I’ve never had a pharmacist out and out refuse to fill a scrip, but I have been asked to come back another day for one several times. Usually it is because their computer is down and even though I’ve used the same pharmacy for the last 9 years, purchased the exact same medications in the exact same dosage, and know the entire staff and they know me and even though I’m standing there with a brand spanking new hand written scrip with my name on it, they tell me I have to come back later.
It’s not such a problem for me. I’m mobile most of the time (occasionally not, during flare ups), I have a car, and I can usually make the return trip without issue. But the same treatment is given to elderly folks who have to take a taxi or find a ride or who aren’t able to get around easily, if at all.
This overwhelming dependence on ‘the computer’ for absolutely everything human beings do is a pendulum that has swung much to far to one side and needs to be righted. We have legislated away our right (and responsibility) to use our reasoning powers.
Just barging in for a moment on the scheduling of Tramadol: this drug was about as exciting as taking Motrin. I took it for long-term torn tendon pain; it was merely an okay analgesic and I didn’t experience an iota of the high that other folks are so enthusiastic about.
OTOH, I’m an overall medicine idiopath: Benadryl and opiates hype me up like I’ve taken Adderall.
My dog takes Tramadol for hip dysplasia pain and now I have to go pick-up a paper scrip for each fill. Vet sez they frequently turn away dog owners they suspect are seeking Tramadol for their own ingestion.
Agreed. My doctor prescribed it after some minor, local anesthesia surgery. I’ve been knocked out by Benadryl. Tramadol didn’t knock me for a loop, although it was helpful with the pain. I think I only took it once or twice.
The health care industry is crazy. My mother was on vacation but was delayed for two days past her planned departure. Long story. Anyway, she had only packed enough medicine for 6 days (5 days + 1 extra day), which was a finely balanced regimen of drugs in order to treat scleroderma, which is a chronic and very painful disease where your dermis hardens. Anyway, it took her and her doctor YEARS of trial and really painful errors to come up with a treatment plan that alleviated most of the pain with the least number of side effects (e.g. fungal infections, mouth so dry that she couldn’t swallow, dry eyes).
Although the doctor called in a prescription, the 30 day window hadn’t closed, and it took both a papal fiat AND an act of Congress before the pharmacy would fill it. In the end, they relented and filled exactly ONE day. I don’t know what would have happened had her flight been canceled. It seems that they’d have been content to screw up her treatment plan because they were so concerned that she was abusing drugs…which is laughable given she’s currently taking about a dozen medications.
And then you have me. I had minor wrist surgery (ganglion cyst removal) and had to specially ask for a local instead of a general. I delivered two babies without being put under, but they didn’t think I could endure a one inch incision while awake. After, they prescribed 2 weeks worth of Vicodin, with instructions to take it without fail the first night because it was really important that I “keep on top of the pain.” I took one, only because I took her at her word that I’d be writhing in pain without it. I switched to Tylenol after that and was perfectly fine.
I had kidney stones (the first time) several years ago. There was a screw-up in my pain prescription and eventually I ended up in the hospital, getting morphine. In the intervening years I’ve had several fairly painful oral surgeries, plus a recurrence of the kidney stones (no pain that time) that required surgeries. I filled all the scrips for pain meds and ended up taking only one or two of them the night after surgery.
The leftovers are in a plastic bag in my freezer. If I have kidney stones again and have any problem getting pain meds, I have some I can take.
Also if you actually go to the trouble of filling a formal grievance against the pharmacy with your insurance company the pharmacy will have to provider a fuller explaining of exactly what happened to the insurer who in turn should be including that in their response to the insured member.
No, you’re supposed to answer the question, not insinuate he’s stupid because you couldn’t be assed to read more than the title. That title was just that, a title, and was not his full question.
For all you know, the OP was in horrible pain because he couldn’t get his medication, and your response was to show utter contempt for him. It was not remotely helpful, and showed a fundamental lack of caring for a fellow human being.
That leaves with basically one way this worked out without the first pharmacist being a douchebag: they called the doctor to get it straightened out between your two visits. Or, I guess the second pharmacist saw the issue and got it straightened out.
And count me as surprised that Tramodol makes people more sleepy. Before her hip surgery, my mom was specifically given it in the morning as opposed to the more traditional opiate+acetaminophen she took at night.
Pharmacies have been getting robbed of opioid drugs so some are no longer keeping it the store . People have to wait 24 hours to pick it up , this has been on the news a few times.
Oh, sweet! I’m glad to hear it. I’d probably settle for simply never using that pharmacy ever again, but if it creates a significant hardship, then I suppose it might be worth the hardship of following up on this sketchy pharmacist?
My doctor is not local to the area. He practices in another county more than an hr away. I highly doubt the pharmacist had ever heard of my doc before, much less had him on some sort of watchlist.
Yep, I’m just not going to that particular pharmacy again. It’d be more of a hassle to pursue answers here than to just drive the extra 10 min to the next closest rite aid.
That fact, in and of itself, may have made the pharmacist suspicious: why does this person need to drive an hour instead of just obtaining/filling the prescription locally? You doubtless have perfectly good reasons, but instead of asking those reasons, the pharmacist may have just decided he was uncomfortable. (To my mind, the proper response would have been to call the doctor’s office while you waited, though, instead of brushing you off.)
I’m so sick of these idiot drug-seekers that ruin it for everyone who actually needs them. Maybe we should just let them off themselves (I know, I know). But I had a rare cancer and gigantic surgery (if anyone cares, appendiceal cancer [low-grade neoplasm] with pseudomyxoma peritonei treated with CRS and HIPEC) and was on Dilaudid for four months. I developed a dependency. How did I get off it? I decided I didn’t want to be dependent and stopped taking it (with my doctor’s ok). That’s it. The withdrawal was difficult and I didn’t use valium to ease it, but I did it. Through will power. After cancer, and two weeks after a 12-hour surgery where I lost several organs.
FUCK those drug seekers. I have no sympathy for them. I watch my boyfriend who has a terribly twisted spine suffer because his doctor is too paranoid to prescribe him two stupid Vicodin to get him through each day. That’s all it would take. I don’t blame his doctor. I blame the drug-seekers and a government that’s more concerned about them than people like my boyfriend who suffer chronic pain.
why are we so concerned with drug-seekers? I presume they are seeking to self-treat some condition the doctors won’t admit exists. Or maybe they are just scumbags, who can tell. But who cares? We know that restricting access to drugs does no good whatsoever and causes a lot of harm. The scumbags will still be scumbags and the people trying to self-treat will keep trying and in the meantime the person with real pain is suffering.
I won’t even make the obvious joke about the previous post and user name. Too easy.
Ever since the Fellow’s wreck in December 2012, he has dealt with chronic pain. He broke everything. Even in the relatively short time since his injury, we have seen the new restrictions in the way that scheduled drugs are dispensed. In January 2013, he could have refills on his hydrocodone prescription. Now, a new hard copy is required each month for his pain medication. And all of his prescriptions are now handled by a single doctor, rather than Doc N writing for Flexeril, and Doc A for Welbutrin, and Doc C for opioids. Fortunately (since the medical practice is 2 counties and 60 miles away,) the prescribing doctor lets Tony have 2 paper 'scripts for his pain medication. The spares live in the safe. And Dr. C only does that out of courtesy and knowledge - Tony has never tried to refill early, nor exhibited other behavior that would raise suspicion of selling or such.
Like the OP, we have had a couple of occasions when the pharmacy wouldn’t fill immediately. Once was because the local Walgreens didn’t have a new prescription in stock (they found it, and Tony was able to get it across the street at Rite Aid,) and once because they had a new pharmacist who was suspicious. And really, that’s okay. She didn’t know Tony. She wasn’t willing to put her credentials at risk for him, and she only saw some guy at the drive through. Hiso prescription history has been stable, but it doesn’t indicate his medical history.
If I were a pharmacist, I might err on the side of caution, too. It’s not pleasant as a client, but it’s not unreasonable.
They can try, but as was said earlier they’d be facing disciplinary action by the pharm board. Pharmacists aren’t simply peddling items that aren’t necessary in people’s lives. By refusing to fill a prescription w/o just cause a pharmacist is interfering with a physician’s care for a patient. You’re going to tell us that pharmacists can do that w/o justifiable cause?
Additionally, not all patients have the option of going to another pharmacy. Those who live in rural areas my not have additional pharmacies to patronize. Having to travel significant distances may not only be financially & physically unfeasible, it can also negate the effectiveness of a time-sensitive prescription.
Pharmacists serve the public in a position that is voluntary. If they don’t like their job they can go find another one.