Well most of you know that my new doctor put me on a 28 day refill plan, I liked it, every 4th tuesday, my meds would be there waiting.
Then I started to have problems. Walmart seems to have doubled their prescription base since they went to the $4 generic plan, but they still only have one fax per store.
I started calling on fridays to request a refill on the following tuesday, and twice they werent ready when I came in to pick them up. Since I have to wait until I am completely out to get a refill, that upset me!
2 months ago it took about 3 hours on the phone between pharmacy and doctors office before it was settled.
Last month I gave up and went to my doctors office and requested the actual prescriptions. after about an hour, the nurse brought them out, and said if I wanted to do it that way from now on, I could, just call on monday and pick them up on tuesday.
Today I go in. They arent there. some 'refill nurse' tells me they would never do that, I need to call the pharmacy and have them fax a request. and my meds will be ready in about 4 days.
I said excuse me?? I did it this way because YOU guys told me to. I am totally out of meds. I signed a contract and I have kept my part of it, I dont remember reading I would go through 4 days of no meds through no fault of my own! she was very rude and condecending, she said she would 'try' to talk to the doctor and to come back in an hour.
I don't drive, my friend who has colon cancer took me. we had to leave to get the results of her pet scan, her results were bad, theres a shadow in her lung, she needs to wait a month and have another scan before a biopsy, but its probably cancer and inoperable.
My friend is crying and upset, I am sick and in pain, I go back and my scripts are waiting but the nurse tells me to be sure and 'do it right next month'.
We get to Walmart. They look at my scripts and tell me it will be a 2 hour wait. I start crying, tell them I am in pain and my ride is with a woman with cancer, is there anyway to put a rush on it? She laughs at me. I stare at her. She sniffs and says 'sorry, but everyone has a story. I'll put that you are waiting in store, we'll page you'.
We went out for lunch and wandered around the store and they finally were ready. I just got home and its 1:30 pm, I left the house at 8 am.
Thanks for letting me vent, anyone have suggestions for what I should do in the future? I cant afford to leave Wallmart. My ultram is $16 a month there and it was $285 at walgreens.
How many ultram do you take a day? When you are getting close to being done with them maybe you could cut back to half as many. These regulations are for a reason but they can sure drive you crazy! I have had the same thing happen to me.
Fabby, I am so sorry. I think it is so sad that we have to go thru so much trouble and aggravation to get refills and we are in chronic pain. The medical community just does not have compassion for those who are hurting anymore. Hugs.
Fabby, I am so sorry. I think it is so sad that we have to go thru so much trouble and aggravation to get refills and we are in chronic pain. The medical community just does not have compassion for those who are hurting anymore. Hugs.
I think the reason is there are just too many out there that abuse them. They doctor shop, going from one doctor to the next to get pills. They have had to put regulations on the pills for that reason. I too believe it is horrible that you are having so much trouble with your refills. Have you talked to your doctor about this? Please let us know how you are doing. I care because I have been there.
Hi Fabby, have your ever tried refilling your perscriptions from Walmart online? I don't use Walmart (and I'm not in PM so I may not know what I'm talking about here ) but I've used Walgreens online service and found it fast and convienent.
I use the online feature for my hubby's meds, but his have refills on them. My doctor has to okay refills for mine every month, so they still have to fax them, and be open to them faxing back. My doctors nurse told me last month and 2 months ago, that they had tried over and over to fax an approval to walmart, but their fax line was always busy. the machine tries to send 3 times, then gives up. they had tried to send on both friday and monday.
There were also many other people waiting at walmart with the same problem, their doctors had been trying to approve refills and couldnt get through. 2 months ago I finally got them at noon on the day I was out, but only because the doctor gave up trying to fax and just called them.
I see my doctor next month and I will talk to him then about this and see if we can come up with a better plan.
Fabby - I'm sorry they put you through this , I know how bad it is to get cut off like that and it's not fun . I take it you can't go through any other pharmacy ? I hate Wal-Mart's pharmacy , they are so rude . I go to CVS for mine and I'm about to switch cause the people are rude there also. I had this lady tell me , you know you can't get this refilled for 30 days and your to only take one every 8 hours .. I looked at her and said no DUH ! Grrr.. that made me upset .
ya' know shawley, when i first started PM i went to CVS also because the pharmacist there (Ernie) was so polite and so helpful before that. Well now he is gone and the only pharmacist they have that i will deal with is the over-night guy. Not only only are the pharmacists (both of them) rude during the day time but the "technicians" are as well. i seem to have had on going problems with 1 in particular to the point where i filed several complaints. he is no longer there after last month. wonder if i had something to do with that? I HOPE SO!!!! JERK!!!!
it turns out that there is atleast 1 other lady that is a customer there that was issues as well. we filed a complaint together. this man did not even have the natural born human compassion. he was just a nasty person. why the hell do people (pharmacist, drs., nurses, etc.) get involved in the medical field if they basically could care less about people? aren't we all born with some compassion? where do these people loose it? is it after their involvement or did they start out that way?
okay i will step down gently off my soap box now. i am so sorry you are having these issues. be your own advocate and try to remedy this. i am sure you will. god bless, morgy porgy
OK, I got a pharmacist fired. I fill at riteaid .. Every month its 7 or 8 meds I get filled.. This pharmacist would give me absolute heck EVERY time. As soon as she saw me she would glare at me. I know my rx's were pretty tough to refill.. Well one day I went in and turn them all in ON TIME as usual and was told it would be an hour.. Well, went home ate some lunch whatever came back 3 hours later and she screamed on the top of her lungs "YOUR PERCOCET AND KLONOPIN ARE NOT READY!" . Got my meds later that evening and filed a complaint and she was terminated. good stuff. I cant stand jerks for pharmacists.
I taped copies of THEIR labels (the ones that came with the instruction/info sheets) to an 8 x 10 piece of paper, and turn them in about 5 days before I need them (made copies,and put my 'pick up date' on the one I"m leaving with them). Since I get so many at a time- but most are 3 month refills (the non-pain meds), it gives them time, the actual numbers, and saves me the phone refil system, which is hard for me to see.
For the monthly pain meds, I have a separate sheet with the same copies of their labels on it. I drop it off about 3-4 days ahead of time. I'm consistent (and no contract). If the refills have run out, they call the MD, and authorize the refills.
If I have a problem, I WRITE to the MD (since I've at least gotten some meds) and explain the situation- and make myself a copy from the computer for my records. If they have a better solution, great. If they don't, I've been hoarding as much as possible. I'm one of those, that if I know I've got the meds available, I can hang a bit longer to take them, knowing there's a 'cushion' there- sometimes I can get by with the milder stuff. But if not, the other stuff (still not the stuff that most people get prejudicial glares for) is still around. I always get all refills, whether I'm out or not, for this reason.
Just what's worked for me- the doc's office I go to has all patients, whether on pain meds or not, call the pharmacy first, for them to fax the refill request over, so they can check the chart for frequency, and if any pattern of requests for more have been increasing- if not, they're ok'd. It works well here, or at least I"ve been lucky.
Thanks for all the replies. It feels like youre in the middle of a nightmare when all of a sudden you can't get your meds and people are being hostile and rude to you. The nurse yesterday, said 'You told me you always fill on the 28th, so you are either very early or very late, also the 28th can fall on a sunday and getting refills on a weekend is against your contract'
I just stared at her, I could not believe someone whos job it was was to monitor peoples refills could be so stupid!
I explained that its not every month on the 28th, its every 28 DAYS, so it is always on a tuesday, always 4 tuesdays from the last fill. and my contract says I wont attempt to get the doctor to write a refill on a weekend, if my meds were set up month to month, I certainly could fill on a sunday if thats the day I ran out!
She kept telling me I did it wrong, and I kept telling her I was only doing what the other nurse told me to do. She acted like I was lying about everything. I hope none of us ever has to go through anything like that again. I am not supposed to see my doctor until november, so I will have one more refill before then, I'm going to call the pharmacy on thursday, and then call them every few hours until I know they have gotten the fax. grrrrr!
Thanks so much for all the kind words and suggestions, you guys are the best!
-That's how I'm feeling about the way she treated you!!!
I'm so sorry you have to deal with such ignorance- especially from someone (like you said) who should be able to keep up with this. Doesn't she know the doctor has a 28 day schedule??? I mean, she is employed by him and should know his prescribing pratices.
Let's hope they get this straightened out quickly! I also hope your doctor takes measures to not allow this to happen again. You follow the rules, and then are accused of doing things wrong- what's up with that???
OK, I got a pharmacist fired. I fill at riteaid .. Every month its 7 or 8 meds I get filled.. This pharmacist would give me absolute heck EVERY time. As soon as she saw me she would glare at me. I know my rx's were pretty tough to refill.. Well one day I went in and turn them all in ON TIME as usual and was told it would be an hour.. Well, went home ate some lunch whatever came back 3 hours later and she screamed on the top of her lungs "YOUR PERCOCET AND KLONOPIN ARE NOT READY!" . Got my meds later that evening and filed a complaint and she was terminated. good stuff. I cant stand jerks for pharmacists.
Fab, Just wanted to say I really sympathize with you, I can't believe the way people are treated. To be in chronic pain is bad enough, to deal with attitudes & incompetance just makes it all 10 times harder. Just makes you want to scream, then the docs.wonder why you get depressed or anxiety, go figure. I am so very sorry about your friend, my gosh what a nightmare that day must of been. I have to say it is bad enough to have to deal with docs & offices who do not get it, but pharmacys, I would at least think about some type of complaint, that is a bad attitude to have when dealing with people period. Sammy
I don't understand why they give you the long wait etc. When I had meds. that were re-fillable,I would simply call the pharmacy the day before,and tell them I will be in the next day.The meds. I'm on now,I have to get a new script. every month. I simply call my doc. office a few days a head of time to let them know I need them. And there there waiting,still,I call to make sure there ready to save myself a wait,or worse,a trip for nothing.
My doctor has said that he won't put refills on any of his chronic pain patients meds, we have to get approval every month, which is a pain.
He has almost every CP patient of his (except for me) on methadone, which is filled right there at the in house pharmacy, so he can send a note over in one day, but they dont carry ultram, or lortabs in the 7.5 strength, so I had to go to walmart, and walmart has the ultram on their $4 generic plan. I get 240 a month, so anywhere else it costs me $280 and up, but at walmart its only $16 ($4 x 4 because of how many I get)
This is another reason I think maybe I should go on the methadone, it would be so much easier. But I'm scared to try and come off the ultram after 14 years of taking it every day.
I think the reason is there are just too many out there that abuse them. They doctor shop, going from one doctor to the next to get pills. They have had to put regulations on the pills for that reason. I too believe it is horrible that you are having so much trouble with your refills. Have you talked to your doctor about this? Please let us know how you are doing. I care because I have been there.
A lot of blame is put on drug seekers and addicts, perhaps rightfully so, but don't you think that CP people also need to accept the fact that it isn't just "those people" who are responsible for these regulations?
CP people consume a far, far greater amount of prescription narcotics than drug seekers and addicts do. In the end, despite the way the drugs are being taken, the fact still remains that the vast majority are going to CP people and those regulations are there more for them than the addicts and drug seekers.
I am also in treatment for CP, but I can be honest with myself about things like this. It's just too easy to point fingers and lay the blame.
) but I've used Walgreens online service and found it fast and convienent.
