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Check your medication

In the last four months the number of medications I’m taking seems to be multiplying like rabbits. The good news is I think they’re working. I may not feel perfect (maybe never will) but I definitely feel better. Currently I’m taking 10 different meds daily (although I hope when fall arrives I can drop three of them that are allergy related) and I’ve got five others I keep around for particularly bad days just in case.

Frankly, managing that many pills is a chore. The study drug is easy. It’s become so engrained in my routine now that I don’t even think about it. The other drugs, however, have been in such a state of flux as we experimented trying to find just the right mix that it’s easy to get confused. Not only are there a lot of them, but each one has its “rules.” I don’t think breaking the rules is a major crisis, but obeying them tends to help the drugs work better.

Some medications are to be taken so many minutes before eating. Others are to be taken with food. Some medications shouldn’t be taken within so many hours of another medication. Some of them make me tired, so I try to take those at night. It’s a juggling act. The little pill box I carried in my purse that worked so well for the first eight months of the drug trial no longer works. All the pills won’t fit. Besides, some of the pills look very much like some of the other pills – if I put them all in a box I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.

I thought I was doing well. I thought I had this all well in hand. Then last week I realized I was missing a bottle of pills. How do you lose an entire bottle? Had it rolled out of my bag somewhere? Had I left it sitting somewhere? Oh no…and then I realized that actually I hadn’t seen that bottle. I’d dropped off six prescriptions to be filled all at once, took them home, and come to think of it, I didn’t remember seeing this one bottle. It’s a pill for my asthma, which has been not so great lately – well, no wonder.

I went to my file cabinet where I keep all of the copay receipts for my taxes. Sure enough, they had only given me five prescriptions that day and not six. I hadn’t even noticed until two weeks later!

The good news was they didn’t charge me for the missing pills. The bad news was I’d have to prove to them that they never gave me the medication, or I’d have to call my doctor and confess the error. I wasn’t due for a refill for another couple of weeks.

I gathered the receipts, my pill collection, and walked a mile to the drug store in the heat and humidity. Oh the heat is just not agreeing with my breathing.

Panting and sweating, I tried to fill two other scripts and explain the snafu to the clerk on duty. She pulled up my file, pulled the original script from the doctor – and they showed that they’d filled it. After 45 minutes of haggling it turned out my missing script was in a bin behind the counter. They’d never actually given it to me. Groan.

I walked a mile home with my little bag of medications. I walked into the kitchen thirsty and ready to take an allergy pill. But, when I opened one of the new bottles the pills inside were the wrong color, wrong shape and wrong size. They didn’t look like any of my pills. Thinking perhaps a generic had become available, I called the pharmacy just to be sure before I took one. They didn’t know – I’d have to come in. Groan again.

Back to the pharmacy I marched (another mile in the heat) and presented the mystery bottle to the clerk. As it turns out, they’d put the wrong medication in the bottle!

Only a few weeks ago they sent me home with a bag of meds, and when I got home one of the bottles had someone else’s name on it.

I had a conversation with the manager that really didn’t make me any happier, and I left. I’d like to switch pharmacies, but to be honest, I’ve had the same problems with accuracy with the pharmacy across the street. I go to the pharmacy too often to not be able to walk there.

This is scary! How many times do people get the wrong prescriptions? If I’d taken that med (I should have saved one and had it tested to find out what it was) what if it had reacted with another medication badly? Would anyone have ever figured it out?

So, my message for the day to HPSland is: ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK YOUR MEDICATIONS! Check them before you leave the store. Make sure the pills look right if you’re used to taking them, and make sure your name is on the bottle.

Geesh!

Comments

Unknown said…
That's even scary for someone who doesn't take meds! What if that had happened to a totally blind person? Or if you hadn't known what to look for??? Wow! Good you checked though!
Unknown said…
Oh my goodness! That is crazy!! You would think the pharmacy would know better. Its sad that we as patients have to stay on top of our medications. You just never know how many people don't pay attention to that. Thankfully, everyone at our farmacy knows our whole family. We go through the drive through and the minute they see us they know imedetliy to get our medication out of the box. Haha!! That shows how much we visit there. I'm sorry you had to go through all the trouble, but I'm glad you got it steghtend out.

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