Sunday, November 26, 2006

Annoying legalities

I had my second appointment with Dr. Joseph Gnoyski (fibromyalgia/chronic pain specialist) this past Tuesday, and was pleased.  Once again the office was perfectly on time (even though the waiting room was a bit crowded), and the office had asked that I prepare a “follow-up” sheet in advance of my visit, outlining how I was feeling, mentioning meds which needed refills, and listing any issues I needed to discuss with the doctor.  I really like how organized they are, and how they seem to want to listen to what I have to say!  I did have to do the “dice roll” for random urine testing for illegal drugs, but I rolled a nine and was cleared for this visit.  I guess I should ask what they’re checking for—I know I’m only taking what I’ve been prescribed, but I’m curious out what drugs they specifically think are problematic.

I’ve found that 10 mg of oyxcontin just hasn’t been controlling my pain very well, so Dr. Gnoyski requested that I start to take 10mg every 12 hours instead of every 24.  He said that was the way OC seemed to work best—it should be in the body consistently.  He wrote me a prescription for 120 pills, enough to carry me for two months until my next appointment.

We took the prescription to our regular pharmacy on Tuesday afternoon.  Everyone who works there knows us—we get scrips filled all the time, and we also do our grocery shopping at the store, so it’s not as if we’re unfamiliar faces.  The pharmacy tech looked at my prescription and said they didn’t have enough pills in stock to fill it.  I asked if they could just give me what they had in stock, and let me pick up the rest later, but they aren’t allowed to do that.  I can have all or nothing.  She said they’d order the pills, but she doesn’t expect them to be in until next Tuesday at the earliest.  They have to be special-ordered and hand-delivered or some such nonsense.  The oxycontin I had on hand ran out yesterday, so now I’ve got no meds until next week.  I don’t know who to be angry at—am I being inconvenienced by a federal law or a state law?  Or, is it just a state pharmacy board regulation?  How crazy is it that the pharmacy MUST dispense ALL my pills at the same time, and must deny me even 4 or 5 pills to get me through to the expected delivery date?  Their only suggestion was that I try another store (but I have a feeling the pharmacies are only “allowed” to stock a limited number of oxycontin pills at one time), or to get the doctor’s office to write me a new prescription.  That prescription would have to be picked up in person, of course, because they aren’t allowed to be phoned in.  I think it’s all really, really stupid.

The doctor warns me to be careful while picking up my oxycontin prescription, because some of his patients have been robbed outside the pharmacies and their pills stolen.  Thanks to the illogical laws here, if anyone wants to try to rob me next week, they’ll get their hands on 120 pills instead of just the 60 they would get if I was allowed to pick up my pills on two separate dates.  As usual, laws surrounding prescription and OTC drugs seem to always be about inconvenience for law-abiding people.  I also now have to come up with twice as much money for my cash-pay prescription, because I can’t stretch out my payment over two months.  It’s frustrating, yet these pills eradicate my pain and give me my life back, so I’m willing to jump through hoops of red tape to get them.  I just wish I didn’t have to.  It’s like I’m being punished for needing them.

I’ve wanted to post more, but have been bogged down by a slew of new part-time jobs (thank goodness for mental clarity!), and by participating in NaBloPoMo on The Blog Pound.  All this writing is good practice, but it doesn’t allow me much free time.  At least I’ve had the energy and ability to stay focused and to get the jobs done—my new doctor has made life a lot more enjoyable than it had been.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 11/26 at 01:12 AM
FMS medications • (0) Comments • Permalink
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