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My refill ordeal today, arg!

BeachBum4u

BeachBum4u

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Feb 9, 2012
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On the Border of Indecision, thank you Jimmy!
So, I always go to a chain grocery store pharmacy where I've made a connection with the pharmacist and they always order my pain meds each month so they're there when I come in each month. It's always worked like a charm. I'll call them a day or so ahead of time to make sure the meds are in stock and like I said, they'd always be there. For the record, I often go out of my way to thank them for being so attentive to my needs.

So today I go in when they open up and much to my surprise I see a pharmacist I've never seen in the 3-4 years I've been going there. I mean even though they're a chain store, they're very much like a small country store just like the neighborhood the store is in. Anyway I digress, so I go to the pharmacy this morning on what is day 31, meaning I took my last dose (2 per day) around dinner time yesterday. As you can imagine, I am starting to get uncomfortable by 10:00 am this morning. So the pharmacist tells me it will take about 35 minutes to be done, so I sit and wait. After about 40 minutes he calls me up and tells me my Opana ER needs a pre-auth and says he just faxed it to my doctor. Now, I'm thinking through this as I'm standing there and I'm thinking these types of things usually come up at the beginning of the year and usually are for the upcoming year. I explained to the pharmacist that I've been on the same med for 3 - 4 years and have never needed to have a pre-auth done. Turns out he was trying to fill it with the "brand" med. For the record, I've always taken the generic Opana ER (although there are some meds I do not care for the generic version, this is one I have no problem with). I told him to check through my previously filled records in their system to see that this is in fact the case. He does so and sees what I have explained and tells me he'd have it done in 15 - 20 minutes. So again I patiently sit myself down and wait again.

After a few minutes he calls me up to the counter and tells me they only have 30 of the 60 in stock. I calmly explain to him that I called yesterday and was assured they have the meds in stock for me, just like they have in the past. I tell him if he only has 30 in stock, I need him to fill it short and I'd go to my doctor for another script to allow me to get the remaining pills (this sort of thing often happens with pharmacies having trouble getting their orders filled by the manufacturers). He explained I'd forfeit the 30 pills and I told him, no problem. Finally they get everything done and I'm truly relieved. The entire process took about an hour and a half and I don't mind telling you, I was totally exhausted (mostly mentally due to all the jerking about).

Not 100% sure where I'm going with this whole thing but I suppose it goes to show you that although one can go to the same pharmacy for years, it only takes one bugaboo to throw the whole process in shambles. I'll admit, part of the problem is that my docs will only do refills on day 31, meaning I am going a prolonged period of time between my last dose on day 30 to trekking to the pharmacy when they open to get the scripts filled. As I've explained to my doc, under his process I am screwed if I run into any snags at the pharmacy. Unfortunately, they have remained steadfast in defending their position. Arg!

Anyway, has anyone else had so many things go awry in one refill? I can't imagine any circumstance where there'd be more problems with one refill than I encountered today. Oh well, the good news is I did walk away with everything I came for. For that I am truly grateful. Kitty - Am I crazy or is this really the snafu I felt like it was? Thanks!
 
Lol me I assume. I will tell you the snag for the first part. Generic Opana ER is not equivalent to the brand. Many systems will not substitue it without someone manually changing it. The pharmacist probably processed your script but didnt do their full check where they may have discovered that problem.

As far as why they didnt have in stock, I cannot say for sure. Have a few ideas but would be speculation. Maybe call up when the regular guy is back. Maybe he can fix it.
 
You had to forfeit the remaining 30, because of them not having them in stock??? Wow... I ran into that at Walmart Pharmacy once, and they gave me a partial of what was available, then called me when new shipment came in, and after getting remainder, paid original price... What a rip!!!
 
First off, thanks for replying. You've been quite helpful to me in the past. As for the generic version, wouldn't you think he'd see that the generic's been filled for me for the past 4 years or so. Especially since he's never been at that location, and maybe he's even new to the chain, I don't know. But I do see your point.

The fact is that they did in fact have the med in stock. It's just that he didn't bother to ask the tech, who's been there forever, when he didn't see the med on the shelf. Which seems reasonable to me given his lack of familiarity with that store. Mind you, I did let him know I was told it was on hand and was probably there just for me. For the record, the head pharmacist literally orders one bottle for me each month (as you probably know, one bottle has exactly 60 pills in it). I guess the reason I got so worked up was that if he'd gone the extra mile when he'd hit a snag, he'd have gotten the answer he seeked without coming back to me numerous times with incorrect (?) information. Thus, increasing my anxiety each time. Does that make sense or was I overly sensitive this morning (I'll admit it is possible - LOL). Thanks again!
 
rbbohio said:
You had to forfeit the remaining 30, because of them not having them in stock??? Wow... I ran into that at Walmart Pharmacy once, and they gave me a partial of what was available, then called me when new shipment came in, and after getting remainder, paid original price... What a rip!!!
Click to expand...

That does suck but the reason for my situation is that with Schedule II meds they can't do that. If it's short, it requires a new script to get the rest or you do "forfeit" the remainder. I'm sure it's mainly due to the Schedule II status that they can't fill partials and then the balance like they could with say, blood pressure medicine.
 
I see... I was reading with glazed eyes.. It makes total sense.... He wasn't prepared.... You kind of need to be with that kind of work
 
Oh ok... I have never had shortages on any narcotic med's.. Ok, that kind of makes sense...
 
When my pharmacy doesn't have my pain meds, I'll call another and drive to a different part of my city. My doctors are aware that I save a few for such an emergency as you had, but perhaps you could ask your docs if you should keep a few for such nightmares? For me after 21 years of opiates for pain, I don't want to chance a cardiac event on the way to a 5th store because of a hang-up. So, I used days when I could sleep to use a bit less... I don't want to violate any rules by suggesting anything, but for me it would be dangerous to run out suddenly!
 
BeachBum4u said:
First off, thanks for replying. You've been quite helpful to me in the past. As for the generic version, wouldn't you think he'd see that the generic's been filled for me for the past 4 years or so. Especially since he's never been at that location, and maybe he's even new to the chain, I don't know. But I do see your point.

The fact is that they did in fact have the med in stock. It's just that he didn't bother to ask the tech, who's been there forever, when he didn't see the med on the shelf. Which seems reasonable to me given his lack of familiarity with that store. Mind you, I did let him know I was told it was on hand and was probably there just for me. For the record, the head pharmacist literally orders one bottle for me each month (as you probably know, one bottle has exactly 60 pills in it). I guess the reason I got so worked up was that if he'd gone the extra mile when he'd hit a snag, he'd have gotten the answer he seeked without coming back to me numerous times with incorrect (?) information. Thus, increasing my anxiety each time. Does that make sense or was I overly sensitive this morning (I'll admit it is possible - LOL). Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Overly anxious? Not at all. We know it is not the place you want to be and as minutes pass by your anxiety and frustration increases. I am sure at some point he would have been alerted to you taking the generic, I just dont think he/she got far enough to see, thus compounding the problem. I could explain more but I think it was just unfamiliar surroundings and he got confused. Should have listened to the tech, but many pharmacists dont. No power trip, just timid.

I dont understand though. They had the generic? Or they gave you brand? Surely if they processed for the generic someone would have seen it on the shelf.
 
I don't understand how you had to forfeit the missing pills? Here the pharmacist often doesn't have all the pills you want and they just say "oh we owe you 30 whatever....come back later today or tomorrow and we'll have the rest for you". Sometimes they give you an IOU slip of paper but more often than not they just recognize your face when you come back. All the staff at my local pharmacy know me on first name terms so they never bother with the slip of paper.

Its really odd that they would make you forfeit the balance simply because they didnt have them all in. I know things are different in the US but that's just crazy.....

Hope you got them in the end ....
 
Partial fills on narcotics can be tricky. You have to guarantee it within 72 hours and most pharmacists are unwilling to take the risk.
 
I have had all kinds of problems trying to fill my zubsolv scrip, especially when I lived up in the north part of the state. for example -- no pharmacy in town has zubsolv, it'll take 2-3 days to order it and I'm sick NOW, so I talk to my doctor and she says she'll call in 3 suboxone strips. I had her fax the prescription into the pharmacy I normally went to and the pharmacy tech tells me immediately that they're OUT of all suboxone, generic pills and film. I'm like WTF??? everybody should have suboxone in stock. so I start calling around to other pharmacies to find out where I can transfer the scrip too -- would you believe that 3 out of 4 pharmacies (major pharmacies) I called, the techs told me straight away, not even taking a minute to check, that they had NO buprenorphine in stock. I KNOW they had to, they just judged me for being an addict and didn't want to serve me. finally WalMart told me they had it in stock and could fill it by the end of the night, so I call Walgreen's (where the scrip was originally faxed in to) to transfer it over and they're like "oh we filled your scrip for suboxone whenever you want to come pick it up." like seriously what the hell?? everybody insisting they had no suboxone in stock when they clearly did. shit pisses me off, I spent all fucking day trying to get my meds. fuck.
 
^^^ My profession embaresses me so much. Unless its a Friday, or there are some circumstances that is preventing them from ordering it (of which they should inform you) everyone can get Zubsolv next day. And fuck, I am happy my patients are on bupe. Its a positive step if Im not mistaken. Sorry man.
 
I have had that partial fill issue before. Ironically, with opana as well. Back when then stop signs were being phased out a lot of pharmacies only had what they had of the old stock, didn't have the new ones yet, and basically would tell you they could only fill what they had and they had to void remainder of script

This involved me getting 3 separate partial scripts from the doctor one month. Because each pharmacy only had like 20 and I needed 60. But on the bright side, they were all the old ones. The following month when I got those God-awful plastic pills...ugh. I'd have preferred to go to 10 pharmacies just to get the old ones. But no one had any left by then :(

Anyway just saying I understand the partial fill dilemma
 
I suppose the silver lining to benzo fills is that they know you're fucked if they don't help you... I went in a day or two early once by mistake and they even offered a handful of pills to hold me over. I declined since I wasn't completely out and didn't want to seem desperate, just knowing that was possible was a huge relief.

Or maybe I just had the kindest pharm techs ever (this was back in my hometown where everyone knew everyone)
 
Benzo are also life threatening in withdrawals and pill shoppers usually go for stronger shit. So it seems like benzo, being more dangerous, are harder to be prescribed, but once you're on them it's a delicate case and deprivation is worse than painkillers. Those, while easier to get a script for (in my experience), they don't give a shit about making sure you're always good because going without won't kill ya. And there's 10x the money in black-market opiates vs benzo.

I would say that the pharmacy guy was definitely acting weird yet wasn't intentionally being a dick. Probably a greenhorn. That or he has something against pain mgmt.
 
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