Cuts from pred foil packets

[Broseley]

Just wondered... am I the only one who keeps cutting their fingertips on the foil blister packs that pred comes in? Mine seem quite sharp compared with the other meds I take. The cuts are thin, like paper cuts, right on my finger tips, so they get very sore and take ages to heal because of all the hand washing and gel use etc for covid protection.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

There are devices for pushing the tablets out of blister packs which might help you. Or you can request the pharmacist dispenses your tablets not in blister packs.

The only tablet pack I have a problem with is the aluminium one for my anticoagulant - ironic really when you think about it! There is a little tab on one corner to pull - it is tiny and impossible to get at half the time! Since most people who take it are likely to be elderly that is bad enough - but taking the capsule means you bleed more easily too! And it can't be dispensed out of the little envelope as it degrades quickly.

[AyJayBass in reply to PMRpro]

I put my Dabigatran into 7 day Dosette boxes so your comment about degradation made me sit up. I found this paper which reassured me that it should be OK for 7 days. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to AyJayBass]

But they compared the original foil packaging which is sealed with other sealed options - unit-dose packaging and community pharmacy blister packs which are also sealed. You are probably correct that it is fine for a week and mine would be OK as I refill a dosette box daily. But you still have to get the blasted things out of the foil!!!

[AyJayBass in reply to PMRpro]

Indeed you do. I tear down the middle into two strips of 5, then take off one end so that I get a strip of 4. Lift the corner of the exposed end and pull that up and as it pulls away it lifts up the corner of the next one making things slightly easier. But I guess it won't help you if you are doing daily dosettes.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to AyJayBass]

It's the quanitity of other stuff that makes me do it daily! Lodotra also degrades in humid conditions but is dispensed in a tub with dessicant in the lid with a warning NOT to store it in the fridge and replacing the lid carefully. But that packaging has been discontinued for dabigatran - unfortunately.

[Broseley in reply to PMRpro]

BTW, it's not getting the tablets out of the blister packs that does it, it's getting the blister pack out of the box. They're packed so tightly in there! It's the edge of the blister pack that cuts my finger. It's quite sharp.

Pred

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Broseley]

Try opening the other end as well and push them through ... Using a thimble

[Broseley in reply to PMRpro]

Yes I'll try that thanks, if I can find a thimble!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Broseley]

Or something ...

[MrsNails]

It’s the Paracetamol that have got me beat - especially when l injured my shoulder recently making it doubly difficult 😵‍💫 plus l needed the paracetamol more regularly! On a lot of tablets there seems to be two layers now like a plastic coating with the foil on top - my Aspirin are the same……

[Nextoneplease in reply to MrsNails]

I’ve noticed the two layers too MrsN - on paracetamol and one or two other things. The pred I find relatively easy - but we get different makes of most things each time, depending on availability and cost x

[MrsNails in reply to Nextoneplease]

I think that is a bit of preventative measure but it’s so frustrating!

[Bcol in reply to MrsNails]

Tablets themselves seem to be getting smaller as well. The Rosuvastatin's are the pain for me. OH and I both take them and they are absolutely minute and a real pain to get out of the blister. Conversely, the box they in come is huge. Side thought, does everyone know that the blister packs are recyclable and can be dropped off at certain chemist's.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Bcol]

My Lodotra tablets have recently had the packaging changed - mercifully the plastic tub is still the same although FAR too big, the card box is 50% larger - no idea why!!!!

[HeronNS in reply to MrsNails]

Is this a bottle with a seal on the top? I take an implement of some sort - cutlery, wooden spoon, toothbrush handle, and punch a hole in the seal; no way can I peel it off from the edges. Everything is like that now, from vitamins to big jugs of white vinegar.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to HeronNS]

Safety - it is more obvious if someone has tried to spike the contents ...

[HeronNS in reply to PMRpro]

They've been doing this since the Tylenol contamination ages ago, but the difficulty of accessing contents of products is now getting ridiculous.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to HeronNS]

Teeth work well to grip the tag ...

[HeronNS in reply to PMRpro]

Not mine.

[HeronNS in reply to HeronNS]

And there is no tag on a lot of them. Can you imagine biting a tag on the top of a four litre bottle of vinegar?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to HeronNS]

Oh - ours do ...

[HeronNS in reply to PMRpro]

I think I'd spend longer trying to find that one place where my teeth might come together usefully than would take to punch a hole and peel back the remnants. Besides, biting metal foil is singularly unpleasant!

[Sharitone]

Is that Accord? Sometimes the pharmacist gives me a different brand, so I guess they could easily get you a brand that doesn't hurt you. They ought to know that it does this, anyway

[Broseley in reply to Sharitone]

Yes I must report it to them. It's Strides Pharma.

[Sharitone]

Ah well, Accord and Alliance are both safe from your point of view, at least in my experience.

[JJackdaw]

Don’t use that hand gel because it destroys your skin. Since I’ve stopped using it my hands are fine. Get some antibacterial soap from Amazon, it’s called ‘CIDAL’ it’s £12 for 12 bars, brilliant stuff! Or get the pears amber soap. If you feel that you have to, just keep a small bottle of gel in your pocket for when you’re out and about, or bacterial wipes. And in answer to your question, no, I don’t get cuts from the pred foil 😂😂Don’t mean to laugh, it just struck me funny what you said ‘ am I the only one’ 😂😂

[Broseley in reply to JJackdaw]

Thanks, I've heard of Cidal, but not for a long while! I only use hand gel when out and about, always soap at home.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Broseley]

Just ordinary soap is fine, it doesn't need to be "antibacterial" - apart from anything else this is a virus! - but disrupting the viral coat is what is needed, soap does that. Though fomite transference is minimal.

[JJackdaw]

My hands were so dry and splitting when I used the gel and the doctors at the hospital said it was a last resort to them and they preferred to wear the gloves. But we’re all different I suppose.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Just ordinary soap is fine, it doesn't need to be "antibacterial" - apart from anything else this is a virus! - but disrupting the viral coat is what is needed, soap does that. Though it is assessed that fomite transference is minimal (from surfaces).

My nurse daughter tells me that you should never use ordinary "baby" wipes to clean trolley handles or other surfaces you then handle (including your hands) as the virus actually gets mixed up with the stuff in the wipes which is the opposite of the desired effect. At the start of the pandemic I carried kitchen cleaner as a spray and a few rolls of kitchen paper in the car boot.

[Bennijax]

I haven't cut myself yet - but with arthritic fingers I fnd these blister packs maddening. My chemist now orders me bottles of 100 paracetamol which is so helpful, but for preds, still the blister packs.

[Clammy65]

In US, we get them in a bottle. I have hard enough time just picking those little things up if I drop one!

[Sharitone in reply to Clammy65]

Yes, they leap about and go for miles!

[Broseley in reply to Sharitone]

Why do they sometimes ping out of the packet and fly across the room? I'm terrified that if I don't find it one of the cats will eat it!

[Sharitone in reply to Broseley]

I think they're afraid of being eaten.

[Broseley in reply to Broseley]

🤣

[HeronNS in reply to Clammy65]

Yes ours in Canada are dispensed in a small plastic container. No blister packs, thank goodness. Before the pandemic I'd even talked my pharmacist into refilling it each time, but of course now they can't. Too much plastic waste.

[Tiggy70]

Yes they do have a habit of pinging out of the foil. I keep my fingernails fairly long so I usually dig a nail into the foil and lift the flap to get at the tablet.