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 doesn't cause an issue any more as she point blank refuses to take most medications any more and still has capacity so there's nothing we can do - but I do agree it would have been useful if they had prescribed it - their stance was always that it could be purchased from a pharmacy so they weren't going to spend NHS money prescribing it.

By spontaneous do you mean accidental? Because the rules currently allow a person to buy 2 x 16 paracetamol in one shop. How does that prevent an accidental overdose?

If the reduction is in purposeful overdoses, any person could simply visit more than one shop.

My Dad was on prescription paracetamol and they delivered him 100s at a time- even after I told the pharmacist he had dementia and couldn't be trusted not to overdose.

I really don't get this shop rule at all. Do they know the reduction in overdoses hasn't simply been the result of greater awareness?

Unfortunately that's not universal. I have a longstanding painful condition and our GPs won't prescribe paracetamol. I needed emergency surgery during Covid when paracetamol was like gold dust and I was discharged from hospital without any because "you can pick it up for pennies in the supermarket" (except you couldn't of course) and I had to literally beg the GP for a prescription, which eventually they did "just this once" but you would have thought I was asking the doctor for one of her own kidneys or something and I got a long lecture about how the NHS can't afford this kind of thing. Which had I not been housebound and paracetamol virtually impossible to buy anyway, I would have quite understood!

Just buy some regularly so you always have it when needed.

We have 3 migraine sufferers in our family. So we always have paracetamol and ibuprofen in. Except we live in France where it can only be bought in a pharmacy and costs over 2 euros for 16 500mg tablets (which are taken 2 at a time). I would love to be able to get them for pennies in a supermarket even if I was limited to 2 boxes at a time!

My DC started taking small tablets aged 6 and normal paracetamol size tablets by age 8.

Wow some of you are vicious aren't you!
I've never been called a drama queen before. Luckily I'm very rarely ill and I hate taking tablets. This is the first time we've all been sick together so I've never bought more than I item before so the two packet rule has somehow passed me by!
Being ill with sick dc is not my idea of fun so I decided to try dosing up. Apparently the government would rather you go into numerous shops to buy enough for your family.
If you want to overdose a silly little rule is not going to stop you and if you take more that the prescribed dose you're not the brightest then.

But feeling better now and not so dramatic!

Find a pharmacy and ask them they give me large quantities as I have a reason for them

If you want to overdose a silly little rule is not going to stop you it might. Anything to help slow down the process.

You don't need to go to different shops to buy multiple packets. You speak to a pharmacist and tell them and they will sell them.

Just like my pharmacist lets me buy 100 at a time because I take them regularly.

And it has shown a massive reduction in spur of the moment overdoses, mainly teenage girls. It has saved families from witnessing very slow painful deaths. Because they take an overdose and next day are fine. So don't seek medical attention. Unfortunately within a few days they're seriously ill and dying. This is why paracetamol is actually such a dangerous drug.

It does cause minor issues when buying some. But as explained it's easy to sort out.

The lack of understanding of mental illness is frankly astonishing.

Well, despite what's been written here, you're still very dismissive aren't you?

a silly little rule

It is an important rule, which has had significant benefits.

And I think you'll find that it's your whole tone and manner of expression that has led to the criticisms

If someone is in crisis, that extra 5-10 minutes to walk to other shops might be enough to give them time to reconsider and get help. That "silly little rule" will be the reason some people are still with us.

There is a restriction on certain decongestants for very good reason. It is not "the stupidest thing ever".

www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update/pseudoephedrine-and-ephedrine-update-on-managing-risk-of-misuse

Go to Spain and see if you can get paracetamol of any kind out of a supermarket love.

Apparently the government would rather you go into numerous shops to buy enough for your family.

Well, yes. Because as others have pointed out a minor inconvenience (yes minor it hasn't caused you any harm at all apart from annoyance) to you vs a rule that was brought in to SAVE LIVES and proven to have done so isn't really comparable is it?

Do you know there were protests about the "nanny state" government making seatbelt laws? Do you also think you should be allowed to drive around wearing no seat belt if you feel like it?

In Australia, you can't buy any codeine medications off the shelves or OTC any longer. For these, you require a prescription from a doctor, and that is usually a limited one (eg. 0-2 repeats instead of the usual 5). This means more frequent visits to the doctor for chronic pain sufferers. So be pleased you can at least still do that!

A staggered overdose is one of the most horrific things to witness and go through.the percentage drop in overdoses show this is necessary and working.

Oh my God what a selfish post.

The limit DOES stop people overdosing...that's kind of the point. But hey, having to go to the shop next door, or even back into the same store as you did, is much more of an inconvenience than someone's death, right?

Sorry you’re unwell, I hope you start to feel better soon. There’s nothing worse than a bad cold, it’s miserable!

however your post about ‘a silly little rule not stopping anyone’ is untrue and not based on any factual evidence- multiple posters here have already explained to you that it has helped reduce overdose rates. If the price of that means you have to make 2 separate trips to by painkillers then I’m sorry but that’s worth it.

and your comment about people taking more than the prescribed dose being ‘stupid’ is uncalled for. People accidentally overdose on paracetamol because they lose track of how much they’ve taken when unwell, it’s surprisingly easy to do. I had a raging tooth infection this year - I was going through painkillers like sweets and wrote down exactly when I took them so I couldn’t accidentally overdose but I could see how incredibly easy it would be to lose track and accidentally take too many. It doesn’t make people stupid. It’s normal, especially when in pain or distress.

i remember several years ago there was a story of an nhs worker who accidentally overdosed, I think she was a paramedic. Absolutely tragic.

Calling people ‘stupid’ for making a mistake is out of order.

i started giving my kids half a paracetamol by age 8. Cheaper than calpol and easier to carry around.

It is so easy to overdose on paracetamol that I’m surprised they aren’t more strict!

The flip side of your complaint is that Americans care so little about their citizens that they don't take steps to reduce overdoses by 43%

Paracetamol is an awful death and a lot of the time is meant to be a cry for help but they don't realize the danger

Had no idea that this was the case tbh, but surely there should be a restriction to 1 packet of decongestants separate to the restrictions on paracetamol as they're restricted for different reasons and aren't dangerous when taken together...

I wasn't trying to buy more than 1 packet of decongestants, they last longer than a pack of paracetamol, I was trying to restock Calpol and grown up ibuprofen with my regular shop plus buy decongestants to deal with the hayfever induced sinus headache...

I sympathise OP.

My DH came down with Covid last Monday. I went out to buy enough paracetamol and ibuprofen for both of us in the expectation I'd get it too. I caught it two days later and we ran out by Thursday. Thankfully his colleague who lives nearby went and got us extra supplies during his lunch hour. We're lucky he's near us because we don't know anyone else where we live.

@randomsabreuse The decongestants probably had paracetamol in too.

And people not realising this leads to paracetamol overdose

Some do, some don't, these ones definitely didn't because I chose them specifically because I knew I couldn't buy more than 2 types of pain killer... I also tend to prefer a full dose of paracetamol if I actually need the pain relief rather than the half dose on most decongestants...