Dilemma With 2 Narcotic Scripts From 2 Doctors (Page 9) (Top voted first)

Hi all. I have intractable pelvic RSD, peripheral neuropathy, lumbar facet spondylosis. I live in California and am about to have to change insurances at the end of this month. The new insurance has ridiculously high Rx prices. I go to a PM for all my pain meds, but my primary dr has in the past managed them for me. My question is if anyone knows if I get an Rx for the 60mg Oxycontin twice a day like usual from my PM and then my primary to write a script for 40mg 3 times a day and then I can go to 2 totally different pharmacies and fill one with my insurance and the other at another pharmacy and pay with cash, will that flag the DEA and cause my PM to get a notification of "Doctor shopping"? I am just trying to have enough meds to get me through an extra month until my husbands new job let's us get medical coverage?

I had to do this one other time a year ago when the same thing happened with me loosing my job because I could no longer work and I wasn't married yet to get my husbands insurance. The first 2 months I had no problem, but the third and LAST month I was needing to do it to get me enough meds to last me the 3 month waiting period, my husband forgot and filled both scripts under the same insurance but just at 2 different pharmacies instead of paying cash at the second one. My pain doctor found this out and thank God I was able to explain my way out of it and he didn't discharge me as a patient, but now in this situation again, I'm afraid to try it one last time til we are settled with yet another health insurance. I would really appreciate anyone's advise or experience they could share regarding my situation. I truly am not a doctor shopper, I am just afraid to run out of meds and be in massive pain and / or risk getting into trouble.

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My pharmacy charged me 3 times the amount for my prescription than the previous person. They said it was none of my business take it or do without. I take 2 pills a day for my back. One in the morning one at night. Can they do this?

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Maddy, it is possible that the price has gone up. Or that this pharmacy just charges more than the other one. When something like this happens and you can't get an intelligent answer from the pharmacy clerk, you need to talk to the pharmacist.

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Maybe I wasn't clear. I have been taking a small amount of pain medication for several years, one pill in the morning, one at night. I am doing everything I physically can, exercise, strength training, diet, and a small amount of pain medication to avoid surgery. It terrifies me. But all of a sudden I have problems filling my prescription. There was a person in front of me at the pharmacy, same drug, same amount. His was 70$ cheaper than mine. Was pretty much told "tough"! Is that legal??

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Maddy is it a chain pharmacy like Walgreens, CVS, etc... or is it an independent, like a mom and pop?

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Mom and Pop. Had to resort to that because CVS , Wal-Mart started telling me they were out. Starting in November. I can't think of anything I have done wrong.

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Maddy is it possible someone has stolen your identity and has filled prescriptions in your name?

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Can't see any reason why. Nothing would make me think so. I have been dealing with this back issue for some time and I have managed to control it just not completely healing it. I just don't want it to get any worse because I will absolutely fight tooth and nail before I have surgery. I take a small amount and small dosage. I read the quantity that other people take and I can't imagine the trouble I would have if I had to do more.

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Maddy all I can think of would be to try a different mom and pop/independent pharmacy and see what happens. Maybe using different pharmacies in a short period of time has set off some kind of flag in the state your in.
It just seems strange that all of a sudden you're having these issues especially with such a small amount being prescribed.
Maybe your doctor is flagged for over prescribing or the DEA is investigating him/her...

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Thank you for your response although I am still a little curious as to the legality of charging me $120 and the guy before me $38

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Maddy, it sounds like the person in front of you had insurance. How do you know that the person in front on you got the same medication and the same amount? It is not customary for the pharmacy clerk to call out the name of the medication, the milligram and the number of doses in the prescription. Even if the person didn't have insurance, which there was no way for you to know if they did or didn't, they could have gotten smaller milligram than you were prescribed. The only other thing that it could be is if they ran out of the cheaper generic with the last customer and had to fill yours with a more expensive one. With the exception of price changes anywhere along the line, there is no other reason that I can think of that you would have been charged that much more. If your dr was being investigated that would not have any reflection on the price you paid.

About not being able to find the med at other pharmacies, at the end of the year it is common for pharmacies to run out if some Schedule II meds. The manufacturers are only given so much active ingredient at the first of the year and by the end of the year, sometimes they have used all of it. It can take a little time for them to manufacturer and do everything that is involved with ordering and shipping to get it to the pharmacies. Before you get your next prescription filled, you may want to ask for the price of it before they fill it.

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Was just wondering about my question of the legality of what a Pharmacy can charge each individual.

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Thank you so much for replying. I know why you would wonder how I would know about the other person's situation. Simple really, just sitting and waiting together....one conversation lead to the next, so forth and so on. Your second theory sounds more plausible but if that were the case, should they have told me. The first CVS and Wal-Mart I went to said they would not check with another sister store. Not that they couldn't, they wouldn't. Very confusing. I don't like being treated like a juvenile and charged like I'm Mr Trump.

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If the reasons I stated are one of more reasons for the price change, it is legal. Pharmacies don't have any obligation to check with other pharmacies to see if they have a medication. Did you tell this person what milligram your medication was ? Frankly, it is Never a good idea to discuss your medication with strangers when you're taking an opiate or ant other drug that is often abused. In all honesty, unless you saw the person prescription and you can read prescriptions, you really have no way of knowing exactly what prescription the person got.

It is up to a pharmacy what they charge for a drug. The cost of a drug isn't something that can be changed depending on the person that gets the prescription. Remember things like insurance, milligram and manufacturer can make a huge difference in the cost that is rung up at the register. And you can't always go by what someone tells you. When you get your prescription filled, you have proof of insurance, milligram, manufacturer. If you think that you have been overcharged, you need to call or go in and ask to speak to the Pharmacy Manager and discuss it with them. It is common for the cost of meds to go up drastically overnight.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me. You were very helpful. I think a lot of people just don't want to be bothered. Of course in a perfect world I would not be taking anything. They always say, "you are not always going to be in your 20's and you might have to adjust your physical activities". I just never thought they were talking about me.

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I am weighting on my pm doc appointment mean while my pic doc wrote me narcos 60 I get 120 oxycodone can I fill the narcos while I weight for the oxycodone

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Maddy, everyone thinks that. None of us think we will ever get to a point where we can't do the things that we want to do.

Trav, pain management drs require patients to sign pain contracts now. You agree to not getting pain meds from any other dr but your pain dr. If you do, they can stop treating you with no more prescriptions. If this happens it is difficult and often impossible to find another dr that will treat your pain. Drs look you up in your state Prescription Monitoring Programs Database and see what you have gotten filed, when, the dr that wrote it, etc. All pharmacists have to turn this info in.

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I am prescribe from my PM doctor 10mg oxycodone for my knee. I need knee replacement . Anyway I was hurt at work , hurting my lower back and an orthopedic Dr prescribed me 5mg for back injury. I Pay Cash for the 10s and now comp will pay for the 5s. I'm nervous to get 5s filled . Is it legal to get filled and would I get flagged or would my PM Dr find out. I obviously would use 2 separate Pharms not afilliated with one another. Could someone please help me out. I really need both .

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Okay so the beginning of the month I went to my pharmacy to get my pain meds, they said they didn't have enough so i went to another pharmacy and filled it i also paid cash due to the fact my insurance had lasped . However now I have my insur again and Iam going out of town and have my prescription that says refill after 3/2, they lost this one and found it last week and the dr gave it to me, even though she rewrote it and this is the one i filled at the beginning of the month, so my question is can i take the prescription that says refill after 3/2 and get it filled at my original pharmacy since my insur will cover it, can i get in trouble for this.

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just Me , it doesn't matter what pharmacy you get it filled at or if you pay with cash or insurance, your dr will find out about it and all pharmacists will know what you got filled, when and probably how you paid for it. Each state has a Prescription Monitoring Program, which is a database of all Schedule II prescriptions filled in a state and usually in bording states as well. All pharmacists are required by law to turn this info in and most states have laws that require a dr to check the database before writting a pain med prescription and all pharmacisgts to check the database before filling a pain med prescription. The databse has the patients name,a ddress, the drs name, the name of the med, when it was written, when it was filled, how long it should last, etc. Some states also have how the prescription was paid for. Your dr won't trust you again if you are able to get this prescription filled. What you need to do is call your dr and tell him that you're going out of town and ask him if you can get an early refill. You should take the prescription that you found back to him and hand it to him.

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This happened to me. The drug store called both doctors and pain mgmt. They both cut me out. I'm not a addict, I'm in horrific pain with 2 knee replacements, severe neuropathy, arthritis, and I'm 60 never had a drug problem in my life. Now I'm on Suboxone for pain and looked at like I'm a junkie.

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