Laws regarding sales of Paracetamol and Ibuprofen??

MarkyMarkD

If you actually read the document I linked to, the graph is based on suicide data for the entire UK.

So, I'm deferring to actual data over a long time series for the entire UK, not pieces of research which are looking at the impact of the legislation on a single method of suicide, rather than the impact of the legislation (or lack of it) on suicide statistics as a whole.

UKTigerlily

What I don't get is as a mental health patient, why I have literally tons of pills in the house (And also Tramadol & Paracetamol) but ya can't buy Paracetamol OTC in more than a few boxes. It doesn't make sense to me to hand someone like me over 100 pills like I have

weegie.geek

Hahaha yeah I gear you UKTigerlily.

It was suggested to me by a psych that I could get several months' worth of my meds at one time, to save me going back so often for prescriptions.

The day after I tried to top myself.

While I was lying in a hospital bed, bright yellow and covered in biotabs.

Think they were hinting at something?

gordonstights

Came across this thread on google searching for laws on quantities of ibuprofen. Last night in Sainsburys my partner and I tried to buy 32 tablets each. Supervisor was called over by checkout assistant and told us (in a really snotty voice) that we can only have 32 max between us.

Now we don't normally buy more than 32, but partner has damaged his knee recently and is in a lot of pain, and I needed some as well! We only do a weekly shop and hadn't planned to go and get anymore.

I understand that there are laws, but they wouldn't let me have 32 and my partner have 'his' 32 allocation because we were together, even if we then had tried to pay seperately - the supervisor refused to discuss any further and treated us like we were scum of the earth.

I'd love to complain about the supervisors attitude, but I think they will just focus on the "company policy" thing and ignore that she was downright rude.

Getting back to the OP question. Does the law state that two people who are together can't buy 32 each?

Geena

The law's are mad, but are in place for your protection. It all depends wether you are buying them at a general sales counter or a pharmacy counter.

I cant think of the laws right now, but i will get my training book from boots and write up later, if someone hasnt already done it.

I think general sales cant sell you anymore than 2 x 16 paracetamol, but on a healthcare counter you can be sold 1 x 32 paracetamol and at the pharmacist descretion its 2 x 32 paracetamol.

Regarding ibruprofen the laws are the same. With soluble paracetamol the volumes are higher, you can buy upto 100 soluble paracetamol.

Its abit silly really, but the law is enforced for the safety of customers. As i worked at boots for the last few years i can tell you, alot of people try to buy alot more than they are allowed, and the tills simply dont let the transaction go through.

blossomcat

i remember when they brought this law in, we thought it was silly (im a nurse) as you can go to three or four shops and stock up, but it has made a difference to the amount of people taking an impluse OD.But you actually need far less than you are allowed to buy in one go , to damage your liver . As for brufen , that can damage the lining of your stomach and cause internal bleeding!

StanB_2

Why is it that the pharmacist in different branches of Boots have different ideas of what the Law states? Near where I live, there are 3 branches. In branch 1, the pharmacist insists that the Law states that she can only sell me 1 pack of 32. In branch 2, the pharmacist states that 'the rule is' that only one pack can be rung up on the till at any one time. However, at his suggestion, I was able to buy 2 packs, providing that they were rung up as two transactions. In branch 3, I have no problem in buying 2 packs at a time, which is not very often. Incidentally, I am 80 years old and not permitted any medication containing aspirin as I take Warferin

Ted_Hutchinson

The money saving approach to pain killers is not to feel pain in the first place.

The biochemical origin of pain--proposing a new law of pain: the origin of all pain is inflammation and the inflammatory response.

It follows that improving your NATURAL anti inflammatory status will raise your pain threshold level so you no longer feel so much pain,.(because your body is now better able to control inflammation and the inflammatory response)

The evidence for this is set out here
VITAMIN D for Chronic Pain Syndromes but I must make the point that I worked this out before Leavitt and reported the fact that my constant pain from the late effects of polio has been controlled by increasing my natural anti inflammatory status before he put up his webpages.

Rather than using NSAID's to treat the symptoms of pain it is cheaper and more effective to deal with the inflammation that causes the pain at source by ensuring your body has the NATURAL level of 25(OH)D3 (Vitamin d3) it evolved to stabilise at 125nmol/l. This requires a daily intake (at the UK latitude) of roughly 5000iu/d for a woman and 6000iu/daily for a man.

There are many other benefits from having optimum vitamin d status most of which are set out in this paper Does Vitamin D Make the World Go ‘Round’? Increased circulating 25(OH)D has been linked with improved glucose handling and beta-cell function and a growing list of long-latency diseases that include cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 and 2 diabetes, and at least 15 types of cancers. While these studies describe strong correlation with vitamin D deficiency, they do not provide proof of causality or a mechanism of action. Two studies have begun to decipher the riddle of vitamin D’s role in maintaining the innate immune system with profound implications.
Some of these data, as well as additional studies, have been summarized in a recent review regarding the optimization of circulating 25(OH)D levels to reduce the risk of long-latency disease states.

Ideally, the total circulating 25(OH)D should mirror what is attained by those who live and work in a sun-rich environment who have levels of 54–90 ng/mL 135~ 225nmol/l and not by those who are sunlight-deprived or covered from sunlight.

The debate about what constitutes frank deficiency, insufficiency, and sufficiency continues. Depending on what biomarker one chooses, there could be a different cutoff point for each category. Most, however, would agree that levels below 50 nmol/L (or 20 ng/mL) represent deficiency;whether that label extends to 70 or even 80 nmol/L is less clear.

The average UK adult is Vitamin D DEFICIENT (with an average status of 50nmol/l throughout the year)

TomsMom

StanB wrote: »

Why is it that the pharmacist in different branches of Boots have different ideas of what the Law states? Near where I live, there are 3 branches. In branch 1, the pharmacist insists that the Law states that she can only sell me 1 pack of 32. In branch 2, the pharmacist states that 'the rule is' that only one pack can be rung up on the till at any one time. However, at his suggestion, I was able to buy 2 packs, providing that they were rung up as two transactions. In branch 3, I have no problem in buying 2 packs at a time, which is not very often. Incidentally, I am 80 years old and not permitted any medication containing aspirin as I take Warferin

I have come across this too Stan.

I suffer from what my GP describes as "migraineous headaches" but doesn't think they need investigating , so my only option is to take a painkiller. Ordinary paracetamol, and paracetamol and codeine do not work for me and I too cannot take asprin. However Solpadeine does work and Boots do their own version of this - Paracetamol and Codeine Extra. The NHS does not have an equivalent that can be prescribed. As I have the Boots Advantage card and am a Health Club member then with this discount it brings the price down from £3.99 to £1.99 per pack.

As our nearest Boots is 50 or 60 miles away, whichever town I go to, and I always ask if I can have two packets and tell them it is because there is no Boots near where I live. Most times I am allowed, but some branches will only allow one packet. In that case my OH goes back with my card and gets a packet too!

We have a Numark where I live and they used to do their own version of Solpadeine but they stopped doing it some time ago so unless I want to pay a premium price for Solpadeine then Boots is the MSE way to go.

Sugar_Coated_Owl

I'm pretty sure legally you can buy up to 100 Paracetamol tablets. However, as they come in boxes of 32, you will only be able to buy 96 tablets. Where I work we can sell 32 tablets. If a customer requests more we have to get the pharmacist and then it's up to them whether they sell 2 or 3 boxes.