Not in those words but they messed up her prescription, giving her 500/8mg cocodamol instead of her normal 500/30mg, when she called to complain they told her to make up for the missing codeine by taking more tablets! luckily she called me and i warned her it was dangerous so she called back and spoke to the actual pharmacist who also warned her not to.
Has anyone else had any problems with chemists making mistakes?
I don't use this chemist anymore as they once gave me the wrong medicine for my daughter. when she was 4 months old they gave her medicine for kids aged 1-10!!! yes i have complained and there was an investigation, the official reasons for their continuous errors (there were more) was staff shortages altho personally it seemed more like staff incompetance.
2006-10-05 08:55:58 · 9 answers · asked by Andromeda Newton™ 7 in Health ➔ General Health Care ➔ Other - General Health Care
I am really sorry to hear about your experiences - i work in a pharmacy and would never dream about giving this kind of advice, hopefully with professional registration staff will be better trained and informed about the medicines they are prescibing
By the way this is quite true that your mother would have overdosed on paracetamol if she took more than 8 tablets in 24 hours.
you have my sympathies
2006-10-05 09:02:20 · answer #1 · answered by Trish 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes! They do make mistakes. And some people, like my Dad who is in his 80s, has about a dozen meds a day. Think of all that can go wrong!
One positive thing I've noticed here (I live in Virginia, USA) is that they've started sticking a label on each bottle that states the color, size, shape, and any markings of the pill/tab--so you can make sure that what's in the bottle is proper. I mean, if it were new to you, how would you know? I guess it's up to each of us to find a reputable pharmacist. Another story of incompetence: my Dad was able to purchase Vicodin (he had an authentic prescription) in bottles of like 500--the plastic bottles were the size of oil cans! and he had three in his apartment--how ridiculous is that??? He never over-used, but that's just crazy. Plus that drug is worth so much on the street someone could break in on him to steal it.
Sorry for the rant-- hope you Mum is doing better and glad you got a better chemist.
2006-10-05 09:09:25 · answer #2 · answered by myrmidon 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm very sorry for your poor experience.
It is very easy to give out the wrong medications, which is why there are such strict rules in place that everyone working in a Pharmacy follows. Unforunately, you always get a few bad apples that let things go wrong.
Staff shortages can be to blame, often pharmacies are understaffed and the pressure is very high. Also, people working in pharmacies often don't get much respect - the amount of people who say, oh, its only a bottle of antibiotics. Actually it is a lot more than that!
2006-10-05 08:59:13 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It might have been a bit stupid, but YES she can just take more LOW dose pills to reach the ideal target. It's the 'mg' value she needs to roughly match, not the amount of pills.
This isn't pharmacology - it's %$^&&%*$ing basic maths!! Take FOUR times the number of pills (4x8=32mg & 4x500=2g)
This is only HALF of the 4 grams or 4000mg, which is the recognised max for 'self medication'.
And for your information it takes a HELL of a lot more codine / paracetamol tham 32mg / 2 grams to 'top yourself'. The pharmacist was 'playing it safe' - as the next time the prescription is filled - he won't want her taking four pills!!
The recognised lethal dose is between 6 and 10grams or 10,000mg for paracetamol,
And codine 24hour dosage should not exceed 240mg in doses no greater than 60mg each - not lethal but is at the limits of the body's abilty to process.
However, the mix-up with your young daughter is just crass stupidity...
2006-10-05 09:17:29 · answer #4 · answered by creviazuk 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are right. Stuff shortage has nothing to do with that kind of mistakes. I remember similar things happened to my mom quite a while ago. The guy got the spelling wrong in the prescription and gave the wrong medicine to her. She got suspicious and called our GP to verify. The GP, who is also a family friend, got very upset and went down there personally and made their life miserable. Actually we felt sorry afterwards for the guy in the pharmacy.
2006-10-05 09:05:10 · answer #5 · answered by netwalker01 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Too much paracetamol is definitely bad for you in fact I heard taking it over a long period is not good even if you take the correct dose
2006-10-05 09:25:44 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Generally pharmamcists are great, and well qualified. They are human though, and we all make mistakes. Dispensing mistakes are rare but do happen.....always double check any new prescrption with them or the doctor before going home.
2006-10-05 09:00:18 · answer #7 · answered by rose_merrick 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
These are the ppl who are going to be allowed to do various health tests and advice(HELP).
2006-10-05 09:25:49 · answer #8 · answered by Francis7 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You begin to bleed internally. Even if your stomach's pumped, it gets you. Dead. d.
2006-10-05 09:04:25 · answer #9 · answered by tyrian&eustas(the puffin) 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋