Maybe sharing medicines isn't a good idea ?

[SerendipityJane]

Apparently we don't need doctors to prescribe antibiotics because out new health secretary has dished them out like smarties to her friends and family (which I thought was an offence ?).

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/15/therese-coffey-admits-handing-antibiotics-friends/

Damn that left wing anti-growth press, eh ?

I'll have a red one please Tezza.

[[In the United Kingdom, dihydrocodeine is a Class B drug; but, it is available over-the-counter in small amounts (less than 8 mg), when combined with paracetamol (see co-dydramol). Dihydrocodeine is listed in Schedule 5 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 whereby it is exempt from prohibition on possession provided that it is in the form of a single preparation not being designed for injection and less than 100 mg (calculated as free base) or with a total concentration less than 2.5% (calculated as free base). Illegal possession of dihydrocodeine can result in up to 5 years in prison or an unlimited fine.

No, you shouldn't be giving anyone opiates, your friend should have seen a healthcare professional and been prescribed suitable painkillers herself.

Even sharing antibiotics sounds insane to me. They are not necessarily free of dangerous side effects - my mother was put into cardiac arrest by erythromycin.

The only time I've shared medication was ventolin with someone who needed it and the inhaler they had on them had run out.

Unless it's a generic life saving medication - like ventolin or an EpiPen - and being used in a genuine emergency I can't for the life of me see why anyone would endorse medication sharing

That said now I've read the preamble of the article I agree with the proposal to give pharmacists more ability to prescribe medications.

Of course antibiotic resistant bacteria aren’t one of the globe’s biggest health risks…….

……. oh, hang on

I had the same thing happen to me , it's dangerous and I think illegal to share prescription drugs .

I think some already do it in some cities. They do prick test to see if it's viral or bacterial iirc.

Sharing controlled drugs isn't like sharing Anadin😳 Where I am from elderly people often hord and exchance pills to a point they could probably give pharmacy run for their money in OTC stock, but even they don't deal opiates like that. (There are sometimes interesting medicines offered though after deaths of family members....)

Only the thick people I know share out their prescription drugs. Anyone with at least a few functioning brain cells doesn’t.

Yeh but it’s more common than it’s not

Yeh but it’s more common than it’s not

You are married to your anecdata, aren't you?

Do you have any statistics to back that up?

Antibiotics definitely not but something already prescribed or OTC perhaps.

If you had the same prescription I mean.

I actually think it's a good idea for pharmacies to dispense antibiotics. Our Boots already gives trimethoprim for cystitis. It's been very useful to me and my dd, and saves bothering my GP

I’ve shared meds before.

I’ve a friend on the same anti tnf as myself and when their delivery didn’t arrive I gave them some of my preloaded syringes, they the fave them back.

same with tramadol and dyclophenic.

I’ve not given away, just ‘swapped’ due to repeat prescription not being ready in time, or similar.

I would like for anti biotic cream to be available from the pharmacist as I’m prone to perenicia and a topical antibiotic sorties it in 2 days but going to the gp they give you 5 days of abx which do work but far less quickly and with more side effects

I’d be too worried about drug interactions to do it. A family member was prescribed two drugs by two different doctors at his surgery which didn’t mix well and all his hair fell out within a week - he had total body alopecia. When he complained the GP just shrugged like he was making a fuss about nothing. There’s no way I’d take something that wasn’t prescribed for me, and to be honest, I don’t know anyone who does.

This story sounds like it’s made up because no doc in the Uk would give anyone more antiobitics than they need. If anything I was given half the amount needed recently for a a stubborn infection and I had to wait two days for a top up because no doc was free to prescribe me some more then they had an admin issue issuing my antibiotics.
the story in the article is the fact that the health sec wants to grant pharmacist more power to prescribe antibiotics which I think is a good idea. You can’t see a doc fir love nor money, if a pharmacist can sort me out then I’m all for it.
And hey, if you guys are so against antibiotics, then you can start petitioning against the use of non necessary antibiotics in nearly all the beef we consume but no one bats an eye lid, or do you all consume organic meats? Oh I could go on.

It’s illegal to give anyone a prescription only medication without a valid prescription, she’s the bloody health secretary she should know about the Medicines Act 1968.

I agree. I'm amazed there is not more focus on the stranglehold the BMA has on everything related to health in this country
They restricted university places to train doctors in order to protect their members' status and salaries and look where that has got us, not nearly enugh doctors. They complain any time another profession can perform any part of any role they want to claim as theirs for no reason other than greed

I went on holiday to France with my sister, who forgot her blood pressure pills. I simply shared mine with her. Luckily I had just enough for us both. She could not go for 2 weeks with no medication. I have taken a couple of my dh pain killers a couple of times when I have injured myself and in pain. My dh and I both have same asthma inhaler. We leave reliever one in car and both use if we need it. We have identical prescriptions.

In all fairness doctors dish them out like smarties too.

Depends on a doctor.
I had obviously bacterial tonsilitis and was told to take paracetamol by one GP.
Another gp offered antibiotics for what I still believe wasn't bacterial. Frankly, after her offering them after not even physically examining anything except looking at me from other side of the table, I made sure to request different GP like with the one before.
Had to change surgeries in the end where I finally ended up eith GP who cared

Somehow that was actually supposed to say they bkth didn't examined me except looking at me from other side of the table

I worked in a paediatric hospital pharmacy for years-we had a mother show us a medicine she bought over the counter abroad for her child's diarrhoea; it was chloramphenicol! Here are the side-effects....www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwituNzYzuX6AhV0olwKHZqUAsAQFnoECCsQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mayoclinic.org%2Fdrugs-supplements%2Fchloramphenicol-oral-route-intravenous-route-injection-route%2Fside-effects%2Fdrg-20062754%3Fp%3D1&usg=AOvVaw0B_E06L12pje6vnUPsdHfW