Can you buy individual (or low quantity) prescription bottles? Especially really small ones?

Factual Questions
1

I’ve done some searching and all I can find is bulk orders of like several hundred bottles at a time. Here is what I’m looking for: really small prescription bottles. When I got sick in Curaçao the doctor came to my hotel room and checked me out, then prescribed me some things, then a hotel staff member went to the pharmacy and picked up my medication. Two things (the antinausea and the antidiarrheal) came in ziplock bags with those cards of pills that you push through the back in them (never saw that in the US from a pharmacy before, kinda different) and the Xanax came in a pill bottle. But it was a really small pill bottle. It’s about 1.5" tall and maybe 3/4" across, with a screw off top. It has a printed label with my prescription on it, just like any Rx bottle.

This was a year and a half ago and I still keep that bottle, because it’s SO HANDY for keeping small amounts of my medication with me in my purse. I keep a handful of my Xanax in that particular bottle, since it’s marked Xanax and all, but I’d like to keep a 5 day (5 pill) supply of my Adderall in one as well, since I’m supposed to take my second pill of the day at lunch time, and right now having the whole bottle in my purse takes up a lot of space, and I’m worried about pill boxes coming unfastened (it’s happened before). The third thing I’d like to keep is some antidiarrheal which I already keep in the previous mentioend push-thru card, but after being in my purse for a while, the card starts to get worn and I’m afraid it will “breach” and the pills will become useless. So having two more of those tiny pill bottles would be super handy. But I don’t know where or if I can find them.

Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Do you live somewhere (foreign country…?) where they give prescriptions in said bottles? I wonder if for a small fee they’d be willing to sell two little bottles to a customer if the situation was explained…

Anyway my basic question is is it possible for me to find these, or not? If not, what are some good alternatives? The pill boxes I use for the week are 7-day and obviously too big for my purse. The little tiny (often novelty) pill boxes I see have a little button on the side that opens the lid and I’m afraid of that getting pushed in my purse and the pills dumping out.

Maybe a science store would have small jars? I just don’t know where to look. I can’t be the first person to search for such a thing.

Some things I’ve found that I could fall back on if I can’t find what I’m really looking for:

pill boxes that are keychains

And a number of round disc-shaped or rectangular pill boxes, but they look like the kind with the little button on the outside that I’m afraid will open in my purse…

If nobody knows about the actual pharmacy bottles that I’m talking about, do you have a recommendation for a small pill box that has been tried-and-true for NOT opening in a full purse and spilling everywhere?

Would it be worth my time to try to contact a pharmacy in Curaçao and request two empty bottles, if I offered to pay for them and shipping? Or would they probably have regulations against doing that?

2

I have a small prescription bottle, a lot like what you describe, but maybe a little larger, which I keep in my briefcase to carry a small supply of my diabetes meds. I originally used a bottle from one of my old prescriptions for the meds (I now get my meds mail-order, three months’ worth at a time, and they come in large bottles), but I lost the old bottle. I just went to a local pharmacy, and asked the pharmacist for a small empty bottle. She happily gave one to me – I told her I’d be willing to buy it, but she didn’t even charge me. I’d suggest showing them the bottle you currently have, and see if you can get one of a similar size (I know I’ve gotten bottles that small from U.S. pharmacies in the past).

3

Really? Because even when I’ve gotten a prescription for, like, 4 pills, they still give me the standard sized bottle, so I assumed that was the smallest they had. I may have to check my pharmacy! Thanks!

4

Another option may be tupperware type containers. I’ve seen some pretty small ones. I don’t know if they come as small as you’re looking for, but it may be worth checking out.

-D/a

5

My husband uses a really tiny ,round Tupperware or Rubbermaid container- I think it was sold to hold salad dressing. It’s about a half inch high, and maybe an inch and a half diameter

6

I have one of those keychain things and I find it really useful. Is there a reason you don’t want that?

7

Well, I don’t want it on my keys (already way too much crap on there) and if it’s not on my keys it seems like all the extra dangly parts would get caught up in other stuff in my purse. Maybe an unfounded fear, but it’s what I envision.

8

I’ve seen pill caddies in a smart looking tapestry “wallet” designed to carry in a purse. Pill bottles have a way of coming unscrewed in a purse (don’t ask how I know!) and the little wallet might be what you are looking for.

This place http://www.pillthing.com/categories/pill-boxes/page-1/ has everything under the sun!
~VOW

9

They sell Advil and Tylenol in little travel size tubes.

I keep one in my purse with an emergency supply of allergy meds, Tylenol, that sort of thing. It’s big enough for 10-15 Tylenol caplets.

10

In a pinch I could send you the bottle a scrip for furosemide came in, it is relatively small, whatever the smallest regular bottle CVS uses. I keep spare indocin caps in it in my computer bag. Though I do like this rectangular pillbox from that pillbox web page.

11

There are some small nalgene polyethylene bottles on this page that might work for you. There are some polyethylene containers that are nice also, but they have snap lids while the nalgene bottles have screw-top lids.

12

I worked in a pharmacy years ago, and nitroglycerin pills came in little glass bottles with screw top lids that sound like what you’re looking for (except perhaps you don’t want glass; I don’t know). I don’t know if the pharmacy would be able to give/sell you a couple of those or not.

I can tell you that these pill boxes from the link that VOW provided are the bomb. They do not fall open in your purse and, while not advertised as waterproof, and probably not immersible, survive an accidental spill with aplomb.

My son has CF and requires meds throughout the day. I have several of these boxes filled with his meds and squirreled away in my purse, my car, my husband’s car, the church building, and grandma’s house. I got them from the drug company that makes the meds. The drug company stopped giving them out, and I was pretty bummed. I’m going to go order about 10 of them right now. VOW, you’ve made a stranger’s day. :slight_smile:

13

Huh, this one: http://www.pillthing.com/products/small-flip-top-pill-case-item-633 looks like it might be about what I’m looking for…

14

I’ve seen several pill carriers sold at the CVS. Some have multiple compartments. You could also just ask a pharmacist if he has a little bottle like you could have. I suggest you carry the label or paperwork from the pharmacy with you when you go out. You can be arrested for carrying pills without accompanying proof of a prescription (you wouldn’t be convicted if there was a valid prescription somewhere, but why go through the hassle because of some idiot cop).

15

I made a pocket pill case for a man out of a an empty chapstick tube. You pull out the little cup-like thingie that holds the chapstick, pry off the bottom part that you turn to raise the chapstick, snip off the screw-threaded stick inside, wash throughly and pop the cap back on. You can even leave the label on the tube for a more discreet carry.

16

If I was still in college I totally would have bought this.

17

Go to Sephora and request a sample of a lotion or cream. They will put it in a tiny little plastic snap container that you can reuse. It’s about 1" x 1/2" and it fits pills perfectly.

18

Another thought - Dramamine pills come in a pretty compact container.
-D/a

19

That makes sense. I’m pretty sure though, that you can remove all of the dangly parts and just keep the bottle. Just a thought, do whatever works for you.

20

Would something like this work? You have to buy a 10-pack but it’s really cheap: