Make your own Calpol?!?

[Liv83]

I need calpol at the moment for my 14 month old baby.
He has a slight temperature and the shops are completely empty due to the coronavirus worry. I expressed my frustration that people had bulk bought for 'just in case' and I need some right now for my unwell baby.
Someone I know just had a go at me telling me to not be so stupid and to "make my own Calpol as it's only paracetamol."
That sounds like the most terrifying idea! How on earth would you know the exact amount to use etc and I understood that crunching up paracetamol tablets was dangerous as they are designed to release slowly.
I was under the impression that medicine manufacture was a scientific art! Maybe I'm wrong!!!

Paracetamol tablets aren't generally slow-release. From the mid 70's I worked in a paediatric hospital pharmacy, and there were practically no paediatric liquid medicines available. We spent hours crushing tablets and suspending them in syrup. It's not ideal, but quite do-able.

We spent hours crushing tablets and suspending them in syrup. It's not ideal, but quite do-able.

Yeah I was going to say maybe a pharmacist could make you up a solution if you ask them.

But you tend to find pharmacies have kids stuff, own brand at least, available.

Apparently on the continent they use suppositories much more, I dont know how easy they are to get in uk though

OP put a shoutout on your local fb page, someone will help you.

I had a spare calpol that I was going to take to someone in the same position but someone already got there before me.

What an insane suggestion! I mean, I've made my own hand sanitizer, but that's where I draw the DIY line.

My 8&9 year olds can take tablets
But do have some suspension
Ridiculous idea hope no one will do that scary!!
Paracetamol won’t cure anyone though and I would not give with a low grade fever unless unsettled/in pain and if asleep if just check on them tbh

See if anyone you know can check petrol stations - bigger ones round here all sell Calpol

I am absolutely not saying ‘My mum gave me crushed paracetamol and I’m fiiiiiine’ but should I be concerned that as a kid I was given crushed paracetamol in water regularly due to frequent episodes of bad tonsillitis and other childhood ailments? I remember quite well that I had it very often due to my mum being poor (I’m in my thirties now).

I don't think it is a good idea.

By normal paracetamol isn't designed to be slow release and it can be safely crushed (for the people the dose is intended for).

There is nothing particularly special about immediate release paracetamol tablets vs a liquid suspension, so if you feel confident dealing in mg and ml units then it's not the world's hardest job. Making a large volume of homogeneous suspension is not trivial and has some risks, so you'd be better off splitting a single tablet into small enough pieces (e.g. quarters) and making a tiny volume up than crushing up all 16 tablets and making a big pot of the stuff.

our little local pharmacy had plenty

@Cleverer

I'm 50, we used to have a crushed aspirin in water for throat infections- the pieces stuck in the throat for ages, and may have helped treat it.

Where are you? I stopped at small local Pharmacy on the way home and they had loads. Boots sold out. I can post you some if needs be?

When I was a little girl in the 60s ibuprofen hadn't been invented (I certainly don't remember any), and, in our house anyway, aspirin was the painkiller of choice. We never had paracetamol that I recall, don't know why. My mum used to put a Disprin (soluble aspirin) in a glass of milk for us. It was vile.

OP, please dont think me rude but I've reported this thread as I have genuine concerns people may start trying to make their own paracetamol concoctions in the weird panic that's going on. MN may not action, but just wanted to make you aware.

I hope you manage to get hold of some Calpol - as a last ditch effort, may be worth trying your local corner shop.

@troppibambini

This is happening with adult tablets too. I went into a pharmacy for paracetamol for a dental abbcess and at first was told they were sold out. When I asked the pharmacist what else I could take for a dental abbcess, she asked if I’d seen my dentist and if I had antibiotics (yes to both - two different antibiotics!!) and she brought some out from under the counter and sold them to me - telling me that they were now only selling to the elderly and people that genuinely needed them and not to tell people that they had stock of paracetamol as they were telling people they had none to prevent panic buyers hoarding them all, as there may be a two pack limit, but that doesn’t stop people as they just go to multiple different shops buying two packs in each. I feel genuinely worried about how society is behaving at the moment.

• (I can’t take ibuprofen for medical reasons)

Please DO NOT give under 12's aspirin in place of paracetamol. Its been linked with an increase in Reye's syndrome in children

Yes, I should have mentioned that. That advice had come in by early 90s when my children were born.

The supermarkets have got so much to answer for here, letting people bulk buy children’s medicine is abominable!!!

Have you found some. Your GP might be able to do a prescription for one. Our GP uses electronic prescriptions and they go straight to the chemist so no need for you to go into Doctors.

Also we have a chemist in our local hospital foyer which I walked past the other day, it was fully stocked with calpol.

Just ask on FB for some, bet a friend will bring some over

Why all the hysteria about people making their own? If you’ve half a brain and the internet you could easily get an accurate dosage correctly. Dissolvable paracetamol in a specific amount could be easily measured to give the correct dose. It’s like a 7/8year olds maths question... not that hard to achieve.
Getting a child to drink paracetamol solution may price more troublesome compared to sweet calpol- though I’m sure bribery with a sweet might help from 18months plus. Clearly finding actual suspension from another source is a good idea- but making your own solution really isn’t that difficult so I don’t get the Pearl Clutching “take this down” type of posts. 😂

We've had a few requests to take this thread down due to some medically dubious advice and given that we prefer to leave threads up where possible, and the OP is very clear that they are not intending to do this, we're just coming by to say that while Mumsnet do not give out advice per se, PLEASE DO NOT MAKE YOUR OWN CALPOL. Excellent, we'll be off then.

I read a post on here the other day about pharmacies holding Calpol stock back to fulfil prescriptions - speak to your GP's surgery? (Or check with pharmacist to see if they are doing that).

I was in my local Tesco Metro today, peered at the tissue space, and one of the staff came up surreptitiously, said hello, followed by 'we have stock for regular customers, what would you like?'
Very cloak and dagger!

Isadora2007

Because you don't know who's reading, basically. Is it someone with solid arithmetic, or is it someone who barely scraped through GCSE/O'level maths?

The general standard of maths in this country is not what it should be, and paracetamol is one of the medications that has very little wriggle room for calculation errors. Nurses and medics all have to have passed GCSE maths before they are accepted onto the course, and then as part of the course they still have to make it through pass/fail drugs calculations exams before they're allowed to measure out medications for patients.