Paging Dr. Blackmail, Dr. Blackmail
This is a topic that I know everyone in pharmacy knows about. Every pharmacist has dealt with it, yet like the floating turd in the punchbowl of medicine, everyone just looks the other way and pretends it doesn’t exist. So thats where I come in. I’m scooping out the turd and asking how it got in here.
I hope Doctors (MD’s, not you uppity PharmD asses) from all over reply to this post, because I want to know if this actually happens or are we just delusional. You know that all comments are anonymous, so you have no reason to not post for fear of angry lynching (at least in real life).
Say you are a doctor, and you fuck up on a patient bad. Not like “to error is human forgive me” error, but “sue me for lots of money” error; and the patient is fully aware that he/she has you by the balls. Is it practiced to just bribe the patient with lots of narcotics so they won’t turn you in/sue you?
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Example 1:
Patient comes in with an Rx for Vicodin ES #180, 1 q4 prn pain **must last 1 month** x 4 refills. I start to get a huge pharmacy boner because I think this is a dead set forgery. I run to the back room as giddy as a schoolgirl who gets her period after the prom, and call the doctor. Its legit. I tell the doctor (or his minimum wage staff) about the limit on Tylenol, and at 6 a day this woman is going to blow out her liver. He tells me its only for prn and to not worry about it. I document everything and fill the Rx.
15 days pass (the Rx was for a 30 day supply for those a bit slow on the pickup). Patient wants a refill. I tell him to (politely) take a flying leap because the Rx says that it must last 30 days. He says to call the Doctors office, so I (feeling as if i’m trying to filter piss out of the ocean) send over a call tag requesting an early fill and expect a huge NO on it. Patient must call about 20 times during the hour asking if its ready or not. Totally pissing off my frontend staff and myself. Tag comes back that its approved. I call the office and ask why the put the “must last 1 month” if they aren’t going to abide by it. They blow me some bullshit excuse and just say to fill it. I document everything and fill it (which in hindsight I shouldnt have done). Then I fill one, and 18 days pass, he wants another refill. I get on the horn with the Doctors office and ask what the deal is. I tell him that unless he makes the sig 1-2 q4 there is no way that I’m going to fill it (even then he’s really going to blow out his liver). He refused to change the sig and says that its ok to fill. I suggest Norco to lower the APAP, nada, he wants this filled (everyone knows that VicodinES by Watson Labs has a huge black-market value). I plain out ask what the deal is. He says “Doctor-Patient” confidentiality. I tell him thats great, but I dont want to ride my license on his “confidentiality” and hang up on him. I boot the patient from our place (haw haw, Walgreens got him) and blacklist the doctor. I run the sheets on the Dr, and there isn’t anything really strange about him. Handful of patients, not a big writer in our store, but blood pressure, diabetes, the usual. Just this ONE patient is a huge red flag out of the sea of normality.
Example 2:
Patient comes in with an Rx for Fentanyl Patches and some Norco. I don’t give this a second thought and fill it. Everything is cool, patient comes back on time and gets them filled, no problems.
A week passes…
His wife comes in, Fentanyl Patches and Norco. I start to wonder if something is up.
A week passes…
His DAUGHTER comes in with an Rx for Norco. Something is going on.
I fill the Rx’s with a watchful eye. They aren’t early, they aren’t assholes about it. Just having all 3 family members on exactly the same drug (when he is clearly the one with any sort of ailment) raises a huge red flag with me.
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So what’s the deal here? In example 1 we have a doctor who will not budge from changing an Rx when its CLEARLY too early (and he put down that it must last 30 days) and CLEARLY too much Tylenol. Example 2 we have everyone and their family on some pretty high caliber narcotics.
Does this problem exist? Yes or No. I don’t want to hear whiners about how the patient in Example-1 was obviously mis-dosed and in chronic pain, blah blah blah. No, it wasn’t that. He was on Mars every time he called, and he doesn’t remember calling our store or even coming in. There was something that was obviously wrong that you cannot put into writing, and every pharmacist knows what that feeling is like.
If it is true, the Dr’s are putting the pharmacies in a really shitty position. We have to stand up to the patients when you wont over something that /you/ did and /we/ didnt. Plus, when the shit hits the fan and this person gets caught for selling, who’s going to be put under the gun first.
If you’re a doctor, put some sort of explanation in the comments, if you’re a pharmacist who obviously is as paranoid as I am, put your story in the comments.
As a physician I have seen 2 different occasions where patients had some type of injury (sciatic nerve injury with hip replacement) related to a surgery where the performing doctor instituted chronic pain meds. However in both cases they got chronic pain consults and as a primary care doctor, the management of both pts. were above board. To be quite honest, the type of prescribing in your first example should be reported to your state medical board. If a previously normal prescriber is now doing this, he either owes this guy something or in (as in our state) is in ‘cahoots’ with him.
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Yeah, I have one of those. I have a Father/Mother/Son/Grandmother AND an “aunt who occasionally visits from Florida, sho all get Hydro/Apap 10/660. They come in the exact day it is due and never quibble about the price. I call the MD’s office (same MD for all members of the family) and get verification each and every time and document on the back of the RX that I called to verify. One day I actually had the chance to speak to the Doc and I questioned him on why every member of the family is on the same medication. He politely told me to mind my own busines and just fill whatever he wrote for. And yes the daily limit for APAP is surpassed on each prescription.
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Waiting with bated breath on this one….
TAP, did you know that the APAP dose limit doesn’t exist when the physician says it’s OK?
…at least that’s what I’ve gathered…
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I am a tech, who was “raised” by Pharms that were *very* conservative. I would appreciate how you check your scripts and document everything. My current Pharm is very liberal. “If it is legal, fill it.” I try to say what you say about the tylenol content, not to mention the narcotic part. But it’s his Pharmacy so I type it. It bothers me, though.
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that kinda stuff happens way too much…
I have 1 doc that will write percocet for pain first before trying darvocet or lortab/vicodin. We have about 7-10 pts that get 100 percocet every month and they all are associated with a shady guy that i know is selling them. I’ve talked to the doc, called the cops to watch out for them….what else can you do?
the scripts are never early…but i know the pt’s aren’t taking them all. i wish the doc would give them all piss tests to see but sometimes i wonder if he even gives a shit.
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A couple years ago I had a dentist who paid a little too much attention to a couple of his “patients”. The Vicodin ES rxs kept the women quiet.
He has since moved out of town, divorced.
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Clearly you see the same situation that I see all the time, husbands and wives/sons/daughters/dogs all have the same exact magical illness that causes pain. My favorite husband and wife are both on the fantastic combo of Oxycontin 20mg bid, Oxycontin 40mg bid, oxycodone 30mg QID, and alprazolam 0.5mg tid, all prescribed by the same physician they both see regularly.
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The best excuse for wanting their vicodin filled early was “I went fishing and had my meds in my fanny pack and I dropped my fanny pack in the river so I lost my meds”. Even the cop laughed at that one. We ended up getting rid of that patient, now she’s at Walgreens.
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I have the same eery feeling whenever a husband and wife with NO CHILDREN come into our pharmacy and by the full limit of Sudafed once a week (in Illinois they can by it weekly) on the dime. And when we report it to the police like we are supposed to we are told to continue selling it to them. Not to mention that neither of them are diabetic yet still by the legal limit of syringes, also on the dime!!
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My money is on diversion, with kickbacks to the docs (selling scripts.) If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, why do you ask if it could be a zebra?
As for the ones who “never come in early”: I bet they’re going to multiple pharmacies, and are smart/organized enough to keep the all straight. Do you call other pharmacies and share lists?
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a few quick comments from Canada:
first, try working methadone for a week. you will not believe what you see and hear. games beyond games.
second, it KILLS me to own an independent pharmacy and to have to play the Good Pharmacist role and turf patients…while the dr is getting paid to be shady and another pharmacy will dispense the Rx without batting an eyelash.
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Oh I suppose every pharmacy has these patients. We have a guy on soma, xanax, and ativan. He tends to buy his drugs, leave the store only to return moments later and claim we shorted him three. That’s why we have to double count all his meds. He also tries to get early refills constantly. I don’t even know why we fill for that doctor anymore…
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In Ohio responsibility is 50% with the doctor and 50% with the pharmacist. I don’t care what the doctor says because my 50% says it’s not getting filled.
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I have been out of retail many years. However, if I did return to it, and had a doctor, regarding suspicious controlled-substances, tell me, “Mind your own business,” my answer would be, “Doctor, this IS my business! It is illegal for me to look the other way and fill these prescriptions.”
Can you say, “corresponding responsibility?”
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I don’t deal with a lot of narc scripts since I mainly work at a hospital and only do occasional staffing at a walk-in where I refuse to give out narc scripts because I can’t follow up. Anyway – I wonder which is worse..the blackmail for the narc scripts or the blackmail for the antibiotics. I kid you not – there is a lady at the walk in clinic that, in the last 3 months (yeah, I literally added them up one day) had received 47 rocephin injections, 160 mg of decadron, and like 400 mg of depomedrol injections…
I was stunned. Oh, and I didn’t mention that she was on cipro at the time she saw because she “failed” treatment on the other 4 courses of levaquin she’d been on during that SAME time frame!?!?!?!?
As a doc, I would never wish lawsuit upon another physician – but I wholeheartedly disagree with the narc practices and the abx practices. I’m surprised my tires haven’t been slashed because of all the abx and narcs I’ve refused to give at the walk-in.
Anyway – just wanted to point out equal-opportunity blackmail exists out there!!
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I work in a private pharmacy that stocks a very large number of narcs. We had one customer, who for years, has been on massive amounts of Oxycontin 80mg and Actiq 1600mcg on top of that! She had a running storyline with her Dr. that she would “lose” the rx’s and have to get new ones written every week….Hmmm…..she also paid these huge hundred dollar co-pays all in $20 bills, everytime…..The Dr. is notorious in town for being the narc writer. She is now moving her practice
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Don’t worry, I’m not going to get ‘uppity’ about the doctor thing….
But this is what’s always made me laugh about the utter stupidity of having COMBO products with APAP in them (and somehow the ‘government’ considers this to ‘less addictive’ than the non-combo products and as such get the C-III designation)…. The government really thinks that the addicts CARE about the flippin’ tylenol part of it!? Prior to being a pharmacist, I used to always be under the impression that taking too many opiates caused liver failure (notice, I didn’t mention opioids)…. But it was ALWAYS the tylenol…. So now, we have a bunch of people getting hooked on the same damn oxycodone in percocet that’s in oxycontin….but getting so much damn APAP they put themselves at extreme risk for liver failure (I’m always surprised to hear the stories about addicts taking 30 tablets of darvocet a day and NOT going into immediate liver failure….makes you wonder just how ‘variable’ the stated ‘toxic doses’ really are)….
Now…so what you ask, another no-good junkie offs himself….except this junkie…who’s been living off your tax dollars for years, sticks it to ALL of one last time by rackin’ up a massive ‘final exit’ medical bill for all of the management the healthcare profession will give this person just prior to their death…. RETARDED! I’m not condoning the abuse of opiates, but it’s laughable for people to think that APAP is really going to STOP someone from doing so!!!! Oh, and anyone who thinks the APAP in those tablets is really effective for pain management of the type that supposedly necessitates the need for those drugs…is smokin’ the pipe too…
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Maybe its because Im a new Pharmacist (licensed just over a year) but I dont ever fill the narcs early regardless of what the doc says. I have a license to protect.
If the magic 4g of APAP exceeded, I dont care if Dr. God walked in and said to its okay to fill early, I wont. Ive had a few Docs get into it with me, but ultimately they come to understand that I am only protecting myself. They are welcome to send their patients elsewhere for early fills, they arent getting them from me.
I will refill narcs 2 days early with our chronic pain patients (meaning if its a 30 day supply they can get it on day 28), they are all now well trained at this. Of course we do have those who try to push the rules, but it only makes me crack down harder. Typically they go elsewhere, and tell me they are going elsewhere like I am affected by this!
No matter what the doctor says when I call to verify anything (drug interactions etc) if its seems fishy or wrong to me, I will refuse to fill it. I have to protect myself.
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i understand the shitty position it puts you in and don’t disagree, but just wanted to add what ran thru my head as i read this:
it was implied that he was selling them AND high as a kite. i think it’s unlikely he was doing *both* if he was still getting high on day 15…
…and called 20 times in an hour, which suggests he was in or anticipating withdrawal symptoms, which wouldn’t happen unless he’d been taking them himself for at least a few weeks straight.
7.5mg of vicodin doesn’t have a “huge” black-market value. it’s at the bottom of the opiate totem-pole as far as value goes, unless you’re selling them to middle schoolers. i’ve seen tramadol sell for more on the street (not the norm. but it happens).
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I once did relief work at a pharmacy where this woman was always claiming that her dog ate her Ultram. Never her Synthroid or lisinopril, but always her Ultram.
The regular pharmacist asked how the dog got them and that shut her up, for a while anyway.
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Unrelated to the article, just wanted to vent; had a guy tonight refuse to get his $3.10 plavix post discharge bc he “only has 22$” as he points to his basket with peanut butter, a 24 pack of coke and some teddy grahams. (The rest of his post MI drugs were covered.) I bite the co-pay bc the geezer is deaf and unable to comprehend the ridiculous situation, but still feel i deserve some of the teddy grahams.
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Dr. XXXXX’s Pain Clinic, Scene 1.
MD leaves VM on Doctor line as follows:
“She’s up to it again!!” (pertaining to patient repeatedly harrasing said MD @ home, @ office, and etc for a refill of her beloved Vicodin ES)
“Go ahead and give her 100 of them, TUD, she knows how to take it. Now, whether she takes it like she is supposed to is unclear. No refills, ah hell, give her 3 to keep her off my back for a bit.”
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Sorry.. forgot to mention this, I’m sure you will enjoy.
Pt. Babycakes (total pun, have to be there) has been on Vicodin 5/500 for a while now, and obviously, he is addicted to it.
So he gets a script for them, 20 qty, standard sig (12T;Q46..etc), and he, ah, takes all 20.. in one day.
The Pharmacist informed the Doctor, being concerned for his liver and mental stability, and MD wisely gave him ANOTHER script, same as before.
He took all 20 in one day. And he was given another chance.. to do it again.
This was shocking, since before this, I actually had faith in the medical profession. This MD seemed like he had a good head on his shoulders.
But, I guess, you can never tell, huh?
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I would contact the state medical board/DPS on this doctor. We have had several docs in the area lose their license for these sort of things. On another note..just started a new job this week at an independent..have never filled so much Hydro/Xanax/Soma in 3 days as I have here!!
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I have run into cases when the office was called the prescriber just didn’t realize he was seeing this Vicodin patient so often. Also have run into cases where the Dr is seeing the patient for the 1st time and writes for 100 Vicodin ES and 3 refills. On calling the office they have no rational reason for this other than the patient is allergic to just about everything else. Imagine that. Usually upon learning that the patient has had past complience issues and 3 other Dr.s they cancel the refills. My best was the Dexadrine patient who just increased her own dose as she felt like and the Dr just continued to cover her with new increased directions. Upon speaking to the Dr he stated he was using Dexadrine for depression. Problem is in our state there are only 2 approved usages for Dexadrine without approval from the state board of medicine. When I asked the office if they had such approval they called the patient and instructed them to go to another pharmacy. Cause we all know be now these Drs have special legal exemptions for any law or rule that irritates them. As mentioned-I wrote it you fill it, I AM GOD.
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We are desperately trying to educate our residents regarding diversion issues. it is hard, they learn the path of least resistance pretty quickly.
BTW we are a lorcet kind of town. Patients will refuse a vicodin prescription. and they absolutely hate vicoprofen. which is the only post surgical pain med I will use. I assume it is because there is no street value for vicoprofen.
I guess its good that they dont know how to actually look up a med. then they might realize that hydrocodone is the same regardless if it is coupled with tylenol, IB or has the WATSON label on it or what.
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It’s the doctors’ passive-aggressive way of helping natural selection along.
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Somehow I never deal with the doctors described here.
Everyone I see has a big sign that says they will not even prescribe diet drugs.
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At our pharmacy, its brand name lortab. Personally I think that they remind me of certs. I think the speckles might be just what makes them popular. For example, we rarely sale the brand Lortab 10′s because they arent any different looking that the qualitest generic we have except for the markings.
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I’ve been in practice for 22 years and this post really makes me angry. Once you see a Dr. Feelgood and he/she won’t respond to your calls or suggestions about over prescribing (The same family all on Oxycontin? whew!)it is your duty to report to the medical board. Medicine has enough problems without these shady characters continuing to practice dangerous and greedy medicine.
To RXPower- yes you deserved the teddys!
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I think it does cathc up to them eventually b/c we had a NOTORIOUS control-writing MD here just revoked of his prescriptive authority by DHEC. Sad thing was, they only took his C-II and C-III authority so he’s still able to write C-IV and C-V. (Guess his patients will have to settle for good old Lomotil or Robitussin AC highs instead of their beloved Lortabs…) This was a welcome memo from DHEC by so many pharmacists b/c we’d call to verify large quantities, early refills, overlapping strengths and a variety of other things to be met with “It’s fine” on the other end of the telephone line.
Documentation on Rx’s of these very calls are probably what saved the RPh’s butt and put the focus on the MD once there WAS an investigation. This prescribing went on for YEARS and involved many patients and pharmacies, so it proves investigations don’t happen over just one “hard to treat” patient!
It was interesting to see the responses from pharmacists…not ONE that I spoke to after this memo HADN’T heard of Doctor X. (Most were more suprised he had actually been reprimanded than shocked at his prescribig habits!)
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I see this stuff happen all the time. And we call and check on things. We just had a dr’s license taken away because he was doing things like charging medicaid & medicare for procedures that patients didn’t need and shutting them up by giving them any narcotics that they wanted. Also threatened to fire any staff member who talked. Yeah the FBI took him. I’m not a pharmacist just one of those lovely techs. But like I said I see both scenarios every freaking day. I see a lot of people younger than me and I’m only 27 getting all these pain meds from their dr’s or going to the ER people who are clearly a couple going to the ER and both getting vicodin yeah whatever they aren’t in any pain! But legal scripts can’t do anything but fill them and hope that one day they get caught for their shit. Karma is a bitch and it will catch up to you one day!
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We had one guy filling dilaudid, oxycontin and percocet (all name brand) from our walgreens, from doctor A, through workers’ comp. He also filled the same things at CVS across the street, from doctor B, using medicaid.
I caught him when I “accidently” billed his stuff through medicaid…I think I did him a favor, he was kinda looking very yellow. Yum, Jaundice.
We also had a guy who paid cash for his vicodinES, and after seeing him six days in a row, I looked at his profile. 6 months of pills in 2 weeks. Eventually, we found out that his doctor was the one to blame…the DEA nabbed him five days before he was supposed to retire. Job well done, Feds. ^_^
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“Say you are a doctor, and you fuck up on a patient bad. Not like “to error is human forgive me” error, but “sue me for lots of money” error; and the patient is fully aware that he/she has you by the balls. Is it practiced to just bribe the patient with lots of narcotics so they won’t turn you in/sue you?”
Err – Verb
Error – Noun
They say fear leads to anger. Blue Oyster Cult said “Don’t fear the grammar…”
What a ‘pun-ish’ statement: To error is human, forgive me. Heh! Pardon the pun.
MO
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I work at a retail pharmacy and there is an MD in my small town in FL that operates out of a mall. This office will not accept insurance of any kind. They will only take cash payments for office visits and everything. They only write RXs for pain meds. All I have ever seen him write for is oxy, perc., vicodin, soma, methadone, etc. Every friday we get a slew of prescriptions written by this doctor and all of the druggie patients come in and want their narcotics. How is this legal? Also the doctor does not stay in one place very long. He was operating out of Tampa before coming over to my neck of the woods.
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Here’s my thing.
Where i work, which i’m sure is inappropriate to tell you exactly where that is, but will describe it as a federal department that tends to patients, a majority of whom have perhaps seen combat…. (clarification: i am not making a sweeping generalization about the patient population that i serve, except to say, that this population, like any other population in other settings, has a growing number of individuals with drug-seeking characteristics who feel ENTITLED to whatever they want because they “fought for this country.” I have nothing but respect for those who have done more for the country than i ever have, but that does not entitle you to all-you-can-eat narcotics.)
vicodin/morphine/oxycodone/metadone/soma/clonazepam abuse runs rampant… and when we try to call the doctor’s on it, they say, oh, just give it to them early because [insert lame excuse here]. We document the early refills always. After the 2nd or 3rd “fill it early” command, we stick it to the doctor: “YOUR DIRECTIONS MUST REFLECT HOW THE PATIENT IS TAKING IT OR WE WILL NOT FILL IT.” That is, you are allowing them to take 12 vicodin a day, so write that in your sig, or your patient ain’t gettin’ nuthin. That tends to shock them into reality… and they either adjust their dosage upwards, go to a more potent drug or not give it early anymore. I do not pretend to know how much pain a person is in, but i do know that if a doctor is writing a prescription for a medication for that pain, the patient must follow it to the letter. if that rx isn’t treating the pain, then they must get another rx that does. Luckily, we are able to eventually get the dr’s to implement (after endless begging) a “Controlled substance contract” whereby early refills are not allowed under any circumstances (unless the dr adjusts the rx), lost/stolen/my dog ate my meds (by the way, dog owners know that dogs NEVER swallow pills — not even hidden in a glob of peanut butter)/ my bottle fell in the lake when i went fishing/fell in the toilet/i totalled my car and my pills were inside the car/i left them at a restaurant excuses do not fly. You can’t keep up with them? You don’t get anymore until the next due date. We are lucky to have such a tool… but getting the doctor to that point is tedious and exhausting. They don’t have any idea that our license is on the line (“oh i don’t believe you” they say) and they don’t see that we are in a shitty position because of their poor narcotic enforcement. They also don’t see that they are being manipulated by their patients: once a patient said boldly and without hesitation – “don’t worry, i’ll be back. I know exactly what to say to get what i want.” And he did.
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We have a lady who wants her Xanax filled five
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Just an Australian perspective – I guess we are lucky, working in a fairly small state, with a Health Department with the time and resources to do all this.
A record of all prescriptions dispensed for S8s (narcotics ?=CII) and S4Ds (eg.benzodiazepines ?=CIII) are sent to the State Health Dept by every Pharmacy at the end of the month, who then compile the results by doctor and patient (even if they are paying cash for prescriptions – to try and stay off the record). It certainly picks up the doctor-shoppers! They can also send out directives limiting the supply for some patients to specific doctors and pharmacies, breaches of which will be picked up in next months report! For patients who breach these (they may get a couple of tries) they can then be forcably refered to the Drug & Alcohol service.
They also pick up prescribing patterns in the doctors. We have also recently had a local GP have his right to prescribe narcotics removed – hearing the perspective of some of his older patients has been amusing to say the least! The rest of us knew what he was like all along.
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I am personally a Pharmacy student in North Carolina. My father had a tooth removed by a dentist about 5 months ago and had been experiencing pain ever since. The doctor noted that he “beat him up pretty bad” and would schedule check up appointments every month or so. After every appointment he would feed my dad prescriptions for Percocet 5/325 like they were lollipops at a bank drive-through. My dad took one of them the first time and didn’t like the way they made him feel and has been shredding the scripts ever since. My mom was telling me about this and I told her it just didn’t seem right. The dentist wouldn’t even ask my dad if he needed them for the pain and when I asked my father about it, he told me the percocets made him feel too out of it and that tylenol and oragel worked much better because they didn’t make him feel like a slave-laborer after a 23hr workday.
My advice was that they should see another dentist for the next checkup since anyone who writes a CII for a “checkup” 5 months after a tooth removal is clearly in some shady business. I’ve had teeth removed before and aside from the nitrous oxide administered during the procedure, I received no pain management.
After seeking the advice of another dentist some X-rays were taken, which showed something alarming. My father had a broken jaw in which fragments were strewn throughout his lower mouth and inside his face. Basically he had to have another procedure to remove the fragments so his jaw would finally heal. My parents aren’t seeking any retribution in this scenario due to their belief that lawsuits just aren’t the way to handle things and that with all the forms they signed for the dentist that they would lose the suit anyway. However, I am pretty sure there is no where on the form that says “If I accidently break your jaw, I can and will cover it up with a waterfall of CII narcotic prescriptions.”
Just wanted to share my experience with exactly what you mentioned because this dentist clearly messed up badly and tried to basically persuade my dad with pain meds. Granted, in this scenario, the patient DID need the meds but Christ not that many.
Cliffs:
-Dad had tooth removed from back of mouth
-Dentist “really beat him up”
-Every month dentist would give him a new Percocet script
-Dad never asked for them and through out the scripts
-Parents asked me why they do this
-I said it sounded shady, esp when my dad never asked for pain meds, I say see another dentist.
-They go to another dentist b/c pain was present.
-X-ray reveals broken jaw and bone fragments all over
-Parents won’t sue but probably should.
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Free country?
what has happened? Prescription ? fill it?
drug abuser? let them abuse…
Why ask why.. life is to short to be in pain.
Legalize everything and tax the hell out of it.
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I totally agree with the comment above me.
“Free country?
what has happened? Prescription ? fill it?
drug abuser? let them abuse…
Why ask why.. life is to short to be in pain.
Legalize everything and tax the hell out of it.”
As a chronic pain sufferer it makes me sick to see some of the comments from these pharmacists. Just rubbing your hands together trying to catch someone ANYONE out doing something wrong.
I require narcotic based pain meds daily, just to get through the day. Do you think that’s FUN??
If you do then you’re sorely mistaken. It’s even worse when you get some ‘urkel’ type pharmacist looking at you suspiciously and eyeing you up and down like YOU’VE done something wrong just because your Dr. has changed your meds to something that hopefully will work better and make my quality of life better. If it gets changed in the middle of the month theres no chance of medicaid paying for it until time to re-fill, even though I’m not even taking the ones that aren’t working. So I usually end up paying cash for it (because I have no choice) and praying that this will finally be the medication that works and I can have some sembelance of a life.
Of all the pharmacists i’ve worked with over the years I’ve yet to meet one who isn’t full of themselves when they have absolutely no reason to be. A pharmacist is nothing more than a pill-counting failed wanna-be REAL doctor.
You all need to just shut up and do your job, which is to fill prescriptions that REAL doctors have written for their patients. Instead of thinking that YOU (BIG LAUGH) know more than the doctor does and more about the pain I deal with on a daily basis than myself or my doctor know.
If you’re such ‘angry pharmacists’ then get a different job and a life while you’re at it and stop acting like the nerdy snitch from school.
Just stop whining over your failed aspirations of being a figure of authority (such as a erm DOCTOR?) and either do your job, fill the da*m prescriptions and get on with your life.
If you don’t like it, well, the world needs plenty of bartenders.
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Amen to that sister! A lot of the people who have posted on this topic need to read the above post… just like her I am 24 hours a day in need of strong narcotic pain medications in order to function enough to be able to get out of a bed let alone work or go to school. A lot of these posts MAKE ME SICK…”It dont hurt nobody….but MY BODY” so BUG OUT….worry about yourselves…Doctors went to medical school in order to evaluate pain and know what meds to prescribe. A lot of you should be ashamed of yourself.
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>>>>
I too suffer from serveral chronic pain disorders or injuries. I too am prescribed several strong narcotic medications & muscle relaxants, and sleep medications, as well as pain patches. AND guess what? My husband also suffers from chronic pain and also is prescribed several strong narcotic pain medications, muscle relaxants & sleep medications.
We both get these medications each and every month and we both have for several years.
Are we drug dealers? NO! Are we drug addicts? NO! Are we getting these medications from a doctor who somehow “owes” us something? NO!
We plain and simple, HAVE CHRONIC PAIN AND “NEED” these medications just to make it through the day, and if you think we are enjoying ourselves or even get total relief from any of these medications you are sadly mistaken.
We are just two people who happen to be from the same family and have the Misfortune of having been dealt a rotten hand and have chronic pain, that we both, will probably have for life.
Is our doctor or doctor(s) doing anything at all WRONG by prescribing us these strong what you snobby, noisy, power hungry, think YOU ARE GOD & can police what we take or don’t take that is rightfully prescribed by our doctors, have to much time on your hands and should get a hobby, A holes call “abusive” medications.
I am here to tell you there ARE many people out there that actually really need these medications and are as responsible as they can be with them, take then as directed, and DO NOT need you Pharmacy workers looking at us suspiciously, looking down at us, calling our doctor to be SURE we aren’t somehow writing our own prescriptions and “oh I’m gonna catch this one.” What do you have to gain? I really have to understand. What do you have to gain by making people like myself feel I’m being put on display and stared at because I take narcotic medications?
You have the nerve to withhold my medication because YOU feel like it, because YOU are suspicious, because YOU can’t believe there are people out there that do suffer everyday of the week 24 hours a day from TERRIBLE pain, and all we want to do is come in to a phamacy hand out prescriptions to the counter person and have THE PRESCRIPTIONS OUT DOCTOR WROTE FILLED, without prejudice, without suspicion, without the looks, without the judging, without making us feel we somehow have done something wrong because we have chronic pain.
As the other post said, do you think we are having fun? Chronic pain is NOT fun, we are not playing games, we are not trying to pull anything on anyone, we simply want to be treated like a human being with maybe some compassion from you pharmacy workers, when you see these medications, don’t you ever think, wow, this poor person is in a lot of pain to be taking all these medications?
Have you never thought of it that way?
Probably not.
There may come a day when one of you high and mighty post(ers) get into an accident, or develop a chronic pain disorder, and YOU will then be the one on display. You will know you are display because you put so many people on display who were taking the medications you are now taking. How are you gonna feel when you are on the other side of the fence? Not so good I suspect. Especially since you KNOW you are being watched, looked over, being called on and told on in the back room by the pharmacy calling your doctor to somehow “catch” you doing something wrong. What are you people? Still living in high school where you get off on taddle taling? Be real! Stop judging, cause when the day might come that you are the one being judged, you aren’t going to appreciate it any more than we do, probably worse for you as I said because you know how you people operate.
As the other post stated, if you don’t like your job “angry pharmacists” get a new one. Don’t take your “I need a life” out on the poor people out there like myself who are tired of being told come back tomorrow you shouldn’t be out until then. Give me a break. When the prescription is for 30 day and we come in on the 28th or 29th day, do you seriously think “oh we must have taken to many and want then “early.” Get a life people. We take our meds on time as directed, we also may not be able to get to the pharmacy on the “30th” day or don’t want to wait until we are out to come and get our 30th day does from YOU.
Seriously, it is ridiculous how some of you think you are the General in the army and what you say goes and that’s that.
Tell me, if you were taking a medication for anxiety and panic attacks, and you came in to refill your prescription 1 day before the “30th” day and the pharmacy told you to come back tomorrow that’s the “30th” day, do you not think that would tend to cause a bit of anxiety, the very reason you are taking that medication? You happened to take your anxiety medication in the morning, at least your 1st dose, and if you have to get ready and go to the pharmacy to get that 1st dose from “you Generals” it is very stressful. And God forbid you may have actually had a panic attack that month and were directed by your doctor to take 2 pills to stop the attack, SO, on day 30, you would actually be out of medication, you would be out on day 29. The last thing you need is a pharmacy refuse to fil a prescription 2 days early. That is just beyond my comprehension, it makes me sick, it makes me mad, it makes me sad, it makes me feel like screaming, “JUST FILL MY PRESCRIPTION AND GO ON WITH YOUR JOB.”
Lastly, I have to agree with another post. This is a free country is it not? If some one wants to abuse their medication why do you care? I don’t agree with selling medication so I won’t speak to that, but I think that is so rare, I didn’t even know anyone did that. But, actually, again, what do you care? If they want to be stupid and risk going to jail is it any of your concern? I agree that all drugs should be legalized, and I’m sure unlike you phamacies, I believe there would be LESS drug abusers if they did legalize all drugs. It has been proven in other countries that legalizing had lowered the abuse %. The thrill of it is probably just not there anymore, and if you think people who never took drugs before are going to suddenly decide to become druggies just because its now legal, you are all taking some of your medications you sell yourselves.
I will just end with, maybe you should think real hard and dig deep into your soul and maybe you just might have some compassion for the next person who comes in with prescriptions for strong medications, and think to yourself, wow, this poor person, they must be in a lot of pain and having a real bad time if they are taking these medications. What a concept ah? No judging, just maybe a little sympathy for a change. Try it sometime. You might make someone feel a little better and have a little better day, if when you see all these strong meds and say to that person, how are you today, fill their meds, and hand them to them, no questions asked, no running to the back to taddle tale just to find out its all on the level, and say, hope you are feeling better soon.
Shame on you phamacy workers who posted on here and the rest of you who feel the same way as the ones who posted, you know who you are. Shame on you!
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I am a pharmacist with serious nerve damage to my leg, hand, and ear from complications due to a life threatening auto immune disorder. I work at a mom and pops pharmacy, which wasn’t open on Dec 24, of course. So I brought my prescriptions, one for 28 15mg Opana ER BID, the other for 42 4mg Dilaudid PRN (2 week supply on both), to Walgreens, the only local pharmacy open evening on Dec 24. Up until this point I had always had someone at my pharmacy fill these medications, people who know me and my medical situation, so I was totally unprepared for the way I was treated. I handed my prescriptions to the pharmacist, she read them, looked me up and down, shook her head, sighed and said loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear, “Are you supposed to be on both of these medications?” To which I responded, “Yes, exactly as they are written, I have serious nerve damage. I take the Opana ER to provide baseline relief, and the Dilaudid for break through pain.” She replied, again loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear, “Doctors rarely put a patient on two pain medications as powerful as these at the same time, I will need to check with the doctor to make sure he ACTUALLY wrote these.” I was taken aback by her hostility, and contempt for me. She continued to look at me as if I were a kid caught with my hand in the cookie jar. I responded “Sure, do what you need to do.” So she calls my doc, who confirms the prescriptions, to the pharmacists obvious dismay. Now at this point I expected her to apologize or at least say something to the effect of “Hey you know we gotta be careful.” or “Sorry for the inconvenience I will have it ready ASAP.” Instead she glared at me like I had just been acquitted of a crime we both knew I had committed. I was extremely embarrassed and angry, not only was she treating me like a criminal because I was on strong narcotic medication, she had done this whole thing so loudly that everyone waiting for their prescriptions knew exactly what she thought of me. Someone behind me whispered loudly enough for me to hear them “Hey junkie, get your fix elsewhere I don’t got all night.”
We do not fill many prescriptions for narcotic pain medication at my pharmacy, but EVEN if someone brought in a script that was clearly forged, and we could prove it, we would never treat a customer like this. To all you “angry pharmacists” out there how bout you get over yourselves? Sure if there is something obviously wrong you must confirm the prescription, but on the grounds that the person is filling a narcotic pain medication and you don’t like people who take narcotics? The behavior of this Walgreen’s pharmacist made me ashamed to be a pharmacist, as do some of your posts. Treating someone with suspicion just because they are filling a C2 controlled medication is the same thing as a police officer pulling you over for being black in a white neighborhood. For all you “angry pharmacists” out there who suspect every C2 is a forgery, and that every patient on narcotic pain medication is a criminal, I sincerely hope you suffer an injury such that you need strong narcotic medication, and that when you go to fill it you are treated like an unbathed drug addict with leprosy. It was very enlightening for me.
P.S. As a pharmacist you should feel like you have a responsibility to all of your customers/patients. You should treat them all with courtesy and respect, as you would have them treat you were the situation reversed. If you cannot handle this you shouldn’t be a pharmacist. Try digging ditches or something else that doesn’t require you to deal with people =P
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My wife has severe pain and takes morphine avinza 30mg Qd. I have damage throughout my spine 3 c-sp, 5 t-sp and 3 l-sp. been goin to same dr and pharmacy for 10 years. I am only 37yo so i am often treated with suspicion whenever they hire a new pharmacist and once they get to knowme it’s fine. I take Oxyconone sr 60mg q8h. that means 90 is a 30 day supply but I am often required to go from say the 9th to the 9th even on 31 day months. If the pharmacy is out it takes 2 days to get my meds which means I sometimes have to go 3 days w/o meds. I think i would go insane w/o my breakthrough meds during that period. is there any kind of “grace period” like bringing it in @ 28 days in case there is a prob? my dr has no prob writing my rx @ 28 days but i just encountered yet another new pharmacist at my pharmacy and she is insistent on 30 days exactly regardless of the situation. I do not want to change pharmacys but going two days without meds while I wait for the to get my medicine is no good either. any suggestions?
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im so lucky to be screwing a rph. he gets ass and i get vicodin. very nice guy.
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I have a friend who is a pharmacist in Montana. He has come up with a rather unique way to deal with fake oxy scripts. There is a tic tac that closely resembles an oxy 80mg. He just fills the script using the tic tacs. So far not one of these script forgers has come back!
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Very uncool to give a patient a placebo…that is sadistic..karma is a bitch and i hope that pharmacist ends up with chronic pain and someone does the same thing to him..THAT IS UNPROFESSIONAL and EVIL!! This guy need to get a LIFE..and do his job ethically.
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The above reply infuriates me…i have one word to say and that is Karma..i hope that this jerk pharmacist experiences chronic pain so that someone who is as much of an unethical jerk as he is can tick tac that mf’er…besides the point placebos are illegal and immoral. What goes around comes around!! What a jerk!!! You all are not clever you are ignorant!!!
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How does he know they’re fake? For all he knows, some poor chronic pain sufferer had to go an entire month without meds because of his “clever” substitution. No wonder they didn’t return! May another pharmacist do the same with his heart medication….
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It is very easy to determine a fake. You call the MD and ask if he wrote the medication. If he says no… then it is a fake. The alternative to this is what I and 99% of rphs do when they get a fake. They call the cops and have the faker arrested. No chronic pain patient with 1% of a brain would fake a script. The addicts fake scripts.
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I wasn’t even going to reply since this post was so long ago but…
Syd? If you could actually read they said they did this for FAKE oxy scripts. Jesus… get a life and learn to read while you’re at it.
And I live with someone that deals with chronic pain so I am not ignorant. It is a condition he was born with (my fiance) and they have even mentioned amputating his leg for relief. The basics of it is that he has way too many blood vessels in his leg. He is on one of those “pain contracts” and actually legitimatelty ruined a script once. He didn’t go bitching, he toughed it out. And he doesn’t live off the state he works his ass off more than 40 hours a week even though he could collect complete disability. I am so sick of people whining and bitching about this shit.
And I am also a recovering drug addict, been clean and sober for 2 years. The pharmacist COULD HAVE called the cops and gotton those little shits in deep trouble for writing fake scripts. Some tic tacs in their place is a far nicer option than a year in prison… if not more than that.
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it is for me to decide and you to f’off u dr.flunkies,go push your pills / u nobodys
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Ugh, reading this site is alarming! I have severe, life limiting ibs. Talk about a pain in the ass.(lil ibs humor) I found great relief with xanax, but know its addictive so I refuse to take it every day, or every month for that matter. Sometimes though I will be in horrible shape for 2-3weeks, then fine for a month and so on. My dr. writes my xanax prescription 1 tablet 3x’s a day as needed. WITH NO 30 DAY REQUIREMENT. After the ten days I went to get my refill, and I was told it was too early? I said no it isn’t, there is no 30 day req on my perscription. He said yes there is with xanax. ?. He said if you need more tell you dr. to write it for more than thirty tablets. Say what? Why would I do that when I can go months without taking it? Now I won’t even want to get it filled but i’ll end up having to out of desperation. I know what they’ll be thinking of me, crazy xanax addict. Plus i’m a single mom on medicaid. Well thats okay cause I am getting my rn and when they come to me w/failing knees and backs…
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YOU WONDER WHY THE WORLD IS THE WAY IT IS.
WAY TO MUCH DRAMA!!!
JUST BE HAPPY YOU ARE ALIVE……..
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Mjai when the doctor wrote #90 1 tab TID that made it a 30 day requirement. 99% of doctors don’t write must last x days on their scripts. Legally the script still has to last according to how it is written. If your taking 6 a day during an IBS flair then ask the doctor to write the script for take 1 tab up to 6 x per day. If he won’t write that then you shouldn’t be taking that many.
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All you high and mighty pharmacists need to shut your mouths and just fill the prescriptions. You think you are more than that? Get a life and stop putting down people that want these meds. If the doctor wrote the prescription, shut up and fill them. That is all you are good for anyway. Do you actually think we care what you say to us and when we get that whole”counseling by a pharmacist for certain meds” is a joke!
You are nothing more than living pill despensors. Nothing else.
Luckily my pharmacist is friendly and doesn’t give a rats ass how many prescriptions I come in with. She fills them, cause thats her job!
All you anal ones that will try to reply to this, don’t bother. I only posted this after reading how pathetic you all are and will never visit this site again. Just so you know I was try to find out how to get my meds early anyway. Luckily, I won’t have a problem with that! LOL!
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Josh, you can go to hell. We have the DEA riding our asses about “preventing drug diversion” It’s OUR asses on the line, not pill-popping junkies like you. Also the Department of Public Safety (in Texas at least) keeps logs of dispensing, so once again it’s pharmacist’s asses on the line. If you want to be a junkie and abuse your stuff the go ahead and find someone who will look the other way. I sure as hell won’t.
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As a Police Detective who investigates prescription drug related crime I want to thank the Pharmacists and Techs who help prevent these crimes. Pharmacists are our last line of defense against prescription drug diversion. A crime which devastates entire communities. I urge all pharmacists to work with law enforcement. Report all forgeries even if you catch it after it has been filled, AND all attempts. Make sure your video systems are quality systems and that they work. Keep a prescription log where Scheduled drugs are signed for by the person who picks them up. Where possible get and COPY ID’s from those handing in scrips, and recieving narcotics. Sounds like a lot but it only takes an extra minute. Yes people will complain that it takes so long and it adds things for you to do when its busy but like taking your shoes off at the airport the world has forced this upon all of us. I have been to too many death scenes with empty prescription bottles present, usually a young person with family who care for them. So no need to get TOO angry just call us, its my job to wrestle with the drug dealer in front of your store (and I have on more than one occassion). Just follow through and be willing to show up in court if neccessary.
P.S. Hipaa does not protect criminal acts, so as a proffessional, if a crime is being attempted or has been committed in your pharmacy you have the right to provide the information to law enforcement.
Thank you again for all you do.
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Mr Scripz
If you want to help us deter drug diversion then you must do your part. Until it becomes illegal to dispense $4/$10 generics the problem of diversion is only going to get worse. An experienced person trying to dupe pharmacist will find and hit the busiest pharmacies that are understaffed and overwhelmed with volume. A pharmacy selling $4/$10 prescriptions can not possibly stay in business unless it us dispensing a ridiculous volume of prescriptions at a break neck pace. Moreover, the company that owns the pharmacy will not make it easy for us to catch these types of criminals. They will not spend money to implement systems that decrease the amount of money that fills their cash registers. They also pressure the pharmacist to fill every prescription that can possibly be filled, especially the “good” fake ones. It is not in their interest to encourage us to take time to spot an illegal prescription, in fact they make it next to impossible because it also detracts from the production of other legit Rx’s and not to mention takes the extra gravy that they will get from the over priced cash sale that they will get from from these difficult to detect fake Rx’s. And if we do spot a fake prescription we are instructed not to call the police because they do not want to piss off a cash paying customer. In fact a few places that I have worked at in the past I have been flat out told not to call the police but to have the doctor call the police instead even if the doctor asks us to. This is especially useless because most of the fakes that come to us are using doctor names that are usually outside of the local police jurisdiction, otherwise the pharmacist would recognize the doctor’s signature or prescribing practice and the fake would be instantly recognized. If we do take the extra time to detect fake Rx’s the company frowns up on this practice and will fight us. They may not fire us, however, they will make it very difficult for us to do our job. We would not be considered “good” pharmacist by the company and instead of being threatened with our job, we would get our tech hours cut, not given our vacation requests and would be the 1st to get fired when the situation arises. This problem is very disturbing and is a direct result of allowing people who don’t have a license to own a pharmacy. It doesn’t make any sense what so ever because it is much easier to punish the pharmacist by taking away his license, so a pharmacist that would not normally look the other way is forced to because his job might be on the line as well as the welfare the other patients he serves. The easiest way to solve this problem is only to allow licensed pharmacists to own pharmacies. Simple solution, if a specific pharmacist if filling numerous fraudulent Rx’s take away his license and he he out of business. Go ahead and try to put CVS out of business, while you try it they will probably put you in jail in the process.
So if you want to help us help you, help us make an honest living but supporting the North Dakota pharmacists and support legislation to bring pharmacy back to the experts that have devoted their lives to this once noble profession. Who else is more qualified to own a pharmacy than a pharmacist?
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Thanks for replying. I appreciate the pressure put on you from the corporation to turn and burn and bring the money in. BUT. Checking ID’s and maintaining a signiture log does not cost money. Most “systems” are paid for by the insurance companies and gov’t grants. Nothing will drive away legitimate customers like a waiting area full of junkies not to mention the dealers outside approaching your customer to ask if they got anything good or simply mugging them. Having a Dr call police is pointless as the crime is being committed at the pharmacy and your store will be involved anyway. In reality Both of you should be calling the police. It really doesn’t matter where the Dr’s office is, that just means I call the PD over there and have one of them take a statement of forgery if needed. The idea of being told not to call the police because “they do not want to piss off a cash paying customer” when you spot a fake IS a crime. I hope They realize that. You put yourself at risk if you participate in a criminal act. I know telling you this does not help when it could mean your job or they screw with your vacation but a jury of people in the town where you are putting drugs on the street won’t care. I know of pharmacies where they buy the prescriptions off medicaid recipients so they can sell the same drugs twice in effect. Unfortunately that takes place with Cancer drugs and HIV meds, the big money stuff, as well as the narcs. Unfortunately a pharmacist owning a pharmacy does not do away with greed. Bottom line is we have a legal and moral obligation to fight this thing. Please help.
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Scripz,
We are not the drug police, but we do try hard to keep all the Mr Cracky McCrackheads that we can from getting their “fix”. However, it is very difficult sometimes, especially, in the state where I practice. You see, it is perfectly legal for a physician to write a prescription for percocet on a piece of toilet paper with a crayon. There is no standard issue Rx pad. So who is going to pay for me to spend my time investigating and scrutinizing every last narcotic prescription? The ones that get past us are the ones that look real. If you want to make it easy for us make it a law that every physician use the same Rx pad. That will cut down your work load considerably. Next, you have to remember that the pharmacist has a tremendous amount of respect for his license, however, the unlicensed owners only have respect for the money that they can make from our license. If you want why don’t you lock up every pharmacist that has unwittingly dispensed a fake Rx but keep in mind if you do that there will be no one left to fill your prescription. Asking pharmacists to help you is pointless because we are already on your side. If I owned my own pharmacy and I suspect someone is trying to dupe me, I have the luxury of telling them never to step foot in my store again, however if I work for a big company I do not have that luxury. As a matter of fact, if I do tell the questionable “patient” never to come back, the company will send him a gift basket and fire me. So you really need to appeal to the people that control how pharmacy operates, the ones that own the pharmacies, not the pharmacists who have no control over the operation. How am I going to copy someone’s ID? You need a photo copier for that and the one we have is located clear across the other side of the supermarket, would you have me leave my narcotics unattended for 10 min while I wait at the customer service desk for the key to the copier, while the junkie can stroll right in and take everything he wants, it’s very easy for him to do that since it’s perfectly legal for the pharmacy to have oxycontin right on the shelf in alphabetical order with guarded by a simple 1/2 door to access the pharmacy. Go pester the the company that owns the pharmacy or the state board to have stricter requirements on design and make it a requirement to scan everyone’s ID just like we must do for pseudoephedrine products. I am sure they will kick you their door faster that you walk in with that suggestion. If you want to talk to people that can change this talk to the people who own the pharmacy, not the pharmacist who is so inundated with work and without enough people to help him that he doesn’t have time to take a piss. The bottom line for you and me is not the same as the bottom line for these greedy corporations that employ us to exploit our license.
Get to work, you have a big job ahead of you. Oh wait, I forgot, you are only able to enforce laws and have no power to make them. Ok then your only choice is to put every pharmacist in jail because you say that we are committing crimes. The huge companies would love that, because now you see they will cry to their politicians that there is no one to do the work and make them pass laws that will allow any schlep to dispense their drugs. You will have more work on your hands that you could possibly imagine and the streets will be full of oxycontin. Understand, that most of us try our best not to be duped and be thankful of the job we do, if you want less drugs on the street change the system. God knows we have no control over it, it’s being taken away from us piece by piece all in the name of greed.
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Pill Pusher,
I don’t know what I said that makes you think I want to put every pharmacist in jail or even said that you are all committing crimes. I’m only asking that you do as much as you can to prevent drug diversion. I know that the VAST majority of you do, and I thank you for that.
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Scripz, I agree about reporting on forgery but I hope you are also reporting the pharmacist you know that are buying back medications from Medicaid recipents.
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As I mentioned, I am a law enforcement officer, I’m not a pharmacist or tech, so not only do I report them but they are arrested by me if in my jurisdiction.
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I must admit, I am pained reading these posts. Who knew pharmacists were so judgemental and condescending? I am a 33yo female who was in a horseback riding accident 15 years ago in which I shattered my collarbone, and damaged both my cervical spine & lumbar spine severely. I have suffered from chronic pain ever since. I am also bipolar 1 w/OCD diagnosed in my early teens. As a result of these conditions, I take many medications, both for pain and anxiety. I have seen many doctors, including surgeons, but because I want more children noone will even consider operating on my back until I am “done” having kids. While I have had 4 pregnancies, I only have 2 children to show for them thus far. So monthly I rely on Flexeril, 7.5/750 Vicodin ES, Lyrica, Ultram, Lidoderm patches, Ambien, Xanax, Risperidone, Lamictal, as well as Lovenox, metformin, and Foltabs to name a few of the non-narcotics. My husband also suffers from anxiety issues and takes Xanax, Zoloft, Risperidone, and Ambien, as well as hydrocodone and Ultram occasionally for a problem ankle due to a sports injury in high school. He’s also on cholesterol, thyroid, and blood pressure meds as well. We see different pain and primary care doctors, but the same psych for our anxiety/sleep meds. Are we sellers/dealers? No. Are we abusers? No. Do we have “dirt” on our doctors? No. We have LEGITIMATE health issues that we struggle with on a daily basis. But between the two of us, we fill about 20 prescriptions a month. Do pharmacists understand how difficult it is to remember WHAT was filled WHEN? And how much time I spend running back & forth to pharmacies? Why do I get a dirty look and arguments when I stop by to pick up my Ultram, or Vicodin, or Ambien or Xanax a few days early because I happen to be out running errands. I do have other things to do besides run back & forth to the pharmacy. My kids have extra-curricular activities/sports, and I have a small child which makes it sometimes difficult for me to get out on the EXACT DAY I am due to run out of meds. SO WHAT if I want to pick them up a few days early. Am I harming anyone? Am I abusing my meds? No. Really does a few days early automatically mandate an abuse red flag? I am only remarking on this because I was out tonight and went by to pick up my vicodin and was told to come back because it was 3 days too early. 3 days… seriously?? I also resent the behavior I get from pharmacists when I transfer an Rx. I do so ONLY if there is a store coupon for free groceries or gift card with transfer, but pharmacists seem to act like I am trying to be shady and hide something. When you spend over $300/EVERY month just in Rx alone, every $25 worth of free groceries or diapers or whatever goes a LOOOONG way. All I ask is that the pharmacists stop for a moment and consider the impact of their demeaning behavior. Like I said to begin, it pains me to see pharmacists treat paying customers in such a derogatory way. And now I think I’ll go take a Xanax and go to bed.
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“Like I said to begin, it pains me to see pharmacists treat paying customers in such a derogatory way. And now I think I’ll go take a Xanax and go to bed”
I totally AGREE! Walgreens some how thinks i take my pain meds for my foot, I am not sure why they think that, but that is what they keep refering to when I call to get my meds early, They don’t want to take the time out to know that 11 years ago I crushed several verterbrae’s (spelling??) in my spinal cord and therefore I am on my pain meds…they make me feel as if I am a JUNKY which I am in no way…
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