Repeat prescription hasn't come :(

Everyday living
1

Here I am, going through this AGAIN. I ordered my repeat prescription (several items) last Thursday, and was told it should be here today. That was already rather later than expected, considering it’s supposed to be something like a 48-hour turnaround, not including weekends - so I would have expected yesterday, at the latest.

Anyway, they have been known to overlook things…

Nothing has shown up yet, so this time, just for peace of mind, I gave them a call to see if I should expect a delivery later.

Can hear a bit of a conflab in the background.

The upshot? “Well yes, we have got a record we’ve ordered it, but there’s nothing back yet, from the surgery.”

I’m now on my last pill of diazepam, and have already been splitting them in half the past two nights to try to make them last. This may be the problem, as I increased the dose myself, and so have been getting through them quicker - which may have prompted a safety check. BUT I came clean with my neuro a couple of weeks ago about what I’d done, and he was perfectly OK with it, and advised me to carry on. Unfortunately, have seen no letter from neuro to GP, showing that he clearly sanctioned this.

Half a pill is no longer working to see me through the night without pain, so I am already undermedicated, compared to what I would be taking if I wasn’t running so short. I’m also very low on paracetamol. Fortunately, I’m still OK with the Baclofen for a few days more, as that one is dangerous to stop suddenly. The diazepam and paracetamol would make for a pretty unpleasant few days, if I were completely without them, but wouldn’t actually be dangerous.

I get so fed up with this, and as I don’t have family or a carer, wonder what will happen to me if I’m ever no longer on-the-ball, and phoning up to chase. My medicine just won’t come, and nobody will do diddly squat about about it, if I don’t.

Tina

x

2

Hello Tina I know how you feel. I’ve had quite quite a few problems with my repeat prescriptions. Rather than ordering through my pharmacy, I now order straight from the surgery. That way, I know everything is in order. I’ve noticed when I use the chemist, it takes longer to get the prescription. Noreen x

3

Me too Tina and Noreen.

Stick to the surgery I would Tina. The Pharmacists seem too busy to cope to be honest. That’s the way I see it anyway.

Shazzie x

4

Hi Noreen, The trouble is, I’m a non-driver, and the surgery’s a walk and a bus ride away (no longer any direct bus). It’s also not an area I visit frequently anyway - e.g. for shopping. So if I cut out the pharmacy and just dealt direct with the surgery, I’d have to visit in person every time to pick up the prescription, and then take it to a pharmacy to get it made up. The whole point with the pharmacy service is one call should do it all, and bring the medicine to my door. Ideal for somebody with MS, who doesn’t have private transport, and doesn’t need extra trips out, just to collect their medicine. The theory is perfect, but in practice it seems to go wrong an awful lot, and I can never really get to the bottom of whose fault it was. The pharmacy say: “The surgery hasn’t done it!”, the surgery, if quizzed, say: “Nonsense, it’s been sitting here waiting for them!”, so you don’t know who to believe. I’m having a mini-relapse at the moment. It’s not disabling - I managed to get out and do all the shopping this morning - BUT I have even less patience and energy than usual, and worse symptoms, so the last thing I need is to be fretting about running out of drugs, and having to keep on at people about it. T. x

5

Sorry, Hi Shazzie as well! Was typing as you posted. See above re cutting out the pharmacy. Unless or until the surgery delivers direct to the house with one phone call, that isn’t going to be a practical solution for me, as I can’t just jump in the car and go up there, and be home in 20 minutes. I really do need the door-to-door thing, if only it would work! T. x

6

I ring my surgery Tina. They place my prescription in superdrug box who then pick it up and make it up. It’s then delivered toy home. Sorry, I just assumed that’s what most surgeries did. Noreen :slight_smile:

7

What about writing to the practice manager. The system needs improving. Like you say, you don’t need the added stress. xx

8

Unless I’m missing something, I don’t think my lot offer that - i.e. onward forwarding to the pharmacy, for preparation and home delivery. I can certainly phone the surgery for a repeat prescription, but it will just sit there waiting for me to go up and collect, and take to the pharmacy myself. If there is an option for the surgery to take the lead, and instruct the pharmacy, rather than the other way round, they’ve certainly kept very quiet about it. Though in theory, I see no reason why not, as the pharmacy supposedly go there most days anyway. So if all they had to do was collect whatever prescriptions were waiting for them, instead of having to place and collect named orders, it shouldn’t make much difference to surgery staff. Now 16:20, and still nothing, so not looking very optimistic for today. Another uncomfortable night on cut-up tablets, so I still have something left for tomorrow. If they don’t come tomorrow, I’m really stuffed, as out of some things altogether by then. I’ll have no choice but to self-medicate with alcohol, which is not as flippant as it might sound, as it’s a muscle-relaxant, after all. It slightly beats making do with nothing. Tina x

9

When I phone for a repeat they ask which pharmacy I want it put down to and it will be ready in 48 hrs. I ran out of baclofen but the pharmacy advanced me. Secretaries do my head in. I told them I’d run out and she said phone the repeat line I was like but I need it tomorrow and her reply was well phone the machine and it will be ready in 48 hrs. Which as you say tuna it’s dangerous with baclofen. I know they’re doing their job and it was my fault but they just wouldn’t listen. But the pharmacy said if I’ve problems again to come to them for help. Handy when someone can help.

10

Surprise, surprise, it didn’t come. Not as if I didn’t see that one coming (or not coming). So now I’ve got another painful night on restricted rations. Not really enough to do the job, but better than being left completely without tomorrow.

I know some pharmacies are authorised to dispense in an emergency, but I’m not sure if it’s all of them. I get the impression I might well be their only Baclofen customer, because they’ve been slow to source it for me before, and they seem to order it only on demand, not hold any in stock. I’m still alright with that for the moment, but considering I take six a day, if they drag their feet much longer, I’ll be running low on that as well.

In a way it’s my fault, because I tend to make the assumption that a week should be plenty of time to get anything - unless it spanned a bank holiday or something. I’m learning the hard way that giving them a week just doesn’t seem to be enough, but I don’t know who’s holding things up - or whether it’s six of one or half a dozen of the other.

Last time, too, I got very close to running out, but a different explanation. The delivery man told me off-the-record that when I’d phoned up to chase, they’d discovered my prescription - the dispensed drugs, that is, not the piece of paper - just lying around. They had probably been lying there several days, ready to go out, but nobody had passed them to him to deliver. They’d stayed undiscovered until the moment I called, at which point some bright spark realised: “Oops! They’re here! They should have gone to her!”

I don’t blame the delivery man, who seems, in general, very good. We even have (unofficially!) an agreed hiding place, for if I should ever be out when he calls, so he doesn’t have to make a repeat visit, but I don’t have to worry about running out of meds, if I’m unlucky enough to miss him. He always leaves a note if they’re in the secret place - but I did still check, just in case. Alas, nothing there, so things definitely went wrong either at the shop or the surgery - I just can’t tell which. I expect, as usual, each will blame the other. You’d think, of the two, the surgery would be more trustworthy, but they’re not infallible, as I’ve had to go in and have a shout before. Not like me at all, to make a scene, but it did the trick, as the situation was resolved almost immediately. In that instance, there was some sort of dispute between the surgery and the hospital, about whose responsibility it was to prescribe. The hospital told (rather than asked!) the surgery to prescribe, but the surgery were having none of it. So muggins here was caught between the warring factions, even though nobody believed I shouldn’t have the drug.

Tina

x

11

Hi Tina, Your story is shocking I am absolutely horrified. There is absolutely no way you should be without your meds. A week should be plenty of time to get your meds. It really should only be 48hours. I suggest book an appointment with your GP. Explain the situation and ask whether you can order your repeat prescription 2 weeks early. You would therefore in theory have plenty of meds in reserve and not run out again. It is such a shame that quite often we have to stamp our feet and shout. Good luck Min xx

12

Hopefully you’ll get your meds soon. It annoys me I get a month or more pregabillin , Amitripiline but only ever 2 weeks of baclofen. But my doc sees me every 4 weeks to monitor me so I’ve loads of the first couple of meds but baclofen I run short on. I think I’ve said before I forgot to reorder pregabilin as I’d been away for a few days pre dx dr had forgot to put in notes she’d increased my dose. So when I tried to get the receptionist said she would get a doc to sign it and to pick it up in a few hours. When I went back I was told the dr wouldn’t sign it as I should have left and there was a note on the system that they would need to speak to my dr first but she was off until wed. I’d no pregabilin for 3 says as doc works half the week. She apologised and said it wouldn’t happen again. But I don’t blame her she’s a brilliant dr but to make me wait 3 days which I’d no sleep at all was a nightmare So now I make sure I have when I need

13

Hi Min,

I don’t think the surgery would have any issues if I started ordering earlier. It’s all stuff I take on a continuing basis anyway, so in theory, having a slight stockpile should not pose any kind of risk.

Sometimes I re-order stuff that is not yet quite due, to save multiple phone calls, and multiple delivery runs. The surgery have never so far said no, even if the reorder was slightly premature for some items.

So I think it’s my fault, for not learning my lesson in the past, and realising they need a fortnight, to be safe. I don’t think the surgery would bat an eyelid if I began ordering earlier.

I still wonder if the diazepam is what has caused the hitch, though. You probably know this is regarded in some quarters as a very controversial drug, so it may have sounded alarm bells that I raised my dose without telling anyone. But (a) it helped, and (b) I did tell the neuro at the earliest opportunity, and he had no concerns at all about what I’d done, and judged me competent to use my discretion, for best results. He certainly didn’t think my usage was dangerous or out of control.

BUT I’m not sure the message ever got back to the surgery that I’d seen a consultant, and got retrospective approval for the increase. They may just think I’m using them to get high. Haha - if only - NEVER felt high on them. I was originally prescribed them for severe anxiety, but now use them almost exclusively for spasticity and muscle pain. The anxiety reduction is a welcome bonus, but no longer my primary reason for taking them. Pain is the main reason. They calm down that muscle tightness.

T.

x

14

are there no other pharmacies who deliver in your area? is it an independent chemist or a larger chain, that you could complain directly to their head office? have you asked the pharmacy if it is possible to order your meds from your doctor and have them pick it up, surely that could only be easier for them? isn’t there a walk in clinic somewhere nearby, the one in my town will prescribe 3 days worth of meds in an emergengy, i took along the tear off part of my prescription and the box my last prescription came in and there was no problem at all. did you ask your doctors surgery if there was a problem at their end, only, just because your neurologist has a relaxed attitude to you increasing your dosage of diazepam, it doesn’t necessarily follow that your gp WILL go along with it, each doctor takes responsibility for the final decision on whether or not they will prescribe. i also have lots of problems with pain and am on various meds and 2 or 3 times i’ve had gp’s second guess my neurologist and change medication and/or dosage. it only just occurs to me now that i think one of the meds switched was diazepam or something related to it?!

i can’t believe how awkward and difficult it is to get your meds, i’m in a smallish town in the north east(?!) and i just order my meds on-line, while i can currently get them picked up for me, i can easily get the prescriptions filled and delivered by either of the 2 large chain pharmacies that are right on the doorstep of the brand new, multi-practise health centre, with the aforementioned walk-in clinic (365 days a year too!). i was really glad when the centre opened, but i just thought that if we had this in the north east, that it must be fairly standard, we normally get things last. i’m sorry you don’t have the same available where you are.

i seem to be rambling today! sorry, can’t sleep… symptoms played up for days then, unusually, i got a lot of sleep, but at the wrong time of day and now i don’t know which way is up… circadian rhythm, who needs a circadian rhythm, hmm (had to check the spelling of rhythm, never could remember it), ha, now i’m in a full blown waffle, sorry, hope you get sorted first thing tomorrow/today by which i mean thursday

take care.

wendy x

15

Hi Wendy,

Don’t apologise for rambling - I can’t sleep either. This is a classic indication of not having taken enough medication the night before. Without the higher dose of diazepam, I wake up in pain, really early. The extra half tablet had all but fixed this, but now I’m on emergency rations, here I am, wide awake and in pain, and have been since 5:00.

I’m only theorising that the diazepam had anything to do with the failure of the prescription to materialise. IF there had been a problem with my request, you’d have thought they’d have queried it with either the pharmacy or me - not just sat on the whole prescription, which included other things. So it’s probably just me being paranoid - not that anybody didn’t want me to have anything.

No, we’ve got nothing within reasonable walking distance round here - not a pharmacy, not a surgery - none of it.

When I first moved here, there used to be two, if not three chemists I could walk to with ease - one just round the corner. Now all have closed. The one I’m using now is walkable - just - but not for the fainthearted, or in bad weather, as it’s about half-an-hour each way.

I used to be with a large pharmacy (Boots) but they were just as bad, if not worse. They couldn’t seem to grasp the simple concept that only some of my medicines should be on automatic repeat - the ones I take every day, such as Baclofen. The others are on an as-needed basis, so I will get through them at different rates, depending how I’ve been.

They kept getting it wrong, and automatically reordering things I hadn’t requested, so I was ending up with vast stockpiles of things I was only using now and then. I know better to have too much than too little, but there were other mistakes too, such as sometimes failing to order the needed stuff. I think the final straw came when they tried to give me a complete stranger’s prescription, saying I’d been in to collect it for him!

“This isn’t mine!”

“No, but you asked to collect it for him - Right?”

“What???”

Absolutely no idea how they ended up with it in the book that I was supposed to be collecting someone’s prescription for him, and often wonder whether that poor man ever did get his medicine. :frowning:

T.

x

16

OK, so the system is creaky, and it is unlikely that you will be able to fix it, because it isn’t your system. What about just making your supply lines more resilient by arranging with the surgery to get your repeat scrips a week early next time and monthly as usual thereafter, so that you can set aside a week’s worth as a one-off? That way you have a week’s worth of drugs in hand so there’s no need to panic next time there’s a fumble.

Alison

17

Think about ringing the surgery this morning Tina and check to see if they will pass your prescription, straight to your chemist. Then in future, you can ring the docs for your meds. My surgery will never let me order my meds too far in advance, except at bank holidays. xx

18

The pharmacy have promised they are coming today, but insisted they have only just received the prescription from the doctor’s.

After a whole week? It really doesn’t sound very likely. Of course, it depends exactly when they put the request in. Was it the day I first phoned, or did somebody forget all about it?

I explained I’m so low I’m having to ration, and the lady thought I was making a joke, and started to laugh.

I said: “It’s no laughing matter; I really need this medicine. I’ve had a really rough night, because I haven’t taken enough medicine.” :frowning:

Tina

x

19

l can order repeat prescriptions online - and request for it to be forwarded to the pharmacy. And you can also request for it to be delivered. Most of the time it works well. But occasionally the surgery do not pass it on to the pharmacy.

l was concerned about my mums ‘pills’. And have asked if they can automatically do a repeat prescription and deliver it to her every month. Waiting to see if it works!

20

Be very careful increasing the dose of diazepam,thats what i did ,years ago,i started off on 2mg once a night,then increased it to 5mg , and took it at this dose for a few years,i didnt realise i had become addicted to it until i tried stopping it, i ran out of the prescription over the xmas holidays,and i couldnt sleep the 1stnight,the 2nd night without it was unbearable and so on,i quickly started having the shakes and hallucinations and was sick and in awful pain,its the body that becomes dependant on the drug without you really realising it,i wouldnt touch it again, but at the time i thought it was the answer.its worrying in that you put you cant sleep without taking it.