[Perna]

I just got my Albuterol inhaler renewed a couple days ago for my asthma and I got ready to break out a new one and the bag had 3 in it instead of just 2. I look, and they have the quantity as "51" and it's circled. I normally get an inhaler with 200 puffs and I'm supposed to have 2 puffs every 4-6 hours as needed. So, I'm thinking I have 153 puffs instead of 400 possible and I look at the paper and it says I'm supposed to use it every 6 hours (and at the moment I need it every 4, especially at night) no mention of 4 and that this amount is going to last me 45 days instead of 30! Last month they gave me only 1 inhaler instead of 2 and I had to go back and get the second one so now I'm thinking they're way off their rocker and I'm way pissed :-)

So I go back (only half an hour before the pharmacy closes) and tell the clerk I need to talk to the pharmacist so this nice looking pharmacist asked how can he help and I start angrily asking why they're trying to kill me :-) and that my prescription has been changed (from 4-6 to only ever 6 hours) and I only have 150 puffs instead of 400 and it's supposed to last me 45 days instead of 30 and at around 10 puffs a day I only have 15 days worth, not 45 and I'd like to breath on day 16 please!

So, he peels back the label on the box and shows me the box says 17 and 51=3x17. And your point is? And I care about 17 why? He is Pakistani or Sri Lankian or similar so he's patiently telling me this over and over; "See the 17? You have 3 cartons and the 51 is 3 x 17!" So we go back and forth for awhile on how I'm supposed to have 200 not 51 and he finally gets across to me that the box also says 200 puffs, the 17 is number of grams of medicine and he's telling me it's what I always get. I'm still confused with what the 17 and 51 have to do with anything whatsoever but finally a lightbulb goes on in my head and they, for whatever reason, put the total of all the grams of medicine (excuse me, this is puffs of asthma medicine, I can't "measure" it and don't give a squat how many grams is in the cannister!) on each box (instead of that box's individual "17") and nowhere is there anything about puffs unless you peel back the label! But eventually we got me to understand what they'd done and I figured out from something my husband had said about his blood pressure meds that the 3 instead of 2 probably had something to do with the new insurance giving me more so I don't have to come back as often.

So, they can do math okay and the pharmacist was very patient and managed to explain it well so I understood but I have to wonder at their labeling the stuff differently suddenly and in such a way that a college educated person can't figure it out. I've had doctors killing me with medicine before so I'm not terribly trusting of people getting it right but now I just feel like I'm the idiot and got angry too soon. I did give him a hard time about having to peel back their label to read the box. LOL! Why have a label if it doesn't label right and if the box is already labeled sufficiently? If they needed all my stuff on the box they should have put the label on the "back" so I could have looked at the box easily, seen the 200 and not worried about it.

[sunrise]

Perna, I would be upset too. I've had it happen also where the pharmacy puts their label over the label of the medicine and obscures important information. Like you said, why not just put the pharmacy label on the back. It's like they're trying to hide critical information from the patient. In your case, it could be life threatening. I'm glad you have all the medicine you need to last 45 days. At the very least, when you first picked up the prescription, the pharmacist should have explained the new packaging. Major oversight on his part.

[wickedwings]

((((perna))))) i'd be teed off like you.... i'm educated as well, and hate it when anyone makes something so confusing even for an educated person. makes me feel like i just went dumb, even though i'm not. heck, yeah, you have every right to make sure you have the right dosage, amount, puffs, etc. of you meds. i had one doc od me one time on a dosage that was too high to be safe. that was many years ago, and my mom saved my life because i was so unable to think due to the overdose. can't be too careful with meds. i also make sure there's no interactions going on, too.

[Gracey]

I'm with you on this one too.

Once, after surgery, a nurse came in to change my IV, and she had a second bag. I said, "What's that?" And of course, in a patronizing manner that nurses through the ages have perfected, she said, "Oh well this is our new antibiotic!" (insert smile here) And I said, "Can I see that?" And she says, "It's just fine, your doctored ordered it for you." So, I won't let her hook it up till I've seen it, right? Well. . .it's pennicillan. And I say, "I'm allergic to pennicillan" and she says, "are you sure?" Am I sure? LOL Well, yes I'm quite sure. And she says, "There's no record of that in your chart" as she's holding the chart with the big damn RED sticker on the front that says, ALLERGIES: Pennicillin, Benedryl, Asprin which I can see just fine even in my anesthesia induced fog.

I'm an educated woman. DON'T treat me like a child especially when it's obvious YOU don't know what the heck is going on.

I TRUST NO ONE!! LOL I know it seems paranoid, but I double check and triple check everything.

[Perna]

Yes, I'm allergic to Penicillin too and now Flaggyl and my doctors, after my appendix burst and we found I didn't tolerate Flaggyl were constantly trying to give me more of that.

I love the "Are you sure?" question. I once had a bonafide social worker who did intake before you got the nurse who got the doctor (he was Head of the Orthopedic Department at the local hospital) and she asked was I pregnant and I said, "no" and then she asked, "How do you know?" I had the urge to go off on her (I was still a virgin at the time) but I think I just gave her one of my best meaningful glares instead.

[splitimage]

I once had to sign a waiver certifying that I wasn't a virgin, before having an internal ultrasound. Ya know- you'd think they could just take my word on something like that.

--splitimage

[wickedwings]

oooh, unbelievable, huh? lol. i'd go off, too. i'm the same way when nurses give me something, even though i have no medication allergies. i had to be sure it was not a wrong drug or an overdose. i just had to be sure, period. not for them to take it personally. hehe.

Perna,
I've had a few Pharmacy nightmares myself. I once actually received someone else's Ambien and didn't realize it until I got home. I have insomnia now and wish I had kept it About a month ago, I had given the pharmacy a script for Ativan. When I called the next day to see if it was ready, I was told that they had not received the script. The lady then started questioning me along the lines of like I was an addict. I felt like an idiot. I didn't get my meds. until the next day and was infuriated the rest of that day. It would have been a great time to have an Ativan, you know?

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so this nice looking pharmacist asked how can he help and I start angrily asking why they're trying to kill me :-)

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That quote is priceless, Perna!! I love it. Why, oh why, did it have to be the nice looking pharmacist? Isn't that always the case? LOL

It sounds so confusing to me, too. It's not you! I'm surprised any of us make it having to deal with the pharmacies AND the insurance companies. It's a recipe for disaster. I'm glad you got it settled

[selfy]

this is a little not so related but i was going to get my tetanus polio and diptheria jab. they wouldnt do it for me because they didnt know wether i was allergic to a form of antibiotic i never took before. thing is. woulda got it easy if mom hadntbeen so pedantic, and not put not sure against the antibiotic. most other peoples moms just put no and hoped they didnt die.

itss not like i have a track record for being allergic, im very healthy physically

self

I actually went on my own little research experiment to find a nice pharmacist who didn't seem like you were bothering him/her and ruining his/her entire day by asking a question about medication. I would call/go into different pharmacies asking basically the same question, just trying to find someone who seemed like he/she cared. I finally found that person last week.

The only problem? It is the pharmacist on the overnight shift at CVS. It happened to be a night when hubby and I were out late and then I had to stop and get my meds at 2 AM, lol. I guess if I want my questions answered I have to call or visit CVS in the middle of the night.

[Perna]

I hate having to complain or question work that's been done for me because I don't have much of a "middle ground." I'm much much better than I use to be but I still get anxious when I have to go into a bank or get something like this medicine situation fixed because I have a hard time not going into "kill" mode. Things seem so rational to me and I just can't understand how they could get so wrong and need fixing in the first place. So I start by pointing out my problem, usually using Perna words that no one understands :-) and then I'm off to the races because I'm not understood right away and I get desperate the world will come to an end. For some reason, I'm loathed to start such an interchange.

[Perna]

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Soliaree said:

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so this nice looking pharmacist asked how can he help and I start angrily asking why they're trying to kill me :-)

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That quote is priceless, Perna!! I love it. Why, oh why, did it have to be the nice looking pharmacist? Isn't that always the case? LOL

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I literally asked that! I am rather "excitable" myself :-) but my T of many years was very calm which helped me and my husband of 18 years is calm (now there's a weird thought, I saw my T for a total of 18 years too) so I'm much better at noticing when the other person is not reacting with anger or frustration themselves but remains calm. So I'm glad the pharmacist was a nice guy, but I do feel guilty about going off on him. Now that I think about it, I could have just explained and asked him to take a look and make sure it was "correct" or to explain it to me because "I don't understand" or any number of civil ways of being instead of just assuming I knew it all Ah, such is life.

[wickedwings]

(((pink))) it sucks when our favorite pharmacist is hard to be accessible, doesn't it? lol

[Perna]

So, today the saga continued. Same prescription which I called in Friday evening and, since it had expired, they had to call the doctor, yada, yada, and it would be ready 5:00 last night.

I called yesterday afternoon around 1:30 and the computer phone voice checked and said it wasn't ready (was calling to make sure they'd get hold of the doctor, unlike last time. This is my asthma meds I actually need) so then I called at 3:30, computer says still not ready so I let them connect me to a live person, she checks and "oh, yes, I have it here". So, I'm relieved and have been doing better so figure I could wait until this morning to pick it up, I had enough of the old for last night.

This morning we go to breakfast at the Toddle House and then the the drugstore. They have one cannister of Albuterol instead of three like they usually do. I get ready to complain but I see my doctor in 2 weeks so I figure I'll just get a new prescription or something from him then. First one cannister forever, then two (once) then three forever, then they change the wording/quantity to the "17" useless amount and "all you have to do" is peel off the label to get the useful labeling of 200 puffs.

So, we leave with the one cannister and I start reading this label in full and first thing I notice is they have my doctor's name instead of the nurse practitioner's name who prescribed it a year and a half ago. Finally :-) So that's probably why they changed the amount too. Too bad no one anywhere let me know so I could be in on what's happening?

[mysteri]

Well, just wanted to add my opinion as a nurse for the last 25 years. Everytime a patient has said - I am allergic, I don't ususally take a blue pill, I feel like my BP is high, I feel like my Blood sugar is low . . . . I immediately jump on it because vast majority of the time, the patient is right. You must me informed about your health (like most folks that use BB's are) and your medications and you must stand up for yourself. Remind your nurse and doctor to wash their hands before touching you, ask them about your meds or condition. They aren't withholding the info, they have just said it so many times to so many people that the lines start to blur sometimes.

[Perna]

Oh, I don't let the doctor get away with anything :-) When my appendix burst in 2005 and I had so much trouble for 5 months and finally had to figure out what was wrong myself, I don't take anything for granted anymore. I'm just arguing with my pharmacy at this point, they change their practices and don't bother to inform the customer or they promise something but don't follow through, etc.

I'm glad you're on the ball, mysteri, that's at least half of what I look for in a health care professional and a surprising number don't make it. Almost kill me by accident or carelessness or seriously inconvenience me and one doesn't make my list :-)