Are we becoming.......

I’m guilty of this, just with prescription painkillers and am aware I shouldn’t be doing it!

I do have a stash though if tramadol, Co-codermol and a small bottle of morphine (cannot remember the brand name)

Would never share other meds I’m on, but once went to stay with a friend for four nights and totally forgot my BP meds and was most relived that my friend had the exact same brands and dosage so did take three of hers!

I would have kept the ear drops in case they were needed in the future Primrose.

Am surprised Boots refunded you actually.

I regularly hear of people sorting out their deceased family member’s homes and finding thousands of pounds worth of NHS medication.

From what I hear, if they find anything exactly like they already take they keep it and send the rest back to the pharmacy. Not saying it’s right but it happens all the time.

Yesterday I returned some unopened ear drops to Boots chemists. I had bought them a few days before thinking my ears might need attention. The GP said they didn’t so I returned them. She refunded me £4.99 and then her colleague was reminding her to bin them. Seems a dreadful waste.

Sago you are making it worse please, the doctors in your family should know better
During COVID he was in Mexico, he bought a huge selection of antibiotics this is NOT acceptable .they are not produced to be grabbed and bought up by overseas visitors and brought here to be handed out with ‘advice’ from family members
So within the family we do a lot of “dealing” really amazed that you have come back to defend this post
rosiesMaw sorry you were wrong

We can buy antibiotics online in this country, supplied by legitimate pharmacies. You have to fill in an online consultation and if thought appropriate by the doctor, will be supplied. I have used this service to get a three day course of Trimethoprim when I had a UTI. I know it’s the right drug for me because my GP has prescribed it several times previously. If the three day course is insufficient you are told to contact your GP. Which is exactly what I did do once when the UTI didn’t clear. I told my GP I’d taken the three day course that you can buy. She was unfazed. We will need to begin to take more responsibility for our own care with the NHS as stretched as it is, but the problem is that so many people don’t have the knowledge to do that, such as the person who took cocodamol and paracetamol together because they didn’t actually have the knowledge of what was in the drug.

There is nothing lighthearted about bringing drugs into the country from abroad, taking them without a prescription, increasing the very real problem of resistance to antibiotics and your friends swapping painkillers because they can’t get a prescription. If you have a constant need for a particular drug it is supplied on repeat prescription without need to see the GP except for routine checkups - I should know, I have had repeat prescriptions for a number of drugs, some of them Class A, for many years. For each condition I have an annual checkup at the doctor’s request and I simply apply online for repeat prescriptions. If you genuinely need a particular drug on a regular basis there is no need to run out of it and most certainly nobody should give anyone else any of the medication which has been prescribed for them and only for them. I expect if you were to speak to any of the doctors in your family they would advise consulting your GP and would not suggest you take antibiotics purchased abroad. This is no laughing matter.

No I’m not seeing things differently.

Firstly the antibiotic medicines SIL brought through were totally legal, he checked.

Secondly if one of us needs medical advice we will speak to one of the three doctors in the family for advice, we would not be treated by them!

Two of our adult children are allergic to penicillin so the antibiotics they can take often don’t work as fast, during Covid it was a great comfort to know we had the drugs on standby.

The last antibiotics I took were for a UTI years ago, I am a strong advocate for DMannose and other supplements as an alternative.

The OP I assumed was being light hearted judging by the tone and the emoji!

Clearly not.

🤞

Germanshepherdsmum

I have always considered Sago to be a sensible person. That she is doing this and apparently thinks it’s not only ok but amusing astounds me.

I’m sure Sago is seeing things differently now - at least I hope so!

when I was a CPN it would be a disciplinary offence to give unprescribed medication to other people.. I simply don't agree with what you suggest Sago.. we just don't know how people will react..

I thought doctors weren’t supposed to treat their own families?

I don’t think we should calm down Sago obviously your story has now calmed down Let’s hope your son in law doesn’t get stopped at the borders with his stash
So having doctors in the family makes it all ok
A very very unsettling post

Calm down everyone, the antibiotics haven’t even been opened, they were if there was an emergency, we have doctors and medics in the family that would advise!
They were bought from legitimate pharmacies!
The American OTC are an excellent cold/cough remedy and a sore throat tablet with zinc.

Baggs

*Keep repeating this with people buying just enough antibiotic over the counter*

Can one buy antibiotics over the counter in the UK?

Or in other European countries, for that matter?

You used to be able to buy antibiotics at chemists without a prescription in France, Belgium, Spain and Italy, but I do not know if you still can.

You can still buy pain-killers such as Ibuprofen in larger quantities without a prescription in some countries than in others, but pharmacists are obliged to tell how they should be used and for how long.

And it is not only antibiotics that shouldn't be handed round like sweeties, cortisone both as tablets and as ointment should never be used except on a physician's advice.

I have always considered Sago to be a sensible person. That she is doing this and apparently thinks it’s not only ok but amusing astounds me.

BlueBelle

Oh my word sago your post absolutely horrified me, to buy drugs in Mexico or America to ‘deal’ in the family is awful don’t you see how bad it is I would never give anyone an antibiotic or take one from anyone else the over use of antibiotics is leading to resistant strains of infections don’t you understand that ….you sound so matter of fact about it
I can’t believe what I’m reading

As a regular watcher of Border Patrol, it bothers me for other reasons too.

Susan56, that’s because cocodamol contains 500 mgs per tablet of Paracetamol and therefore it should not be taken if the person has already taken Paracetamol. The codeine is the added ingredient to provide better pain relief.

As Elegran says, it’s not the person who becomes immune to the antibiotic, it’s the bacteria that become immune to the antibiotic.

My niece gave her brother some of her prescription only maximum strength cocodamol.He was already taking paracetamol.The result was he ended up in high dependency for nine days at risk of kidney and liver failure.
Unless you know what other tablets somebody is on and the possible interactions please don’t do it🤦🏼‍♀️

Oh my word sago your post absolutely horrified me, to buy drugs in Mexico or America to ‘deal’ in the family is awful don’t you see how bad it is I would never give anyone an antibiotic or take one from anyone else the over use of antibiotics is leading to resistant strains of infections don’t you understand that ….you sound so matter of fact about it
I can’t believe what I’m reading

Keep repeating this with people buying just enough antibiotic over the counter

Can one buy antibiotics over the counter in the UK?

Or in other European countries, for that matter?

Thanks Elegran. It needed to be said. I have never heard of people here buying antibiotics like that but probably it does happen. They tend to check the mail a lot here and I think if you were importing prescription only drugs you would get caught. Most parcels I get from overseas have been opened and re packed at customs.

You have put it much more fully and clearly than I was able to Elegran.

Antibiotic resistance is not really just a personal thing to the person who takes antibiotics without good reason and medical knowledge. The bacteria of the infections that the AB is targetting are not ALL killed in one dose of it. Some individual bacteria cells are tougher than their colleagues and are still around after one or two doses, and need zapping again, and some even survive several hits before they succumb. That is why you are always told to finish the course, and not to stop taking the AB if you start to feel better.

If you don't kill off ALL the infective bacteria cells, the ones that are left are the stronger ones, and they are still able to infect other people - plus, they may have developed their own defences against that antibiotic.

Keep repeating this with people buying just enough antibiotic over the counter to make them feel that they have beaten the infection but in fact only getting rid of the weaker bacteria cells, and you end up with stronger disease infections with AB resistance getting more numerous. Then doctors have to prescribe different antibiotics to counter infections which previously could have been defeated. Some bacteria strains are now resistant to almost all antibiotics.

Good grief, just why do you think pharmacists do 5 years training? Apart from the antibiotic resistance argument, what about contraindications? Very foolish, and as Karmalady wisely said, the implications if a person becomes ill through your 'prescription' need to be considered.