Want to be doctors, Pharmacist

[sandee1818]

I take medications for fibromyalgia and degenerative disc disease and ruptured disc and every time I go to fill my prescriptions I have to answer why are you taking all these drugs and what do I expect to have happen as I am obviously a drug addict. I have just recently found a great mom and pop pharmacy but dealt with this for years from different pharmacies mainly Winn Dixie and cvs. Has anyone else had this problem I mean I don't have to tell the pharmacist anything but what is relevant and if my condition was relevant to getting my script filled the doc would include the info on the script itself. I have talked about this with my Dr and he finds it wrong just as I do. What are your thoughts, oes the pharmacist have ANY RIGHT to question the amount of meds my Dr gives me? NO HE DOES NOT. Anyone else had any experiences like this?

[mr.lucky66]

It seems like the chain stores are worse but not all are the same. Walgreens never said anything as long as the timing and ins. was good. But CVS once said something to me and wouldn't fill and new script so I went to another store. When people really need these meds for serious pain, it's sux when they put you through all this like the one woman druggist did. She should be drawn and quartered! When I was on the edge of being too soon for a new RX, I just went to a new Pharmacy and paid cash. all the best

[AnonDH56]

Granted I live in a small town and they know me by name since I am in there at least twice a month. I was on Duragesic 75's, Actiq 800's and 100 Vicodin HP's a month. As long as it stays about the same barely a word is said. If they are out they call other WG's for me. No one has ever showed any sign of judgement on me in three years. Our town has about 80K residents. I am sure they check with the PM doc initially but I know they dont even bother now as they know me and are very freindly. Now CSV doesnt know me and the three times I was there even here I felt they were suspicious. I suppose walking with my cane doesnt hurt but since I was an athlete 20 years B4 the docs messed me up with surgery on the wrong disk, I dont look like there is much wrong with me, YET.
DH

[joe504]

I've never had these sorts of problems and I take clonezepam for panic disorder and codeine for pain, but then I again I live in Canada.  

[ADSF]

Ditto the above.   I get my scripts at walgreens.  Prior to my recent spinal fusion surgery, I was on a lot of pain meds (tramadol, vicodin and percocet).   One of the pharmacists treated me like I was  a drug addict.   When I came in, I was in tons of pain and probably didn't look on top of my game.  I think the pharmacist thought that I looked unkempt because I was an addict.    I figured out when that pharm worked, and avoided going to pick up my meds when he was working.   There was a nicer pharm that worked in the evenings, and that was when I would pick up my meds.  Having chronic pain is bad enough, but being treated a lit a drug addict is like the nail in the coffin.    I had thought about saying something to the pharm, but I didn't.   I am disgusted by real drug addicts who have made our life so hard.    

[sandee1818]

Sorry for the spelling my D key sticks an its really early!

[sandee1818]

I ha a similar experience at cvs, I ha changed drs and so I presented new prescriptions from a different dr so the pharamist called BOTH drs and told them I had all these scripts filled for different pain meds. My old dr flew off the handle and tol them yes I should as he did prescibe them an the new dr was a little drawn back by the call until my old dr called him to tell him the situation. It is really gotten bad these wanna be drs I mean they are there simply to fill what the dr tells him/her to and thats it they have no business questioning the REAL drs!
This is one of my pet peeves these ignorant pharmacist, they try and get people in trouble with the law and the drs.I even ha one call the law on me for trying to fill a ligit script in ala. an in fl I tried to fill my script for ------ a strong med and they actually kept my script and I ha to get the law involved to get it back!! ridiculous These pople nee to be stopped!!!!!

[Ghilly]

I agree, Walgreens and CVS are HORRIBLE foro making their pharmacy customers feel like they're doing something wrong by filling their prescriptions!  I have adhesive arachnoiditis, and I will be on pain medication for the rest of my life.  When I was first diagnosed I had a miserable time trying to find a pain management doctor who wanted to handle my case.  Most of them told me "this is really outside my capabilities" and sent me elsewhere to find help.  I finally found a wonderful doctor in Houston who specializes in it, along with neurological oncology, and for the last five years my doctor problems have been gone.  But I'm getting off track...

When I was first diagnosed, because I couldn't find a regular doctor, whoever agreed to treat me for whatever short period of time would give me enough pain meds to last me about a month and also give me the names of four or five other doctors to contact to see if they could help me.  Consequently, I was getting prescriptions from these doctors for maybe six months, and then I'd be sent to "find another doctor because your condition is too complex for my experience".  I had been on vacation in North Carolina, and I fell while we were walking on a trail and by the next morning my legs felt weak and the nerve pain was shooting down both legs.  DH took me to the ER.  I had all of my previous MRI films with me (I learned to take them with me to avoid problems) and to my surprise and relief, the doctor at the ER had actually heard of what I had and was interested in talking with me about it.  He asked me what I was taking, which at the time was Norco 10/325.  He wrote me a prescription that would be enough to hold me until we returned home five days from then and I could see one of my local doctors.

Because I wanted a pharmacy that I was familiar with, I went to a CVS.  The pharmacist looked at me sideways and asked to see my I.D.  I gave her my I.D. and she gave it to the security guard who was a moonlighting police officer and told him to run it because she said it looked "fake" to her.  He ran it and told her that it was a valid I.D.  I guess she didn't like that answer, because she then looked at me and said "I am not going to fill this for you.  You don't need this.  I will give you a prescription for toradol pills, that will be all you need for your "pain" and she made little quote signs with her fingers when she said "pain".  She then called the HOSPITAL that I had come from and told them that I was "drug-seeking" and that they needed to flag me as someone who didn't need pain meds but was looking for them.  I was LIVID!!  

We had to cut our trip short and get back home so that I could see one of my local doctors, and as soon as we got home DH hopped on the phone and called CVS corporate headquarters and reported the pharmacist.  They told him that they had had other similar complaints about her, and all they would say was that she would be "dealt with accordingly."  I have no idea what ultimately happened to her, but I never again bought so much as a stick of gum at CVS, nor will I.  Of course, for the last five years I've been treated by a specialist, and he is the only doctor that I get prescriptions for that have anything to do with pain.  I go to one pharmacy and one pharmacy only - our local Medicine Shoppe and the owner/pharmacist there has been a Godsend.  He's SOOO helpful and understanding.  Never again would I consider going to a large chain pharmacy.  

Ghilly

[Jaybay]

Yes, and Walgreens was the worst about it.  CVS and Wal-Mart are close seconds.  They're much more interested in playing DEA cop than doing their jobs.  I switched to a grocery store pharmacy years ago, and they have been nothing but wonderful to me.  I have never once gotten so much as a raised eyebrow and the employees always say hello when they see me in the store - even when I'm not at the pharmacy counter.  Stick with the "mom & pop" pharmacies, or any pharmacy that isn't a nationwide chain.  Those people still know the meaning of customer service.