RANT....they are young, stupid, and obey the computers

[dixiegrrrrl]

Last edited Thu Jan 9, 2014, 10:14 PM - Edit history (1)

Nothing makes steam pour out of my ears as much as morons in charge of something they do not understand and who will lie thru their teeth to avoid admitting they do not understand it, and will always carry out illogical orders..
" just doing my job, but I don't understand it well enough to be able to discuss it with you...move along, move along".

Spent this afternoon dealing with %$#@! pharmacy.
They did not fill my Elavil, a tri-cyclic anti-depressant, which I take in the very low dose of 50 mg. at night
for post Shingles pain.
"it is considered a drug that can be abused. and your insurance company won't allow us to fill it before the end of the prescription cycle"
spoken with a firm and very assured tone, by rote.

"But I don't have insurance, I pay cash"

"oh.........uhhh......hold on a minute..I will let the pharmacist talk with you."
click. 5 minutes crawl by...
Pharmacist comes on...a very young woman with that unfortunate high nasal voice that is all too common down here...pierces eardrums.
" We can't fill a controlled substance before a certain date of end of your prescription cycle.
The computer won't let us".

.Me:" Wait a minute, I was told it was an insurance rule, and since I don't have insurance......."
Pharmacist: "Well...( paused for a few seconds, whispered conversation with the first woman I had talked to)
it's both an insurance and our rule. We can fill it tomorrow"

Me: "but I don't want to have to drive to the other end of town..in the pouring rain... ..AGAIN- which is why I used your phone system to refill ALL my scripts at one time"
Pharmacist: "What you need to do is call before you come out to pick them up, just to make sure there are no problems".

I have done that...they have lied and said all scripts were there,then I drove down to find they are not all there.

I looked up the med....guess what? It is NOT a controlled substance, according to the internet.

I suspect they were out of it and would not admit it.

But the Flexeril, which I have tons of re=fills for, IS a drug that can be abused. Warnings galore about abuse.
And the dumb doc wrote me 7 re-fills, so now I have enough on hand to kill a horse.
I rarely take it, it makes me feel too blah the next day, but it does a good job of knocking out muscle pain at night when needed.
Plus I have a prescribed Cox 2 inhibitor which does wonders for joint pain..except it carries HUGE warnings about side effects and it makes you retain water like an elephant, so the doc said I could double my diuretic, which carries warnings of side effects.........
But god forbid I re-fill the one drug I take that has no side effects at such a low dose, and actually works well.

However, tomorrow I CAN pick up the med, cause it will be 5 days before the script runs out...but not pick it up today, with is 6 days before the script runs out.

And if I wanted to get high, it sure as hell would not be an anti-depressant.
I would be growing weed.





[font style=color:#E60000;] Buy 'em books,send 'em to school, and what do they do? They eat the covers[/font]

[PDJane]

1. Been there. Done that. Heard the excuses.

Drives me around the bend....I actually received $20 from the pharmacy, since I had to take a cab there and back. That seems to have ended the problem.

[Zorra]

2. Wow. I just got done with an epic live incompetent pharmacy rant to a friend, complete with

insurance foulups, doctor pharmacy miscommunications, and "can I put you on holds please?"

Right after that, I called the Eye Center where I am having my one free eye exam a year (it's in tiny unreadable print, but I keep a magnifying glass handy whenever I read anything from an insurance company) as per my insurance policy, and they told me that the insurance company was only going to pay $5 of it, I told them it's supposed to be free, and they said they would check on it, as they had been getting conflicting info from the insurance company.

Sure enough, I'm getting it for free.

It's no wonder so many thousands of people die from medical errors every year. We need to, at minimum, triple the amount this country spends on public education, and make college educations free, or we will sink further into an irrevocable, unsalvageable idiocracy where it will take 2 hours to get a cup of coffee at a fast food restaurant.

[truedelphi]

8. Good for you. Glad you took the time to use the magnifying glass.

And as far as medical horrors, one of the San Francisco TV news stations has been covering the death of a fairly young woman who got out of her hospital bed, and stumbled into a stair well. I suspect the door behind her locked, and there was no way for her to get out.

Her cold dead body was found days after her family insisted the hospital do a major search of the hospital and its grounds. Apparently, according to emails between Administration and staff, there wasn't the money to cover the Overtime, so the search was more limited than what they described to the family!

Can you imagine your last hours on earth, frantically trying to get someone to hear you off in a stairwell, and slowly dying there?

Citation, with the fact woman's body was discovered 17 days after she was last seen:

http://news.kron4.com/news/body-found-in-hospital-stairwell-is-missing-woman-lynne-spaulding/

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. I seem to be running into "duhhhhsville" more often.

Much of the past year it has revolved around the county hospital,local dr. offices and pharmacies
attempting to develop and maintain a master computer network of patients, something they all say
"Obamacare is making us do that".
My "file" is so completely fucked up, complete with incorrect address, birthdate, religion, ( what the hell?????)
that I don't worry about anyone finding me.
and now they say they have to send EVERY doc. bill into DC before we can pay it, to "check for insurance"
when in fact Mr. Dixie does not have outpatient insurance yet.
We get the bill 3 months after the doctor visit.
with his name spelled wrong...again.

wonder how the providers like waiting all that time to get paid.

[Packerowner740]

3. I too am on Elavil for diabetic neuropathy

I find that if I take it too late in the evening I cannot wake up the next morning. Do you or have you ever had this problem? It's as if I have a hangover from it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Elavil? or Flexeril?

dunno what your dose is, that could be a factor.
I know from experience to take my evening meds around 7-7:30 pm, which seems early, but it does take some time for them to kick in.
Many drugs can give a person morning, or even most of the next day, "hangovers".
timing is everything, something I had to experiment with.

[Packerowner740]

7. Elavil. I was prescribed 50mg at bedtime but the next morning could not wake up

I would be in bed until 5pm the next day. I cut the pill in half and still had the same problem but when I started taking it no later than 6pm that seemed to take care of it. On the plus side it has reduced the pain I experience.

[dionysus]

20. i was prescribed that for sleep once.. it didn't work for shit but i had the hangover feeling you

describe.

[Warpy]

4. The DEA drug scheduling makes no sense at all in this case

Elavil is schedule 3, which means low to moderate risk for abuse. Valium and other benzodiazepines are schedule 4, which means practically no risk for abuse and we all know that isn't the case.

The whole thing is totally insane. Elavil might be on a legal par with other schedule 3 drugs like combination narcotics + Tylenol but the abuse potential is really nil. All it does if you take more than prescribed is make you sleepy and put on fat. I have never seen Elavil locked up, anywhere.

The pharmy sounds like she's right out of school and rigid. The real world will take over in about a year or so.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. I suspect they were out and could not admit it.

running out has happened before and they would not admit it that time either.

" Hi, I am an incompetent moron and I have control over a facet of your life"

[truedelphi]

11. The tyranny that occurs

In these situations seems endless.

Whatever happened to "We unexpectedly ran out of this medication and we apologize for the inconvenience."

Instead the pharmacy techs are trained to treat us, the consumer, as though we were rude beyond belief for asking for a medicine that either they don't have or the computer has been programmed to deny us. As though we consumers can read a computer's mind (Or its internal programming.)!

[El_Johns]

15. VALIUM is schedule 4? Who decided that?

[randome]

10. Very few developers of computer apps can think like a user.

So the users end up befuddled and unable to navigate. This has been the case since computers were invented.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[quinnox]

12. "Obey the computers"

Good title for a sci fi futuristic movie.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. " I am only following orders"

Which history tells us is not a good idea.

[FatBuddy]

14. circa 1972

[quinnox]

16. lol!

ouch! You got me on that one.

[dionysus]

17. getting scripts filled more than 5 days before you run out is pretty much a universal no no

as far as pharmacies go. I tried to pick up a diuretic 7 days before I ran out because I had a different script with a different fill date and they wouldn't do it.

rules are rules, a pharmacist won't get themselves in trouble just for you.

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. They filled the other 3 scripts, which had same date

I had 4 scripts, all with same refill date.
3 got filled, including the Flexeril.
I wasn't looking for special treatment, I was looking for an honest reason they could not fill the script.


If the date issue were valid, they would have not filled any, and told me pre-five days was a policy.
Instead they told me ONE of the scripts could not be filled, gave me 2 false reasons.

[dionysus]

19. well, that's awful strange, I agree. is it controlled? most places won't fill anything

controlled until the 30th day, unless you have an extenuating circumstance like out of town travel, that can be proven.

I had them deny refilling my hydrocholorothiazide (diuretic) 6 or 7 days before I ran out.

I don't know if it is law, or a pharmacy policy.

I have endured similar frustrations myself, but the pharmacy tech would get fired if they broke policy.

EDIT: I see Elavil is amitriptyline, that's not controlled. i was prescribed that for sleep once. it didn't work too well, and gave me a hangover type feeling when I used it. does it work well for you?

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. Elavil is a very old drug-since 1961.

and dangers of abuse are rated low.
It is not on the controlled drugs sheet ( so they lied right there)

I take a small dose, it has completely stopped my post shingle neuropothy.
It also helps with sleep, which is why I only take it at night.
It has been very effective for over a year, knock on wood.

I was lucky in that the starting dose was sufficient.
Often, people have to take a low dose and work up to the level that works for them.
Also, it takes about 4-7 days for the drug to reach therapeutic levels, so I always give something a week trial
( unless it makes me turn green or something like that).

People are different, so what works for me might be different than what works for someone else.

[dionysus]

22. i'm glad you found something that works for you.

I don't know why they lied to you. next time, try talking to the head pharmacist. they are the only ones that can override the 5 day rule, if they can. I don't know if it's a law or store policy but it is not a rare one.

[Warren DeMontague]

23. Dont blame the age of the staff or the computers, blame the DEA.

They're so busy making sure no one is catching an unauthorized buzz (and justifying their drug war gravy train) that we have doctors too terrified prescribe adequate pain management.

We put quadriplegics in prison for managing their own spinal pain, taking "too many pills"

Honestly, if the choice is between "people taking too many drugzz" and folks with bone cancer screaming in agony, I'll risk the too many drugzzzz option.

[Liberal Veteran]

25. Not so fast. Elavil is a not a federally scheduled drug.

The DEA wouldn't be involved.

There must be something else to this.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. Fair enough.

[WillyT]

24. Have You Ever See This ??? - (Speaking Of Young Computer Geeks Without A Clue)...

Full movie here (probably temporarily):

[Vashta Nerada]

26. So pick it up tomorrow.

It's not that big of a deal, is it?

[question everything]

29. I think that it is

She said that she needs it for post shingles pain.

I had my shingles vaccine because I've heard so much about shingles pain that just does not go away.

[Vashta Nerada]

30. I'm assuming she has some pills left.

She said she doesn't take it every day and it's six days before the end of the script cycle.

Sounds like an OP whining about being inconvenienced.

[REP]

28. Elavil is a drug of abuse, though

I know, for those of us who take it therapeutically, it's hard to understand (I take 75mg for migraine prophylaxis), but it is used recreationally. I think it has a relaxing effect on people who don't take it daily (?).

Found some references for Elavil abuse:

O'Rahilly S, Turner TH, Wass JAH. "Factitious epilepsy due to amitriptyline abuse". Ir Med. 1985;78:166-7.
Wohlreich MM, Welch W. "Amitriptyline abuse presenting as acute toxicity". Psychosomatics. 1993;34:191-193.
Delisle JD. "A case of amitriptyline abuse (letter)". Am J Psych. 1990;147:1377-1378.

[dixiegrrrrl]

32. Pretty old references.

Point is, I was told it is" a controlled drug", meaning it is on the list of controlled drugs..
and it is not.
Not that a Gov. list which equates pot with heroin is something to be believed...

[KentuckyWoman]

31. Been there done that.

One day I realized I was dealing with stupid people terrified of losing their job. But I had to figure out how to get what I needed when I needed it until I had enough time and enery to find the less stupid.