Drugs or tips on saving money

No, not *those* ones, *these* ones.

While in Superdrug on Saturday, I asked the pharmacist what there was available to treat psorasis, and I got the answer, nothing apart from aqueous cream is available over the counter/from a pharmacy.

I am now firmly in favour of beingjdc's suggestion that anyone with a shred of common sense should be able to self prescribe. Why should I have to make an appointment with a doctor to have him/her tell me what I already know - that I have psorasis, and to write a prescription for me? It makes no sense; particularly since I'm not going to go and see a doctor about this - it'd be a waste of everyone's time; I'm just going to leave it to heal itself.

Seeing the guy in the queue in front of me buying £78 worth of over the counter/pharmacy only medicines, reminded me of another rant about them, which is this - all medicines must meet the same standards for safety - so any product containing paracetomal will be exactly as good as any other paracetomal containing product. Unfortunately most people don't realise what the active ingredients are in their branded drugs, or realise how much over the odds they're paying for said drugs.

Under no circumstances buy Lemsip/Neurofen/Calpol/Disprol etc. Always look for the shop's own make of paracetomal or ibuprofen and you'll save yourself an absolute fortune.

For reference: Lemsip is paracetomal and caffeine - if you want caffeine buy some proplus/shop's own equilvalent. Incidentally Lemsip is even worse than some others, since unless you buy their 'max strength' stuff you only get 750mg paracetomal in a sachet, not the 1000mg which is the standard adult dose.
Neurofen is ibuprofen
Calpol/Disprol are paracetomal
Sulphadeine is paracetomal and codeine

If you need a stronger painkiller ask for 'paracetomal and codeine' tablets at the pharmacy.

If you need anything else where you'd normally reach for a brand name, look on the back of the pack for 'active ingredients', and see what that is, and then go and ask for the active ingredient.

Drugs or tips on saving money

No, not *those* ones, *these* ones.

While in Superdrug on Saturday, I asked the pharmacist what there was available to treat psorasis, and I got the answer, nothing apart from aqueous cream is available over the counter/from a pharmacy.

I am now firmly in favour of beingjdc's suggestion that anyone with a shred of common sense should be able to self prescribe. Why should I have to make an appointment with a doctor to have him/her tell me what I already know - that I have psorasis, and to write a prescription for me? It makes no sense; particularly since I'm not going to go and see a doctor about this - it'd be a waste of everyone's time; I'm just going to leave it to heal itself.

Seeing the guy in the queue in front of me buying £78 worth of over the counter/pharmacy only medicines, reminded me of another rant about them, which is this - all medicines must meet the same standards for safety - so any product containing paracetomal will be exactly as good as any other paracetomal containing product. Unfortunately most people don't realise what the active ingredients are in their branded drugs, or realise how much over the odds they're paying for said drugs.

Under no circumstances buy Lemsip/Neurofen/Calpol/Disprol etc. Always look for the shop's own make of paracetomal or ibuprofen and you'll save yourself an absolute fortune.

For reference: Lemsip is paracetomal and caffeine - if you want caffeine buy some proplus/shop's own equilvalent. Incidentally Lemsip is even worse than some others, since unless you buy their 'max strength' stuff you only get 750mg paracetomal in a sachet, not the 1000mg which is the standard adult dose.
Neurofen is ibuprofen
Calpol/Disprol are paracetomal
Sulphadeine is paracetomal and codeine

If you need a stronger painkiller ask for 'paracetomal and codeine' tablets at the pharmacy.

If you need anything else where you'd normally reach for a brand name, look on the back of the pack for 'active ingredients', and see what that is, and then go and ask for the active ingredient.