Tuesday I had a doctor’s appointment with my ob/gyn so I could get a new prescription for another year of Yasmin. After sitting in the waiting room for 3 hours the nurse came out and said that the doctor didn’t have any more time for today and they would need to reschedule me for a couple of weeks in the future. Unfortunately, I had used vacation time from work to get in to see her and I was leaving that afternoon to go to a funeral for several days. Compounded with the days off I used to get moved into my new apartment I really only have about 2 days of time off left and I don’t dare use them because if I get really horribly, vomitingly ill I want to have that time available. I am currently down to about 10 days worth of pills and then I have no more left. The nurse said that they would call me in 1 month worth of pills while I try to reschedule which, while very nice of them, really doesn’t do me much good since I won’t be able to reschedule for at least 3 months.
My pills come in a blister pack and are never touched by a pharmacist. They don’t have to be measured out or come in different strengths or anything, they just pick up a box off of the stack and slap a sticker with my name on the front of it and hand it to me every month. As best as I can tell the only reason I have to have the exam to get what should be an over the counter drug as a prescription is because this is the medical community’s way of forcing me to recieve regular medical care and while I don’t mind getting the exam I am at a point where I don’t have the time to go right now.
I really like being on the pill and I don’t want to switch birth control options but I can’t afford to take unpaid time off work to get the refill. Is there any way for me to legally get Yasmin without a prescription for a few months while I accrue some additional time off of work?
I think Planned Parenthood requires you to get a pap smear before you can get pills from them. But this knowledge is only gained from me driving the catholic girls I befriended in college to PP because I had a car. But this could be wrong, you could call them and find out pretty easily I’m sure.
Your doctor should have written you a scrip for your pills anyway, especially if you’ve been on them for awhile with no complications. My new scrip always coincides with my pap but one year I waited too long to get a pap appt and she wrote me the scrip so I wouldn’t have a gap in my birth control and I saw her a couple weeks later for my exam.
Yes, if I have a prescription that runs out before I can get in to see the doctor, they will always call in a temporary prescription for me to let me make it until the next time I can get in.
BTW, in my workplace, we don’t have to take vacation time for doctor’s appts, we can use sick time. Do you just have a time-off bank or do you have separate allocations for vacation & sick?
P.S. There are VERY good reasons why BCPs are not over-the-counter. BCPs can cause high blood pressure, and the different hormone and level formulations can cause other sorts of problems. It’s not a vast conspiracy to force you to see a doctor yearly, it’s a safeguard because this particular medication has lots of variations and needs to be matched closely to the patient.
I would ask them to call in a prescription that will be for enough months until they can see you again – if you’ve been on this particular one for a year without problems then I can’t imagine another three months (???) would be a problem. I had problems with four different brands and have given up on the pill, though, so I can see why they’re not OTC.
Would the county health department be another possibility?
You can usually walk in. If you’ve had a pap in the last year, they’ll just give you the prescription usually. If it’s been more than a year, you need one anyway.
And if they can’t extend the prescription, its time to find another doctor.
But chances are pretty good that if you call the nurse, explain the situation (you are unlikely to speak to the doctor), she’ll have the prescription extended at your pharmacy within the day.
Some pharmacies will even call for the extension for you.
They’re available over the counter in a number of other countries, and a recent study suggests the dangers of such a policy have been overstated. See here for some details.
Yes, you can get them without a prescription. Check out this site: http://www.4cornerspharmacy.com/
I have been buying my anti-inflammatory pills and hubby’s anti-depressants there for years. No prescription needed, discount prices, free shipping, and the meds are the real thing. I can get 3 months of my pills there for the price of 1 month here.
It usually takes about 2 weeks for mine to arrive in Missouri. But on the rare occasion it might take a week longer. And I believe the first order took a little longer than the rest. So you have to plan in advance.
I know some people are hesitant to order from online pharmacies, because there are a lot of bad ones out there. But this one came highly recommended to me, and I have had nothing but positive experiences myself.
They don’t carry everything, but they do have what you are looking for: Yasmin
I will call and see if they can give me an extension on my prescription by a few months. I just wish I didn’t have to do that and could just go and pick up the pill at the pharmacy the way I could if I lived in Sweden or wherever. My bc is no more dangerous than Tylenol and I still have to go through and exam and going to the pharmacy and waiting for an hour so they can label a box for me. I just went to a funeral for my grandfather when I found out (about 2 hours before the ceremony) that my grandmother has been diagnosed with leukemia. I know I am going to be using up my PTO to see her and I do need to set aside some for emergencies so I don’t really have hours to sit around between 9 and 5 hoping I can be seen by someone to refill a medication I have been taking for years. This kind of thing is why we need a frusterated smilie.
You need to find another ob/gyn. You had an appointment, they were running three hours behind schedule, and then they just blithely told you the doctor wouldn’t be able to see you that day after all? Sounds like they’ve got no respect for your time. Unless you’ve got an otherwise fantastic relationship with the doctor and staff there, I would not keep wasting my time with these people.
In my experience, once a woman finds someone who she’s comfortable enough with to let them poke her in the hoo-haa, they more or less have to set her on fire before she’ll go find a new doctor.
ETA: Poker them with a speculum, that it, not a penis. Presumably it takes much less than setting a woman on fire to get her to stop sleeping with you.