I am currently full of the cold and feeling a bit miserable However there is a chemist across the road from my work, so I popped over at lunchtime to look for something to help the cold symptoms. Everything I needed was behind the counter, so I asked the assistant for a basic cold remedy in tablet form with painkillers and decongestant, as it's my nose and sinuses bothering me most. She picked one up and asked was I on any other medication, so I just said yes, I'm diabetic. She put the box back and went through the back of the shop to get the actual chemist, and he explained decongestants are not suitable for diabetics because they "stick to the blood vessels". He then gave me paracetemol and sent me away, saying to help congestion, try steaming. Which I'm sure will work perfectly well, except I can't exactly do it at work!!
He briefly considered giving me cough mixture, but told me that although the sugar free variety was designed for diabetics, it still had decongestant in it and therefore still said in the leaflet it wasn't suitable for diabetics!
I have never heard anything like this before - can someone please enlighten me?! I realise some medicines will say not suitable for diabetics just to cover themselves, but I've always found that the chemist will explain that to me and then give me it anyway, but this time he refused to sell it to me. Confused!
He briefly considered giving me cough mixture, but told me that although the sugar free variety was designed for diabetics, it still had decongestant in it and therefore still said in the leaflet it wasn't suitable for diabetics!
I have never heard anything like this before - can someone please enlighten me?! I realise some medicines will say not suitable for diabetics just to cover themselves, but I've always found that the chemist will explain that to me and then give me it anyway, but this time he refused to sell it to me. Confused!