Prescription frustration/rant

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1

Well, today has been interesting in the negative sense. I realized Friday (after the endo's office had closed) that I needed to have more syringes (because I was down to running out tomorrow at breakfast). Bear in mind that I had an endo visit on 8 Feb, so I would think that my endo (bless her heart) would have phoned in my prescriptions (she doesn't ever give me paper copies, more's the pity) because what else is an endo good for? She looks over my numbers, sees if there's any patterns that I haven't taken care of already, and phones in prescriptions. Lo and behold, she'd called in the insulin, but no syringes, no test strips.

Now, I maintain several meters and buy walmart test strips just so that in an emergency I've built up a reasonable stash of test strips. I've set it up that the pharmacy refills everything automatically (because if I don't, they always run out of whatever I need just as I'm ready to fill it). But I haven't stockpiled the syringes. This morning I had five syringes left, four for today and one for tomorrow morning.

Which brings us to yesterday. I call the pharmacy. Because this is a new endo, they can't call her for refills on my behalf on the theory that she's never written one for me (that was my old endo, who closed his practice on the theory that he wanted more hospital hours). So I call the endo. She is out for the day, but her nurse takes a message and I tell her the details of those two prescriptions.

Today, I have class 9:40-11:05, work 1:00-4:30. Around the time I get to work, I realize the pharmacy hasn't called. I call them, but the prescriptions aren't in. So, (on the theory that I want a stash, I need a stash, if I don't have a stash, I'm going to get ulcers) I ask if I need a prescription to buy syringes.

So, this afternoon I spend $15 on 100 syringes (I usually get 120 for $10, but there's insurance for you), got home and wrote an email to my endo, begging for a prescription by before lunch tomorrow. I didn't tell her I went and bought some . . .

She writes back at 8pm and says she has phoned it in. Which is after the pharmacy closes, of course. So tomorrow, at about lunch time when I get off work (I work 8-12 tomorrow morning) I can see if she's right.

But it's such a hassle. Every time I've gone to see this woman, I talked about my test strip and syringe needs. And she nods, makes notes, and then doesn't give a prescription? That's just stupid. She even has a prescription for synthroid that we haven't filled yet because my double check TSH came back around 2.5 instead of over 5. No test strips. No syringes. I'm beginning to wonder if she's not just a tad ditzy.

I'm so tired of this. So tired in general. I think I'm going to go sleep now, and hope this looks better in the morning.

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sorry to hear your having so many problems with your new endo, do they have another one you can see? maybe you will need to inform this one that you need the written scripts before you leave.
get a new endo is hard, its like you have to train them. my first endo was great but she took a job at another location and moved and when i first started with this one its like i had to train her for how things work. assuming they know how to do their job is like wrong everytime. now i have my insulin pump and i have the problem of getting the extra's, like the emergency pen. so i have started a new system, everytime there is a new product that is what i use. when i started using a pump they always recommend the a specific one they are trained on and i get a different one. got to love my insurance for the assistance of approval and my doctor for allowing me to use all the new technology out there. as for my meter i just received a new one called telcare. after doing a bg reading i can send the results to them immediately to either their e-mail or they can go online and look to see how im doing cause im not good at logging my readings in a book. i e-mail my pump information cause i forget it on the day of my appointment usually since i dont keep everything in my purse. everything would not fit, haha my purse is too small and they dont have the correct programs to download everything in the office. two years ago i used the navigator and now i have the dexcom. im waiting for the tandem pump to come out and make my endo learn a new product...Hope things get better for you and i thought this might give you a good laugh to cheer up your day. everyone forgets at times and when we have a routine we forget that the new team members dont know us very well.
God Bless and good luck.

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Thanks. On the plus side, she wrote the script for 150 syringes, and because the pharmacy doesn't like splitting a box, they gave me 200. On the minus side, the pharmacy didn't fill it for nearly a week (although they'd probably have given me some to tide me over, but I didn't need it because I'd just bought some) because they were out. On the plus side, she was very specific, 30u syringes, 31 gauge, etc. except that means the pharmacy is going to have to special order it every time.

Ah well. And there was no problem getting my test strips. So, ultimately, I'm not doing badly.

I'm still semi upset that she hadn't written the script in the first place, but now I know to email the endo first, because she apparently doesn't look at her phone messages. So, it's been a learning experience all the way around.

Now, if only I could fix my sleeping habits.

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glad to hear things worked out and i know they always take time, for us it seems like months when it is really a day....haha. fixing sleeping habits, i know that issue all to well. i was used to being up early, 6 am getting ready for work, from that job stop at home let the dog out and off to my other job. then back home and wait up for my son, ya im a worry wart mother, he would be home anywhere from 2am to 3am then i would sleep and be up at 6am again. now i only sleep when i am overly tired. I lost my son in an auto accident and my sleeping pattern is about 2 hours and i quit one job and work very part time at the other. my focus is my diabetes other than finding out what happened to my son, he was a passenger.
Anyway im trying to be positive and move on but i seem to be stuck in a rut, time will tell.
good luck retraining your endo...lol