Your random money saving tips?

It is standard practice in some chemists when collecting antibiotics for the chemist to note on the bag, ''Probiotic Highly Recommended '' The assistant points this out and shows you to the probiotic shelf. I always say no thanks but it appears most buy these unnecessary and expensive supplements.
I think it is bad practice for the chemist to do this.

If you find antibiotics harsh on your stomach, it is definitely worth considering something like the below.
But they shouldn't be pushing them on everyone.

I'll couple this with a money saving tip that for OTC items, if you don't have a Chemist Warehouse near you, keep online Irish pharmacy Inish in mind:

Des Pondent said:

It is standard practice in some chemists when collecting antibiotics for the chemist to note on the bag, ''Probiotic Highly Recommended '' The assistant points this out and shows you to the probiotic shelf. I always say no thanks but it appears most buy these unnecessary and expensive supplements.
I think it is bad practice for the chemist to do this.

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I've never once had that happen.

The point I was making is that in another pharmacy she was able to get reassurance that the medication she wanted was the correct one based on her circumstances.....
And that the pharmacist at Chemist Warehouse could not provide this information ...
It is a good place for medication but don't look for advice...in my opinion.

joer said:

It is a good place for medication but don't look for advice...in my opinion.

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I primarily get advice on medications from my GP or a specialist where necessary.

ClubMan said:

I primarily get advice on medications from my GP or a specialist where necessary.

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I was always of the opinion that a pharmacist would/does know more about the medications a doctor prescribes
I've seen it happen when a Pharmacist has rang a GP when they feel there might be contraindications in medications prescribed
It's only happened once but when I questioned the doctor, he replied that's why they spend years studying pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry

I agree. Doctor's and Pharmacists are always the place to go for advice especially when adding medication to what you are on already and most pharmacists are every bit as good.

If you've got the free time and probably a sweet tooth the Too Good To Go App can be quite good for saving a few squid
Used it a few times and have been more then pleasantly surprised at what we've got in our "surprise bag"
We've filled up our freezer with Sourdough bread from a local bakery for around the same price I'd pay for one loaf from Dunnes

joer said:

The point I was making is that in another pharmacy she was able to get reassurance that the medication she wanted was the correct one based on her circumstances.....
And that the pharmacist at Chemist Warehouse could not provide this information ...

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But you keep saying "medication".
Probiotics are supplements, even if sold in capsule form. They are not standardized as regards ingredients, concentrations, etc. and there is little if any standardized research (never mind "dosage" comparisons). The pharmacist (no more than the health shop assistant) has no way of saying whether Brand A is better/safer than brand B or Brand C because they have no evidence base to call on to do this. In this way it is different to getting advice on a medication. That is not a criticism of probiotics and I know they are "thought to be helpful". But the pharmacist who was unable to give specific advice on a specific brand was probably just being more professionally accurate than the store assistant or pharmacist who did give advice. But the latter was more reassuring to the customer.

I don't agree at all with that ...in our case and as far as I'm concerned it is all medication.
And I'm saying no more on the subject....

joer said:

...in our case and as far as I'm concerned it is all medication.

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I disagree and agree with @Ruffian:

Ruffian said:

But you keep saying "medication".
Probiotics are supplements, even if sold in capsule form. They are not standardized as regards ingredients, concentrations, etc. and there is little if any standardized research (never mind "dosage" comparisons).

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The few times that I've been forced to ask a pharmacist for medical advice they told me that I'd really need to see my doctor. However if I had asked them for a homeopathic remedy they probably would've sold it to me.

We're wobbling into a potentially dangerous area here.

Certainly, if I want medical advice, I go to my doctor. If I want advice or insight into how OTC, supplements, or prescription medications might interact with each other, I'd ask the dispensing pharmacist as well as my doctor, if at all possible.

There are simple everyday foods that may interact with certain medicines and cause problems, e.g. grapefruit or grapefruit juice can interact with statins used to control cholesterol levels, medicines used to control high blood pressure, even with some antihistamines, anxiolytics, and cardiac arrhythmia treatments. These interactions may render the medicine ineffective and/or cause harm.

This information should be on the dispensing label applied by the pharmacy and will be on the patient information leaflet included with the medicine. I'd also expect that the doctor and the pharmacist would sound notes of caution at the prescribing and dispensing stages.

It's not as simple as possible drug/drug interaction, but drug/OTC interactions, or even food-drink/drug interactions. If a pharmacy cannot or will not supply this information about a product they sell, then maybe they should stop selling that product and "stick to the knitting".

This isn't medical or medicinal advice.

mathepac said:

There are simple everyday foods that may interact with certain medicines and cause problems, e.g. grapefruit or grapefruit juice can interact with statins used to control cholesterol levels, medicines used to control high blood pressure, even with some antihistamines, anxiolytics, and cardiac arrhythmia treatments. These interactions may render the medicine ineffective and/or cause harm.

This information should be on the dispensing label applied by the pharmacy and will be on the patient information leaflet included with the medicine. I'd also expect that the doctor and the pharmacist would sound notes of caution at the prescribing and dispensing stag

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Sure, because there are known interactions between grapefruit and certain medications.

But if there are not known interactions between a product any specific medications would you expect the pharmacist to warn you about "unknown unknowns"? If so, would you also expect him to warn you that the same unknown unknowns exist with all sorts of everyday food stuffs (an unknown number and variety of them!)?

And if there are no known interactions with a specific supplement (lets say a probiotic) and prescribed medication would you nevertheless expect the pharmacist to advise which specific brand of supplement would be more or less risky than another?

If the medicinal and other products are coming from the same shop, I'd expect the vendor to know and advise about the dangers of mixing them; simple really. It's the vendor's job to know and advise about dangers. The apparent default, "I don't know and can't or won't advise" just isn't good enough.

That's as much as I have to say having repeated myself, purely for clarity.

mathepac said:

If the medicinal and other products are coming from the same shop, I'd expect the vendor to know and advise about the dangers of mixing them; simple really. It's the vendor's job to know and advise about dangers. The apparent default, "I don't know and can't or won't advise" just isn't good enough.

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I want to eat more red meat for the iron and zinc. Should I ask the butcher or the pharmacist whether the hereford steak or the angus is the better source? Any which of them (the steaks, that is) is more suitable along with my prescribed medication?

I'd ask the pharmacist - the stakes are just too high

joer said:

I don't agree at all with that ...in our case and as far as I'm concerned it is all medication.

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The probiotic industry almost universally insists that they are food supplements and not medication, as such they are not subject to the levels of rigour that medicine must go through before being allowed on the market.

There are no approved health claims for probiotics.

Applications for health claims on probiotics have been submitted for evaluation to EFSA and no application has received a positive opinion. Therefore, no claims on probiotics are listed on the EU register as authorised for use. The probiotic claims that have been fully evaluated and rejected are listed as non-authorised on the EU register.

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But read many pharmacy websites about them and you'd get a different view altogether...

Ruffian said:

I want to eat more red meat for the iron and zinc. Should I ask the butcher or the pharmacist whether the hereford steak or the angus is the better source?

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Louisval said:

I'd ask the pharmacist - the stakes are just too high

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I would ask the butcher. He should know if the steaks are too high in iron.

The point I was making,Leo is that all pharmacists should be consistent in their advice, that's all.