Chronic Pain Support Group

hey sandy.... i actually had this happen once, and i got half way thru my month and my scrift was gone..i called the pharmacy and they went back and counted their pills left, and told me they screwed up, and i went back and they gave me a half a month back..
im not sure if every pharmacy would be willing to do that, but they did for me... its riteaid pharmacy..
hope you can get this straighten out, i would call them and ask them to count their pills.. they may realize the mistake and give you them back..
other than doing that, i would count them at the store when they are picked up..
hope this helps..
~stinke~

I don't bother because I don't see a PM and the strongest drug I'm Rxd at the moment is tramadol and I have backups of my backups for that.
It was thrown out last friday that I will probably be put on the Butrans patch and I'll gladly bother counting them as it is only 1 a week. Heehee 1,2,3,4,.....yep there all there. THANKS...goodbye!

That sucks Sandy. It's so sad that we gotta count pills, when some of us have so many. I can see the people in line rolling there eyes

Unfortunately i'm sure it happens more than we all know. It happened to me before twice.
I got an unopened bottle from RX and it was short 2 and i have had the ones the RX counted out as short too. i didn't realize this until a month into my script so who would have believed me ... ya know open bottle.

It maybe a good idea to count every one of them in the pharmacy sucks though as we should not have to but they have such heavy controls on Oxycontin and won't let you refill early.... and I'm saying more than a day out . As it has happened to me .

I hope you can get through this but in the future make sure you have the right count
hugs

Count all your pills all the time. Many these days are counted by machine. They are not required to give you any beyond that first day when you take possession.

Also, know exactly what you should be receiving. Check to see that they fill the script corrently every time.

It is so unfortunate, but the counting has to be done there at the pharmacy. They have no control over it once you take it from the counter and they may not believe you when you tell them they made a mistake. If you or your husband cant count them there, or feel uncomfortable about it, ask the pharmacist to count it before you take it home and get there name. I would give Stinke's advice a try first, see if they will work with you. I definitely agree with Steva, it most likely happens more than we all know.

Wow, never occurred to me that I should be counting my Klonopin. A miscount on that could possibly kill me. Forced benzo withdrawl,
No, not pretty!

As someone who works at a pharmacy let me tell you does sometimes happen. On narcotic medications called control 2 or C2 medications there are very strict records kept on every pill that leaves the pharmacy. If you feel you are short pills have the pharmacist count them in front of you, we want to make sure you are getting your correct medications. And actually very few pharmacies have the electronic pill counters as they are very innacurate. You will not offend the pharmacy staff for asking to have the pills counted in front of you it is are job to make sure everything is 100 percent accurate before you leave. Unfortunately i get to deal with being in pain and working in the pharmacy on a daily basis however i am very glad i am able to work still and work with a great group of people who a very understanding of my situation. Hope everyone has a low pain day.

Tyler

Thank you all for your replies.
Thanks too, Tyler, for giving us the perspective of the other side of the counter. It's good to know I won't piss off the pharmacy staff if I ask for a pill count. If they aren't nice about it, then I will go to another pharmacy. But so far, the CVS I've been going to has been nice, but it's also the first time I filled my Oxys there- they always didn't have it when I went there, so I'd go up to the Walgreens where I previously went. No problems there.
I'll stick with CVS because they're a little more convenient and have been really nice to me. But I will have them count the meds before I leave with them this time. Fool me once....

Sandy

I count mine before I leave the store just in case. In 13 years I've only had 1 instance where there was a mixup and it was due to a partial fill.

If your short or over on narcotics they'll know because their count will be off, the pharmacy has to account for every single pill it gives out, or doesn't. So if your short and you counted at the store, all you'd do is simply ask the pharmacist to recount the pills, you counted them and came up with different number.

One thing to take into account, your pills aren't counted by just 1 person, it's 2 and sometimes 3 depending on the size of the pharmacy and their staff, so miscounts are pretty rare. But if they did short you their pill count will be over at the end of the day, or under it they give you too many.

If you don't count them at the store, you lose provable responsibility/deniability...once you take those pills out of the store, "you can't go back and say oh you gave me too few." there's absolutely no way to prove that you didn't take some out in the car or at home....so if you think your being shorted, then you have to count them in the store and prove it.

The other thing to consider is that when your in a ton of pain, barely functioning, can you be 100% sure you didn't accidentaly take more or even dropped some on the floor...I've found a couple pills lieing on the floor before and didn't even realize I'd dropped them.

and one last thing...do you keep your pain meds in a lockbox as your supposed to, so that nobody else can get near them...not just people that live in your house, but people that visit your house....you can't know everything about everyone and drug addicts will go though your stuff if they think you have pills in your home.

kat

Kat

Klonopin withdrawal sucks, but it won't kill you.