We recently decided to have indoor cats for the first time in…10 years or so. About 3 days after bringing the kittens inside, my son started exhibiting allergy symptoms. Boogery eyes in the morning, sniffling, etc. We finally got him in to see an allergist Tuesday morning who did the scratch test on him. Apparently, he is not allergic to cats or dogs (or, rather, he is but not very badly) but he is allergic to trees (we live on about 8 acres, roughly 90% of which is wooded), grass, dust mites and about a brazillion other things.
He will begin the 5-year allergy shots regimen next week, I think. In the meantime, the doctor prescribed Flonase. When I dropped the prescription off to be filled, the girl behind the counter didn’t seem to understand why I got a case of the giggles when she asked, (while filling a prescription for allergy medicine) “does he have any allergies?”
Of course I knew that she meant “does he have any known drug allergies” but it still gave me the giggles. Just thought I’d share.
I have a prescription for Lunesta, to help me sleep. The warning label says it may cause drowsiness.
A question for the pharmacists and other experts out there: For the more strictly controlled substances, i.e. those in Schedule II of the CSA, are there more regulatory hoops that you have to go through before the prescription can be filled? More steps that you are required to complete in order to comply with laws and regulations? CII scripts are not refillable, but are often re-prescribed on a continuing basis. If you know the doctor and patient on subsequent prescriptions for the same CII medication, do you still have to go through the same verification steps as you did the first time?
One time when Mr. S and I were on the road, his hiatal hernia started acting up and he needed to stop for Rolaids. The clerk at the gas station where we stopped rang him up and then asked, “Do you have gas?”
Bear in mind, I’m not legally a pharmacist yet, but…
Depending on state laws, schedule II prescriptions require certain extra bits of information that other prescriptions do not require, however verification of said information doesn’t generally slow one down all that much. What DOES slow one down a little bit is that schedule II drugs generally have to be counted twice (and the bottles they are removed from back-counted) by the tech(s) and sometimes the pharmacist who touch the prescription. Other than that, though, a schedule II drug shouldn’t take much longer than a non-scheduled medication to fill.
Generally, if the pharmacist says it’s going to take longer than normal, it’s either because he/she needs to call the Dr for some missing bit of info (Docs leave stuff off their blanks all the time), is checking to see if you’re over-utilizing, or the pharmacy really is that busy–in my experience, anyways.
Several years ago, I went to the pharmacy with a prescription for a liquid form of digoxin, a heart medication. I handed it over and the pharmacy tech read it to enter it in the computer, then boggled. After a moment’s pause, he asked how old the child was who was receiving the medication. I said that actually, it was for a ferret. He looked visibly relieved, as the dosage wasn’t correct for anything but what it turned out to be, a 2 lb. patient.
Foxglove actually. (I had to look it up to confirm, since that did sound right.) Belladonna contains, among other pharmaceutical compounds, atropine - it’s used as an ophthalmic eyedrop for eye dilation, and for other medicinal purposes too.
There aren’t more regulatory hoops to go through, but they are kept in a locked safe with limited access. Most pharmacists don’t count pills all that often, so they can verify prescriptions instead. It’s kind of an assembly line where one person types, another person counts, and pharmacist verifies. CII’s kind of put a kink in that system, ever so slightly.
Plus, we do keep a closer eye on them to make sure they aren’t being abused/ released too early, what have you. Sometimes we call to make sure.
Thanks. I knew about atropine – remembered reading about the women in the middle ages using belladonna to dilate their pupils because it was the “in” thing.
One thing that burns me is when a Dr. prescribes something, the pharmacy has it, but your insurance co. says “too soon”. I would understand if I was trying to refill a Percoset scrip 2 weeks too soon or something, but my Dr. had doubled up my asthma med (Asmanex) because I had a sinus infection-turned-bronchitis. I had taken my med exactly as prescribed and was all better, but I was running out and needed to refill. I had to jump through hoops and get a half-prescription for something I was prescribed for a good reason and wasn’t any sort of narcotic or anything. What am I supposed to do, die gasping for air becuase the gaddamn insurance co. says it’s “too soon”?
