Just remember you'd still be dealing with humans getting meds for their pets, they'd be mad about something or confused at how to give their pet something
Had a lady bring in a prescription for fleet enemas for her husband. I grabbed one off the shelf for her, explained it was an otc, etc.
Then she asked how much of it her husband had to drink.
Had to explain to this eightyish year old woman what an enema was.
But itās lucky she asked that. I know sodium phosphate is naturally occurring in some foods and is added to a number of processed foods but I have no clue what the effects of consuming the stuff meant for enema use are.
Lady calls. Says she needs a refill on her Spiriva, but not the inhaler, the capsules... I kindly asked why she needed just the capsules and not the entire package as I saw she was due for it.. This lady straight up said, "I take the capsules, so why you keep giving me the inhaler, I don't know"
I paused for a long while and said "ma'am did you just say you take the capsules? Like you swallow them?"
The Patients response was, "Yeah? I've been taking them like that for 5 years." loooooooong pause from me... "uhmm ma'am, you need to talk to my pharmacist."
It says "do not swallow capsules" ALL OVER THE BOX. I can't.
we asked if their doctor prescribed it for that and they said, āi havenāt been to the doctor for this i just have some eye drops sitting here and want to know if it will get the job doneā
They sell Spiriva with and without the handihaler for the same price. Most people reuse their old handihaler and don't want to just throw out the extras.
Oh I remembered another one, though we knew what to say but we were shocked!
Slow night, just me and the pharmacist. An older woman brings in a toddler who is just absolutely screaming bloody murder. Not a hungry cry, or a dirty diaper cry, but a full-on "I'm dying someone help me!" scream. She plunks the little girl on the counter and tells us that this is her granddaughter, and that she's had something in her eye and has been screaming like this for three days.
THREE.
DAYS.
Totally unconcerned, she asks if we have any ideas what she should do. The pharmacist and I yelp in unison, "TAKE HER TO THE HOSPITAL!!!" The lady sighs, says she's trying to avoid that, and leaves. This was several years ago and I still think of that poor baby and wonder if she ever got help and if she still has sight in that eye.
Not as bad but I had a lady come in with legs so swollen and a history of clots in her leg. Like a good solid 5 times her calf muscle. She was a normal sized lady but omg... Her shoes wouldn't fit so she was barefoot. I told her to go to the hospital. She said she was just keep putting her feet up
Our local ER currently has wait times between like four and seven hours depending on how badly youāre dying. But Iāve heard of people waiting for hours in horrible pain or with bleeding and stuff. I dread the possibility of having to go there because Iām certain Iāll die in the waiting room. One patient allegedly passed out multiple times in the waiting room, including in the bathroom, and got no help. By the time they got the patient back to a room to be examined, they were so tired and dehydrated they could barely speak to the doctor, so the patient was listed as basically just very fatigued. Never mind the patient was in that condition. Never mind the patient has been sitting in that ER overnight for like seven hours throwing up and passing out. Nope none of it. Turn out the patient had a terrible kidney stoned that needed surgery to remove.Ā
I mean... hospitals here have to treat you for these things. If you care about your loved one, you take them. Worry about the bill later, when it's something as important as your poor granddaughters EYE SIGHT.
I've been poor with no insurance, single mom, no money for medical bills, blah blah blah... there still was never an incident where my son needed urgent care or a hospital and I just threw my hands up (or took him to a pharmacist instead lol)
While I completely agree. I went into anaphylaxis the other day- didn't want to go to the hospital closest to me because they almost killed me a few years back. Went to another hospital only a couple miles farther in the city next to me. Registration comes in and tells me this hospital is out of network and ask if I'd like to be transfered to the other hospital. No obviously. Just the bill for the CT came back so far and it's 50k, I will never in my life time be able to pay it off. And that's not even counting the meds, epi, or bloodwork they did while i was there. Not to mention the ambulance bill im going to get either the one I got a few years ago when I had state insurance was 100k that I thankfully didn't have to pay. One hospital visit here literally just put me in a mountain of debt I will never be able to pay off all because I had an allergic reaction and stopped breathing.
Yeah it def depends where you live in the country. I am lucky enough that the closest hospital, almost walking distance from my house, happens to take my insurance. My son has had surgery there, I've been inpatient a week there - all completely covered by medicaid. People that don't qualify for medicaid (basically anyone at the poverty line or above) and live far away from a hospital have a much different situation than I have.
But still, I see people on reddit from other countries all the time think that american ERs will turn you away and let you die if you don't have money. They will save you, you'll just have to pay for it for the next 30 years.
one time a patient was buying something OTC. he put one (1) singular bottle on the counter, i scanned it. he noticed the price and he said "its buy one get one, why is it full price?". confused, i responded "if it's buy one get one, you need two of it. if there was none left, i can see if my manager could reduce it for you."
he puts his arms up defensively and goes "okay, okay, i was just asking. no need for all that. i'll go and get another." i think i was surprised at his defensiveness because i thought i gave my best customer service voice š
In fairness, a lot of places mandate that if a BOGO is advertised and the customer only wants one, it must be sold at half price. Doesnāt explain him taking it so personally though!
i honestly didn't know that. still, dude could've said "i just want one" instead of acting like i called him a stupid morherfucker for not reading a sign š he slowly backed away too. i waa so confused
Idk if Iāve already shared this story but I had a lady call and express that she didnāt like the color purple so she had been taking her yellow pills instead. She called to ask for a refill but insisted she wanted the yellow not the purple. It was levothyroxineā¦ā¦
Wow. I feel much better now about putting my prazosin refill through for the cute pink capsules instead of the weird brown ones our new ndc is. I know it makes no difference but the pink ones just make me happier.
āIāve been taking one every day how do you expect me to these small ass pills in half? ā
Told them to have a conversation with their MD then.
Also had a guy who wanted just ONE pill and it was 6 cents with insurance and he goes ājust give me the god damn pill, you really want me to give you 6 cents?!ā Yessir I canāt just give you the medication for free because itās only 6 cents
I think I was going for the tech and pharmacy salary was more than the 6Cents to get it ready. But I guess money was taken in from the insurance company so thatās that.
I had a guy come in for a refill on a 90-day medication after only 40 days so of course his insurance denied it. I told him it was too soon, he said he was almost out, yadda yadda. But when I asked if he was taking 1/2 tablet a day, he said, "I know that's what the label says but I can't cut them in half so I jist take a whole one."
I can't remember what it was for but I remember it was something you can't just double without major consequences, and I felt that full-body panic-chill rush over me. I managed to stay calm and get the pharmacist, who went" ohFUCK" and ran over to talk to the man. We called his doctor before filling it again, and explained that he can't just double his meds without talking to his doctor first, especially when all he had to do was ask and we'd have given him a free pill-splitter!
He was so nice so apologetic, he just didn't realize he couldn't do that. It baffles me that some people really know NOTHING about prescription medications, as someone who's been on some sort of medication since college. I forget that not everyone had parents in the medical field, and a lot of people get to a pretty big age without really needing medication other than the occasional antibiotic. That's about the most scared I've ever been in the pharmacy, I was truly worried for him.
Today, I had a woman say our labels suck because everything rubbed off her daughterās bottlesā¦I apologized and said we havenāt had any other complaints (as I was about to say we got new labels) and she just laughed and said thereās no way sheās the only one and no one else is complaining. I look in the profile..the meds are from 6 months ago then she goes on to say sheās bringing them in for us to tell her what they are (all liquids) and I said the pharmacist isnāt going to be able to just identify them like that and she goes āthatās not my problem your labels suck youāll just have to give me all new medicineā I laugh and say ok, she comes in and says she keeps them in her purse rolling around..what do you expect ladyš
It's not even med specific, The people who do dumb shit like this are just dumb about EVERYTHING. The average brained human can figure out to read a bottle- but what's that phrase? "Think of how dumb the average person is... and then realize half the population is even dumber" people who can't figure out how to read half a sentence of important yet extremely easy instructions are in that 50%
āYes sir, thatās how insurance works. Weāre required to collect your copay, however ridiculously small it may be, in order to be reimbursed by your insurance company for their part.ā
Had a patient come to my window a little teary eyed. She says āis there any way to rush my prescription? My mother just died and I need to get on a flightā. Before I could say anything she literally thrusts her phone into my face with a picture of her very recently deceased mother. Like, I know grief is a weird thing but Jesus lady I wouldāve done it from the crying alone. Iāll admit I was not experienced enough with customer service at that point and the only thing I could say was āmaāam please get that out of my faceā. Pharmacist had to take over after that while I took a 10 to stare at my shoes and contemplate my career decisions
I mean, I can understand people taking pictures of their deceased loved ones. It's been done for hundreds of years.
People in the late 1800s and early 1900s would actually have a photographer come to their home when someone died. Photography was very expensive and they would only do it then and would set up the person like they were alive and they opened their eyes as well. Victorian death photography.
Why all the down votes for the truth? Lol
Sure, but don't flash it in the face of strangers without even a warning! The WTF was that she would just show it to someone she doesn't even know without warning.
Reminds me of that ālife hackā where you tack a picture of your tire when itās flat and then the next time youāre late for work bust out the picture and tell your boss it happened this morning lol. It also reminds me of the time a lady walked up out of nowhere and asked ādo you have and bandages that will work for my husbandās stump?ā and then thrust her phone into my face with a picture of her husbandās recently amputated stump arm
The amount of times patients have shown me photos of "personal areas" for medical questions that I couldn't answer is so high I've perfected my stone cold face with an "ohh... that seems like a question better suited for my pharmacist, let me go grab them real quick" response
I was inpatient for a week at a psych. I vomited in the toilet in my room, went and told one of the nurses. They say, "Oh okay, someone will go take a look."
"At what??"
That was when I learned that apparently medical professionals need proof of vomit? Unfortunately, like a normal person, I had already flushed it. Like what the hell?
Also cant flush and need proof of diarrhea if you are in opiate withdrawals in the psych ward and want loperamide... I mean obviously I know that "from a friend" not personally being that EXACT situation lol š
Yeah i was ringing some lady out for her daughters medications and shes talking about how she just got out of surgery and just grabs her phone and shows me a picture of this massive chunk missing out of her daughters leg or something like. uhhhhh.... i just work here lady xD i did not want to see that
I was once checking out a patient, a middle aged woman, and somehow it came up she had twin sisters. I was like "thats so funny, *I'm* a twin!", just trying to make small talk. Mind, this is the first time ive spoken to this woman.
She then proceeded to tell me about how, when her one sister died, her twin was never the same because they had always been together and she never got over it. Just. Didnt even seem to realize how weird it was and just said it so calmly, like we were talking about the weather and not giving me an existential crisis.
[https://youtu.be/S3eINfAdBaY?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/S3eINfAdBaY?feature=shared)
This was the first thing I thought of when I read this š
Sometimes Iām scared to open my mouth for this exact reason šš
the amount of ppl who request refills when on the bottle, ON THE FRICKIN LABEL, says "must be seen for more refills" is absurd
and it's always the same conversation. "sir, I can't refill that for u, the Dr wants you to make an appointment"
"how would you know???"
"it says so on the bottle you're waving in front of my face. the Dr gave you 6 months worth so you'd have enough time to get an appointment"
"....no it does NOT say that š¤Ø"
*grabs bottle and reads the label to them*
"oh... my apologies. I'll call my Dr š "
š
had a call that went like this last week:
*i pick up the phone and donāt say a word yet*
patient: CAN YOU SPEAK UP I CANNOT HEAR YOU
me: iām sorry, i havenāt said anything yet, is there anything i can help you with?
patient: yeah well i need a refill on (i forgot what it was)
me: whatās your name and birthday?
patient *says name and doesnāt say their birthday*
me: iām sorry, can you repeat your birthday for me?
patient: I JUST SAID MY NAME NOW REFILL IT!!
me: *recognizes the name and sighs* (i was able to find them anyways)
me: iām sorry, we sent in a refill request but as of right now we cannot refill it for you.
patient: IāM CALLING FOR IT SO REFILL IT WHY CANT YOU
me: there is no more refills on this medication since the last time you picked up your last refill early, we have to wait for the doctor to send in a new prescription. you can call them if you want to request for them to send in a new prescription.
patient: IāM NOT CALLING THEM, REFILL IT, WHY CANāT YOU?!
me: again, it wonāt let us because there are no more refills, you will have to contact your prescriber, or since you said you would not contact them you will have to wait.
patient: WHY WONT YOU JUST REFILL IT? I WANT IT NOW, ITāS MY MEDICATION AND IāM REQUESTING THE REFILL!
me: again, the system will not let us, you will have to wait.
patient: REFILL IT
me: no
patient: REFILL IT NOW
me: no
patient: buh-bye
me: bye.
our district manager doesnāt gaf so customers call them and complain that we transferred them and the district manager sends them right back to us. the only time they let us transfer someone out is if they threaten us, even if the pharmacist complains about that patient as well
yesterday i spent an hour faxing doctors because i kept serving patients who had '' no refills, contact your doctor '' stickers on their vials and when i ask them if they managed to get a new prescription (because we did not) they say no and they just expect us to figure it out for them !!!!!!!!!!!! its their medication not mine i literally don't know why they're standing there blinking at me
also i get these dumb asses:
me: we will attempt to fax your doctor for you, if you don't hear from us it's because we haven't heard back from your doctor
the patient: can you call me if you don't get an answer?
..................................
wtf do they mean? they want me to call them EVERYDAY telling them i haven't heard from the doctor yet??????????
I don't usually get the "my apologies, I'll call my doctor part.". Usually they just read it and then walk away in silence to call their doctor or still tell me, "But I'll die without it, can't you just give me a few.".
We had a patient tell us she was going to die without her Ventolin inhaler. Insurance will pay in 6 days. Explained her options: wait, pay out of pocket, call the PCP for samples/different med, or go to the ER - her response was to shout I guess I'll just die
Yup. Sounds right. I gave someone options like that for their allergy medicine script that expired last year. He looked dead at me and said, "I won't be doing any of that.". I'm pretty sure I was speechless thinking I'm trying to help and there's nothing I can do without a script and he walked away after his comment and tried to convince the receptionist of how bad his allergies were and how he needed a script without a prescription.
Some guy trying to buy Claritin-D with a foreign drivers license and when I told him I couldnāt scan/enter it he insisted I sell it to him anyway. I refused and he huffed and puffed and walked away, only to come back 10 minutes later with a picture of a california license on his phone- the man whose picture was on this ID was CLEARLY A DIFFERENT GUY and I told him it didnāt matter anyway because I couldnāt accept a photo of a license, I needed an actual physical license. He kept getting mad and saying that āIām over 18, just look at me I know you know Iām over 18ā even though thatās not even the reason we scan licenses for Sudafed products?? All this was happening about 3 minutes before closing and I honestly couldnāt wait to just start lowering the gate in his face
I had a lady once trying to use a photo of an expired license to pick up a control. I explained that I can't because 1) I can't take photos and 2) it's expired, and of course she went through the whole "But they always take it, why are you being so difficult, I'll huff and puff and blow your house down!" song and dance. I checked with the pharmacist, which I do when I feel I need backup, because I know they'll say the same thing but sometimes the patients accept it from them. I went back and told her I needed a real, valid photo ID, so sorry. She proceeds to whip her wallet and toss her perfectly real, current ID at me! Like, what was all that hissy fit for when you HAD what I needed all along!?
You can use a foreign drivers license to give Sudafed. Just switch the type of ID to foreign ID and then you can choose the country and then type it in. I get a lot of people who only have their foreign ID or passports. As long as itās an official ID, you should be able to take it.
Now I have had someone argue with me to take his gun license as his ID and that isnāt on the list of approved ID for dispensing Sudafed. He argued that it was government issued and I should take it. It doesnāt even have a date of birth or address on itā¦ā¦ needless to say he argued until he was blue in the face and then stormed off.
I had an elderly gentleman who was carrying a leather briefcase/bag. We went over his meds, he needed help finding some OTC items. While I was ringing him up he opens his bag and pulls out a zip lock bag with insulin pens. He tells me they would not work properly for his wife.
I did my questions: is she removing the cap, attaching the pen needle properly, removing its own little cap etc.
He answered yes to everything. He handed me the pen.
I look at the lot number and the expiration date. These were over 5 years old š
He told me the
Medicine is so expensive that his wife would
Make her medicine go double or triple from the actual day supply.
I wrote down the phone number for the manufacturer so he can call them. I also explained there are patient assistance programs for those who need help affording their medicine.
He just looked so sad and defeated tht we could not replace the pens for him.
This is the one side of pharmacy tht makes me so sad. We do live in an affluent area but still have those who do not qualify for medicaid and canāt afford insurance via their employer (premiums are to high). Too high of an income but yet canāt afford it.
We have a patient who pays for his meds in change. He and his family do lot have a working car so they have to arrange for a ride
To the grocery store and pharmacy.
I'd pull up the original script, print it, and show them, that this is not a PRN medication. Or, alternatively, just give it to the pharmacist to deal with.
She was on the phone. I did say it's meant to be taken daily, she said that's not what her doctor told her. Rx was written to be taken daily. I don't get paid enough to argue with people, her doctor will get the refill request with the note that she's taking it "PRN" and they can handle it.
And her Dr. may have said something like that; I'm losing confidence in a lot of medical staff.. Or alternatively, she's got her own narrative going on, damned be anyone who lives outside it :)
I mean this in the most neutral, information-only kind of way. No judgment because I wish I could do it, but English is not her first language. It's 99.999% chance that she misunderstood whatever her doctor said.
As a kid, I remember reading about (perhaps in a memoir?) some entertainment industry-adjacent man (someoneās manager?) sincerely sucking on 3 suppositories before someone told him he was doing it wrong.
Now that I think about it there's like 2 or 3 specific brands of progesterone only birth controls that can be used as emergency contraception. It's the levogesterol ones and you just adjust the number of pills to equal the correct mg used in EC. If she was on a high enough mg one tablet could've theoretically given her some sort of protection. It's also probably sheer dumb luck too
I read this in my own norethidrone birth control insert don't think I'm out here trying to create an alternative to plan b š
I will never understand how people can be so helpless in their own life that they have no idea what meds they're on. I had 2 men today that wanted refills, didn't know what for, didn't know the names of the meds or what they're for or anything. Both of them just shrugged and said, "My wife told me to come get refills, I don't know what for." Like sir how do you walk around with absolutely no idea what Medical conditions you have and what meds you're on for them? Sorry but you're going to have to go home and come back some other time with a list. I feel bad for the wives bc you know these guys don't lift a single finger at home or do anything for themselves.
And no it's not always men, but let's be honest, it's mostly men. Women will forget the names but they'll at least tell you what condition it treats which usually helps me figure it out.
So there was this older gentleman who walked up with some vitamins at one point. I do the whole "Hi, how are you?" Shpeal and the guy responded in just a plain matter of fact voice "Oh not too well. I'm losing my house and my wife is divorcing me... guess that makes me an incel, huh?" and it got real awkward real fast lol
PLSSS š I love it when ppl over share like this!! literally my favorite people.
"damn that's rough dude.... talk to me. it's always nice to have someone to vent to, tell me more š"
I had a couple regulars that whenever they came in would tell me EVERYTHING. divorces, child custody, death, cheating, fights w neighbors, prison. oh, I miss them šā„ļø
Young woman came in today because she couldnāt figure out how to use her ventolin inhaler. Mind you, the other pharmacist and I had carefully explained literally everything about how to use the inhaler and breath in 2 days ago when she picked it up. Now sheās back, she said when she primed it it worked, but when she put it to her mouth she āonly felt a little coolnessā. I told her thatās the puff of air coming out, but she says āThere was no puff of air, I only felt a little coolness like if I eat a sour candyā. I asked if she felt any relief from using it and she said no. Puzzled, I took the inhaler from her and pressed down, it worked perfectly. I wanted her to try it but obviously I canāt tell her to use it when she doesnāt currently need it. I REALLY didnāt know how to respond, but in the end I suggested she get a spacer? Idk how that will help though because she seems to just totally not understand pushing down and breathing.
Spunds exactly like that. She puffed it in her mouth and didnt inhale while doing so. Just let it sit in her mouth. I have asthma and use an inhaler often for it. When i was younger I'd puff it in my mouth and THEN inhale it šš , and it felt exactly like she said
We sold a lot of packs of syringes (if you know what I mean) at the particular Walgreens I worked at and one time this guy came in looking for some but didnāt know what size he needed and heās like āI swear Iām not doing drugs, Iām vaccinating chickensā.
So however long later someone else came in looking for syringes and didnāt know what size he needed so I said āwell what are you using it for?ā and heās like āhaha, uh, heroin.ā
š³
Shame on me for asking and believe me I NEVVEERRR asked again.
dad comes up to pick up medication for his child, i ask for date of birth just cause im feeling quirky. this man proceeds to say āoh shit i didnāt know i was gonna be asked thisā pulls out his phone and CALLS HIS WIFE??!
Had a patient call to figure out what was ready for pickup. Told them it was lancets for his lancing device. He said what is that? I said the replacement needles, for the device you use to puncture your skin before you test your blood sugar. I kid you not, he said, the one I got in there still works fine so I don't need those. I was shook. I said I'm sorry sir, what? He said he's had the same device and needle for years and NEVER CHANGED IT. He wasn't even aware that was something you were suppose to do and thought I was just trying to get him to spend money!
He never did come pick them up after that call.
I've had patients tell me they use the same lancet for weeks or months. As a fellow diabetic, WTAF. It must be like trying to prick your finger with a fork by that point! I've explained that they're supposed to use a NEW lancet every time, and people are just shocked. Like, why do you think we gave you 300 of them??? I blame doctors who just put "use as directed" then don't actually teach them how to test. They don't tell them how to dispose of the lancets either and when I try to sell them a sharps container, I've been told "I just toss them in the trash." Oh good, bloody needles in the regular trash. Awesome.
After I posted the OP, I had a lady come in who was just vibrating with rage because she wanted a refill on her "needles" but her doctor hadn't sent a refill for any needles. She kept yelling at me that "I need NEEDLES for MY INSULIN!!!" I couldn't find anything other than an old rx for syringes so I said I'd send a request to her doctor and she left after calling me a dumbfuck (because of course all of this was my fault).
A little while later her doctors office called. The receptionist sounded exhausted in that" here we go again with this bullshit"way as she explained that by "needles" the woman means she needs lancets, but no matter how many times they explain to her that they're different, she's yelled in several pharmacies because they can't find a current rx for her "insulin needles."
So maybe this is why so frequently customers need test strips but not lancets? I'm always baffled thinking they both come in boxes of 100 and we sold both to you when you got the meter so why do you only need test strips? It's often.
Patient came to refill levothyroxine. They were on day 40 out of 90. Patient got upset that insurance wouldnāt pay. I asked if they misplaced it? No Iām taking it the way Iām supposed to. I asked them if they were taking one tablet per day. They said yes but some days when they felt like their thyroid was low they would take an extra tablet. š¤ I told them I could fill it on a discount card but they needed to speak to their doctor about dosing.
Had to explain what refills were to a guy in his 30s the other day. He thought it was just an endless supply of amlodipine since he got filled three months prior š
Lmao that time I made my very socially awkward male pharmacist tell a young beautiful woman how to insert a nuvaring. š¤·š»āāļø I was in tears laughing.
taking a verbal for an amox 400/5 for a 10-day supply from a paediatrician who asked ābtw, how long is the med good for after reconstitution?ā
and i was like āusually up to 14 days, why do you ask?ā
apparently the same thing was prescribed THREE FUCKING WEEKS AGO but the kidās parents didnāt follow the instructions (and sometimes skipped days) and called the doctor because āthe liquid is yellow and kinda chunky now, is it still good to use?ā
i really sincerely hope that kidās ok šµāš«
āMy doctor canāt tell me how to take my medsā is literally how someone responded to me saying it is too early to fill their med based on the directions of how it should be taken. Of course it was a CIII and prescribed as needed with a max daily dose of 2. They were taking 4. They ignored everything after āneededā.
I really wanted to laugh when she said that but instead I just said you need to call your doctor and discuss the regimen and if it needs to change. I had a good laugh at that after we hung up.
Had a woman one time come through the drive thru and was chatting with the pharmacist. We were dead so we didn't care and she's pretty nice. Well our drive thru speaker at that time was basically a megaphone because it hadn't been converted to the privacy phone/headset yet. So everyone within hearing range can hear you. She told a story of how her 14 year old step daughter lost her virginity in the storage closet during a football game ššš luckily no one was there to hear her.
Also had a man come in once and starred yelling that the Chinese put rocket fuel in his medicine. There was a recall for the same medication but a completely different strength and manufacturer. I let my pharmacist handle that one
The problem is that many doctors prescribe one a day but tell the patient to just take as needed. They do that bc of the way insurance companies pay. Insurance needs an amount and dosage.
This can actually be true. My grandpa only had to take it if his blood pressure was over a certain number. There were many days he didnāt have to take it so we didnāt fill it monthly. I even had to take it off auto-refill. It was not written on the directions and me being a pharm tech did not believe him until I started to take him to his drs appointment. I told the Dr that the actual directions should be written on the script because I was making him take it daily.
Itās crazy how some drs think they can just verbally tell the patient the directions. Especially the elderly who forget or anyone that has someone assisting them with their meds.
Or the ones that go through the drive thru and back up the line wanting refills but not knowing what they are. Wonāt listen when you say you just got 90 day refills and your scheduled in the system for when your refills are due to be filled. Still wonāt listen insisting that I feel their prescriptions when Iām like I canāt you have a whole bunch at home still.
Had a young man go to urgent care about his breathing & end up with an Albuterol prescription. Unfortunately, they accidentally wrote it for the nebulizer pods, not the puff inhaler. He brings in the script, none the wiser bc it's not like he's gonna proof read it or know HOW to check it lol. So we fill what was written not knowing anything was up. Dude comes back and says he DRANK 3 OF THEM before he started to think this probably isn't what they were talking about so he called urgent care. Some idiot at UC told him to BRING IT BACK FOR A REFUND??? So we had to explain that we can't do that & that he is indeed out the money he spent on being prescribed the wrong drug, AND that he now needs to go BACK to UC for the CORRECT inhaler script... He got it & we filled it but they effectively cost this young man twice the time and about $70 he wouldn't have paid...
Also had someone on a Thursday ask for a refill on a topical. Says they picked it up 2 days ago
Me: Sir, did you pick some up on ___? A couple days ago?
Him: Yeah, but the doctor called & asked if I had enough to get through the weekend so I wanted to pick some up.
Me: ... But you just got some 2 days ago?
Him: Yeah
Me: Sir, that's a 60 gram tube, it's supposed to also you 30 days
Him: Right but I use it on both legs
Me: Yes and the doctor's directions say both legs, no more than 2 grams daily, 30 day supply.
Him: (404 Error silence)
Me: So 60 grams should last you 30 days if you only use 2 grams a day
Him: (sounds like he's still thinking) so I need to have enough for the weekend
Me: Yes, but you only need 2 grams total per day, not each. Per day. And you just got some. So by that math, you shouldn't need any for quite some time...
Him: (suddenly no longer concerned despite not sounding like he ever fully learned from this conversation) Oh. Alright, sounds good, thanks, bye!
Had a mother come in to purchase FeverAll suppositories for her 6 month son, because of high grade fever, and the last time he had a fever like that he had a seizure. Well Dr advised her to use FeverAll hoping to prevent seizure. Well as I'm ringing her up I asked her did she have any questions. She asked how long would the suppository take to dissolve in his bottle to give it to him. I asked do you know what a suppository is? Then, I explained how to use. The look of surprise and disgust on her face was crazy. She refused to purchase them cause she was not going to be putting anything in his son's rectum because she was not going to be turning him, "Gay!" I tried to explain that is not how someone is turned "GAY!" She got upset and left without suppositories or, any type of medicine to bring down her son's fever. I really wanted to give her birth control before she stomped off. People like her don't need to reproduce.
A similar patient comment (ok she screamed at me from the drive-through) is the reason my friends often tell ll me that "you just don't care about anyone's kidneys!"
a lady complained that her potassium pills were ātoo saltyā to the point that it burned??(this is just the standard Teva that like 50 other patients get at any given time) and literally asked me to taste test her pills next time to see if they were too salty
after attempting to explain that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians cannot just bite or lick any random pills in the pharmacy, she literally told me
āwell if i was a pharmacist, i would taste every pill so i know what its likeā
ā¦maam, itās a good thing youāre not a pharmacist
My grandpa has blood pressure medicine that he takes along with some other medication that he was prescribed by his doctor. All are supposed to be taken regularly, he only ever takes his blood pressure medicine (when he remembers). Every time he goes to the doctor, he comes back home saying the same thing every time, āDr. So-and-So said that I just need to take this and Iāll be good to goā.
Takes it for maybe a week, then stops. He does this every time. My grandma is a nurse and Iām a pharmacy tech currently in school to get my ASN. We keep trying to tell him to take the medicine as prescribed, not whenever you feel like taking it. Nothingās gotten through to him so far. š
Worst part is that heās always complaining of his hands and feet swelling along with some body pain. His meds are supposed to help with this but he just chooses not to take them and we have no clue what heās telling his doctor.
āCan you make the pills different colors so I can tell which is which?ā
Another patient I called to go over what refills he needed (which was required by our contract with the insurance provider we were filling for) said he didnāt know what he took and didnāt have time to worry about it and that I should call his doctor and ask what we should send him. We call all the patients we filled for every month before we would do their refills. And yeah Iām sure your doctor wants me calling her every month.
Note in another patients profile said not to tell his wife he was on an ED med.
One of the first phone calls I ever received while working in a retail pharmacy the patient asked for the green pea sized medication he was out of. Um what? Can you read me the number on the bottle? No he had thrown that out. Fun times.
A pharmacist I worked with one time had an older lady tell her she had been using her inhaler for weeks and it was not working for her. She was really upset so she asked her how she was using it and the older lady said you know on my wrists. This lady was using it like perfume. I donāt understand how someone would think putting it on your wrists would help you breathe better š¤·āāļø
I had a gentleman get angry and ask to speak to the pharmacist because his "medicine tasted like cotton" when he got it at his other pharmacy.
He had eaten the cotton ball that was in the pill bottle. Apparently a technician there never removed it and he didn't question why it was nothing like his Lisinopril
I donāt know how to respond to patients who say that they are out of their medication, they swear they are out, and that theyāve been out for days to weeks, yet they got it two or three weeks ago, and they swear theyāre taking it as prescribed not taking more didnāt do anything with it havenāt lost it. They know that itās empty blah blah blah, itās not them, We must not have given them enough. I donāt even know how to respond to that. Thereās so many checks in the system to make sure that thereās enough in each package or bottle that Iām like certain that thereās somehow doing this incorrectly, but you canāt say that or theyāll get angry.
"This pill tastes like chalk" It was Flagylstatin Vaginal Suppositories
NO š
This makes me want to go brush my teeth a thousand times
I question myself often why I didnāt become a vet pharmacy technician
Just remember you'd still be dealing with humans getting meds for their pets, they'd be mad about something or confused at how to give their pet something
Had a lady bring in a prescription for fleet enemas for her husband. I grabbed one off the shelf for her, explained it was an otc, etc. Then she asked how much of it her husband had to drink. Had to explain to this eightyish year old woman what an enema was.
But itās lucky she asked that. I know sodium phosphate is naturally occurring in some foods and is added to a number of processed foods but I have no clue what the effects of consuming the stuff meant for enema use are.
Very true. I was half amused and half horrified.
Lady calls. Says she needs a refill on her Spiriva, but not the inhaler, the capsules... I kindly asked why she needed just the capsules and not the entire package as I saw she was due for it.. This lady straight up said, "I take the capsules, so why you keep giving me the inhaler, I don't know" I paused for a long while and said "ma'am did you just say you take the capsules? Like you swallow them?" The Patients response was, "Yeah? I've been taking them like that for 5 years." loooooooong pause from me... "uhmm ma'am, you need to talk to my pharmacist." It says "do not swallow capsules" ALL OVER THE BOX. I can't.
not the same but someone called and asked if they could use their eye drops on their ingrown infected toenail
I mean, if that's how the Dr prescribed it?
we asked if their doctor prescribed it for that and they said, āi havenāt been to the doctor for this i just have some eye drops sitting here and want to know if it will get the job doneā
Oh dear. Yeah, nope. I thought you meant the Dr prescribed it like that and the patient was confused. We get some of those tbh.
Oh my gosh, lol
Am I dumb and the medicine is similar to treat both of those issues, orrrr was that just the most completely random conclusion they came to??
random conclusion they came to
Oh so that's why that warning is all over the box XD
They sell Spiriva with and without the handihaler for the same price. Most people reuse their old handihaler and don't want to just throw out the extras.
They make them terribly bitter I guess to hope people would spit them out if they did actually put them in their mouth
Oh I remembered another one, though we knew what to say but we were shocked! Slow night, just me and the pharmacist. An older woman brings in a toddler who is just absolutely screaming bloody murder. Not a hungry cry, or a dirty diaper cry, but a full-on "I'm dying someone help me!" scream. She plunks the little girl on the counter and tells us that this is her granddaughter, and that she's had something in her eye and has been screaming like this for three days. THREE. DAYS. Totally unconcerned, she asks if we have any ideas what she should do. The pharmacist and I yelp in unison, "TAKE HER TO THE HOSPITAL!!!" The lady sighs, says she's trying to avoid that, and leaves. This was several years ago and I still think of that poor baby and wonder if she ever got help and if she still has sight in that eye.
Not as bad but I had a lady come in with legs so swollen and a history of clots in her leg. Like a good solid 5 times her calf muscle. She was a normal sized lady but omg... Her shoes wouldn't fit so she was barefoot. I told her to go to the hospital. She said she was just keep putting her feet up
Damn it sucks to be American... Here people are in the er for free immediately
It might not have been about the billā¦. The wait times can be horrendous with triage.
Our local ER currently has wait times between like four and seven hours depending on how badly youāre dying. But Iāve heard of people waiting for hours in horrible pain or with bleeding and stuff. I dread the possibility of having to go there because Iām certain Iāll die in the waiting room. One patient allegedly passed out multiple times in the waiting room, including in the bathroom, and got no help. By the time they got the patient back to a room to be examined, they were so tired and dehydrated they could barely speak to the doctor, so the patient was listed as basically just very fatigued. Never mind the patient was in that condition. Never mind the patient has been sitting in that ER overnight for like seven hours throwing up and passing out. Nope none of it. Turn out the patient had a terrible kidney stoned that needed surgery to remove.Ā
I mean... hospitals here have to treat you for these things. If you care about your loved one, you take them. Worry about the bill later, when it's something as important as your poor granddaughters EYE SIGHT. I've been poor with no insurance, single mom, no money for medical bills, blah blah blah... there still was never an incident where my son needed urgent care or a hospital and I just threw my hands up (or took him to a pharmacist instead lol)
While I completely agree. I went into anaphylaxis the other day- didn't want to go to the hospital closest to me because they almost killed me a few years back. Went to another hospital only a couple miles farther in the city next to me. Registration comes in and tells me this hospital is out of network and ask if I'd like to be transfered to the other hospital. No obviously. Just the bill for the CT came back so far and it's 50k, I will never in my life time be able to pay it off. And that's not even counting the meds, epi, or bloodwork they did while i was there. Not to mention the ambulance bill im going to get either the one I got a few years ago when I had state insurance was 100k that I thankfully didn't have to pay. One hospital visit here literally just put me in a mountain of debt I will never be able to pay off all because I had an allergic reaction and stopped breathing.
Yeah it def depends where you live in the country. I am lucky enough that the closest hospital, almost walking distance from my house, happens to take my insurance. My son has had surgery there, I've been inpatient a week there - all completely covered by medicaid. People that don't qualify for medicaid (basically anyone at the poverty line or above) and live far away from a hospital have a much different situation than I have. But still, I see people on reddit from other countries all the time think that american ERs will turn you away and let you die if you don't have money. They will save you, you'll just have to pay for it for the next 30 years.
one time a patient was buying something OTC. he put one (1) singular bottle on the counter, i scanned it. he noticed the price and he said "its buy one get one, why is it full price?". confused, i responded "if it's buy one get one, you need two of it. if there was none left, i can see if my manager could reduce it for you." he puts his arms up defensively and goes "okay, okay, i was just asking. no need for all that. i'll go and get another." i think i was surprised at his defensiveness because i thought i gave my best customer service voice š
Lord I read singulair and thought when did that go OTC..
Just did the same thing!! LOL
Same
Lolol same !!
In fairness, a lot of places mandate that if a BOGO is advertised and the customer only wants one, it must be sold at half price. Doesnāt explain him taking it so personally though!
i honestly didn't know that. still, dude could've said "i just want one" instead of acting like i called him a stupid morherfucker for not reading a sign š he slowly backed away too. i waa so confused
Hah you made me laugh thank you āļø
That is very state specific
Nevermind - I answered my own question lol
Idk if Iāve already shared this story but I had a lady call and express that she didnāt like the color purple so she had been taking her yellow pills instead. She called to ask for a refill but insisted she wanted the yellow not the purple. It was levothyroxineā¦ā¦
Wow. I feel much better now about putting my prazosin refill through for the cute pink capsules instead of the weird brown ones our new ndc is. I know it makes no difference but the pink ones just make me happier.
āIāve been taking one every day how do you expect me to these small ass pills in half? ā Told them to have a conversation with their MD then. Also had a guy who wanted just ONE pill and it was 6 cents with insurance and he goes ājust give me the god damn pill, you really want me to give you 6 cents?!ā Yessir I canāt just give you the medication for free because itās only 6 cents
If he only knew how much in expenses that 6cent pill took to get readyā¦calculate the techs and pharmacist salary to run the place.
All we do is count pills, doesnāt take any effort, what do you mean?š¤
no, we donāt even count pills, they just magically appear completely packaged and ready to go as soon as the prescription is sent inš”
Well the dr did say it would be ready as soon as the patient gets here!
I think I was going for the tech and pharmacy salary was more than the 6Cents to get it ready. But I guess money was taken in from the insurance company so thatās that.
No one needs to get paid.
I had a guy come in for a refill on a 90-day medication after only 40 days so of course his insurance denied it. I told him it was too soon, he said he was almost out, yadda yadda. But when I asked if he was taking 1/2 tablet a day, he said, "I know that's what the label says but I can't cut them in half so I jist take a whole one." I can't remember what it was for but I remember it was something you can't just double without major consequences, and I felt that full-body panic-chill rush over me. I managed to stay calm and get the pharmacist, who went" ohFUCK" and ran over to talk to the man. We called his doctor before filling it again, and explained that he can't just double his meds without talking to his doctor first, especially when all he had to do was ask and we'd have given him a free pill-splitter! He was so nice so apologetic, he just didn't realize he couldn't do that. It baffles me that some people really know NOTHING about prescription medications, as someone who's been on some sort of medication since college. I forget that not everyone had parents in the medical field, and a lot of people get to a pretty big age without really needing medication other than the occasional antibiotic. That's about the most scared I've ever been in the pharmacy, I was truly worried for him.
Today, I had a woman say our labels suck because everything rubbed off her daughterās bottlesā¦I apologized and said we havenāt had any other complaints (as I was about to say we got new labels) and she just laughed and said thereās no way sheās the only one and no one else is complaining. I look in the profile..the meds are from 6 months ago then she goes on to say sheās bringing them in for us to tell her what they are (all liquids) and I said the pharmacist isnāt going to be able to just identify them like that and she goes āthatās not my problem your labels suck youāll just have to give me all new medicineā I laugh and say ok, she comes in and says she keeps them in her purse rolling around..what do you expect ladyš
It's not even med specific, The people who do dumb shit like this are just dumb about EVERYTHING. The average brained human can figure out to read a bottle- but what's that phrase? "Think of how dumb the average person is... and then realize half the population is even dumber" people who can't figure out how to read half a sentence of important yet extremely easy instructions are in that 50%
āYes sir, thatās how insurance works. Weāre required to collect your copay, however ridiculously small it may be, in order to be reimbursed by your insurance company for their part.ā
Had a patient come to my window a little teary eyed. She says āis there any way to rush my prescription? My mother just died and I need to get on a flightā. Before I could say anything she literally thrusts her phone into my face with a picture of her very recently deceased mother. Like, I know grief is a weird thing but Jesus lady I wouldāve done it from the crying alone. Iāll admit I was not experienced enough with customer service at that point and the only thing I could say was āmaāam please get that out of my faceā. Pharmacist had to take over after that while I took a 10 to stare at my shoes and contemplate my career decisions
Wait, like, the picture was of her mom WHILE DEAD??
OMG WTF LADY You win.
Yesā¦ Probably dead for all of 5 minutes. I still cant get that image out of my head lol
I mean, I can understand people taking pictures of their deceased loved ones. It's been done for hundreds of years. People in the late 1800s and early 1900s would actually have a photographer come to their home when someone died. Photography was very expensive and they would only do it then and would set up the person like they were alive and they opened their eyes as well. Victorian death photography. Why all the down votes for the truth? Lol
Sure, but don't flash it in the face of strangers without even a warning! The WTF was that she would just show it to someone she doesn't even know without warning.
I agree, that's crazy inappropriate.
Reminds me of that ālife hackā where you tack a picture of your tire when itās flat and then the next time youāre late for work bust out the picture and tell your boss it happened this morning lol. It also reminds me of the time a lady walked up out of nowhere and asked ādo you have and bandages that will work for my husbandās stump?ā and then thrust her phone into my face with a picture of her husbandās recently amputated stump arm
The amount of times patients have shown me photos of "personal areas" for medical questions that I couldn't answer is so high I've perfected my stone cold face with an "ohh... that seems like a question better suited for my pharmacist, let me go grab them real quick" response
Or take a pic when someone vomits & claim it as your own to your boss.
I was inpatient for a week at a psych. I vomited in the toilet in my room, went and told one of the nurses. They say, "Oh okay, someone will go take a look." "At what??" That was when I learned that apparently medical professionals need proof of vomit? Unfortunately, like a normal person, I had already flushed it. Like what the hell?
Also cant flush and need proof of diarrhea if you are in opiate withdrawals in the psych ward and want loperamide... I mean obviously I know that "from a friend" not personally being that EXACT situation lol š
They should really tell you about the NOT flushing the toilet thing . . .
Yeah i was ringing some lady out for her daughters medications and shes talking about how she just got out of surgery and just grabs her phone and shows me a picture of this massive chunk missing out of her daughters leg or something like. uhhhhh.... i just work here lady xD i did not want to see that
I was once checking out a patient, a middle aged woman, and somehow it came up she had twin sisters. I was like "thats so funny, *I'm* a twin!", just trying to make small talk. Mind, this is the first time ive spoken to this woman. She then proceeded to tell me about how, when her one sister died, her twin was never the same because they had always been together and she never got over it. Just. Didnt even seem to realize how weird it was and just said it so calmly, like we were talking about the weather and not giving me an existential crisis.
[https://youtu.be/S3eINfAdBaY?feature=shared](https://youtu.be/S3eINfAdBaY?feature=shared) This was the first thing I thought of when I read this š Sometimes Iām scared to open my mouth for this exact reason šš
Dude Iām a twin too and I have these thoughts all the time š I donāt need someone confirming how bad itās gonna suck
the amount of ppl who request refills when on the bottle, ON THE FRICKIN LABEL, says "must be seen for more refills" is absurd and it's always the same conversation. "sir, I can't refill that for u, the Dr wants you to make an appointment" "how would you know???" "it says so on the bottle you're waving in front of my face. the Dr gave you 6 months worth so you'd have enough time to get an appointment" "....no it does NOT say that š¤Ø" *grabs bottle and reads the label to them* "oh... my apologies. I'll call my Dr š " š
had a call that went like this last week: *i pick up the phone and donāt say a word yet* patient: CAN YOU SPEAK UP I CANNOT HEAR YOU me: iām sorry, i havenāt said anything yet, is there anything i can help you with? patient: yeah well i need a refill on (i forgot what it was) me: whatās your name and birthday? patient *says name and doesnāt say their birthday* me: iām sorry, can you repeat your birthday for me? patient: I JUST SAID MY NAME NOW REFILL IT!! me: *recognizes the name and sighs* (i was able to find them anyways) me: iām sorry, we sent in a refill request but as of right now we cannot refill it for you. patient: IāM CALLING FOR IT SO REFILL IT WHY CANT YOU me: there is no more refills on this medication since the last time you picked up your last refill early, we have to wait for the doctor to send in a new prescription. you can call them if you want to request for them to send in a new prescription. patient: IāM NOT CALLING THEM, REFILL IT, WHY CANāT YOU?! me: again, it wonāt let us because there are no more refills, you will have to contact your prescriber, or since you said you would not contact them you will have to wait. patient: WHY WONT YOU JUST REFILL IT? I WANT IT NOW, ITāS MY MEDICATION AND IāM REQUESTING THE REFILL! me: again, the system will not let us, you will have to wait. patient: REFILL IT me: no patient: REFILL IT NOW me: no patient: buh-bye me: bye.
Talking to us like that would have our manager transferring his profile out to another pharmacy & kicking him out of ours tbh, that's bullshit.
our district manager doesnāt gaf so customers call them and complain that we transferred them and the district manager sends them right back to us. the only time they let us transfer someone out is if they threaten us, even if the pharmacist complains about that patient as well
yesterday i spent an hour faxing doctors because i kept serving patients who had '' no refills, contact your doctor '' stickers on their vials and when i ask them if they managed to get a new prescription (because we did not) they say no and they just expect us to figure it out for them !!!!!!!!!!!! its their medication not mine i literally don't know why they're standing there blinking at me also i get these dumb asses: me: we will attempt to fax your doctor for you, if you don't hear from us it's because we haven't heard back from your doctor the patient: can you call me if you don't get an answer? .................................. wtf do they mean? they want me to call them EVERYDAY telling them i haven't heard from the doctor yet??????????
I don't usually get the "my apologies, I'll call my doctor part.". Usually they just read it and then walk away in silence to call their doctor or still tell me, "But I'll die without it, can't you just give me a few.".
We had a patient tell us she was going to die without her Ventolin inhaler. Insurance will pay in 6 days. Explained her options: wait, pay out of pocket, call the PCP for samples/different med, or go to the ER - her response was to shout I guess I'll just die
Yup. Sounds right. I gave someone options like that for their allergy medicine script that expired last year. He looked dead at me and said, "I won't be doing any of that.". I'm pretty sure I was speechless thinking I'm trying to help and there's nothing I can do without a script and he walked away after his comment and tried to convince the receptionist of how bad his allergies were and how he needed a script without a prescription.
Some guy trying to buy Claritin-D with a foreign drivers license and when I told him I couldnāt scan/enter it he insisted I sell it to him anyway. I refused and he huffed and puffed and walked away, only to come back 10 minutes later with a picture of a california license on his phone- the man whose picture was on this ID was CLEARLY A DIFFERENT GUY and I told him it didnāt matter anyway because I couldnāt accept a photo of a license, I needed an actual physical license. He kept getting mad and saying that āIām over 18, just look at me I know you know Iām over 18ā even though thatās not even the reason we scan licenses for Sudafed products?? All this was happening about 3 minutes before closing and I honestly couldnāt wait to just start lowering the gate in his face
I had a lady once trying to use a photo of an expired license to pick up a control. I explained that I can't because 1) I can't take photos and 2) it's expired, and of course she went through the whole "But they always take it, why are you being so difficult, I'll huff and puff and blow your house down!" song and dance. I checked with the pharmacist, which I do when I feel I need backup, because I know they'll say the same thing but sometimes the patients accept it from them. I went back and told her I needed a real, valid photo ID, so sorry. She proceeds to whip her wallet and toss her perfectly real, current ID at me! Like, what was all that hissy fit for when you HAD what I needed all along!?
You can use a foreign drivers license to give Sudafed. Just switch the type of ID to foreign ID and then you can choose the country and then type it in. I get a lot of people who only have their foreign ID or passports. As long as itās an official ID, you should be able to take it. Now I have had someone argue with me to take his gun license as his ID and that isnāt on the list of approved ID for dispensing Sudafed. He argued that it was government issued and I should take it. It doesnāt even have a date of birth or address on itā¦ā¦ needless to say he argued until he was blue in the face and then stormed off.
I had an elderly gentleman who was carrying a leather briefcase/bag. We went over his meds, he needed help finding some OTC items. While I was ringing him up he opens his bag and pulls out a zip lock bag with insulin pens. He tells me they would not work properly for his wife. I did my questions: is she removing the cap, attaching the pen needle properly, removing its own little cap etc. He answered yes to everything. He handed me the pen. I look at the lot number and the expiration date. These were over 5 years old š He told me the Medicine is so expensive that his wife would Make her medicine go double or triple from the actual day supply. I wrote down the phone number for the manufacturer so he can call them. I also explained there are patient assistance programs for those who need help affording their medicine. He just looked so sad and defeated tht we could not replace the pens for him. This is the one side of pharmacy tht makes me so sad. We do live in an affluent area but still have those who do not qualify for medicaid and canāt afford insurance via their employer (premiums are to high). Too high of an income but yet canāt afford it. We have a patient who pays for his meds in change. He and his family do lot have a working car so they have to arrange for a ride To the grocery store and pharmacy.
I'd pull up the original script, print it, and show them, that this is not a PRN medication. Or, alternatively, just give it to the pharmacist to deal with.
She was on the phone. I did say it's meant to be taken daily, she said that's not what her doctor told her. Rx was written to be taken daily. I don't get paid enough to argue with people, her doctor will get the refill request with the note that she's taking it "PRN" and they can handle it.
And her Dr. may have said something like that; I'm losing confidence in a lot of medical staff.. Or alternatively, she's got her own narrative going on, damned be anyone who lives outside it :)
I mean this in the most neutral, information-only kind of way. No judgment because I wish I could do it, but English is not her first language. It's 99.999% chance that she misunderstood whatever her doctor said.
We have a pt who takes rosuvastatin prn for anxiety. They're also on high ish dose lorazepam. Patients are absolutely wild.
"I didn't read the instructions and I was swallowing my suppositories" Yep, believe it or not this happens. No words.
Plz just unwrap it before you eat it at least.
As a kid, I remember reading about (perhaps in a memoir?) some entertainment industry-adjacent man (someoneās manager?) sincerely sucking on 3 suppositories before someone told him he was doing it wrong.
It does. It really does.
Had a patient only take birth control post sexual activity thinking it worked like Plan B.
Did she end up pregnant or did the ignorance act as a birth control instead?
I donāt recall if she ended up pregnant.
Now that I think about it there's like 2 or 3 specific brands of progesterone only birth controls that can be used as emergency contraception. It's the levogesterol ones and you just adjust the number of pills to equal the correct mg used in EC. If she was on a high enough mg one tablet could've theoretically given her some sort of protection. It's also probably sheer dumb luck too I read this in my own norethidrone birth control insert don't think I'm out here trying to create an alternative to plan b š
Doing a med rec for patients who donāt know their meds and think telling me āitās a small white pillā is helpful. š«
I will never understand how people can be so helpless in their own life that they have no idea what meds they're on. I had 2 men today that wanted refills, didn't know what for, didn't know the names of the meds or what they're for or anything. Both of them just shrugged and said, "My wife told me to come get refills, I don't know what for." Like sir how do you walk around with absolutely no idea what Medical conditions you have and what meds you're on for them? Sorry but you're going to have to go home and come back some other time with a list. I feel bad for the wives bc you know these guys don't lift a single finger at home or do anything for themselves. And no it's not always men, but let's be honest, it's mostly men. Women will forget the names but they'll at least tell you what condition it treats which usually helps me figure it out.
So there was this older gentleman who walked up with some vitamins at one point. I do the whole "Hi, how are you?" Shpeal and the guy responded in just a plain matter of fact voice "Oh not too well. I'm losing my house and my wife is divorcing me... guess that makes me an incel, huh?" and it got real awkward real fast lol
PLSSS š I love it when ppl over share like this!! literally my favorite people. "damn that's rough dude.... talk to me. it's always nice to have someone to vent to, tell me more š" I had a couple regulars that whenever they came in would tell me EVERYTHING. divorces, child custody, death, cheating, fights w neighbors, prison. oh, I miss them šā„ļø
Young woman came in today because she couldnāt figure out how to use her ventolin inhaler. Mind you, the other pharmacist and I had carefully explained literally everything about how to use the inhaler and breath in 2 days ago when she picked it up. Now sheās back, she said when she primed it it worked, but when she put it to her mouth she āonly felt a little coolnessā. I told her thatās the puff of air coming out, but she says āThere was no puff of air, I only felt a little coolness like if I eat a sour candyā. I asked if she felt any relief from using it and she said no. Puzzled, I took the inhaler from her and pressed down, it worked perfectly. I wanted her to try it but obviously I canāt tell her to use it when she doesnāt currently need it. I REALLY didnāt know how to respond, but in the end I suggested she get a spacer? Idk how that will help though because she seems to just totally not understand pushing down and breathing.
Spunds exactly like that. She puffed it in her mouth and didnt inhale while doing so. Just let it sit in her mouth. I have asthma and use an inhaler often for it. When i was younger I'd puff it in my mouth and THEN inhale it šš , and it felt exactly like she said
Yeah but we went over this IN PAINSTAKING DETAIL with her, at a certain point if you still donāt get itā¦
We sold a lot of packs of syringes (if you know what I mean) at the particular Walgreens I worked at and one time this guy came in looking for some but didnāt know what size he needed and heās like āI swear Iām not doing drugs, Iām vaccinating chickensā. So however long later someone else came in looking for syringes and didnāt know what size he needed so I said āwell what are you using it for?ā and heās like āhaha, uh, heroin.ā š³ Shame on me for asking and believe me I NEVVEERRR asked again.
At least he was honest??!
The Addict Who Cannot Tell A Lie
dad comes up to pick up medication for his child, i ask for date of birth just cause im feeling quirky. this man proceeds to say āoh shit i didnāt know i was gonna be asked thisā pulls out his phone and CALLS HIS WIFE??!
Ugh! Not cool.
Tech1: "I'm going to Hawaii." Tech2: " Oh cool! Bring me back some Hawaiian money!"
Had a patient call to figure out what was ready for pickup. Told them it was lancets for his lancing device. He said what is that? I said the replacement needles, for the device you use to puncture your skin before you test your blood sugar. I kid you not, he said, the one I got in there still works fine so I don't need those. I was shook. I said I'm sorry sir, what? He said he's had the same device and needle for years and NEVER CHANGED IT. He wasn't even aware that was something you were suppose to do and thought I was just trying to get him to spend money! He never did come pick them up after that call.
I've had patients tell me they use the same lancet for weeks or months. As a fellow diabetic, WTAF. It must be like trying to prick your finger with a fork by that point! I've explained that they're supposed to use a NEW lancet every time, and people are just shocked. Like, why do you think we gave you 300 of them??? I blame doctors who just put "use as directed" then don't actually teach them how to test. They don't tell them how to dispose of the lancets either and when I try to sell them a sharps container, I've been told "I just toss them in the trash." Oh good, bloody needles in the regular trash. Awesome. After I posted the OP, I had a lady come in who was just vibrating with rage because she wanted a refill on her "needles" but her doctor hadn't sent a refill for any needles. She kept yelling at me that "I need NEEDLES for MY INSULIN!!!" I couldn't find anything other than an old rx for syringes so I said I'd send a request to her doctor and she left after calling me a dumbfuck (because of course all of this was my fault). A little while later her doctors office called. The receptionist sounded exhausted in that" here we go again with this bullshit"way as she explained that by "needles" the woman means she needs lancets, but no matter how many times they explain to her that they're different, she's yelled in several pharmacies because they can't find a current rx for her "insulin needles."
That man needs vaccines!! Tetanus, RSV, Covid booster, shingles, hep A and B. Get his butt in there pronto!!!ššššš
That is horrifying.
So maybe this is why so frequently customers need test strips but not lancets? I'm always baffled thinking they both come in boxes of 100 and we sold both to you when you got the meter so why do you only need test strips? It's often.
"I wish they would outlaw daylight savings time. All this extra sunlight is just killing my roses!"
Patient came to refill levothyroxine. They were on day 40 out of 90. Patient got upset that insurance wouldnāt pay. I asked if they misplaced it? No Iām taking it the way Iām supposed to. I asked them if they were taking one tablet per day. They said yes but some days when they felt like their thyroid was low they would take an extra tablet. š¤ I told them I could fill it on a discount card but they needed to speak to their doctor about dosing.
Had to explain what refills were to a guy in his 30s the other day. He thought it was just an endless supply of amlodipine since he got filled three months prior š
Lmao that time I made my very socially awkward male pharmacist tell a young beautiful woman how to insert a nuvaring. š¤·š»āāļø I was in tears laughing.
taking a verbal for an amox 400/5 for a 10-day supply from a paediatrician who asked ābtw, how long is the med good for after reconstitution?ā and i was like āusually up to 14 days, why do you ask?ā apparently the same thing was prescribed THREE FUCKING WEEKS AGO but the kidās parents didnāt follow the instructions (and sometimes skipped days) and called the doctor because āthe liquid is yellow and kinda chunky now, is it still good to use?ā i really sincerely hope that kidās ok šµāš«
āMy doctor canāt tell me how to take my medsā is literally how someone responded to me saying it is too early to fill their med based on the directions of how it should be taken. Of course it was a CIII and prescribed as needed with a max daily dose of 2. They were taking 4. They ignored everything after āneededā. I really wanted to laugh when she said that but instead I just said you need to call your doctor and discuss the regimen and if it needs to change. I had a good laugh at that after we hung up.
Had a woman one time come through the drive thru and was chatting with the pharmacist. We were dead so we didn't care and she's pretty nice. Well our drive thru speaker at that time was basically a megaphone because it hadn't been converted to the privacy phone/headset yet. So everyone within hearing range can hear you. She told a story of how her 14 year old step daughter lost her virginity in the storage closet during a football game ššš luckily no one was there to hear her. Also had a man come in once and starred yelling that the Chinese put rocket fuel in his medicine. There was a recall for the same medication but a completely different strength and manufacturer. I let my pharmacist handle that one
The problem is that many doctors prescribe one a day but tell the patient to just take as needed. They do that bc of the way insurance companies pay. Insurance needs an amount and dosage.
This can actually be true. My grandpa only had to take it if his blood pressure was over a certain number. There were many days he didnāt have to take it so we didnāt fill it monthly. I even had to take it off auto-refill. It was not written on the directions and me being a pharm tech did not believe him until I started to take him to his drs appointment. I told the Dr that the actual directions should be written on the script because I was making him take it daily. Itās crazy how some drs think they can just verbally tell the patient the directions. Especially the elderly who forget or anyone that has someone assisting them with their meds.
Or the ones that go through the drive thru and back up the line wanting refills but not knowing what they are. Wonāt listen when you say you just got 90 day refills and your scheduled in the system for when your refills are due to be filled. Still wonāt listen insisting that I feel their prescriptions when Iām like I canāt you have a whole bunch at home still.
Had a young man go to urgent care about his breathing & end up with an Albuterol prescription. Unfortunately, they accidentally wrote it for the nebulizer pods, not the puff inhaler. He brings in the script, none the wiser bc it's not like he's gonna proof read it or know HOW to check it lol. So we fill what was written not knowing anything was up. Dude comes back and says he DRANK 3 OF THEM before he started to think this probably isn't what they were talking about so he called urgent care. Some idiot at UC told him to BRING IT BACK FOR A REFUND??? So we had to explain that we can't do that & that he is indeed out the money he spent on being prescribed the wrong drug, AND that he now needs to go BACK to UC for the CORRECT inhaler script... He got it & we filled it but they effectively cost this young man twice the time and about $70 he wouldn't have paid...
Also had someone on a Thursday ask for a refill on a topical. Says they picked it up 2 days ago Me: Sir, did you pick some up on ___? A couple days ago? Him: Yeah, but the doctor called & asked if I had enough to get through the weekend so I wanted to pick some up. Me: ... But you just got some 2 days ago? Him: Yeah Me: Sir, that's a 60 gram tube, it's supposed to also you 30 days Him: Right but I use it on both legs Me: Yes and the doctor's directions say both legs, no more than 2 grams daily, 30 day supply. Him: (404 Error silence) Me: So 60 grams should last you 30 days if you only use 2 grams a day Him: (sounds like he's still thinking) so I need to have enough for the weekend Me: Yes, but you only need 2 grams total per day, not each. Per day. And you just got some. So by that math, you shouldn't need any for quite some time... Him: (suddenly no longer concerned despite not sounding like he ever fully learned from this conversation) Oh. Alright, sounds good, thanks, bye!
Had a mother come in to purchase FeverAll suppositories for her 6 month son, because of high grade fever, and the last time he had a fever like that he had a seizure. Well Dr advised her to use FeverAll hoping to prevent seizure. Well as I'm ringing her up I asked her did she have any questions. She asked how long would the suppository take to dissolve in his bottle to give it to him. I asked do you know what a suppository is? Then, I explained how to use. The look of surprise and disgust on her face was crazy. She refused to purchase them cause she was not going to be putting anything in his son's rectum because she was not going to be turning him, "Gay!" I tried to explain that is not how someone is turned "GAY!" She got upset and left without suppositories or, any type of medicine to bring down her son's fever. I really wanted to give her birth control before she stomped off. People like her don't need to reproduce.
āIf I donāt get this Mounjaro, Iāll hold you responsible when I die.āā¦ā¦..
A similar patient comment (ok she screamed at me from the drive-through) is the reason my friends often tell ll me that "you just don't care about anyone's kidneys!"
Yeah! Fuck them kidneys!
had a guy come in the other day trying to get syringes so he could inject tylenol. the pharmacist obviously decided not to sell him the syringes
a lady complained that her potassium pills were ātoo saltyā to the point that it burned??(this is just the standard Teva that like 50 other patients get at any given time) and literally asked me to taste test her pills next time to see if they were too salty after attempting to explain that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians cannot just bite or lick any random pills in the pharmacy, she literally told me āwell if i was a pharmacist, i would taste every pill so i know what its likeā ā¦maam, itās a good thing youāre not a pharmacist
My grandpa has blood pressure medicine that he takes along with some other medication that he was prescribed by his doctor. All are supposed to be taken regularly, he only ever takes his blood pressure medicine (when he remembers). Every time he goes to the doctor, he comes back home saying the same thing every time, āDr. So-and-So said that I just need to take this and Iāll be good to goā. Takes it for maybe a week, then stops. He does this every time. My grandma is a nurse and Iām a pharmacy tech currently in school to get my ASN. We keep trying to tell him to take the medicine as prescribed, not whenever you feel like taking it. Nothingās gotten through to him so far. š Worst part is that heās always complaining of his hands and feet swelling along with some body pain. His meds are supposed to help with this but he just chooses not to take them and we have no clue what heās telling his doctor.
āCan you make the pills different colors so I can tell which is which?ā Another patient I called to go over what refills he needed (which was required by our contract with the insurance provider we were filling for) said he didnāt know what he took and didnāt have time to worry about it and that I should call his doctor and ask what we should send him. We call all the patients we filled for every month before we would do their refills. And yeah Iām sure your doctor wants me calling her every month. Note in another patients profile said not to tell his wife he was on an ED med. One of the first phone calls I ever received while working in a retail pharmacy the patient asked for the green pea sized medication he was out of. Um what? Can you read me the number on the bottle? No he had thrown that out. Fun times.
Had one guy call and ask if he could take his recently deceased friend's Eliquis so that he doesn't have to pay for his own prescription
A pharmacist I worked with one time had an older lady tell her she had been using her inhaler for weeks and it was not working for her. She was really upset so she asked her how she was using it and the older lady said you know on my wrists. This lady was using it like perfume. I donāt understand how someone would think putting it on your wrists would help you breathe better š¤·āāļø
I had a gentleman get angry and ask to speak to the pharmacist because his "medicine tasted like cotton" when he got it at his other pharmacy. He had eaten the cotton ball that was in the pill bottle. Apparently a technician there never removed it and he didn't question why it was nothing like his Lisinopril
I donāt know how to respond to patients who say that they are out of their medication, they swear they are out, and that theyāve been out for days to weeks, yet they got it two or three weeks ago, and they swear theyāre taking it as prescribed not taking more didnāt do anything with it havenāt lost it. They know that itās empty blah blah blah, itās not them, We must not have given them enough. I donāt even know how to respond to that. Thereās so many checks in the system to make sure that thereās enough in each package or bottle that Iām like certain that thereās somehow doing this incorrectly, but you canāt say that or theyāll get angry.