Pharmacy screw up?

I got my medication filled yesterday at a different pharmacy. I had my perscription moved there in the morning and someone picked them up for me. When I got them I thought they looked different then my usual type. They were bigger.Double the size. I read the label and compared the bottle with other one for about 20 minutes when I saw the dosage size of the pills were different. I am taking glyburide 2.5mg at breakfast and 2.5 at supper.My pills were 1 tablet 2.5mg that I had been taking. The Dr. wrote,’ Take 1 tablet twice daily’. I got these pills with same instructions but in 5mg / tablet.
Who would you call to fix the screw up? My pharmecist, the other pharmecist, or the Dr.? That could have been scary taking double dosage. hb

Ugh, what a pain!

I would start by calling the pharmacist and asking them to RE-check the order from the doctor. If they say that is what the doctor ordered, then I would call the doctor and ask him/her to call in a new prescription.

If you have a pill cutter, you could ask the pharmacist if it is possible to split the pill, but in this case, I would call the doctor’s office anyway just to make sure that the doctor did not change your dose.

Good luck!

agreed with Kristin

Procedure for transferring rx’s between pharmacies is somewhat…low-tech. It’s done orally, and depending where you are, and what the policy is at the pharmacy, it isn’t even a pharmacist who does the transfer. So there is ample chance for human error. It sounds like the doctor wasn’t involved, unless your script was out of refills. Likely the mix-up happened during the transfer itself, and at this point it is almost impossible to figure out who is at fault. The pharmacy where you picked up the incorrect medication will likely remedy this for you and replace it, and hopefully refund you your original copay (that’s what we do at my store). Just give them a call and let them know what is going on. Best wishes.

When something like that happened to me in Guatemala I blamed the untrained young clerk and made such a dramatic fuss about it (in Spanish) that that young girl will look more carefully at everything she does from now on. I thought it was a Third World glitch! I agree with everything said above with the exception that I think this was not a “human error no big deal”, and if this was the pharmacy I intended to use I would ask to speak to the manager and make quite a fuss. That could have been very dangerous if it wasn’t someone as conscientious who read the label!

I called both pharmacy’s. They got the perscription from Dr. saying 5mg 2x daily.So it was the Dr. The pharmacy will call the clinic and get everything straightened out. In the mean time I will take half the tablet 2x daily. The pharmacist says they could cut them for me because I can’t break them without getting even doses, but the pills will crumble over time if all broken at once. I see him again next week Friday, so I’ll see what he says. I’ve had a good day with numbers, so that could have been a little more then I could handle.Thanks guys for the advice. And Zoe I’m a MOUSE, I don’t know how to make fuss in front of people. : )

HB- so good to hear! Concerns me that the doctor changed your dosage without telling you? Maybe you can make a quiet “fuss” during your next meeting with him. It’s so important. And you’re so lucky that you’re conscientious enough to check the labels! Smart detective work on your part!

Lol. Mouse or lion, I agree with Marps that you did what you needed to do to figure out the glitch and are sticking with your old dose until you talk with your doc. I also find it strange he’d increase it without talking with you about it, so hopefully it will get straightened out when you se him.

The catch to being a lion, btw is knowing when to stop! That poor clerk looked terrified when I left; I did thrown the word death around rather a bit too much!

That’s scary and dangerous. Thank Goodness you noticed the error. It was smart of you to call the Pharmacy’s immediately to find out what’s going on and to get the mistake corrected.

I thank God for our Pharmacist. I recently had a tooth removed. The Dentist gave me a prescription for Tylenol 3’s(which I didn’t need) and an antibiotic, just in case. He knew the meds. that I was on for my other disease.

When my Hubby went to get the prescription filled the Pharmacist said, “No way for the antibiotic”. Evidently, the antibiotic would increase one of my other meds. strength by 10 times and most likely cause death. Lovely! I wasn’t doing anything else that day anyway. =) Ya, so I’m looking for a Nice gift to buy for her.

We always have to be on watch. Medical Professionals are only human and they get tired and have a lot of patient info in their heads. Take care HB.