Paracetamol on prescription

thatbags, you'd be surprised how many people don't read the instructions on the packet and just discard the leaflet inside.

I am surprised GPs prescribe them in quantity as the number you are allowed to buy is limited to 32 because, taken over a number of days, even a slight overdose could be fatal.

Every packet of paracetamol tablets tells you not to take more than 8 a day so how do people manage not to know?

So true. Heartbreaking to see a young woman who'd taken a 'small' overdose sitting happily in her hospital bed. Plenty of attention, kind staff, even the boyfriend who'd left her turned up with a present and promises. She didn't accept that she was still in mortal danger. She recovered, unlike the young man Luckylegs knew.
As she left hospital a nurse whispered to her 'Next time, dear, don't do that, just take a nice barbiturate'!!

Nothing is as simple as one first thinks is it?
I have prescription soluble co-codamol as it is the only one which does not have maize starch or a derivative as the filler. I have a bad reaction to the cheapies and you can't buy the ones I can take OTC. If you need it then you need to have it.
I look after myself with natural stuff wherever I can so do not feel any guilt whatsoever.

I also remember reading about that a few years ago Ana. It underlines the warnings regarding sticking exactly to the permitted dose of paracetamol.

And some people seem unaware that the maximum dose is 8 per day and carry on taking them every four hours. I have heard of someone dying after taking just one more dose daily over a period of time.

One problem that arises is that people take paracetamol when they have say a cold, and then take some other remedy as well, unaware that this too contains paracetamol.

I agree Luckygirl. You have to be careful with paracetamol dosage. It can build up in the liver and cause irreversable damage. And also be aware that cold remedies also contain paracetamol. I list the times I take my tablets each day, my brain cannot be relied upon to remember.

It is a common misunderstanding that paracetamol is safe in small overdose - it is not. The margin between safe and toxic is quite small.

"Paracetamol is a nasty drug. You may poison yourself by mistake, but by the time you start feeling unwell you may be approaching the end of the (roughly) three-day window in which the antidote, acetylcysteine, can save you. Would-be suicides may take a handful of pills expecting to drift into a pleasant sleep, only to find that nothing happens. By the next day they may well have changed their minds about killing themselves – but it's too late: the drug, by then, is already doing its best to destroy their liver." - this is what happened to the lad I mentioned above. He regretted what he had done, but the clock could not be turned back. It was harrowing.

So don't deviate from the stated dose please! - and if you are forgetful (like me) then it is best to note down when you have taken them.

I take my own Paracetamol into hospital and clear it with the nurses if I need it, as I can only take capsules, which are more expensive, though still pretty cheap, and tablets are usually what is prescribed. I stock up when shopping with the allowable amount.

I was prescribed 200 a time on prescription. So I now enlist the help of two friends who each order 2 packets of sixteen on their online shop, as I also do. I am not able to frequently visit a Pharmacy. It does make things difficult, but I have to find a way through. A Pharmacy crawl is one answer,but I sadly do not have the energy for that. Yes, I really rattle!!

I don't think a small overdose would do you that much harm. TBH.

It's a bit of a mockery though, when you can call at, say, Boots, Waitrose and Lloyds Phatmacy in one shopping trip, buying more as you go.

Until the end of last year I was prescribed paracetamol on prescription for Fibromyalgia. Then I was told it would no longer be on prescription from my surgery and I would have to buy it myself. I take the full dose of 8 a day, and buying it is a real pain. If I am lucky the pharmacist will sell me three packs of 32, but it means I need to explain myself every time. I also buy my own Ibuprofen. I do not mind paying for these things, they take the edge off my pain.

Paracetamol is of course highly toxic even in small overdose. I saw one poor young man recover from a paracetamol overdose, only to die slowly from liver failure over the next few weeks. So that is why they only allow you to buy a few at a time.

The wastage of drugs is not good, but I do not know what can be done. I have a drug here that was prescribed for migraine and made me so ill that I had to rapidly stop it. I have a month's worth of it here, which will be destroyed, as they cannot take any risk that it has been tampered with. I do not know what the answer is - maybe to prescribe a smaller amounts to see if it suits.

I think one of the reasons for them to be prescribed is that any doctor / pharmacist can see you are taking them and know not to prescribe something else with paracetamol in as an overdose is very bad for you. I had them prescribed last year and the doctor wanted to know why I wasn't using a repeat on them. When I told her they were cheap to buy she told me off as she wants to know what I am taking.

Have any of you ever tried to get a prescription reduced? I was supposed to take something twice a day and kept forgetting the evening one and ended up with quite a stock. I asked the doc if it was OK for me to just take one a day and he agreed. I told the pharmacist I did't want any more for a while and explained why I had such a stock. They kept being put in the bag each time but I didn't notice until I opened it at home so kept adding to the stock. It was eventually sorted after several months but when I finally told them I had used up my stock and wanted them again that caused a lot of fuss as well and it is an ongoing issue which still hasn't been resolved.

Pharmacies have to destroy returned drugs in case of tampering. #stateoftheworld

It is not just people not taking drugs that leads to drugs being surplus and destroyed. Sometimes several drugs have to be supplied before one that works is found. DH was prescribed three different drugs in three consecutive weeks in order to help control his pain. The first two were ineffective. The third is working. The unconsumed parts of the two previous prescriptions have been returned to the pharmacy.

The NHS prescribing budget is exceeded massively every year but the thing that annoys me most is that so much of this is wasted. A significant number of people get a prescription for whatever it is and decide to not to take it. Even if you take unused meds back to the pharmacist they cant be re-dispensed and are destroyed. The issue for me then is that patients should have what they need to manage their medically diagnosed condition and should adhere to their clinicians instructions - if there is a problem then that is requires another consultation. As a DN I regularly cleaned out the stockpile of all manner of drugs, potions and lotions from patients' cabinets when they died (at the relatives request) to return to the pharmacy for them to be destroyed. As a hospital nurse people came in with bags of meds they weren't taking.

Good idea jingl

I refuse Gaviscon Advance on prescription. I buy it, and that is expensive.

Yes Luckygirl. Boots do their own version of a drug I have to take regularly. But it is in tablet form, not capsule, and the fact is it does not work as well as the prescribed version. And it's a darn sight more expensive than paracetamol.

There ought to be a system whereby you could buy them in larger quantities, with a doctor's note.
Good idea jings. The main reason I had them on prescription was because of the limit on purchases.