I bitched about this in reply to some poor soul
So you are getting it for real this time, while I vent my spleen, sat in bed fucking ill again and doped up on paracetamol and codeine.

I have a great Doctor, he is shit hot and talks to me as a human being. He is honest, reliable and when I am crap, he fixes it. I need pain killers, he gives me the script. I need hormones, he gives me the script. I had a box fall on my head at work, he sent me to physiotherapy. The guy really knows his shit and like me he is a biker and he rides a Ducati, the guy is not only a great Doctor, he is fucking cool. Were he not my Doctor, he would be a good person to have as a mate.

So why the fuck does the sixteen year old counter assistant in the Chemist think that she knows more about my drugs than my well fucking qualified Doctor?

I developed a nasty sinus infection, that caused a pain in my head so bad, I though I had a brain tumor. My Doctor laughed when I said that and agreed that yes, I had a sinus infection. He gave me a script for antibiotics and told me to get some paracetamol.

I wandered to the chemist and presented said script and asked for the pain killers. The head ache was so bad, I could barely see. The teenage twat behind the counter wants to know if I have used paracetamol before? She then asks me if I am on any other meds. Yes I am. What are they for? The chemist's shop is full of badly dressed, barely human drug addicts. I do not want to discuss my very personal medical history with a spotty faced child who has just started her first job, but thinks she knows it all. When I do not want to tell her what my drugs are, she does not want to give me my script or my paracetamol. My meds are fucking personal and not something I want shared with the sub human life forms who are now watching intently in case I have some thing they can rob!

It was not just me she gave the third degree to, oh no. Stood in front of me is the pensioner who went in for her heart pills and arthritis meds and got the same treatment. This woman retired before the counter girl was born, she was fully aware of who she was, she did not need a chav in an apron and a name badge demanding to know her medical history. She walked out in much the same way that I was about to.

The counter girl with held my meds and pain killers until I gave her an answer. "I have been a long term pain sufferer for years, I was on meds to keep my bones from crumbling and my head sane since before you were in secondary school!" She sort of crumpled, I was pissed off, in fuck loads of pain and wanted my drugs that I had paid for.

Yes, those fucking stupid counter assistants in the chemist. "Oh let me just check that with the Pharmacist... Ooh, I can't sell you two boxes of paracetamol, you might die!"

For fucks sake, I am an adult. If I want to buy two boxes of paracetamol then I fucking well will. I can get less hassle in the super market buying pain killers. You undereducated, poorly skilled little arse monkey. If you can't help me then fuck off and let me talk to a real fucking chemist, one who went to the same fucking type of university as me and spent his/her study periods recovering from alcoholic poisoning.

I really fucking hate them, the little cunts.

Mind you, I had a great Pharmacist a while back whose name was Susan. She was brilliant and helped me get off nasty Neuropathic painkillers and onto a different treatment regime that worked for a while. She was fucking ace and very well qualified though and at no time did she say "have you taken paracetamol before?"
( Rev. Jayneflakes Buy my book, I need the cash for drugs and hookers, Fri 28 May 2010, 22:56, 13 replies)

Damn right
My pharmacist likes arguing with me about medicine I've been taking since I was 5. Every time I go to get it, I get the third degree about do I know how to use it, has my doctor given me clear instructions on it, do I know that it has these side effects...?

Thankfully, due to a curious childhood, I'm able to list every fact about my medication in Chemist!Spiel and explain very patiently exactly what I know... while said chemist checks the information sheet and looks embarrassed. It works quite well, but I guess not if you're in agony.

Also, if your nurse doesn't know what a catalyst is... run away.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Fri 28 May 2010, 23:14, closed)

Probably not entirely her fault...
When I was at uni I worked at Superdrug for a bit and occasionally I was expected to go on the Pharmacy. I was told by the Pharmacist that I had to ALWAYS ask these stupid questions because if something went wrong she would be the one who got in shit for it. As for me, I'd be straight out the door.
So I know it's patronising and you just want to jump over the counter and chuck them down your neck as quickly as possible, taking her out in the process, but as you say, it's probably her first job and she probably has the Pharmacist breathing down her neck from the dispensary. She's just...eager. She'll lighten up. Probably.
(HugeTonsils was being a shop bitch on, Fri 28 May 2010, 23:34, closed)

But some of the rules are so daft anyway
Like the one about paracetamol- my friend was told that yes, she could buy two packets in Tesco and two in the next door pharmacy, because the walk would be theraputic enough to stop her being depressed enough to top herself.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Fri 28 May 2010, 23:45, closed)

Ah, the good old UK health and safety culture
You bunch of pussies, you are living in a society where a 16 year old tells you you cant buy two boxes of paracetamol?
Fucking hell.
( Traducer, Sat 29 May 2010, 10:16, closed)

I've never had this
despite being on antiepileptic drugs for three-quarters of my life.

Maybe I got it all when I was younger, and it just passed me by in the haze of tests and assessments and so forth. I don't know. I looked it up to see if there were any special circumstances, and there are as many as you'd expect from any drug that affects your brain (carbemazepine). Although there is an amusing quote in Wikiped: "Carbamazepine may aggravate juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, so it is important to uncover any history of jerking, especially in the morning." Heh.
Maybe my pharmacists just don't give a shit.


_{Lol massive drugs}
(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Sat 29 May 2010, 0:32, closed)

I've been off carbamazapine for two months now
such a relief.
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Sat 29 May 2010, 1:22, closed)

A relief? What did it do to you?
I've been on a - I assume - mild daily dose for 16 years now. I know it suppresses brain functions, so I wonder what exactly I'd be like without it, but I've never spent more than a few days without it - and anecdotal evidence does suggest I'm rather more active without it. Why are you relieved to be off it? I'm intrigued as to someone else's experience of the drug.
(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Sat 29 May 2010, 1:50, closed)

Click
totally agree with this. Had the same problem with a chemist who wanted to *call my doctor* to 'make sure' that she hadn't written down the wrong amount of gabapentin. I had to carefully and patiently explain to her that I'd been on it for one and a half years and bloody well knew my dosage inside and out
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Sat 29 May 2010, 1:23, closed)

Gabapentine, Yuk!
I was on Gabapentine for about a year and it turned me into a zombie. One day while working in the lab, I collapsed and fell onto my Bunsen Burner! Luckily, it went out and I was not burned. I got sent home though and then sent to the Doctor. The Doctor swapped it for another version called Pregabelin and once again I had to build up my dose, until I rattled when I walked. In total I was on about twelve tablets a day of various meds. When I finally came off of them, the withdrawal was horrible and I spent two months throwing up in the street every time we went out! The TENS machine was great though, when I got bored I could use it to zap my friends!
( Rev. Jayneflakes Buy my book, I need the cash for drugs and hookers, Sat 29 May 2010, 10:47, closed)

I'm down to about 1000mg a day now
but on it for the forseeable future. Some days I'm probably a bit zombie-like, more lethargic than anything, but have improved since dropping the carbamazapine. Getting a degree while on these meds though is like wading through treacle.

Haha I never got a TENS machine, sad times
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Sat 29 May 2010, 12:30, closed)

I rarely need my TENS anymore
But still take a lot of pain killers. I went through a whole list of drugs to combat neuropathic pain following some major surgery, but Pregabalin and Gabapentine were by far the worst. When I was on loads of them, my bowel started to grow thin and would periodically split, pouring blood out of my arse, sounds funny, but was actually horribly embarrassing and scary when it happened. Getting your degree while taking these things is worthy of praise, well done. I could barely stay awake at work, let alone read complex textbooks.
The TENS was brilliant though and I used it every day right up until late last year. I even underwent most of my motorcycle training wired up, however when the pain clinic wanted to put me back on meds, I told them to fuck off. Riding a big bike and being a zombie are not a great way to continue with a good life expectancy!
( Rev. Jayneflakes Buy my book, I need the cash for drugs and hookers, Sat 29 May 2010, 16:31, closed)

A similar story told to me by a vastly cleverer mate than me
He is a lecturer in a well known school of pharmacy. If he gets a prescription, you can be sure he knows more about the pharmacology, side effects, and dose regime and interactions than the average GP.
Cue him having to collect a scrip from his local chemist. The assistant started to give the talk very slowly spiel, to which the pharmacist behind the counter piped up, thats Dr xxxxx. I'm his ex student, and i can guarantee he knows all about that. Just hand the damn stuff over.

To be fair I don't have a problem with them doing the mandatory double-check ask about "are you allegic to penicillin" and an address check when they hand over a course of amoxycillin. The usual, yeah taken them before is sufficient, but giving the third degree to someone with a standard scrip should get their arses kicked
(Sir Tainley Barking Ezekiel 23:20, Sat 29 May 2010, 2:31, closed)

Perhaps my chemists just don't care, but I've never gotten that. Of course, around here if I try and buy certain allergy meds, I need to show two forms of ID, sign a contract, and I can only purchase the exact dose for a one month period or less from that store within a month. I wish I was kidding, but the local police and politicians are terrified that I might try and turn it all into crystal meth, despite the fact I've had severe allergies since I was four or so.
( Ithyphallophobia, Sat 29 May 2010, 3:47, closed)