primitive runs out of pills

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022521386

Oh my.

Gravitycollapse (249 posts)    Sun Mar 17, 2013, 04:28 AM

Can anyone tell me the cost to visit an urgent care for a medication refill?

I somehow managed to forget to get a prescription from my doctor my last visit and now I am out of Ativan. Because it is an anti-convultant, total withdrawal can cause you to have seizures.
 
I figure I'll be fine until the morning. But I'll have to visit urgent care at some point. And I have no insurance, ironically (is that irony actually?), because of a preexisting condition for which the medication I'm out of is needed.
 
I can afford 50 or 75 dollars as a consequence of my stupidity. But if it's like hundreds of dollars I'm SOL.

liberal_at_heart (3,083 posts)    Sun Mar 17, 2013, 04:32 AM

1. my husband had this issue once

he went to the urgent care clinic. They wrote him a prescription for like two pills just to get him by until he could refill his prescription through his doctor. I don't remember how much it cost but being that it was only like two pills it really didn't cost that much.

Gravitycollapse (249 posts)    Sun Mar 17, 2013, 04:35 AM

2. I'm actually wondering about the cost of seeing the doctor.

The generic Ativan, Lorazapam, is actually very cheap relative to other pills. So I'm not worried about the pills themselves. I just don't know how much it costs to see a doctor or nurse at an urgent care without insurance.

liberal_at_heart (3,083 posts)    Sun Mar 17, 2013, 04:37 AM

5. oh, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you that.

Maybe you could give them a call before you head down there. I think urgent care clinics are less expensive than ERs. That's why they encourage people to go to them if they don't have a life threatening illness or injury.

Prism (3,379 posts)   Sun Mar 17, 2013, 04:36 AM

3. Urgent care can charge per pill

I've had this problem with a Parkinson's patient and mirapex. It shouldn't cost more than your parameters. But if you're uncertain, call ahead. They should be happy to let you know.

barbtries (14,812 posts)    Sun Mar 17, 2013, 04:36 AM

4. just go to your drugstore and tell them the situation. they might give you one or two pills to get you through. or call your dr and have him/her call it inl. make sure you have the pharmacy number when you speak to your dr.

liberal_at_heart (3,083 posts)    Sun Mar 17, 2013, 04:38 AM

6. those are both good ideas

Most pharmacies will give you one or two pills to get you through and if not most doctors offices have on call doctors that could give a prescription and an all night pharmacy could fill it.

Gravitycollapse (249 posts)    Sun Mar 17, 2013, 04:38 AM

7. The drugstore refused an emergency refill.

Because it's a controlled substance or something like that.

I am going to try and call the doctor tomorrow but I don't think I have his number for "emergencies."

graham4anything (6,226 posts)    Sun Mar 17, 2013, 08:44 AM

21. Go to a clinic or emergency room and explain if doctor can't be reached (or even go to the police).

and starting next year, preexisting conditions will NOT be allowed to be used as an excuse to deny insurance by any company, thanks to the great new health care President Obama is bringing forth. This is one of the major steps forward that no insurance company can deny anyone with preexisting condition.
 
But I never heard of a doctor not being able to be reached, or have someone who is there instead of the doctor to handle emergencies. One would think someone has to be there on the other end of the call to handle that, or the doctor could be up for some sort of legal violation should they not do that.
 
But call the police or fire department if necessary. EMS or whatever in whatever town will not wish to see someone get into a major problem.

I suppose that's ^^^ what I'd do, if I desperately needed a drug, and no chance to get to a physician; hand my problem to someone in law enforcement, who knows about these things (most cops around here are emergency medical technicians too).

But the problem here is that this is a primitive, and as we know, the primitives don't have the social and intellectual skills to deal with cops.

[Skul]

DUmmie needs to understand when the bottle labels say one a day, they mean it.

[NHSparky]

Can anyone tell me the cost to visit an urgent care for a medication refill?

Huh...and here I thought under Obubumblescare, it'd be free, or at least reduced by 3000 percent.

[vesta111]

Huh...and here I thought under Obubumblescare, it'd be free, or at least reduced by 3000 percent.

Rite Aid here will fax the Doctors Office to get a new RX, in an emergency.   All so grant you a few extra pills just in case.   

My Insurance Co. Cigna has a 3 month deal where you receive by mail a supply of medication and they call you to reorder after 2 months.   

Upside is you in an emergency bug out have what you need for a time before and after the shit hits the fan.

Down side, Often when taking OTC medication I have to call a pharmacy to insure the stuff is not contraindicated with my RX,

    I have had Rite Aid call me to tell me a new RX cannot be taken with my regular medication.   Most Doctors grab the PDR for information, on what can or cannot be prescribed for your condition.
----------Fortunately we have our pharmacists that catch the Doctors mistakes and alert us in time.

Very easy to run out of pills, one drops the bottle and it goes on the floor, someone steals them from us, the dog chews up the bottle, placed in cargo the whole suitecase comes up missing-----

Then there are Pharmacy errors, Hubby came home with a bag with one bottle of pills, he checked it out as the pills were of different size and color to what he was used to.   The label was for someone else, he did not call the owner of the medication, he like a darn fool took the medication back to the Pharmacy and exchanged it for his. I say he was a fool as he should have called the person the medication was meant for and had them check all their bottles of pills.

Like most people Hubby had no idea just how serious medication errors are.   
This could have caused big problems for him had he been 20 years older and with bad eye sight not noticed the difference.

 

 

[GOBUCKS]

Gravitycollapse (249 posts)    Sun Mar 17, 2013, 04:38 AM

7. The drugstore refused an emergency refill.

Because it's a controlled substance or something like that.

Ativan is the same type drug as Xanax and Valium.

Addictive, and among the most-abused drugs around.

This DUmp addict is the same mental giant who had the idea of limiting possession of ammunition to twenty rounds.

One can hope his withdrawal is prolonged and excruciating.

[jtyangel]

You know, my son is on a controlled substance for ADHD. IE we have to go IN TO THE OFFICE to pick up a PAPER prescription--no call ins. Because my mind is already overwhelmed with stuff to do, I put a reminder in my phone to call 30 days on the dot. And we don't have to go in every time to refill, you just have to call in for the refill and go pick it up at which point they verify your ID and you sign and date when you pick it up. They keep track of how many times they have written the prescription by doing it this way. I wonder if he indeed has over indulged and didn't ask at his visit because he knew it wasn't time yet for another refill. Anyway, no wonder they want freebie healthcare when they abuse the system to the point they 'forget' to get their prescription refills and want free trips to the ER, Urgent care, or the EMT train to get a simple refill they could have taken care of in their doctor's office. Oh and dummie, it's going to be pricey. I think ours are 75 buck COPAY with insurance. Might be a 200 or 300 dollar mistake and one they likely are going to document and make you pay for considering the circumstances with a controlled med.