[lil_freeze]

I posted this on another board, but hoping someone here would see it and give me an opinion...

I get 90 pain pills a month for my back after having surgery on it a year and half ago, however, recently I developed a severe infection in my gums, and now have to have surgery to have 6 of my back upper and lower teeth removed. They have to do the surgery in the hospital because of a mild heart condition I have. I told the oral surgeon I saw about the pain killers I get for my back, and he just upped my dosage from 3 a day to four to five a day, which ran me short before I can get my refill. I was seen at the local emergancy room earlier, and told the doctor there everything that had happened.

My boyfirend took the prescription that the ER doc wrote me into the pharmacy I use, and he said he thought he heard the pharmicist say something about a "red screen" coming up when they typed in the prescription and my info. However, the pharmacy did give me a partial fill, telling my boyfriend that it would be 48 to 72 hours before I could get the rest they owe me. He thinks that is what the red screen was about, but I am not so sure. Mainly because before they typed in my name and such the pharmacist had already told him they wouldn't have enough to fill it all tonight. Anyway, if I had been red flagged, they wouldn't have filled the prescription at all would they? Any info on this would be appreciated, best guesses included! Thanks

[zippysgoddess]

I have had this happen before, no you are not red flagged. What this means is that the computer flashed an alert to let the pharmacist know that you had already received this months normal allotment of those pills, so he had to do an override with the proper reason code, so you could get the additional amount you needed.

Pharmacy databases are regularly audited by the FDA and the DEA, so they have to have that information in there, to prove why you were getting those extra pills, so they don't think the pharmacy was letting someone get away with drug seeking behaviour. Basically he had to punch the stuff into the computer that your dose had been upped for awhile, so you were running out early.

If you were red flagged, they would not have let you have any pills earlier than normal, and wouldn't let you get another refill until the very day it was due, no earlier. The information would also have been reported to your local clinics and hospitals, so when you went to the emergency room that doc would have been warned as well, and would never have believed your explanation and given you any extra pills.

So you have nothing to worry about, and pharmacies do, occasionally run out of their supply of pills, and 48 to 72 hours is the normal time frame for their new shipment to come in so you can get the rest of them.

verwon@gmail.com

My information is not guaranteed correct. I do not get them right all the time, but I do enjoy the hunt~

[lil_freeze]

Thanks for the info!

I guess it worried me because I normally never get any extra meds filled for pain other than my usual 90 hydro a month. But for the past month I have had this infection that set up in the back of my upper and lower right jaw, and last night was the third script I had to get filled since I ran out of my usual. The others weren't that many though. And all from the ER, where they do know only because I told them about the 90 lortabs I get a month. So hopefully I have all my bases covered there.

The oral surgeon that is doing my surgery is making me wait until the 18th of Jan., due to having to have it in the hospital, and he only operates there once a month. Living in a small town can have it's drawbacks at times! lolBut I ran out of my normal 90 about two weeks early from going to 3 a day, to 4 to 5 a day. Anyway, thanks again!