# 227

Posted: 11/03/2011 11:56

Yes, I know a lot of people who go straight for the tablets with codeine without trying ones without it. Its terrible because these views are passing down to their children. People don't recognise the danger associated with using stronger pain killers for all ailments- at least the pharmacist can tell them because people rarely read the patient information leaflets in the drug boxes.

# 226

Posted: 06/03/2011 15:31

Yes since codeine causes addiction.

Dr.Hermon Mihranian

# 225

Posted: 04/03/2011 17:51

I've only seen the debate today but I know it's something that has irritated me no end since this ruling came into being. I have no problem with the chemist dispensing these tablets and warning about the possible consequences, but that is not what many (not all) of them do.  You are questioned and dictated to, probably in front of a crowded shop.  Mind you that alone should put you off buying codeine for life.  No matter what pain you're in.  And that is why most of us are there in the first place - pain relief.  And to try and tell me that paracetamol on its own is just as good, you've never been on the receiving end.  Codeine is addictive but then paracetamol can be very dangerous if taken in sufficient doses but I don't see anything being done about that. Limit it to 24 pack. One pack in how many chemists?  And yes, I do think pharmacists are on a 'power trip'.  At one time they stayed at the back of the shop and dispensed.  Now they are up front and are dictating. Sometimes even if you have a prescription, and on the other hand they say go to your Doctor and get a script.  This can be a very expensive packet of Solpadeine!  And do you seriously think all users have a medical card and are ripping off the system? Stereotyping?

Yes people do abuse codeine and I'm sure many other drugs, but what about alcohol and tobacco.  Is anyone on standby at the local corner shop and off-licence/pub to fend off would be purchasers? Of substances that have been clinically proven to be seriousley detrimental to health to the point of death for decades. No I don't think so. Where billions of €uros are involved the nations 'health' is forgotten about.

Yes I do use Solpadeine, occasionally.  I find it a very efficient painkiller. As admitted by my own chemist, (a gentleman) for his hangovers! Years ago my Doctor told me they were the safest painkillers to take with my many other medications.  Safe maybe, but not easy.  Thanks for giving me the opportunity for getting that off my chest!

# 224

Posted: 28/02/2011 20:56

You seem like a very resonable person iknow.imgood and, frankly, a breath of fresh air. I don't have any problem with anything you've said here, Solpediene has always been sold in pharmacies and to change that would be foolish, not that there's any question of doing that. It is of course frequently abused, take Carol the previous poster who mentions someone who takes a stunning 90 Solpediene a day. This would also involve 90 doses of paracetamol a day, as the maximum recommended dose is 8, 90 would be lethal.

I agree that there is a relatively small amount of codiene in these tablets and the addictive quality of them was a bonus to manufacturers, lets give them the benefit of the doubt and say they were'nt designed that way. But they are still painkillers, and available over the counter, or so we're led to believe. Not every pharmacist is reasonable, as I've described I've met one who has a problem selling me Solpediene, and even Ibruprofen. I don't mind anyone having a bad day, but when it stretches into a bad year its a problem and it goes against my nature to report him, as has been suggested, when I've found a solution, of sorts.

You have to remember that just as you want the public to realise a significant amount of people abuse codiene based medication, there are more who don't and who legitimately have a right to buy it. Buy it, not have it prescribed on Medical Cards and have the taxpayer pick up the bill. That said, I have absolutely no idea how anyone can distinguish between the two and I don't envy your role.

# 223

Posted: 28/02/2011 17:41

iknowimgood, you are a pharmacist NOT a doctor, so unless you know all the details of each and every case and have all the doctors reasoning and knowledge on each one, then you cannot possibly say with any accuracy that doctors prescribe "ridiculous" amounts of these. Clearly they have no choice if patients are going  to get what they need without being obstructed by pharmacists as the cases below have obviously showm.Unless you have all the medical training of a Dr you cannot possibly advise that "the dr should prescribe paracetamol only". Do you think you know better then them now. If a patient only required paracetmol then there would be no need to attend a Dr and pay 60 for it  - which people do not do lightly, Nor indeed would there be much need to go to a pharmacy either as they can be obtained in a supermarket. Even a cursory glance over the posts before would cleary show that paracetamol most certainly does NOT work in every case where codeine is needed - if it did then obviously there would be no need for codiene and no need for patient to attned a Dr to get perscrioptipon for it which they clearly do.

I presume if you are so concerned about those whon are addicted that you did your professional duty and referred them to a Dr - yes?  Tho it certianly says a lot when you refer to those attending your pharmacy as "wallies" who make you laugh. So you say post about how neccessary the legislation is and how you apparently know more thab doctors and then blatantly say you refuse a sale and never have??? What thha is your point exactly or indeed gthe poin tof having such legislation?? It is you who is laughable I'm afraid.

# 222

Posted: 26/02/2011 13:30

This debate amazes me, it has been running for months now. I am a pharmacist and sell solpadeine every day of the week. Whether people understand this, the basic fact is that solpadeine can only be sold in pharmacies. Thats because, they are only licensed to be sold under the supervision of a pharmacist because these can cause harm and they are not smarties. This medicine is regularly abused and I have numerous people that take this everyday and can't stop it (+dont want to) due to withdrawal side effects etc-insomnia, irritabiity, withdrawal headaches etc. Can people just except that whats happening now is they are been sold correctly now and were been sold casually before. Doctors prescribe ridiculous amounts of these now and the taxpayer picks up the tab on the medical card+dps system- the dr should prescribe paracetamol only-the codeine amounts are so little in solpadeine their pain relieving properties are not augmented, just the codeine makes them addictive-well designed+with caffeine, the manufacturers knew exactly what they were doing!!. At the end of the day, i find it very humorous that people think we are on power trips when it comes to refusing the sale of this drug. To be honest, it is a complete waste of my time+i find the whole situation laughable. A regular solpadeine addict said  "you just dont want me to feel well, i dont have pain but i take these every day to give me a pick me up and i feel great"! Sums it up really, he doesn't know that he is addicted. He doesnt care that he abuses them+we are blue in the face advising wallies like him. I never refuse a sale and never have. I provide the information and they can take it on board if they want otherwise I sell it everytime-boxes of 12 if i suspect misuse. Pubs dont refuse alcohol to alcoholics and i dont refuse on the grounds that they are mature adults that make decisions for themselves.

# 221

Posted: 25/02/2011 20:48

Hi , Its Carol again,

I know a young man addicted to Solpadeine at the moment, he is taking 90 of them a day!! Has nobody ever thought that maybe these pharmacists CARE about people getting addicted? I think Solpadeine should be sold on prescription only as they are so very addictive!!.

# 220

Posted: 25/02/2011 10:44

As the pharmacist refused to call the GP both for your daughter and for you and had an issue with selling you a non-controlled drug such as ibuprofen then he is acting in a highly unprofessional manner and I presume you both reported him? Yes?

Indeed doctors are human but they have had extensive medical training, which if that cannot rid them of their embarrassment abvout either nudity or periods I would question why they would choose to enter such a profession in the first instance as they clearly have such a mental block about aspects of it which in thieir professional capacity they will have to deal with if they are to treat theior patnets in a proper manner. My neighbour greatly dislikes cats - hence she choose not to become a vet.

# 219

Posted: 24/02/2011 22:22

As I've already said my daughter and I are patients of the same medical practice and use the same pharmacy, this is the same pharmacist, and previously when my daughter asked for Solpadeine he simply refused to call her GP when asked to do so. I can't say why, I don't know, but he has a reputation for doing this so it's reasonable to believe he won't call my GP when asked to do so either. If he had an issue selling me Ibuprofen I wasn't even going to ask for Solpadeine and hope he'd maybe call my GP.

As you may have gathered from my name I work with many doctors and the concept of "a doctor being embarrassed by nudity" is not so ridiculous as it sounds, they are human and are just as capable of embarrassment as the rest of us. I even remember a very capable doctor once who was terrified of the sight of blood, he was never going to make a surgeon, but was a good doctor never the less. Wearing a white coat does not somehow stop someone from experiencing the perfectly normal human faults and failings. We're all human, some more so than others.

# 218

Posted: 24/02/2011 11:15

Yes nurses, paramedics, radiographers etc are medically trained in their disciplien as well. Agreed you are not a patient of any of them unless you cross paths in a professional capacity and in the case of the pharmacist you did cross paths in a professional capacity and just as your D advised, you could have had him call your Dr at which point he would have been informaed of any medical information pertinent to your request.

Yes, some people tend to be embarrassed at some things but a medically trained pharmacist being embarrased at an entirely normal everyday biological occurence?? That would be rather like a doctor being embarrassed by nudity really wouldn't it.

Yes I understand that severe period pain and/or endo can warrant Solpediene, and given that no-one can say who has these, or when, then the pharmacist cannot dictate along these lines but is restricted to specific criteria when selling codeine containing medications.

# 217

Posted: 23/02/2011 21:00

"Pharmacists are medically trained", really? If this arguement is true then so too are nurses, paramedics, radiographers etc but I am not a patient of any of them either, unless we cross paths in a professional capacity, in which case they will have my file available to them and know everything medically relevant about me.

People are human not robots and we do tend to be embarrassed at some things, some more so than others, my wife's friend simply exploited a pharmacist who does appear to be delicate and sensitive. Previous posts said severe period pain and/or endo (something I will never experience) is something that can warrant Solppediene, but who is to say who has these, or when? The pharmacist must trust the customers honesty or go down the road of interrogation and, as human nature comes into the equation, some customers will be less than honest.

I was speaking to and being served by the pharmacist, who was relucant to serve me, in the past while dealing with my daughter he refused to call her GP so I was reluctant to down the same road. I never asked this man for Solpediene, even though my GP told me to, the only painkiller I bought was Ibuprofen.

My last post appears to be in bold type, I don't know why.

# 216

Posted: 23/02/2011 11:38

HSE, pharmacists are medically trained. For one to become embarrassed about a perfectly normal functuon which happen to 3 billion people on a regular basis of half their lives, they would have be one extremely delicate and sensitive pharmacist. So  you choose not to speak to the pharmacist, why then did you not ask them to ring your Dr, as your Dr suggested.

# 215

Posted: 22/02/2011 14:39

# 214

Posted: 22/02/2011 11:35

HSE, you culd have told the pharmacist in Boots that you needed to speak with them in private but surely now that you have gotten your perscription it's not needless?

# 213

Posted: 22/02/2011 09:36

"but I'm his customer not his patient"

Wow, this statement actually pretty much sums up the argument for me. Well said.

# 212

Posted: 21/02/2011 18:28

I had cause to visit my GP myself a few weeks ago, the reason is irrelevant, I was advised to take Ibuprofen or if the pain got bad enough to take Solpadeine. Problem. I have asked for a wee pack of Ibuprofen from my local Boots a few times over the past several weeks to the extent that the pharmacist is now "cagey" about selling them to me. Last week he was reluctant to sell me a pack of Ibuprofen, explaining all about the dangers of the medication and how I have bought several packs there in recent weeks. I suppose I could tell him what's wrong with me and why I'm told by my doctor to take this over the counter medication but I'm his customer not his patient. When I go to any of my several doctors I have a file several inches thick and I'm seen in the privacy of a consultation room, granted usually for only 10 minutes if I'm lucky, but not at the edge of a Boots counter.

I went back to my GP last week and explained all this, his answer, well just get Solpediene then. They just don't understand. I had to explain that it would be pointless asking for a pack of Solpediene with anything less than my severed leg under my arm, all joking aside I seriously do feel it would be pointless and have never asked for it. My GP acknowledged that many of his patients have expressed similar accounts, some a lot worse than mine, all he could do was suggest the pharmacist call him or prescribe them for me. I left with a needless prescription.

# 211

Posted: 21/02/2011 14:16

Agnes is quite right, They cannot withhold a med just on a 'notion' they might have about a person. They can only do so with based on strict medical criteria.

# 210

Posted: 21/02/2011 10:41

There seems to be an attitude that we have a right to any non perscription medicines and any pharmacist that is doing their job is just out to annoy you. Agnes, codeine is a controlled drug under the missuse of drugs act. Your opinion that they cant withold a medicine is wrong, they're entitled to do it.

# 209

Posted: 18/02/2011 14:51

Pharmacists, in my opinion, are obliged to give you advice about meds such as side effects, interactions etc but not to withhold a med just on a 'notion' they might have about someone. 

It is going way beyond a joke in this country. We are told you cannot buy more than 1 product with paracetamol in it so you just walk out of one shop and into another. How mad is that? 

If I want to buy Solphadeine (personally I have never found it good for me in controlling pain) then any pharmacist that would refuse me, would never get my business again.

# 208

Posted: 13/01/2011 12:13

just in case it got overlooked, I wrote about chronic pain a few days ago, prompted by Carol's Q at #192 about the high number of tablets dispensed for one person. My message went astray and when moved here, got slotted in below a few more recent messages, at #200.

So, I'd just ask you, please to have a look and get a sense of the reality of chronic or neuropathic pain. Yes, see a doctor, but not all doctors are knowledgeable about it yet, so prescriptions, direction to trained programmes might not be forthcoming... Hence reliance on pharmacists, who mightn't know either, and back to my original point about how the pharmacist treats the customer.

# 207

Posted: 13/01/2011 11:05

HSE, your daughter has 2 options IMHO. Either make a complaint to the PSI, or accept what happened and move on. That explains my comment about it being her problem. It's pointless coming onto an internet message board to express outrage and complain to anonymous internet messageboard users but not tell the one person that you should complain to that can do something about it. If it was my daughter I would encourage her to make a proper complaint if she was mistreated. There's a big section about making complaints on the PSI website which tells you exactly how to go about doing it. There's no "technically" about it, codeine is a controlled drug on the Misuse of Drugs act. And asking how a pharmacist deems it necessary to give out the drug, they have guidelines and questions to ask the customer. If your daughter feels the pharmacist didn't have a private area to talk, she should include that in her complaint. http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=18137

# 206

Posted: 13/01/2011 09:57

and what exactly is your point abrosshigh - that Irish laws are different from Australian ones? So?

# 205

Posted: 12/01/2011 19:51

A woman I know who went to visit her family in Australia for a few months, a couple of years ago, forgot to pack the 24 boxes of 24 solpedine that she had stocked up for the duration of her trip. (Works out to be 6 a day that she was taking) She was seriously distressed on arrival in Australia.  In sympathy for her plight a neighbour posted out a box of 24 solpedine from Ireland to the Australian address. It never arrived. Instead a letter from 'Customs and Border Protection' was delivered to say that a prohibited and restricted narcotic substance was being withheld.

# 204

Posted: 12/01/2011 19:26

Jamie, ok so Solpedine is technically an MDA drug but in reality is a controlled drug as it contains relatively low doses of codiene and it should only be supplied when a pharmacist deems it necessary. How do they do that? The guidelines say "should only be supplied when the pharmacist deems such a supply is necessary", but they do NOT say how the pharmacist is to "deem it" nor do they give anyone the implicit right to interrogate anyone else. Are we to assume we must submit to this interrogation if we want what is after all non-prescription pain relief. As for talking to a customer in private, this has already been discussed at length here and many pharmacies do not have what most consider a private area, the pharmacy in question did not have any such area. I realise pharmacist's call doctors all the time, mine does, and this guy could easily have but didn't. The prescription was fine and was filled but the Solpediene wasn't on the prescription, the GP didn't see the need. 

Yes my daughter does feel she was mistreated by the pharmacist, she had just been to see her GP, around the corner incidentally, had been prescribed several medications and told to ask for Solpediene and to tell the pharmacist to call the GP if there was any doubt. Now what exactly does a pharmacist need to "deem it necessary"? He just decided not to supply it without any "deeming", if thats not a power trip what is? As for your comment " If she doesn't make a complaint because she feels like she'll be made feel like a "drug addict" for asking for a drug that the doctor told her to take, that's her problem" that just offensive. The whole point was that while the doctor told her to take them the pharmacist wouldn't "deem them necessary".

# 203

Posted: 12/01/2011 13:47

buzz: in response to your concerns re fertility, it's hugely variable unfortunately. The standard guidelines suggest it can take from 6-18 months for fertility to return to normal when you stop taking the pill; however, this does not mean you are infertile, simply that you might not be quite as fertile straight away. Many women do fall pregnant straight away; in some cases it takes longer. However, IMO there is an added issue with these stats in that many women take the pill to treat period problems which can be symptomatic of an underlying condition like endo or PCOS, so these women may be subfertile anyway, and therefore in many cases it might be an underlying condition that causes them to take a while to fall pregnant, rather than the pill itself.

If you were thinking about TTC, my advice would be to come off the pill 6-12 months before you want to start trying, and do one of the following: switch to a different pill, as some leave the system immediately (I think Marvelon is one brand that does); have an IUD or IUS fitted (an IUD contains no hormones; an IUS contains hormones and should stop periods so is good for treating period problems) as as soon as these are removed, fertility returns to normal; use condoms. I'm currently on Cerazette, and will be coming off it and having an IUS fitted about 6 months before I start thinking about TTC as this will stop my periods as Cerazette is doing, and suppress my endo, but there won't be a delay in fertility. I will then likely have another op because my cons has said that my ovaries and uterosacral ligaments are likely to restick (I had my second op in August and they were stuck down with endo adhesions, causing the chronic pain) which will make it difficult for an egg to be released, and this should improve my chances for 6 months; HOPEFULLY, this will work, but obviously it's a waiting game :-s

# 202

Posted: 12/01/2011 12:17

HSE, pharmacists are entitled to question you about codeine and they can refuse to give it out. Codeine is a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs act and pharmacists are completely within their rights to not give it out. However, legally they should have an area where they can talk to the customer in private. And the pharmacist should have called the doctor in your daughters case. It's standard procedure for pharmacists to call doctors to clarify perscriptions. If your daughter feels she was mistreated by the pharmacist, send a complaint to the PSI. If she doesn't make a complaint because she feels like she'll be made feel like a "drug addict" for asking for a drug that the doctor told her to take, that's her problem. As for pharmacists abusing patients for the sake of a "power trip", I just don't believe that.

# 201

Posted: 11/01/2011 18:44

Jamie, I wasn't with my daughter at the time so you'll have to appreciate I can only relay what she told me and that was that the doctor told her to take Solpediene for pain as she was leaving. He didn't seem to understand or appreciate that she would be questioned about this and when she pointed it out just said if there was any problem to get the pharmacist to call him, yes he was dismissive and could or should have done more. The pharmacist on the other hand could simply have made that call if he was in so much doubt, although I can't see why, as my daughter had just submitted a prescription from her GP for other medication so had clearly been to see him and was obviously ill.

Its my understanding that pharmacists are supposed to ADVISE if it's asked for and suggest that patients first try paracetamol, ibrufoen etc before codiene products and then when handing over a product such as Solpediene make the patient aware of its usage instructions, not to be used for more than three days etc. Correct me if I'm wrong but are they allowed to interrogate people and then decide that, no, they are not going to sell them this product today? If they are then this is clearly open to abuse and abuse it they do. As for reporting him I don't know if she's going to do this because this whole thing seems to be open to abuse and someone else's interpretation, if you complain about it in any shape or form you're made to feel like a drug addict and give the speech about codiene being addictive and how its for "your own good". Just look at some of the comments here. She did say however that when she felt better she was going to go back to the same pharmacist and ask for Solpediene again, God help him. She mentioned something about dealing with drug addicts and alchoholic's compasionately every night but ripping his head off, there may have been some other colourful language in there too.

# 200

Posted: 11/01/2011 17:30

To everyone: Sorry this is so long but I hope it helps awareness:

Re HSE employee, I agree with Jamie that the doctor should have included solpadeine in the prescription – what was he thinking of? And the pharmacist?  

Re Carol (#192), and other cases where codeine-pain killers are prescribed: you asked for an explanation, so here’s one:  I am guessing that the prescription for 180 codeine tablets was for someone known by their doctor to have Chronic Pain. 180 is not the max, by any means.

If you haven’t been there, count your blessings, just suspend judgement. You might contract it after an accident, after an illness, or for no good reason at all. You could be 16 or 60, male or female.  You may have to live like this for the rest of your life...

 It might arise years after an injury. You will probably end up out of work, with out-of-control pain that is dominating your existence, unable to sleep, barely able to function. Your will lose most of your circle of friends, as you will have to keep cancelling outings (Christmas? Birthdays? Weddings? A few drinks? ) ending up instead crippled in pain, sad at losing another chance, with every cell  of your body fighting you - thunder and lightning coursing through the nerves of your body. You may lost the will to go on.

You will be exhausted and irritable, and your domestic relationships will suffer:  no-one will or can understand why you are suffering. They may put it down to psychological reasons (by this stage, of course, you will probably be depressed anyway). Lack of understanding – in fact the impatience and intolerance of non-sufferers, friends, colleagues and, most important, medical professionals adds to the burden of the sufferer.

If you are lucky, you will be referred to a consultant specialising in chronic pain. For the first time in years you know that you are not imagining it. It is unlikely that it can be cured, but there are treatments available that can alleviate the severity, and as Marty says in the Tesco ad, “every little helps”. Pain is real, and chronic pain is something that goes on for more than three months. Chronic pain is a seriously debilitating – even incapacitating - illness, which the Chronic Pain Association, together with specialist doctors and international bodies, is trying to get recognised as a disease, in its own right.

Why? Well, that would mean that it would be included in doctors’ and, I am guessing, pharmacists’ training. It’s not taught in medical school! (Therefore, it does not exist...)

It might lead to more specialists being available to treat the number of people who suffer from this, as well as improving research into its cause. There are other methods and interventions that can help, rather than through medication solely, but with such few resources and knowledge, codeine painkillers (“killer”? – a misnomer) may be the only recourse. They may in any case continue to be a necessary part of the sufferer’s ongoing pain management regime.

For those whose doctors aren’t yet aware of pain as a disease in its own right, the poor patient is left trying to get something that works for them - all sots of quack stuff, all sorts of expensive rubs, salves, painkillers and, of course, solpadeine – the codeine helps. Would you deny someone with bad arthritis a small bit of help? Some doctors think their patients should just get on with it – easier said than done.

With better awareness, all medical professionals (including dentists, physiotherapist etc) could recognise the symptoms and refer their patients (or customers) to one of the pain management programmes (tho I’m reluctant to advertise this too much, as there are not enough resources nationwide).    First stop, try the Chronic Pain Association I mentioned earlier.

Hope this helps someone who's in long term pain and stuck with the prevailing attitudes.

# 199

Posted: 11/01/2011 14:23

Thanks Barbie for the info. I was actually worried about my fertility going on the pill, I had heard urban myths about how long it takes to become pregnant after you come off it! Apparently though you can pregnant straight away once you stop taking it? Hopefully for you this will also be the case, and so you may not need to endure too many cycles before you become pregnant!  I personally have never heard of a menstruating man but you never know!

# 198

Posted: 11/01/2011 12:38

barbie86, you got the cart before the horse. It was buzz who accused me of not reading posts - a stock reply to a differing opinion.

The inadvertant use of the pronoun 'he' does not mean the poster thinks men menstruate. But, if you 'lol'ed' at it, fair enough.

What you do not seem to realise is that the solution to her problem lay in what she was objecting to all along.

There is no smoke witofire!

# 197

Posted: 11/01/2011 12:05

HSE Employee, both the pharmacist and the doctor were wrong. The pharmacist should have rang the doctor. And the doctor should have filled out the perscription properly and included solpadine on it. I assume if your daughter felt she was treated unfairly by the pharmacise, she sent a complaint to the PSI?

# 196

Posted: 11/01/2011 11:55

Sorry, just lol'ed at the fact that witofire is accusing buzz of not reading posts, yet referred to her as 'him' and 'he'; I have to say, I didn't know men menstruated... ;-)

Buzz: I'm glad the pill is helping; hormonal contraceptives are the only thing that work for me, even extremely strong painkillers do nothing for my pain. BTW, if you're on the combined pill, you can run packets together without a break, so you bleed less frequently; perfectly safe and done in the USA all the time, so might be worth considering once you've been on it a few months and have seen how it settles. As you rightly say though, this is not possible for all women; some women cannot be on hormonal contraceptives due to certain risk-factors or health problems, and some suffer too many side effects to outweigh the benefits. I actually dread starting a family because it will obviously mean I cannot take hormonal contraceptives anymore, plus I will be very limited painkiler-wise; realistically, this will mean missing a minimum of 2 days of work every 4 weeks, hardly ideal :-( I've been on hormonal contraceptives of some sort since I was 15 (I'm now 24) with just a 2 month break a couple of years ago which was HORRENDOUS, so it's going to be a bit of a shock :-s

# 195

Posted: 10/01/2011 19:38

My daughter was ill last week, it doesn't really matter with what, but she went to her GP and he prescribed various medication saying she should take some pain relief too, Solpediene would do the job for a couple of days. She pointed out to him what she expected to happen when when she asked for Solpediene at the Chemists but he just laughed it off saying if there was any problem tell them to give him a call, he had already written the prescription.

My daughter trotted down to the local chemists, did exactly what he said, and the pharmacist questioned her asking her why she wanted Solpedine. He wanted to know if she had tried paracetamol or ibuprofen first, and she tried to explain that, no, she hadn't her GP had told her to use Solpediene and if there was a problem to give him a call.

The upshot of this was that she got her medication on prescription but the pharmacist refused to sell her the Solpediene, he didn't give a reason, and my daughter wasn't physically capable of a public arguement so she just left it. For now. I should mention that she is a nurse in one of the major Dublin A&E departments. This seems to be typical of what we're seeing, a GP has no idea of what's actually happening in "the real world" and a pharmacist has gone mad on a "power trip". Granted a nurse is just as capable of abusing codeine as anyone else but what's the point in having a pain killer if you're in pain, it's recognised by your GP, who recommends Solpediene, then a power mad jumped up pharmacist abuses his position and refuses to sell it or even check?

# 194

Posted: 09/01/2011 22:04

Buzz,

My God it took you long time to see the light & for the penny to drop. Hopefuly we wont have to endure any more windups.

# 193

Posted: 08/01/2011 17:55

An elderly relative of mine was being subscribed a painkiller that contained codeine by her GP. This relative had the occasional mild headache. While on a trip to America a few years ago, this relative was rushed to hospital with alarming symptoms. After extensive tests which ultimately the VHI paid for, it was discovered that my relative was suffering from codeine withdrawal.  It transpired that my relative took the painkiller every evening along with a cup of coffee to give her an edge before playing card games! The whole experience was traumatic and troublesome for all involved. Oh, her GP didn't believe what had happened and continued to prescribe the painkiller on her return!

# 192

Posted: 08/01/2011 00:21

With all this about the Pharmacists limiting the amounts of Codeine, Solpadeine etc? Has anyone noticed how many of these tablets a Doctor may put on a prescription? I have seen as much as 180 prescribed in one month, more at times!! Can this be explained?

# 191

Posted: 07/01/2011 13:54

It is always refreshing to hear that someone has discovered a solution to their problems. Best of luck!

I have always found that even those who disagree with my point of view still enlighten me.

There is no smoke witofire!

# 190

Posted: 07/01/2011 13:15

Buzz, glad to see you're not behaving like a child, but you came on to post one more insult at posters that share a different opinion than you. The irony. But at least your period pain is sorted. My wife has the opposite problem, when she's on the pill she has more painful periods.

# 189

Posted: 07/01/2011 10:20

thanks Anon. TBH I havent even (oops!) READ the posts that have been left here over the past few days. I've had a brief look through them and nothing new there lol. I have had just about the worst two days of my life. Now that I am out of the woods, so to speak, I have a renewed sense of perspective, and one which does not involve key banging and bickering like children. I honestly did not think I could come through the past few days in one piece but sometimes we are stronger than we give ourselves credit for I guess. We never know what is ahead of us in life, and maybe it's better that we dont.

Anyway this is hardly the place for such a discussion but just wanted to let you know why I will not be posting on this thread anymore. Have to say, you are one of the few posters who manages to be almost completely objective and mature in your approach, whihc is refreshign to say the least.

Oh and also, you will all be deligted to know that I will no longer be badgering my pharmacist for codeine products - started the pill last month and periods are a breeze now (though of course let me clarify that I am not saying that all women who need codeine to combat period pain should go on the pill, that would be wrong, as the pill may not be for everyone, though no doubt there will be people on here saying, "I told you so, I told you so, there's no need for codeine for period pains, la la la la laaaa" )

Goodbye

# 188

Posted: 05/01/2011 20:45

Anon, With regard to your post # 186 what is the meaning of “Yes again 'wit', if you had actually READ the previous posts you would see that that wasn't Buzz's point at all”? What point do you refer to?

Anyway, maybe you should let buzz respond to those posts which he decides warrant a reply from him.

It strikes me that only those people who go from one pharmacy to another, for whatever reason, are the only ones who would be asked questions on an ongoing basis. Presumably your regular pharmacist would get to know you after a while and therefore would know about the reason you had given to him previously. It would seem to me also that the people being protected most by this rule would be the very people who are complaining the loudest.

There is no smoke witofire!