Over the counter meds

Yes, sorry, I didn't make myself clear.    By 'here' I meant the town where I live and the surgery that I attend.  I know others have mentioned being able to get them over the phone.  I'm more lucky than most as I can usually get an appointment within a day or two.

My surgery doesn't let you phone in refills.   You have to go there during opening hours and stick the empty box of the prescription you want into a little mailbox and give them 48 hours before you can pick up the prescription and then take it to the pharmacy.

It's an extreme hassle for me as I'm always getting refills (asthma & allergies)!  :-/  

When you get a prescription you also get a request form. We usually FAX these in. I am on four different meds and Mrs C has several others. They are usually prescribed in about one month quantities but, because of minor differences, they are always out of sync. That would mean a trip to lodge the request, and another to retrieve the new prescriptions. For every one.  Extreme hassle, I agree. Faxing the requests in halves the number of visits.
I wish they could just put like 6 refills on the prescription and you could just go back to the pharmacy when you need them like in the US.

There's another annoying aspect I have recently noticed with the repeat prescription forms you get here (in UK).
There is a date on it for when the next review of your medication is due, usually in 3 or 6 months time. That's fine. But..............
The surgery I go to won't let you book an appointment more than two WEEKS ahead.

another medicine they sell OTC in the UK is DiFlucan. 

I once got a perscription for 6 months of my thryroid medication.  However, since that initial 6 month period, I can now only get 2 months at a time.  I can order my refill online actually... but every 6 months I need to take time off work to get another perscription.  I've been on the medicaiton for 14 years..... seems like a lot of wasted time if you ask me.

I once got a perscription for 6 months of my thryroid medication.  However, since that initial 6 month period, I can now only get 2 months at a time.  I can order my refill online actually... but every 6 months I need to take time off work to get another perscription.  I've been on the medicaiton for 14 years..... seems like a lot of wasted time if you ask me.

My thoughts too.

Anyone know of a comprehensive list of over the counter meds available in Britain. I'm starting to pack up for my move to the UK, and wanted to be sure I brought over the counter products I may not be able to get over there. 

I was surprised by how many IBS medicines are available in the UK...yippie for me.  It's just now being taken seriously in the US and it's considered a normal type of disease in the UK.  Guess it's just another good thing about the UK...hehehe

Aside from the couple of IBS meds that were already mentioned... what others? 

Lloyds pharmacy does a free repeat prescription service, supposed to save you from going back and forth to the surgery, and then to the pharmacy. I've not used it yet though, as I only take one medication.

http://www.lloydspharmacy.co.uk/pcs_standard_leaflet.pdf

The other day I wanted some eyedrops for redness -- something like Visine? I asked at Boot's, and they did have it but it was hidden behind the counter. It was o-t-c, but the pharmacist gave me the third degree! "Is it for you?"  "How long have you had this problem?"  "How often do you get this problem?"  "Have you seen your GP?"   It was hysterical!! Yeesh, it's just Visine! 

yeah, the same thing happened for lubricating ointment I needed for a severe flare-up of my dry eye syndrome. I worked for an eye surgeon back in the states, so I knew the ingredients and everything, so she finally gave them to me. My Artificial Tears that have always been otc are prescription here-that's so weird, especially since codeine is otc!

I went into a Boots to get some Sudafed Max for sinuses.  They couldn't sell it to me b/c the chemist wasn't there.     So I went to Lloyd's next door and got it.

another rx tidbit... one of mine (for the bc patch actually) is never in stock in any pharmacies.  boots do a mail order service.  so i go online, request a refill from my gp.  go pick it up and stick it in the post with boots form.  then two days later i get the RX.  saves me time.

If you have an ongoing condition that requires continuous medication then your GP can issue repeat prescriptions and the surgery gives you a slip for use when you need to renew the medication.   If you have arranged for the medication to be collected at a named dispensing chemist (drug store) then that is where you go to collect it, along with the slip of paper listing the drug(s) for use the next time round.    That is what happens here and my mother does it.  I think that's what people do all over the UK.

yeah, the same thing happened for lubricating ointment I needed for a severe flare-up of my dry eye syndrome. I worked for an eye surgeon back in the states, so I knew the ingredients and everything, so she finally gave them to me. My Artificial Tears that have always been otc are prescription here-that's so weird, especially since codeine is otc!

Snupy,
    I am in process of relocating to Britain as a spouse of a lovely scouser but have worked  in the UK and Europe on many occasions.  I have chronic dry eye to which a doctor in the US told me to use a product called 'Lacralube'  (not sure if the spelling is correct... be a long time since I used it)  .... Anyway I was unable to get it anywhere else in the world but did find a product that is over the counter in the UK called 'Viscotears'.  It is about 5pd50 a tube and is a light gel that I would use at night. Found it to be much better than the other from the US.  You will have to ask for it at Boots. While it requires no prescription, they do keep it behind the counter.   I ordered it 10 tubes at a time... no sweat!!
Hope this helps

Just wanted to add something here, since I work behind the pharmacy counter at a Boots store...

The reason we ask you all the questions when you try to buy something from behind the counter is because we're told to.

The the till screen even has prompts for us:

What is it?
Who is it for?
How long have they had the symptoms?
Are they taking any other medication?

You guys get the third degree because we have to cover our backs. We need to make sure we give you the correct product for your symptoms and if we don't check, and accidentally end up selling you something that could actually make the symptoms worse, we can get into big trouble.

For example, I might have someone come in and ask for a chesty cough medicine, but when I ask them what their symptoms here, it turns out that they don't have a chesty cough at all (it might be a dry cough instead) and giving them what they originally asked for is not actually going to help them get better!

It's the same as the 'Do you have an Advantage card?' question. People get fed up with being asked these questions every time they shop in Boots, but that's what we're trained to do and if we don't ask, we get in trouble with our managers.