Over the counter meds

I may have caught a climpse of it behind the counter at our local village pharmacy... can't be 100% sure, but it looked like it (Mylanta).

In the past few months, lots of states have started putting anything containing pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) behind the counter. The reason isn't for the safety of the customer or anything like that... it's because it's used to make crystal meth. Apparently people were buying and/or stealing large quantities of it.

Now you have to go to the pharmacist and ask for it. In some places (like here in Vermont) you have to show them ID and they write it all down in a little book -- who you are, what you bought, how much of it you bought.

You need a script for psudo in Oregon 

This one may not mean much to lots of you, but might be useful if you have children. I am quite young--21--and for some reason I have become spotty on my face like I never was when I was a teenager. Anyway, when I went home to visit I pinched some of an ointment that my younger brother had around the house which, it turns out, you can't get here without a prescription. It was just a benzoyl peroxide 5% cheapo brand. I was bummed when I got back here and realized I had to go back to being all spotty. I haven't found anything here that works as well.

This one may not mean much to lots of you, but might be useful if you have children. I am quite young--21--and for some reason I have become spotty on my face like I never was when I was a teenager. Anyway, when I went home to visit I pinched some of an ointment that my younger brother had around the house which, it turns out, you can't get here without a prescription. It was just a benzoyl peroxide 5% cheapo brand. I was bummed when I got back here and realized I had to go back to being all spotty. I haven't found anything here that works as well.

I'm confused - benzoyl peroxide 5% is not prescription only in the UK... you can buy up to 10% strength over the counter  (I work in a pharmacy).

Over the counter products containing benzoyl peroxide (which you have to ask for because they are kept behind the counter) include:

Oxy 10 (10%)
Quinoderm (5% and 10% available - also contains Potassium hydroxyquinoline sulphate 0.5%)
Brevoxyl (4%)
Panoxyl (2.5%, 5%, 10%, either in a cream, aqueous gel or alcoholic gel)

I'm confused - benzoyl peroxide 5% is not prescription only in the UK... you can buy up to 10% strength over the counter  (I work in a pharmacy).

Over the counter products containing benzoyl peroxide (which you have to ask for because they are kept behind the counter) include:

Oxy 10 (10%)
Quinoderm (5% and 10% available - also contains Potassium hydroxyquinoline sulphate 0.5%)
Brevoxyl (4%)
Panoxyl (2.5%, 5%, 10%, either in a cream, aqueous gel or alcoholic gel)

Weird, when I look on the boots website for those items they say that I need a prescription.

Weird, when I look on the boots website for those items they say that I need a prescription.

That's just because you can't buy them over the internet - unless you actually do have a prescription for the products, you have to go into a Boots store to be able to purchase them (otherwise anyone could go and buy an unlimited amount of pharmacy-only products online). The website also says you need a prescription to buy Ibuprofen 200mg tablets  !

There are 3 different classifications of medicines: GSL (general sales lines), P (pharmacy lines) and POM (Prescription Only Medications). GSL lines can be sold in just about any shops, such as supermarkets, newsagents etc., but P and POM lines can only be bought from behind a pharmacy counter. Benzoyl Peroxide is a P line and so unless you have a prescription for it, you have to buy it in person - it cannot be purchased from Boots.com.

Just ask for parecetemol with codeine.  I think it's for tooth aches and broken bones.  

I noticed this post is a few years old, is this still true though? I have bad knee problems and my gp wanted to prescribe paracetamol with codeine but I told him it wasn't necessary, but it is now! Anyway it would be nice to not have to pay for another doctor visit =)

I noticed this post is a few years old, is this still true though?

Yes, it's kept behind the counter. Just go to Boots & ask for it at the counter.

I noticed this post is a few years old, is this still true though? I have bad knee problems and my gp wanted to prescribe paracetamol with codeine but I told him it wasn't necessary, but it is now! Anyway it would be nice to not have to pay for another doctor visit =)

As WebyJ said, yes you can buy it over the counter, but it's only in quite a low strength: 500mg paracetamol, 8mg codeine (although Solpadeine Max has 500mg paracetamol, 12.8 mg codeine), and you can only use it for a maximum of 3 days without a prescription... so if it's something you need to use for more than 3 days, you should get it on prescription from your GP (same goes if you need a higher strength of the codeine as you can't buy higher than the 12.8mg over the counter) - pharmacies can refuse to sell it to you if you are buying it regularly.

Paracetamol with codeine has been mentioned several times but I really want to caution people about this combination. Ironically, paracetamol is the dangerous one, not codeine.

But codeine is highly addictive, prompting people to use more and more to get the same effect. This is extremely risky because of the damage paracetamol can do to the liver. I think it's almost irresponsible to package such a dangerous drug with an addictive one.

Much better and safer, if you really need it, is codeine with ibuprofen. It generally comes in a dose of 12.8 mg codeine with 200 mg ibuprofen.

This is an extremely effective pain killer (better than codeine alone, which requires a prescription). It's great for hangovers, muscular pain and any other temporary pain. Do keep it temporary - not more than three days - because it's highly addictive.

I found it very odd that you can't get a good antibiotic ointment like Neosporin here in the UK.  I realise that antibiotics are usually prescriptions, but even when I went to the GP for a skin condition, the stuff they gave me wasn't even that good.  Had my mom post over two tubes of an off-brand Neosporin and am glad I did. 

Also, as someone who used to have a lot of stomach issues due to an inflamatory bowel disease, I was rather unhappy to find that you can't buy large bottles of loperamide (Immodium) like you can at Wal-Mart.  Even the pharmacy's own brand was still a bit expensive.  Definitely miss stocking up on my ibuprofen gel caps for late nights out and the hangovers the next day!

I just wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you for the information here on Benzoyl Peroxide--I hadn't seen the comments before, but just took a glance through the thread and found the information.  

I've been frustrated finding face products as when I'm breaking out with acne, the products I see on the shelves here are all made from ingredients that do nothing for me.  I've missed just having a Benzac wash or cream as I found those worked better for me than the acids do.  I never thought to ask if there might be other things behind the pharmacy counter.  I'm heading over to ASDA or Boots now!

Paracetamol with codeine has been mentioned several times but I really want to caution people about this combination. Ironically, paracetamol is the dangerous one, not codeine.

UK pharmacies limit the amount of paracetamol you can buy at once (that includes products containing paracetamol, as well as paracetamol itself.)

When DH had swine flu, which lasted for over a month, I was hoping to stock up on a whole bunch so I wouldn't have to keep going back to the pharmacy, but they wouldn't let me.

UK pharmacies limit the amount of paracetamol you can buy at once (that includes products containing paracetamol, as well as paracetamol itself.)

When DH had swine flu, which lasted for over a month, I was hoping to stock up on a whole bunch so I wouldn't have to keep going back to the pharmacy, but they wouldn't let me.

Yes I remember finding that out for the first time during my pregnancy, I wanted to get 4 boxes of paracetamol (16 in each) just so I didn't have to drag my 40lb belly up there again but they said only two boxes at a time! I ended up getting a prescription for 3 boxes of 32each (500mg). I'm allergic to ibuprofen unfortunately.

Ibuprofren and aspirin are asthma triggers for me. I think they are common asthma triggers.