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Avatar universal

OMG! The pharmacy denied my RX

I am trying hard to get clean, but was in so much pain on Sunday I went to the ER.  I was prescribed 20 hyrdos.  It was the middle of thenight by the time I made it to Walgreens.  When the doc wrote my RX it looked like he had written Vicoden 8.0/500 and then wrote a 5 over the 8.  I did not alter this RX in anyway and have never altered them.  Well, the pharmacist was immediately suspicious when he pulled up my records (been rx'd meds from various docs over the past year) and phoned the ER.  He told the doc this and the doc VOIDED my rx!  The pharmacy wrote "Void per Dr" on the RX and handed it back to me.

I could have died.  Has this ever happened to anyone else?
22 Responses
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Avatar universal
I understand what you're saying but isn't there more to it than that? Doesn't it need to be within a certain period of time? Filling two narcotics from two separate doctors a day or a week apart or something close like that?

I just think this is nearly impossible for folks! In any given year a person may get a pain med from a surgeon, a dentist, a primary doctor; all for different reasons but none the less narcotics!  There must be something else to this and the data bank. I'd hate for people to get scared so needlessly for something so common.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Dang I just got done writing y'all a book n my computer shut off n I gotta type this all over again Ughh! It's worth it though! I hope what I have to say may help someone! I'd rather b chatting on the phone though! Its so much faster to get your point across! LOL!! Anyways, what I wanted to say was that It sounds like a few of you have also had to go to more than one dr because of severe pain. I just want to say be careful! I'm not sure of what state you r from but I'm in Florida and they have a central data base they just recently set up and every pharmacy must send all narcotic scripts in weekly and if it shows you have been to 2 different drs. to get pain meds it red flags you and they call the police or whoever and start investigating. About 2 yrs ago I was seeing my pain dr. and my primary care they were both prescribing pain meds. A friend of mine told me you could get in a lot of trouble for this so I stopped doing it. Now I believe I'm being investigated and apparently they can go back years and charge you for dr. shopping! Cardinal Health(the main pill supplier in our county) has been shut down! A few CVS, Walgreens, and  Walmart pharmacy have been shut down and many doctors and patients are under investigation or in jail! It's crazy! I understand that you are upset that they didn't let you fill that script but if you have gotten pain meds elsewhere maybe it was a blessing in disguise. One less script u could be charged with if that happens to be the situation.
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2219797 tn?1339534645
The docs office makes you sign a contract so that you can be held 'accountable' for anything ... not them. It basically says that they went through the steps of warning you. blah blah blah!

The DEA is strong-arming all the the medical community, and they are using the pharmacists as their thugs!

BTW... Costco has great prices for meds, bad (probably pocket-lined)  pharmacists! And, so I've been told, cuz I've been checking around for a better pharmacy, Walgreens is no better.

Be wise, be careful, and whatever you do, do not let your temper get the best of you.
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Avatar universal
I just had it happen to me, I go to a regular dr. and pick up my oxy every week and I had a horrible pain in my stomach that my oxy would not help so urgent care dr. gave me an rx for something stronger and instead of just filling it, being that my insurance approved it the pharmacist at walgreens decided to take it upon herself to call the urgent care dr. and let him know I get a regular rx every week for oxy. Most pharmacist I hace cone across are just mean people with nthing better to do than accuse everyone that walks in the door with an rx for a narcotic of being a druggy. If they wanted so much control over rx and patients guess they should havs become a dr instead of a so called pharmacist. I didnt get mad or freak out on her which I think pissed her off even more. I honestly think the laws will bs changed soon, these pharmacists doing this to people IS against our privacy.
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Avatar universal
Wow, that really sucks on both your sides of the world.  I've never had that happen to me before and would be very pissed and embarrassed if it had.  I'm so sorry that happened to ya'll.  I can't even imagine a person with any pain med experience writing 8mg... so freakin' stupid on the pharmacists part lol... but u know the truth so definitely call the er or go up there and complain and ask wtf?

Hope you guys have a good nite, take care and hugz,  Lil.  :)
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Avatar universal
You know what....after reading the rest of your posts I wonder now...this contract they have here if that isn't just a time ticker for them to boot the patient out so they are no longer having to worry about writing us the scripts.
Meaning, say it was that my Dr was out of town and I had no choice but to go to the ER or a walk in...which by the way ALL are linked right to my Dr;s office anyhow, its all Affinity Health Systems. If I had to do that I would probably be violating my contract thus allowing him to boot me out the door.
Hmm...makes me wonder now.
I know another time I had called and could not get into my Dr and was told by his nurse to go to the ER so I did! I get there and the er dr comes in and says umm I have notes all over from your dr's office and that I am to NOT give you any pain medication. I am like huh? I was TOLD to come here. My drs nurse is a real gem anyhow, she always says  YOUR STILL ON THESE? She had the same surgery I did and she is just fine, so I should be too. She furiates me anyhow I said hold on a minute and I explained the situation and  he asked me if he could call my Dr. I said PLEASE DO, would you please? I said and please explain to him that the nurse is who told me to come here bc he had NO openings for over a week. And I said now if I were trying to pull one over on anyone why would I be here? At this hospital when I KNOW it's all linked to my Dr? The ER doc was so nice, he said it seems to me there is a misunderstanding, and said I will call your dr right now. So he did, and came back to the room and wouldn't you know it? Wrote me a script for 12 for the 4 days it would take to get in to see my Dr who all a sudden had an opening. Hmmmmmmmm
So when I went in to see my Dr I let him have it about this nurse. I said she has NO right to qn me about what I take. I said YOU are my Primary Dr not her. She knows I have been on these for 3+ years now. She always seems to get something screwed up somewhere like this day and then Dr is wondering what is going on. Once the Dr explained to him what was going on, bc I had not gotten to speak to him directly the nurse said he was unavailable. When I saw my Dr he said he knows I am on these for my pain and not to worry about it. But see just a small confusion like that by the nurse ( which I think was on purpose) is where problems happen. And nobody listens to you. Fortunately I had a nice ER Dr who directly called my dr himself and told him what happened. He also said to me, that he could see I was in some imense pain and my blood pressure was up, etc. He said he made sure that he told my dr this too. I'm like thank god I had someone who understood and he called my Dr and fixed the whole problem right then and there.
But after all that is when I did have to sign that contract thing, My Dr said it wasn't anything I did it is just a formality and with the recent ER visit and such I imagine red flags were all over but I wasn't doing anything wrong.
I also can understand even when the pharmacists have to do a double check and stuff b/c that is their jobs on the line too. But what I don't think is right is to say (even after a dr has said yes give this patient their meds) that the person cannot have them. That is NOT right.
And as for the notes about seeing other dr;s? I feel that we should have the right to defend such accusations. Like you said...what addict would try and fill a script that said 8/500? Unreal.
I do hope everything gets straightened out though for you.
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Avatar universal
Oh I got arreseted for Disorderly Conduct bc she said I threw something at her. I never did I threw my ambesol down on the counter and for telling her off.

Well if you go to so many pharmacies, and or if you are picking up the same drug at more than one and or, picking up refills early, etc. It will come up to a pharmacist but not all are so strict and know sometimes these flags just pop up bc of the medication. It really depends on if you have ever had any problems say with dr and the pharmacy like picking up early or trying to etc. like what I stated above.... If your doing nothing wrong you really don't have to worry so much. But then again like what happened to me I wasn't doing anything wrong either and it was hell getting my meds.
But I usually only use one pharmacy and they know me b/c I have been going there for years. So I don't have any problems with my pharmacy but you can at new pharmacies. If you were flagged at all the pharmacist would say something to you. Whether it be that you have picked up other meds somewhere else, or whatever. Normally they will qn you or refuse to fill the meds. But you can have some real a-hole pharmacists who seem to think it is their right to say what medication you can take and when.
Also, if your not on any insurance then they dont  seem to care as much, of course not then its about the mighty buck. If you pay cash, you dont have to go through the insurance or it coming back to say its too soon or whatever, so and so just picked up a script of this and we will not cover it right now, etc. When the insurance denies it, and says when you picked up your last is where the problem can start. Then what I mnean by this flag is the pharmacy will flag the account to say no picking up early, or watch for fraudulent scripts, etc. Whatever it is  they feel or even a Dr has asked them to mark on a patients account is what I mean by flags.
Not that it is anything illegal you have done, if your getting them legite wise you really dont have to be scared. The worst they would do is not give you the script.



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Avatar universal
Like with the night I was just talking about, I normally never go anywhere else but like you said b/c of the time of night, it was the only 24hr pharmacy we even have in town. So of course one would go there.

So I don't want you to be scared.  I am talking about like Pharmacy hoppers etc....which is something I have not ever done as much as I have thought of it. And that one night was made out to be one by the B- at walgreens lol.... But see my insurance would block the new script anyhow had I recently gotten one. So, its really not even worth trying in my case. Not to mention it would then get back to my Dr. So I don't do that.

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Avatar universal
that is terrible,,,god knows i have been to many different pharmacies, only because of time...not all stay open 24 hours..how do you know if you are flagged?? do they tell you , or they don't have too?
just wondering, i am always scared from these stories to pick up my meds??
why did you get arrested>
r2r
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Yes unfortunately ALL pharmacies (well at least here anyhow) I am in WI. know of any medication you have filled and drs.
Say I go to my normal which is walgreens...and I see a dif dr somewhere else and go to a dif. pharmacy bc it is the only one open 24hrs. Well this happened to me not too long ago, and it was a walgreens. I ended up arrested.
I am prescribed antianxeity meds, well at the time I went to the ER was for an exposed nerve in my tooth. I could not get in anywhere to a dentist until Monday morning. Now while my Dr knew I was going.I got to the ER and of course they couldnt rip it out although I begged them too, he sent me out with a script for 15 vics. Ok no biggy right? Get to the pharmacy which is not My normal one but is still a walgreens, it is 2am in the morning, the only 24hr pharm we have here.
I get in there, she runs it and says ummm you were just given 60 narcotics on Friday. We are on Sunday night now.
I said umm those are my anti anxiety meds, dont tell me you cannot SEE hwat I was given. She was a real bi**h, so she calls the er dr and I can hear her all the time I am boiling. She says this patient was just given a script on fri for 60 narcs.
Im starting to yell now, I said NOT OF PAIN MEDS! I end up kicked out of the store I was sooo upset. My friend still inside the store. I call the ER and speak to the Dr, and explain to him what it was I picked up on that previous Friday. He then calls this the B**** back and says to fill the meds. Well now by this point she says I may just make you wait seeing we are the only 24hr walgreens.
OMG, I hit the roof. I am at this point running on NO sleepp for 2 days, pain I absolutely cannot stand and here this chic is testing all of me.
I throw down on the counter the ambesol I was going to purchase she calls the manager saying I thre it at her!
OMG, so my friend says get out in the car. So I go. She comes out with my meds. The lady WOULD NOT submit it to my insurance for one, she said to my friend I will give them to you but not "her" and you will have to pay for them bc I will not run it through her insurance. Now wtf kind of **** is that!?
We get home, 5 mins l;ater cops at my door and I am arrested for DC. Can you believe that?
I get to the jail and they are fingerprinting me, and the guy asks what I possibly could have done lol as I was just in tears. So I tell him and he was laughing and said he could not beleive that lady.
I never saw a cell bc my friend was already bailing me out but still. So the next day I report her, and I ask to speak to the head pharmasist and store manager. They apologized up and down and had complaints of her b4, but would they help write this out for court for me? Nope, I ended up having to just say screw it and pay the fine.
But to answer your wn, here in Wi if we are on a narcotic we have to sign a "contract" in this contract we are not allowed to see any other dr for our med and cannot use any other pharmacies. I mean certain circumstances do come up but other than that we are not allowed to. The drs are being watched so closely they are afraid to even write the damn scripts. They have to cover themselves and that is what this contract thing is for, and they also will put a limit on either how many you can have in a month or making you fill only 2 weeks at a time, etc. But the thing that makes a person mad is that they MAY have this listed on the computer but they do NOT CHECk as to why this happened or what the story is behind it. Just like this lady did to me, saying I had gotten all these narcotics and was trying to get more when here they were 2 different medications and for 2 totally different medical reasons.
Once you get flagged it is very very difficult to obtain any medication. it is not fair to the ones who really do need pain meds and use them for their pain and not only rec. wise. We did not become addicts by just going out and trying the damn drug. Well some do but majority do not.
So we are the ones who suffer, when in all reality they should have to have proof or police records or something to show that there is a REAL reason for any red flags. Nope just labeled a addict, dr shopper or pharmacy hopper and it is left at that.



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Avatar universal
Nail on the head - Walgreens indeed.  Unreal!
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Avatar universal
In my state they do not do carbons of handwritten scripts.  I am not sure if they physically make a xerox of the script for the file or not.  I am getting more PISSED off by the moment.  It may take me a bit to build up the courage to pursue this because I am just so afraid of being even further branded an addict.

Calijen...  oooh Blue Cross Blue Shield just bites!  Was it Walgreens pharmacy by any chance?  That is just BS for them to be able to do this.  It just can't be legal to pass on senstive health info like that.  I am sooo freakin' mad.  If it turns out that Walgreens is the place that screwed you too I am never, ever going to use them again for the rest of my life for any reason.  (I don't care if I just need a cough drop.  I refuse to shop there).
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Avatar universal
I'd go back to that ER and ask to speak to the chief of the ER staff. Show them the script. There should be a copy of it that will match yours, no? Don't scripts that are handwritten come in three-carbons? I wouldn't be embarassed, I'd be PISSED.
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Avatar universal
Raising my hand – yep, it’s happened to me.  Both situations, the pharmacy and the insurance.  I went to an urgent care and then to get my script for 30 vicodin filled.  When I went back to pick it up I saw that it had only been filled with 6.  I tried to explain to the pharmacist that my prescription wasn’t filled for the correct amount and he just kept telling me to call my doctor.  I was wondering what the h*ll was so hard about filling the right amount, but it was only after I called the urgent care dr that I found out what happened.  The pharmacist did the same thing, pulled me up in the system and contacted the dr to tell her that I had many Rxs filled with many doctors.  So she said she dropped it down to 6 to help me deal with any pain I may be in (basically saying she knew I wasn’t) until I could get into my regular doctor.  They didn’t void it, but it was the same situation.

And my insurance sent letters to my doctors about the same thing – the Rxs and different doctors.  The insurance never told me – I heard it from one of the doctors (before she cut me off as a patient).   I have Blue Shield and live in California.

It is absolutely the worst feeling when they do that to you!
Helpful - 0
221016 tn?1196973461
I would still call HQ and tell them the story. The pharmacist had no right to do that. Don't let them get away with it. They have red flagged you at the pharmacy anyway and may have broken the HIPPA law.
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Avatar universal
Thanks for all the replies.  I keep getting progressively more mad at this situation, but I certainly do not want to draw any additional attention to myself.  I am afraid if I call the pharmacy HQ that will put me on some kind of watch list or something (that is if I am lucky enough to not be being watched already).  

Pharmacists are often just downright mean.  I have a legit pain issue, and that RX was legitimately prescribed.  In the first place, what kind of addict doesn't know that Vicden DOES NOT come in 8.0/500?  Hello!  Like I would forge an RX in the first place, muchless change it to a dose that does not exist.  Then the pharmacist made me sound like an addict to an ER doc.  That infuriates me.  In fact, when I was at the ER the doc offered to "inject me with strong narcotic pain meds" and I turned him down in favor of an anti-inflammatory injection.  What kind of drug seeker does that?

I am just seething mad over this whole situation, but feel powerless to do anything about it.  I am sure I am going to be blacklisted at that ER now as well.
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Avatar universal
i have only heard this so i don't know if it depends on what state you  live in..But if you had a problem in the past they cannot disrimagated against you( i know not spelled right)
That sounds crazy..But to be honest i will be surprised when all this is over if i am not in trouble myself..Probably will serve my right..BUT i have never forged, and called in and anything like that..Just too many doctors, but it was all because my primary told me to see this one, see that one..But they don't care about that..The DEA will probably come knock on my door any day..
But anyway, that doesn't sound right..If i were you i would get info for yourself on the computer, it just doesn't sound right..I hate pharmacist!!! they always look at me like i am crazy everytime i go in..And they wonder why i go to different pharmacies, that is why...
R2R]
Good luck
Helpful - 0
221016 tn?1196973461
I would call the pharmacy HQ and complain. Do a little research on the web, something just doesn't seem right here. I do not think they have a right to do that. It really stinks for that to happen to you. I wish you the best and hope it can be worked out.

God Bless,
Tim
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Avatar universal
Oh wow.  Maybe it has something to do with state law?  When it happened to me, I lived in Texas.  I had the same Blue Cross in other states without that problem.  If you live in TX, that is going to totally freak me out!
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Avatar universal
You know what?  It was Blue Cross that contacted my doctors, you hit it right on the nose!  I am also wandering about the HIPPA thing, it does not seem like they should be able to disclose my medical records like that.  I think I will check into it.  I still am so mad at myself for even filing insurance on both meds, I knew better and was going to start paying cash this very month, wouldn't you know.
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Avatar universal
Oh that is so horrible.  Can I be nosey and ask what insurance company you have?  I had Blue Cross do that to me years ago (pre-HIPPA).  Yes, I have been off these darned things for years and am now back on due to chronic pain in my back.  Did your insurance company inform you that they were going to send letters to your docs or did you just hear it from the docs themselves?  It just seems like BS that they could spread personal medical info around to the different docs.  Maybe it does not violate HIPPA, but it seems like it is certainly an invasion of privacy on some level.

This whole thing just makes me paranoid.  Pharmacists, for the record, are not God and should stop acting so high and mighty.  I know I am using too much, but for goodness sake I obtain my rx's legally.  It just happens that a lot of the time I just go to the ER, thus all the different docs in my records.  And why do I go to the ER instead of the "regular" doc?  Because I am trying my best not to have these drugs in my house all the time.  I am not ordering them from illegal sources nor am I buying them on the street.  Does the high and mighty pharmacist even begin to grasp that?  Nope.  Grrrr....  I am trying so, so hard.

hugs,
teddybearz
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Avatar universal
Hi there,  no, I cannot say that this has ever happened to me but I am not surprised, stupid nosey pharmacists!  Same goes for insurance companies, think it is their place to monitor everyone for the doctors.  I had a horrible incident last month where my insurance company sent out letters to two docs I get my meds from.  So now, one doc says nothing at all anymore (he is an old dear friend of mine who I worked for many many years) and the other doc is making me taper off my meds.  Of course, I am the one to blame, I should not have been filing insurance on both meds for one thing, but I also should not have been seeing two doctors, I knew better.  I was getting hydrocodone from one and getting Methadone from the other.  Now, I am so embarrassed and worried, I can think of nothing else and just keep telling myself how stupid I am.  I am considering doing the Suboxone thing as I just do not think I am a taper kind of person.  Anyways, I am sorry this happened to you, it was totally uncalled for in my book.

Love, Cindy
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