Where's the Cheapest Paracetamol??

max2002ad

Hi!!
I am after paracetamol 500mg at the cheapest possible price.
So far the cheapest is a joint first between wilkinsons and boots at 16p for 16 tablets. Can anybody do any better ??
Thanks
Max

Talon_Karrde

nope...cheapest i found before you told me to go to wilko's was morrisons, but that wasn't even own brand, was some brand called GalPharm....19p for 16 tabs, although they were the posher "Caplets" (which i believe is a tablet that "looks" like a capsule!)

Savvy_Sue

I'm surprised it's not cheaper if you buy bigger packs, which would only be available from behind the pharmacy counter, ie not on display, and not from places which don't have a pharmacist.

But I haven't looked recently! And I always buy caplets or lozenge shaped paracetamol because it tastes so foul. So just to check you have asked for bigger packs and price checked them!

Or maybe you can't buy more than 16 at a time these days ...

Talon_Karrde

it is true...pack sizes of paracetamol were changed in '98 and the rules for selling were changed. You can now only buy packs of 16 from normal shops, but you can get packs of up to 32 from behind pharmacy counters, so, for example, you can buy packs of 30 solpadiene max (which is paracetamol and codiene) but only from behind the pharmacy, and this is branded product and very expensive! However, you can only buy 2 packs (of 16) at a time. I know because I have recently had cancer where i was put on paracetamol as a take home painkiller after my operation, and, since it's cheaper to buy rather than get a prescription, my wife tried to stock up on non branded 500mg tabs and was told by every supermarket that she could only buy 2 packs at a time!
The rules were changed to stop paracetamol overdose. Did you know, that as little as 12 - 15 grams (thats 24 -30 500mg tablets) will kill you, dead. And the shitter is, (for people committing suicide) that it can take up to 4-6 days to do the job, and it ain't pretty or nice....people think it's a quick convenient way because of the availability, but it isn't. It's nasty, painful and takes a long time.

umm...sorry 'bout that, didn't mean to get all depressive!

Pink.

Tesco are 16p for 16 tabs as well.

You are quite right Talon, paracetamol can do real damage and as you say does it very slowly, but is selling a maximum of 32 really going to deter someone who really wants to get their hands on more?

Pink

Talon_Karrde

not really no, but I hear the stats say different. For 5 straight years after the rules were changed, Paracetamol OD's went down by good %'s. Apparently now on the way up again.

max2002ad

The pack sizes have been reduced and although it is hard to believe it does make a difference to the numbers of suicide.
I work for one of the multiple pharmacies and indeed the 32 pack size paracetamol is cheaper to buy over the counter than our 16 pack sizes.
However the prices are still cheaper in places like wilkinsons,
because its the ultra cheap brands such as galpharm.
With brands like galpharm they are as good as own brand or branded because they sell it at generic prices. The NHS pay just 72p for a pack of 100 paracetamol so you can imagine how much give there is in the sytem.

Al_Inshearah

You can't get Asprin in the jungle as the parrots-eat-them-all :rotfl:

Jeryth

Nice one, Al! Thanks for the info on this thread; I've been on Co-proxamol as a top up painkiller for 5 years, and as it's being phased out, I've been advised to buy paracetamol instead, to use with my usual Oxycontin. As I'm stopping Diazepam, and only have Amitryptiline in addition, it even means I don't need a PPC any more! BTW a very helpful pharmacist advised on PPC.