Dear Pharmacy

Not every patient that is trying to get high, maybe they actually use the medication as prescribed and just needs a refill of a medication that they are taking as prescribed.

Let me explain a little further. I take Gabapentin for pain caused by my Fibro and RA. I’m prescribed to take 600mg   3 times a day and 900 mg at night. My Rheumatologist made a mistake on the prescription or the pharmacy did, but somehow it stated only the 900mg at night, so the number of pills was obviously short. I called my doctor and she told me that when I start to run low, to call and they will get it straight for the refill.

Well, best-laid plans I guess, as the pharmacy keeps filling the prescription, and then immediately canceling it. The first time they filled it, I called them as they sent me a message asking me to call them, and when I did, she was sort of rude to me, when I asked what the problem was, she made it sound like I was trying to cheat the system to get my fix. I called my doctor and they are trying to fix it.

What upsets me is this is not the first time I have been questioned by a pharmacist about my prescriptions. I get questioned all the time about my tramadol. I understand that they are doing their job and they probably talk to a ton of tweakers, but I also know that people like me are in that mix too. But wait there’s more.

Last night, I got a message from the pharmacy that the script was filled and it was going to cost a whopping $662, which I’m not going to pay as they didn’t run it through my insurance. I went about my evening and about an hour later, I got a notice that they had once again canceled the prescription.

I called my doctor again and they are trying to take care of it.

Ok, this is just one example.

I had a failed root canal over Christmas a few years ago. I was in the ER on Christmas Eve trying to figure out why the entire left side of my face was on fire. I had already been to my dentist the day before and she assured me that it wasn’t my teeth causing the pain. My wife and I thought it was another bout of Trigeminal neuralgia. The ER did a CT and they discovered the failed root canal. Hell, I didn’t even know a root canal could fail. Since it was Christmas Eve, they gave me a prescription for a narcotic painkiller and sent me home. Being it was the week of Christmas, I couldn’t get an appointment with a dentist. So for the next few days, I was pretty much living on the pain meds. I got to see my dentist and she prescribed me a different type of pain medication. As I was nearly out of what I got from the ER, I filled that prescription for the controlled substance. The problem came when my dentist referred me to an endodontist which I saw a few days later. He told me that he was pretty certain that the pain medication that my dentist gave me was not touching the pain and he was 100% correct, so, he gave me a script for something stronger and this is when my pharmacist started to get pissy with me. They thought I was looking for a high and even told me that I will likely be on a watch list for the DEA now. OK, I didn’t care and I was taking them as prescribed and my wife was the one who was controlling the pills.

A rule in my family is if anyone is on a narcotic painkiller, someone else will manage the medication and they will issue out the pills in an effort to ward off the possibility of someone getting dependent on the pills.  I never heard anything from anyone in the DEA, but to be told that, upset me. I get it you are doing your job, but is it your place to question me? Is it your place to supersede what the doctor prescribed?

Alight, stepping down from my high horse now.