouldn’t sell me thrush cream when I was heavy pregnant. I went to the gp (taking up a place if someone who needed it) and got exactly the same product on prescription.

Was also in the co-op buying a can of Coke - cashier asked if I should really be drinking it? I replied ‘well I need something to mix with my vodka’

She soon shut up.

I'm surprised that no eyebrows were raised when I bought 2 beer and shoved them into my handbag (hard ran out of space to put them elsewhere) whilst clearly pregnant. The beer was for my DH.

Yet if someone used it to induce labour and something went wrong no doubt they'd sue the person for selling it to them

It's not really common practice in the UK to just 'sue' people.

🤣

I think it's more that pregnant women are policed so much. As far as I was aware, it's still our bodies whether there's a child in there or not.
This really does make me ragey.

Are there any campaigns about this kind of thing?

My friend is a pharmacist and would get in a world of trouble if she sold certain items to pregnant women and it's not worth her licence to risk it. She agrees that it's paternalistic bullshit but the fault doesn't lie with individual pharmacies.

I'm surprised that no eyebrows were raised when I bought 2 beer and shoved them into my handbag (hard ran out of space to put them elsewhere) whilst clearly pregnant. The beer was for my DH.
When I was pregnant, I tried to buy some whisky for my husband at our local Co-op and was refused, loudly. I was absolutely mortified. As it happened, our priest was behind me in the queue and he asked if they sold alcohol to priests. The shop assistant said yes, of course, and he replied that either she could sell it to him and he would give it to my husband, or she could have some sense and sell it to me. He gave her a Mumsnet-worthy death stare and she handed over the bottle.
I usually buy my castor oil (for soap making) online because it tends to be cheaper. Both Amazon and eBay have loads, or there are specialist suppliers of soap making ingredients.

A gastropub refused to sell me a plate of cheese once - but happily sold me a glass of wine.

My boss removed all the brie and cranberry sandwiches from a platter once too.

The priest had a bit of a neck, getting involved...

I want allowed to by an over the counter cystitis remedy when pregnant, I had to get my GP to prescribe the same thing. It was the weekend and I couldn't get an appointment so I was just expected to be in agony for 2 days.

i was not happy and had a bit of a rant at the pharmacist. Then I just sent DH to buy it.

*wasn't

Would people really sue against being able to purchase a multi use product because they chose to use it for an recommended purpose and caused themself harm?

How about a fat person sues Tesco for selling them a trolley full of junk food.

Or Sainsbury for letting an adult buy bleach who then decided to drink it?

Unrecommended

It outrages me this nannying, as if we are all just too silly to be trusted. It’s not just pg women.

The priest had a bit of a neck, getting involved...
not really, he's also an old friend. And I'm glad somebody did, to be honest. I just froze.

It felt a bit condescending tbh but try not to dwell on it, and everyone seems to have an opion on other people’s pregnancy and baby care!

See, this isn’t the response I think we as women should be putting up with.

I don't think suing is the issue. If a pregnant woman bought an item from a pharmacy and it was sold against guidelines and something happened to that baby, there would be questions asked. Like the poster above who had castor oil recommended to her and didn't know it's not a good idea to take it while pregnant. What if her baby ended up in severe distress? Or worse? There would be questions asked and repercussions for the pharmacy.

This is shocking! So they just stand there and patently say "Sorry, I can't sell xyz to you because you're pregnant"

I know you can't buy more than 1 or 2 packets of nurofen in Sainsbury's and I once asked the cashier what's to stop me going to another store. She shrugged and that was it.

My dh went into chemist for me once for a pregnancy test and pepto bismol and they wouldn’t sell him the pepto bismol on the off chance someone that was pregnant was going to drink it

ShowOfHands just as an example, I have quite a severe immunity discarded and I can’t take a lot of things. They could really do some harm.

But you wouldn’t know that by just looking at me. Yet the consequences would be far more serious for me than an other healthy pregnant woman.

There are lots of things that could potentially cause harm to people that are sold without questioning, yet being a pregnant woman warrants extra policing?

Can pregnant women not make informed decisions for themselves like, perhaps, a diabetic?

Madness

But it's up to people to inform themselves.

Instructions and the like are on labels. What's to stop someone buying calpol then giving it to their cat for instance?