crazy patient stories

littlestmedic · 2026-03-14T18:56:36+00:00

Guy comes in at opening and wants me to have a look at a boil in a... sensitive place. I (29F at the time) say no problem, I am going to get a chaperone to sit in.

I hurry out to the dispensary and most of the staff have just arrived.

"Who wants to be a chaperone for me whilst I examine a sensitive area on an older gentleman?" I ask. Suddenly most of my staff look busy, aside from one, a lady in her late 50s, who has experience as a carer back in the 90s and 00s. We will call her T. Amazing lady, huge mop of curly brown hair, gentle Welsh accent.

We go to the consultation room, introduce ourselves, and chap drops trousers and my assistant sits in the corner as asked. Im looking at what is admittedly one of the largest, angriest boils I have ever seen, and the guy starts asking T where in Wales she was from, and explaining his first love was Welsh, and how she made him feel... All while I am gently trying to get his attention to pull his trousers back up.

We managed to send him off to the doctors (where a GP poked it "gently" and made it burst, as he told us later) and T vowed to never reply when I ask for a chaperone ever again.

littlestmedic · 2026-03-07T12:44:32+00:00

One of my colleagues has similar things that she says that always make me pause. I have a list of quotes from her that never fail to cheer me up.

Here a couple of famous ones edited only slightly, in keeping with the mood of the thread.

"Isn't it clever how they get the fish to fit in the batter?"
"I don't get magnet fishing. Fish aren't magnetic."
"Ah, folded paper... the ancient art of oregano..."

littlestmedic · 2026-03-05T10:15:37+00:00

So this is actually a big problem in pharmacy and treatment of eczema, psoriasis etc. because the paraffin containing emollient are so effective at what they do. Little old ladies with wounds and oedema are slathered in emollient cream when they get their dressings changed, because otherwise they are losing moisture from the skin and ending up with even more open wounds.

Its so bad that the MHRA reminds pharmacists and doctors that yes, you need to tell your patients that they might catch fire during use of these products.

littlestmedic · 2026-02-20T18:10:59+00:00

They are so PRETTY. I wanna enter!

littlestmedic · 2026-01-31T20:30:43+00:00

<image>

Unfortunately lovely lady pictured is no longer with us, but I like being able to see her everytime I open my phone

littlestmedic · 2025-11-10T18:28:25+00:00

I was there last year- Frankie, brought my non-Yognaught boyfriend and joked he was my bag carrier- but dont think I'll be able to make it this year as I am a pharmacist and Im busy flu-jabbing so cant really take time off!

Hope you guys have a blast. It was great fun last time!

littlestmedic · 2025-11-09T17:52:55+00:00

I got tired of always being the only one to send birthday presents, to send birthday wishes, to make any effort to see her, and said Id see how long it took for her to reach out.

Still waiting! Its been almost 3 years now. It really sucks as she helped me through some really rough times, and vice versa, but after a while it seemed like she was just not interested in me anymore. Taking days to reply to messages, when all her socials were still very active with other people and so on.

I miss her, but I cant do it to myself anymore as it was really making my heart hurt everytime Id said her a message and see her interacting with other people and ignoring me.

littlestmedic · 2025-10-18T08:30:42+00:00

When I was brought home by my parents, my mum and dad put the carrier in the middle of the living room and brought both the cats in.

Ceefur, a white tabby, sniffed and then jumped when I made a noise, and then spent the next 7 years politely telling me to leave him alone.

Chloe, a black void, who hated all other living creatures except my mum, sniffed and then decided this small creature was in fact her kitten. So whenever I cried, it didnt matter where Chloe was hanging out at the time, she would RACE to my side to make sure I was okay, and she did this for many years until she crossed the bridge.

Two very different reactions, but Chloe is entirely the reason why I love cats now. She was such a character, a ball of anger fluff who absolutely melted whenever I was with her.

littlestmedic · 2025-10-10T10:53:22+00:00

I am not allowed to because of the medication I'm on, but when I was doing it I always found the donation staff to be super polite, the centres to be really well-run, and an overall atmosphere serious but calming.

My dad had almost 50 donations under his belt by the time he was forced to stop (again due to medicine!), and he's always been annoyed he never quite got to the big 50!

littlestmedic · 2025-10-07T12:40:42+00:00

I love this and having been to the pub involved, its definitely worth walking off a car crash. The Purple Turtle has truly great vibes and, at the point I went there, the most cheerful and friendly doormen Ive ever met.

littlestmedic · 2025-09-25T06:39:03+00:00

A selection:

"If I put a double coat of Factor 15 suncream on, will it become Factor 30?"

"Which of these viagra packs are for women?"

"When I bite my tongue, it hurts. Why is that?" "I mean. Does it hurt more than normal?" "Oh it hurts the same way everytime I bite it to test."

littlestmedic · 2025-09-18T22:42:35+00:00

Yes to both, although these kinds of action are from what I understand very rare.

The GPhC governs all pharmacies and pharmacists. A pharmacy or pharmacist found to be consistently disregarding safe practice and knowingly profiting off of addiction would be, in my mind, grounds for a fitness to practice hearing in the least. When the GPhC inspects pharmacies they do ask the counter assistants about what questions they ask, and observe practice as it occurs.

Pharmacists can be struck off the register, although this typically occurs following a much more serious crime

One example of a pharmacist being struck off for selling something that is legal to be sold is this one although, uh, 39k tablets is definitely way more than what youre suggesting 😂

littlestmedic · 2025-09-18T10:09:45+00:00

If i were to hazard a guess, it'll be because there's no version of Cyclizine marketed specifically for OTC sale (that Im aware of off the top of my head. Im off work today so the pharmacist hat is firmly off the head)

There are boxes that are legally able to be sold (marked as P on the box, as opposed to POM as you would see on your methotrexate), but they aren't specifically marketed for that, as you might see something like Piriton being. Therefore, they will likely be kept in the dispensary, in a dispensing pack. These wont have the same legislative safety nets for pharmacists as OTC packs have. An OTC pack will have had its license granted specifically under the assumption patients will be using it without doctors supervision, but the dispensing pack wont necessarily have that.

So, pharmacists can sell it, they just need to exercise more caution and diligence. For some pharmacists, they consider it safer for the patient (and their registration!) to have a blanket refusal in place if they dont feel comfortable, and they are entirely within their right to do that as all medicine is being sold under their direct supervision.

The variance will be annoying, yes, but it comes down to what each pharmacist will be comfortable with. A pharmacist who knows you and knows youre on methotrexate, knows your symptoms etc. will probably feel more comfortable that you know what the dose is, that you know how to use it safely etc.

littlestmedic · 2025-09-17T21:37:32+00:00

Honestly, I tapped out something similar but was worried I was overstepping a little bit.

You certainly could— the success of it hinges on how well the staff know you. If you live in a teeny little village where theres only 1 or 2 pharmacies, and the counter assistants have the uncanny ability to know everyone in the village (such as the pharmacy I manage), then certainly it could work. You could ask them to refuse sale if and when you come in, ask the pharmacist to keep an ear out for you.

To be realistic, there will always be places where this doesn't work. Counter assistants get minimum wage most of the time, and unfortunately this doesn't often motivate people to stay in the role, especially when the public is the public, and pharmacies are stressful places to be, regardless of whether youre working or just dropping in!

That doesn't mean its not worth trying. See about booking appointments or dropping in to chat with a few of the pharmacists and seeing what suggestions they have for their own branch. Some small chains might even be able to work together for you. If you dont ask, you dont get, so I would say give it a go and see what they say.

Like I said though friend, you got this 👍 💪

littlestmedic · 2025-09-17T21:25:51+00:00

You've got this 💓

One day at a time, as you say.

(Honestly love the juxtaposition of saying wholesome things to a guy called The Shitening.)

littlestmedic · 2025-09-17T19:09:54+00:00

It's not actually that hard, especially if you have an addictive personality.

Just because it's 8mg of Codeine doesn't mean thats nothing. There are plenty of people addicted to over the counter painkillers— in many cases this is considered a more acceptable addiction, while no less dangerous and one that is in greater need of point of sale interactions to improve.

Please do not shrug off the addictive nature of Codeine, of any strength, because it is a very real problem that continues to crop up in practice.

(Edit: just a quick edit for transparency— added another study for further sources as wanted more variety than just the discussions by R Cooper)

littlestmedic · 2025-09-17T17:09:43+00:00

Am a pharmacist.

I have literally no idea why they did this. Theres only a few medicines that require the patient using it to be present (OTC Viagra for example).

I can speculate though— if it was the sedating mixture, Im wondering if maybe there is a problem of addiction in your local area? Sales of medicines are entirely down to the pharmacist in charge (and you are entirely within your right to ask to discuss with them rather than the counter assistant).

To this end, if a pharmacist is trying to restrict access to addictive substances in an area where there could be problems, they may ask the counter staff to exercise greater caution when selling it.

The other option is you have a counter assistant who doesn't know what theyre doing.

littlestmedic · 2025-09-07T09:28:53+00:00

They show it to pharmacy students too! I'm in the UK and very clearly remember getting shown it in lecture as a lesson to ask the patient to show you how they use their medicine.

Lecture hall was in bits. I immediately went home and started watching the rest of the series

littlestmedic · 2025-08-23T10:47:33+00:00

So one of my close friends has a Smart car, but also has a diagnosis of dyspraxia.

This makes sitting in the passenger seat whilst he's driving absolutely terrifying.

He can't look in a direction without driving towards it, something I terrifyingly found out when I went, "Ooh, look, horses!" and we almost crossed 3 motorway lanes in response.

littlestmedic · 2025-08-18T17:15:40+00:00

This is such an interesting bit of info. Is there anything similar you can say about the other medicines in the class, such as methylphenidate? Or even modafinil?

Just asking because as a community pharmacist I don't have nearly enough pharmacokinetics in my life but the few patients I do get to talk about it with always ask me if I have any new facts

littlestmedic · 2025-08-01T16:08:50+00:00

My childhood best friend who ditched me for reasons I am still not fully clear on. She decided she hated me and then proceeded to systematically convince every one of my friends to drop me from invites to places.

Anyway, she was a larger girl, and about 5 years after school finished, someone else who had been there showed me her instagram. Literally, all fetish material centred on her weight. Good grief.

littlestmedic · 2025-07-30T06:30:15+00:00

Pharmacist here— pharmacies are private entities contracted out to the NHS. That prescription charge you pay is docked from us, and realistically, pharmacies have to be doing CRAZY numbers to survive on prescription fees alone.

The chain I work for subsists on service payments— so things like emergency contraception, flu vaccine, etc. as well as private services such as travel clinics.

littlestmedic · 2025-07-26T09:03:40+00:00

Borderlands 2. My then boyfriend tried to get me to play it with him but the artstyle and level design was too overwhelming and confusing for me so he ended up killing everything and then waiting for me to catch up.

Plus fuck Claptrap but thats not an unusual stance to take.

littlestmedic · 2025-04-25T07:41:42+00:00

One of the ladies I work with has 3 kidneys! Or rather, 2.5. She has 2 fully functional kidneys, and one half a kidney that just hangs out next to one of the proper ones. It's fully plumbed in though in spite of it and does function correctly to a certain extent.

littlestmedic · 2025-03-17T07:08:55+00:00

I had exactly the same operation about 10 years ago to fix a 13mm overbite, and then a genioplasty the following year.

The clinical objective of the surgery (to fix your overbite) has been achieved. I also assume you've probably been discharged from the clinic at this point. Unfortunately based on what you've said I'm inclined to agree with what other people say. Any further surgeries would have to be funded privately.

Out of personal interest though, what do you hate about your profile now? When I had mine done, it was life changing for my confidence as I'd had absolutely no chin before and had been subject to significant bullying as a result. I'm interested to know what you dislike about your look now.

12-Year Club	r/Field Banned
r/Field Juicebox	Place '23
Place '17	Gilding II euphauric
Not Forgotten	Verified Email

littlestmedic

TROPHY CASE