The Abridged Rx

[Boomslang]

Here are just a few highlights from my years as a pharm tech:

Paranoid Old Lady: "I need to pick up my meds."
Me: "Okay, what's your name."
POL: "I don't feel comfortable giving you that information."
Me: "Well how am I supposed to find your medicine, then?"
Customer in Waiting Area: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
POL: *shoves drivers license at me*

Phone Patient: "Yeah, I picked up my meds a few days ago and was wondering when I can eat?"
Me: "Sorry, what do you mean?"
PP: "Well, the thing in the bottle says DO NOT EAT, but it's been two days and I'm hungry."
(he'd accidentally gotten a desiccant in his bottle with a DO NOT EAT silica gel warning on it. Oh god...)

Overheard my Pharmacist on the Phone:
"Yes? Okay. No I'm sorry but it's 8pm and there's no one here to do deliveries. My tech doesn't have a car and I can't leave. *long pause* I'm pretty sure you're not going to die if you don't get your clonazepam tonight."

Crazy Lady in a Muumuu: "Where are the condoms?!?!?! I need them for MY DOG!!!"
(not touching that one)

On the phone:
Patient: "Yeah, I need that cream, the stuff for the yeast infection on my boobs."
Me: *dry heaving*

5 minutes after an very elderly and forgetful patient has toddled off into the sunset:
Me: "Oh god, please tell me that's a pile of mud on the floor."
(it wasn't mud)

10 minutes after selling a 10 pack of hypos to a customer:
Me: "Uh, that guy who just bought the needles is walking into the shelves."
Manager: "Oh fuck me."

1 hour after selling 8 Oxycodones to a customer who answered my salutation of "Hi." with that most clever of witticisms: "I soon will be!"
Dumb guy: "Hey, lithen, I only got...uh...(looks in bottle) 6 oxys. You guys shorted me, man."
Me: "Okay, well, I'll have to check the security footage. The pharmacist will back count the Oxys and see how many are there, since they are triple counted before being sold."
Dum guy: "Oh, uh....nebbermind." *staggers off*

Last winter:
Providence has been hit with a massive snow storm that has left us Rhodies buried beneath 22 inches of snow. No shops are open, school is closed and any non-emergency vehicle or non-health care persons caught driving WILL be arrested. Of course, we're open. The pharmacist on duty is the only employee to make it in and the place is dead. Until....
Dimwit: "Hi, can I get a flu shot?"
Rx: "Are you kidding me? You came out into a blizzard for a flu shot? NO!"

[Slave to the Phone]

Has to say that while I might smoke some of that wacky tobaccy at times, I've never understood the attraction of Oxy. I had surgery and my doctor gave me a script for 30 to get filled before my surgery. I took 2. I'd like to be able to run outside if my house was on fire and those things just zoned me so bad that I was happier feeling the pain.

The rest of them went to the "Get rid of your drugs" day that the local police do.

Do you know what happens to them? I didn't want to flush them because I didn't want to put them in the water, but would it have been just as good to toss them into a bag of used cat food and put them out in the trash so they would go to the landfill?

[Boomslang]

Do you know what happens to them? I didn't want to flush them because I didn't want to put them in the water, but would it have been just as good to toss them into a bag of used cat food and put them out in the trash so they would go to the landfill?

We bag them, label them and return them to the warehouse. I've heard they're incinerated, but I'm not 100% sure about that. And yeah, never flush them. It's bad for the fish.

I'm also not a big fan of CIIs. I had a kidney stone the size of a Buick a few years back. They gave me Oxy. The first couple of days, it was Heaven. But once the major pain went away, all I did was sleep and pop docusate so I could poop again. That stuff backs you up something fierce.

[Ironclad Alibi]

... I've never understood the attraction of Oxy.

I understand the attraction. I recently had a 15" catheter installed, and the Oxy pills made it not hurt. I have the rest set aside for future pain episodes.

The rest of them went to the "Get rid of your drugs" day that the local police do.

Do you know what happens to them? I didn't want to flush them because I didn't want to put them in the water, but would it have been just as good to toss them into a bag of used cat food and put them out in the trash so they would go to the landfill?

I take old pills and mix them with plaster in a bottle, which goes out in the trash after hardens.

[Slave to the Phone]

I understand the attraction. I recently had a 15" catheter installed, and the Oxy pills made it not hurt. I have the rest set aside for future pain episodes.

Now see...you were taking them because they stopped the pain and HOLY COW, I'm so sorry that happened to you. But taking them to get so high that you can't walk or drive? Not the same in my book.

I also understand that people who use heavy doses of pain meds just feel normal with doses that would knock a horse out. I'm certainly not judging them either.

Its the people who take heavy doses of pain meds just for fun make me all . Of course, that might because one of my sisters is a serious druggy. Like the one in the OP's story, she never gets more than 10 pills at once because the doctor knows that she will take them like the one upthread.

[notalwaysright]

Everyone made jokes when I had my wisdom teeth out and was prescribed Vicodin... I took one and hated it! I got super drowsy but was unable to fall asleep. I switched to the milder painkiller they gave me. I think it was prescription ibuprofen? Not sure, but I didn't notice side effects with it. Normally I only take acetaminophen for cramps, since that seems to work better than Midol and is much cheaper.

Is it mean that I lol'd when I read about the guy walking into the shelves?

[Seanette]

I've never noticed any enjoyable effects from Vicodin/Norco myself. Pain relief is nice, but hard stomach cramping and nausea? Not so much. I really don't see where there's anything recreational going on with those.

I'm also one of those people who overreacts to some meds, so if I *have* to take something prescription-strength (I have a history of dental problems), I start at HALF the prescribed dose, reduce as feasible, then step down to ibuprofen/naproxen ASAP.

[Racket_Man]

I'm also not a big fan of CIIs. I had a kidney stone the size of a Buick a few years back. They gave me Oxy. The first couple of days, it was Heaven. But once the major pain went away, all I did was sleep and pop docusate so I could poop again. That stuff backs you up something fierce.

Same thing happened to me back about 5 years ago. The ER Dr. gave me a script for like 15 Oxy (as they told me my stone was unpassable still there to this day) so I could have something to at least mask the pain to make it into the ER or a Dr office. I would have preferred Vicodin or Tramadol as I had those before for other things.

I had heard enough at that time about the "effects" AND the addictive nature of this particular drug that I just shredded the script when I got home.

[sstabeler]

IIRC, at least in the UK, if you have drugs that are no longer needed, you can take them back to the pharmacist. I know, because when my grandfather died, I had to take the remaining pills to the pharmacy he used when we were clearing out his house. ( I didn't ask, but I'm 99% sure the drugs are incinerated)

you're actually specifically told not to throw them out- I can't remember why.

[Catwoman2965]

The only time I ever wanted pain meds was when I had pancreatitis. First time, I think I had Demerol, second, Dilaudid, but only really needed it for the first few days. Then I was good. I got some kind of pain pill when I had a major root canal, but Advil actually worked better. Same when I sprained my ankle badly. they gave me heavy duty Ibuprofun, which I took and some kind of pain pill, which i didn't need.

[Ashaela]

I called our state DPS and their advice was to grind up the leftover pills and combine them with coffee grounds to throw away. I've had muscle relaxers prescribed a couple of times for severe back spasms, but usually only need to take them for a couple of days and then I have 2 dozen pills left to get rid of.

[mjr]

Here are just a few highlights from my years as a pharm tech:

-- SNIP --

Ponder this:

The scariest thing about all of those instances is that every one of them is likely eligible to VOTE...

[BrenDAnn]

The strongest I've had is prescription strength (500mg) naproxen. They gave me that, and flexoril, when I pinched a nerve i my neck last week. Neither touched the pain in my left arm from it. I'd be afraid to take something stronger, though!

[Ironclad Alibi]

you're actually specifically told not to throw them out- I can't remember why.

To keep the drugs out of our drinking water supple.

[WishfulSpirit]

Just an FYI on the yeast infection thing: said female probably didn't get the infection the way you're thinking. Sweat can easily get trapped under larger breasts, and the moisture combined with the natural yeast spores that exist everywhere can cause yeast infections on any skin that doesn't stay dry. Underboob included.