AAARRRRRGGGHHHH! Pharmacists!

[khashka]

So I call to see if my doc approved my refill. Of course she did.

But they won't refill it!

"You're 7 days early."
"No I'm not. Last month I didn't have enough money for the whole prescription - so I got what I could afford. And got the rest 7 days later."
"You'll have to discuss this with your doctor."
"My doctor is not the problem. She approved it. Please check your records."
"Call your doctor, Mr. Khash."

What's the point of calling my doctor? How many times does she have to approve it before they accept it? Why can't they just check their fucking records? I knew that the partial refill arrangement was gonna come back and bite me on the ass, and sure enough.....

I understand there are laws that pharmacists have to obey regarding controlled substances, as well as professional standards regarding the dispensing of medications. But sometimes they really get up my nose!

So now I have to go bother my doc and get her to try and solve a problem that isn't a problem. She is an incredibly busy woman and she won't be pleased. She'll read them the fucking riot act! Good! Serve 'em right!

Sadly, this is actually the best pharmacy in town.

Khash.

[Lars39]

1. I've had this problem recently and it so aggravating.

They count a partial prescription as the full prescription, even if they are the ones that partially filled it, because they didn't have enough pills in stock.
And to top it off, I just last night discovered biblical scripture on my pharmacy receipt. Aargh.

[SacredCow]

2. friend of mine had almost the exact exchange...

over birth control pills! :wtf:

She was going out of town for a month, so she needed to have them earlier. You would have thought she had asked for an advance on every pain killer known to man...

On a related note, does anyone else have to show their ID and sign forms to buy over the counter Claritin-D or Sudafed?

[Heddi]

3. I had to show my ID to get Kroger-brand sudafed

Had horrible sinus infection/cold/nastiness. Pseudophederine is the only thing that works for me when I get sinus infections. I've tried CLaritin. I've tried Benadryl. I've tried non-pseudophederine medicines. NOTHING works.

So I go to Fred Meyers and of course they don't have anything REMOTELY associated with Pseudophederine on the shelves. They do have nifty cards that tell you the name of the medicine---conveniently leave off the price---and you have to take the card to the pharmacy to get the med.

Okay, I think. No big deal.

Get to the pharmacy--find that Advil Cold & Sinus as well as Tylenol Cold & Sinus (the two godsends of my life) are out of stock. No big deal because they were outrageously priced anyway.

SO I get the Kroger brand of Sudafed. The lady asks for my ID. Making sure i"m over 18 or something....

No. She COPIES my ID, puts it in a file. THen writes down information from my ID into this book, writes down what I bought, how much I bought, the date I bought it and the serial number off the package.

Okay--this was for a 12 pack of Psuedo-Suadafed. Didn't even WORK...had to drive around town adn find another pharmacy where I was FINALLY able to get Advil Cold & Sinus....they didn't take my ID info, but they did keep it stocked behind the counter. Not fun waiting in line for 30 minutes to get a box of FEDERALLY REGULATED OVER THE COUNTER MEDICINE especially since I couldn't breathe, head was throbbing, etc etc

Yeah yeah. I know about meth. I'm a nurse. I live/work in the pacific northwest. Find it hard to believe that taking my ID (and copying it nonetheless) for 12 Sudafed pills is doing ANYTHING to stop Meth production. Espeically since now most of the meth is coming from Mexico where Pseudophederine is not regulated.....

[SacredCow]

8. Exactly...

And IF anyone is making an appreciable amount of meth here in the US, it's most likely from stolen Pseudopehderine.

[mduffy31]

9. Here in Minnesota

You are limited to 6 grams of psuedophederine a month. Now that is a lot of sudafed. I have a friend that I work with that has a condition that needs him to use a drug called Entex. It is a combination drug of both sudafed and guaifenesin. Now it can get expensive to keep buying prescription drugs every month so, we are both nurses so he was buyint large amounts of sudafed and guaifensin and just taking it that way. Well he now gets a little suspect looks like he a meth cook. I thought the big problem came from people who were STEALING IT, not who were buying a box here and there.

[Midlodemocrat]

4. Here you are limited to two boxes per day.

I haven't had to show ID or anything, but I'm sure it is coming.

[Fleshdancer]

5. answering your second question:

Yes, here in TX, we have to show ID and sign for Sudafed. I'm not sure about Claritin-D only because I don't buy it.

As for birth control...I've felt spoiled ever since I started going to Planned Parenthood. They take care of you there and they LISTEN (odd concept, I know). Before I moved to Japan many years ago, I was concerned about my bc pills because in Japan, the whole bc pill situation is still weird. I explained my unique situation to them and let me leave with my year's worth of pills.

[NewWaveChick1981]

13. When I first started taking BC pills in 1981,

Planned Parenthood routinely gave women a year's supply of BC pills when they prescribed them. Now, however, it's (I think) three months' worth at a time.

I get several medications, including BC pills, by mail through my insurance company's pharmacy, and I get 90 days' worth of everything at a time. That's how they do it, and it's actually cheaper for me do do it that way (much lower copay). No questions asked, no hassles, no biblical scripture on the receipt, and if my doctor should be called about a prescription, THEY do it. :)

Now if I have an acute problem and need a one-time dosage of meds, I take my prescription to my local CVS. I've never had an issue with them, thank goodness. :)

[Fleshdancer]

16. That sounds cool

No biblical scripture on the receipt alone makes mail order worth it! Now I just hope the your mail delivery person doesn't deny delivering your medication for religious reasons. You just know it will happen somewhere to someone. :eyes:

[NewWaveChick1981]

20. I know---I'm just waiting for it to happen sometime.

Fortunately, the CVS pharmacists here are unbiased. I just hope we keep the same mail carrier and don't get a religious nutcase anytime soon.

[MountainLaurel]

12. Same here

What kills me is that in EVERY emergency preparedness document you read, they tell you "Have an extra week/month for all prescription medications on hand." How the hell are you supposed to do that if the pharmacy won't give it to you?

[ThomCat]

14. You can't.

My doctor proscribes me 30 migraine pills at a time. The insurance company will only allow me to get 6 pills in any calendar month, so the pharmacy has to break up the prescription.

I get charged the full co-pay 5 times to fill one damn prescription. And if I have more than 6 migraine headaches in a month I'm Shit Out Of Luck. I have to beg samples from my doctors.

[Patiod]

17. And yet the migraine pills only really work if taken at the 1st sign

of a headache. But since you're only allowed 6, you probably wait to take them until you're sure it's going to be a "real" migraine. At which point they don't work as well.

So they don't work, because the insurance company is focing you to ration them.

[ThomCat]

18. That is exactly right.

[skygazer]

6. Yeah, I've had that happen, too

And not with meds that anyone in their right mind would abuse in any way, shape or form and with stuff that, as you say, the pharmacy themselves were a party to. :banghead:

I have to say, though, that I've never had a problem with my present pharmacy. The one time there was a question, THEY contacted my doctor to confirm and it was done while I waited.

[miss_american_pie]

7. They did that with my kid's inhaler once

I don't know exactly what they expected me to do if he had needed it.

Sorry for your frustration.

[ThomCat]

19. Watch him wheeze and die, apparently.

:grr:

[miss_american_pie]

21. OMG

It's so not funny, but I'm howling at your post.

I think they'd expect me to take him to the ER, as if that's cost effective.

[lumberingbear]

10. Why do you hate me???

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Roon]

11. My HIV clinic has their own pharmacy

It's really a godsend, I haven't had one problem in the decade that I have been using them. Sorry they are giving you a rough time.

[0007]

15. I know what ya mean. These people act a lot like security at airports.