Anything like Nyquil here?

I love the pharmacy counter at my local Boots.  I went in in all sorts of pain from a root canal, and she hooked me up  (legally, of course, and after confirming I would not take the pain meds more than three days in a row).  Very kind.

Random fact: there are actually no Lemsip pills available on the shelf that contain any type of drowsy ingredients at all (in fact Lemsip does not even make drowsy products)!

The only difference between daytime and nighttime Lemsip tablets is that they put caffeine in the day ones and there is no caffeine in the night ones. If you want something that will make you sleepy you have to go to the pharmacy counter to buy it (it's a legal thing) - as Wilkos are not a pharmacy, it is illegal for them to sell any medicine intended to make you sleepy.

Please don't be worried about asking for it at the pharmacy counter though - we're all very nice people, honest, and we try not to be intimidating . You don't even have to speak to the pharmacist to buy it - the healthcare counter assistants are very well trained (at least we are at Boots... not sure how much training other pharmacies gives - Boots healthcare staff have to pass 6 exams to be allowed to sell pharmacy products without pharmacist supervision).

We are required to ask certain questions though, to ensure that the product is suitable for you and won't interfere with any medication you already take or condition you already have (such as: Who is the product for? What symptoms do you wish to treat? How long have you had the symptoms? What other medication do you currently take? What have you taken for the symptoms already?), but we're not trying to prevent you from buying a product, we're only making sure that we sell products safely, give the correct advice and follow the legal guidelines.

Nope - as far as I'm aware that green cross/prescription warning is for online purchases only because it won't be a face-to-face sale and extra precautions have to be taken when selling it online. Night Nurse does not contain anything that requires a prescription.

Thanks for the answers, ksand24! I think I just did what I'd always do in the States and settle for what was a bit cheaper, and out on the shelf. I'm still not used to going to the pharmacy counter. The Lemsip pills that I found were the ones that say "at night" so....well, the rest was in the other post.

Thanks for the answers, ksand24! I think I just did what I'd always do in the States and settle for what was a bit cheaper, and out on the shelf. I'm still not used to going to the pharmacy counter.

No problem - glad to help . I've been working on the pharmacy counter on and off for almost 9 years now (during, in between and after my degrees), so it's just normal to me for people to visit the counter . There are a ton of meds behind it that you can buy on the shelf in the US, so by avoiding it, you're missing out on being able to purchase a lot of the medicine you're used to being able to pick up from the shelf in the US. For example, if you want more than 16 Ibuprofen tablets... ask for them at the counter and they can sell you up to 100 tablets. If you want a stronger painkiller, ask at the counter and you may be able to buy products that are prescription-only in the US (co-codamol, for example). If you can't find something on the shelf, just ask and we'll find it for you, or possibly order it for you if it's not in stock.

The Lemsip pills that I found were the ones that say "at night" so....well, the rest was in the other post.

Yeah, the 'at night' Lemsip are just Ibuprofen and phenylephrine (decongestant)... which are both non-drowsy (it's actually kind of sad that I know the ingredients off the top of my head... I really do spend too much time in the pharmacy - I can list the ingredients of hundreds of pharmacy products from memory !). If you want a drowsy product, there are several stocked behind the counter that you can ask the assistants for, but you can't just buy them off the shelf.

Night Nurse is the best comparison to NyQuil, and in fact is better.

NyQuil is 375mg Paracetamol (acetominophen) per half dose, Night Nurse is 500
NyQuil sleeping agent is i believe alcohol, Night Nurse is antihistamine
NyQuil decongestant is i think hydrobromide and NightNurse is the lovely pseudoephedrine

Only drawback is that there's no cough suppressant in Night Nurse

Night Nurse is the best comparison to NyQuil, and in fact is better.

NyQuil is 375mg Paracetamol (acetominophen) per half dose, Night Nurse is 500
NyQuil sleeping agent is i believe alcohol, Night Nurse is antihistamine
NyQuil decongestant is i think hydrobromide and NightNurse is the lovely pseudoephedrine

Only drawback is that there's no cough suppressant in Night Nurse

That's not quite right - I posted the ingredients for both products earlier in the thread.

- Both Nyquil and Night Nurse contain an antihistamine for the sleeping agent. There is some alcohol in both products, but I doubt it's enough to make you very sleepy.

- Neither product contains a decongestant, as the antihistamine is used instead (antihistamines dry up runny noses too). Night Nurse does not contain psuedoephedrine, only Day Nurse does (probably because psuedoephedrine can keep you awake).

- Night Nurse does contain a cough suppressant... the same cough suppressant as in Nyquil, in fact (dextromethorphan).

- Hydrobromide is not a drug, it's the compound form of a drug (like hydrocloride is a different form)... tons of medicines can be in 'hydrobromide' form. 'Hydrobromide' is 'a compound of hydrobromic acid with a base', where as 'hydrochloride' is 'a compound resulting or regarded as resulting from the reaction of hydrochloric acid with an organic base' (definitions found in www.thefreedictionary.com). The cough suppressant used in both products is technically called 'dextromethorphan hydrobromide' and the antihistamine in Night Nurse is 'promethazine hydrochloride'.

The only differences between Nyquil and Night Nurse are the amount of paracetamol and the type of drowsy antihistamine used in each.

(Disclaimer: I know what I'm talking about in terms of the ingredients because I work in a pharmacy and sell Night Nurse (and Day Nurse) to customers on a daily basis).