Only 2 pain meds! AIBU

[Ohjustboreoff]

I'm sick as a dog with a head cold, so is DH and both DC's have headaches and fever. I've just dragged myself to Tesco's to get a shop so we don't have to surface for the weekend and the dreaded nanny state of U.K. has got me. I'm raging, I'm miserable and feel sick. 2 bottles of calpol and a box of cold & flu can't be bought together! Because apparently I'm going to kill us all! Sorry for the absolute drama just feeling very sorry for myself.

It is a bit scary how a lot of you have acquiesced to you must only be allowed two small items of pain killers. I don't know if any other country that is so strict!

@Ohjustboreoff Considering it's been 24 years since they bought the legislation in, you probably should have got upset about it before now.

If you called us Sheep for acquiescing we would be so much more supportive.

There is a reason for the limit.
It's not new, it's not unpublicised.
I'm sorry you are feeling rough, but the restriction is there for a reason.

The stupidest thing is that whoever programmes the tills is so risk averse that decongestants also ping as "painkillers" even the ones that don't contain paracetamol so you can't buy decongestant (for grown up with hayfever) plus ibuprofen plus Calpol... Very irritating.

A lot of the cold and flu remedies have a lower dose of paracetamol than you'd take as just paracetamol, which is annoying...

I didn't realise until last Christmas that calpol counted in the limited amount. Stupid of me really I guess since it's a paracetamol product but you'd have to have half a bottle of the infant one for a full adult dose so just assumed wrongly. It was very frustrating when I needed ibuprofen, paracetamol and calpol all in one shop! Agreed that some degree of common sense should be allowed by the cashiers.

Why do you take six a day? Just being nosy!

Given your description of being ‘sick as a dog’ with a cold and you’re raging at the ‘nanny state’ I’m going to hazard a guess that you’re a drama queen - therefore your comments about acquiescing aren’t especially surprising!

I always found it odd that ibuprofen and aspirin are restricted but you can buy Co-codamol otc.

Paracetamol and ibuprofen own brand is as cheap as chips and has a long shelf life. Just pop one a week in your basket and build a mini stockpile.

Someone I know is alive today because she could only get one packet of 16 paracetamol. It is a pain but like others have said it does actually save lives.

@nannyquestion1 Because it's a really effective painkiller that helps with minimal side effects ;) 6 of only 3 doses (when 4 doses is max a day).

A pharmacist can sell you more paracetamol/ibuprofen over the counter etc than you can buy off the shelf.

Cashiers are untrained - they cannot be expected to make medical related decisions. If you want to buy more than is allowed, see a pharmacist.

Oh, and co-codamol is limited. You can only buy one packet of that and it carries multiple warnings about how addictive it is.

The whole family is sick bottle of calpol won't do 4 people

France was much worse. Drugs could only be bought in a pharmacy and we would be quizzed for a single bottle of calpol - to the point of almost being refused once or twice.

Yes there are some countries with pretty slack laws around this, but I think the UK actually has a decent middle ground.

The massive amount addicted to over the counter painkillers etc and over prescribed Tylenol and similar dosent help support the sense of selling 1000 paracetamol at a time. It dosent kill straight away it damages your liver so you die weeks later.

When people take accidental overdoses it's not taking 3 different types of meds meant for different age groups. It would be nice to have a little common sense

It's not accidental overdoses this policy is aimed at, its impulsive deliberate ones!

Its not as-cut and dried as some PPs have said

Legislation has not reduced mortality or proportional use of paracetamol in overdose, both of which appear to have increased in Scotland since pack-size limitations. Other approaches are necessary to reduce the death rate from overdoses involving paracetamol.

Legislation restricting paracetamol sales and patterns of self-harm and death from paracetamol-containing preparations in Scotland
D N Bateman, D R Gorman, [...], and D Murphy
Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2006 Nov; 62(5): 573–581.

That's because you can only buy co-codamol OTC.

A pharmacist can also sell you extra ibuprofen etc. if you ask.

It's about this time of year that I purchase cold meds, or paracetamol, or ibuprofen, or calpol - one box or bottle per week, alongside my normal weekly shop. I'm stockpiling for just such an occasion when all the family are poorly at the same time and we need them. I wonder if the prices have risen like they have for everything else?

I do this, and then when the winter bugs hit we don't run out. I also shop for elderly parents, so if we need ibuprofen/paracetamol, and they do too, I'm stuffed!

@Ohjustboreoff you can get them from separate shops if you really need more right now.
The rules are there for a very good reason, not because it's a "nanny state". Thankfully most people in here are sensible enough to understand that.

We used to have this problem for my Granny. She was prescribed 8 per day by the doctor, but they wouldn't do a prescription because it was "so cheap". But she can't leave the house so we do her shipping for her. 32 lasted 4 days, so she needed 8 boxes a month, give or take, plus whatever paracetamol/ibuprofen we wanted. I used to go into town and go round multiple places to stock up, it was pretty frustrating. Even a pharmacy wouldn't sell more than 64 at a time and those were usually more expensive. I used to wish you could get a nin-prescription note from the doctor to allow you to buy extra.

@Augend23 I work in healthcare and many of the people I work with are prescribed paracetamol so get it on prescription. My mum also gets it prescribed and gives boxes to us as she ends up with too many!
If someone needs to take the max dose four times a day every day, then it's not good practice from the GP not to prescribe it.