Getting Prescriptions Wrong

There is an interesting article online at msnbc titled "Look-alike, Sound-alike Drugs Trigger Dangers" about confusion between similar sounding drug names. To read the entire article, click here.

This is important people! Sure, we want to count on our doctors and pharmacists to get everything correct, but when it comes down to it, we, the patient, must be our own best advocates and check EVERYTHING including our prescriptions.

A couple years back, I got a handwritten prescription for pain medication from an alternate doctor at my primary care office. The pharmacist filled it. When I got home and looked at the pills I knew there had been a mistake. These pills were different than my regular prescription. I returned to the pharmacist and when I questioned him about the difference, he had every excuse in the book from a different company made the pills to the doctor made a mistake. The biggest offense I felt was that he said it wasn’t his problem and wouldn’t do anything to help. These were narcotics … opioids … serious medicine … and he wouldn’t help when I had questions.

End of story. The doctor did make a mistake with one letter on the prescription. When I called the doctor’s office, they made an immediate apology and correction.

Even though it technically wasn’t the pharmacist's fault, I immediately changed pharmacies because I want one that listens to me and wants to help.

Bottom line: Now I review with my doctor(s) every prescription so I know what it is supposed to be. I review new prescriptions with my pharmacist AND I look at every prescription, pill bottle and pill to make sure it is correct. What are you doing to make sure mistakes don’t happen to you?

Can't Customer Service and Healthcare Go Together?

I know; I’m a stickler for good customer service. Change that … great customer service. When Saturn, the car company, was well-known for being a different kind of car company, our philosophy was NOT ‘meet’ customer expectations; it was ‘exceed’ customer expectations. It was all about customer ENTHUSIASM. Maybe that was so ingrained in me that today I still expect that type of treatment. So often, my expectations are unmet.

I’ve come to expect poor treatment from companies (don’t get me started on my recent experience with Time Warner Cable where I spent almost an hour on the phone with technical support and still couldn’t get the problem resolved.)

I still do expect some kind of special care within the healthcare field. After all, don’t people who are in healthcare do it because they want to help people? Don’t they realize that most of us who are visiting doctors are doing so because we hurt or have some kind of issue? Shouldn’t empathy and customer service be part of their training? Don’t I (and the millions of others in pain) deserve to be treated with respect, consideration and good service?

In the past couple weeks, I’ve dealt with three different medical practices – a primary care office, a gynecologist and a pain clinic. I’m not talking about the doctors; I’m talking about the phone calls with front office personnel. I have changed my phone number numerous times with my doctor’s office, but it doesn’t ever get changed on ALL their records so, for instance, the referral coordinator calls an old number and I never get the message. Geez. The pain clinic says to have my primary care office send a referral and they (the pain clinic) will call me to set an appointment after they review my information. After not hearing from anyone, I call my primary care office who says they sent the referral a week ago and left a message (at my old phone number). Then I call the pain clinic who says they’ve been waiting for my call to set an appointment. What? I was waiting on them as they requested. Double geez. So, in pain, I’ll get to see the pain clinic in three weeks (the first available appointment) where I will have to pee in a cup to prove I take Rx pain medication and nothing else.

I guess I should be thrilled – only three weeks and no one yelled at me … yet. Now, that’s customer service … in today’s world. I don’t sound jaded or frustrated, do I?

Do Muscle Relaxants Affect Hot Flashes?

I have a prescription for Tizanidine (generic for Zanaflex), a muscle relaxant which I can take at bedtime if I’m dealing with spasms in my back. I used to take it fairly regularly, but now, since I have such a sedentary lifestyle, I don’t get the horrible spasms as much as I did before. Having less spasms is a good thing; being so sedentary – not so good.

Anyway, I’m also going through menopause and experiencing hot flashes. They are real! Hot flashes wake me numerous times during the night (and that’s in addition to the normal waking for a body in pain).

A couple weeks ago, after a particularly grueling day, I took my Tizanidine at bedtime. No hot flashes during the night. Related? Come on; a muscle relaxer reducing hot flashes? Again, several nights later, the same thing happened after I took the Tizanidine.

Last week, at a visit to the gynecologist, I asked – could the muscle relaxer really diminish the hot flashes? The doctor said, “Sure, why not. Lots of drugs have alternate uses.”

I do NOT plan to start taking the Tizanidine more often just to treat hot flashes, but it is an interesting thought. Anyone else have this kind of experience?

Deer in the Garden

Saturday morning I woke to find three deer eating my garden and drinking from my bird bath. I have a three foot fence to keep out rabbits, but that didn’t keep the deer from eating the tops of my sunflowers, beans, peppers and strawberries. Thank goodness the deer don’t like tomatoes, rosemary or lavender.

Any ideas on keeping deer out of gardens?

The Highlights, Lowlights and Pain of Darlington

I’m back. I’ve been handwriting my entries for the past week or so since I was out of town and computers weren’t my first priority. Now it’s time to get caught up and let you know what’s been going on.

Darlington: We survived the May 8 NASCAR race at Darlington. For the most part, we had fun. I enjoyed watching a race recap at home to see the different points of view. On TV, you only hear about the leaders and a couple other big name drivers. At the race track, the fans booed when four-time champion Jimmie Johnson was introduced. They cheered (loudly) when he wrecked. And the best part was watching Jeff Gordon pass so many people at the end of the race.

The highlights:
- Camp Darlington was close and convenient.
- Walking on pit road pre-race.
- The sounds and smalls and excitement of live NASCAR.

The lowlights:
- People who are rude and inconsiderate. I knew Camp Darlington would be noisy but I didn’t expect the drunks playing loud music would last past 4 am. Plus, people who kick, push, and exhibit other forms of obnoxiousness in a crowded stadium.
- Porta-Potties. I don’t think I need to explain that.

Pain? Yes. We stood. We walked. We carried. We camped. Even with my maximum doses of prescription pain medicines, I hurt. At home on Sunday, I rested and slept pretty much all day. Next stop … Nashville ... visiting family.

NASCAR at Darlington -- Here We Come!

Saturday morning, my husband and I are driving down to Darlington, South Carolina for the Saturday evening NASCAR race. Pay the Price … that’s my motto. I’m willing to pay the price of extra pain for a day of extra fun. I’ll recover next week.

There is part of me that is dreading the walking, standing, carrying of going to a race. But, I also know about the exhilaration and excitement, the sounds and smells and crowds of actually being at a race.

I learned last year when we went to a race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina that the big tracks are tough. The constant looking back and forth to see the entire track was extremely painful, so this year we are going to a smaller track which won’t require as much head movement.

Am I crazy? I guess so. I know I couldn’t do this regularly and I know I’ll be hurting for days, but I’m going and it’s going to be a blast.

Got the camera, binoculars, extra water, poncho … and pain medicine … packed. Here we come, Darlington – the track that is too tough to tame.

In Search of the Best Strawberry

This morning I picked strawberries at Buckwheat Farm in Apex, North Carolina. I’ve picked at other places before (and know that different years produce different crops), but this year at this farm – the best. I mean huge and plentiful. Picking strawberries scares me because I know how much it hurts – but it’s worth the price I’ll pay later today for yummy, sweet treats.

I brought only a small basket (didn’t want to over-overdo it). In less than 15 minutes, the basket was full – that’s how plentiful the plants were. I know, I could buy fresh strawberries, but there’s nothing like being out there and doing it yourself. You pick that first strawberry and pop it in your mouth … the immediate rush of flavor. You try to pop more in your basket than in your mouth (I did). You get the smell of fresh strawberries and the bright color all over your picking hand. Small pleasures and treasures.

Yum! And ouch! I can’t even think about cleaning them now. Where other people might pick more and come home and immediately clean and eat and make strawberry shortcake … it will take me several days to do that much work. For now, I’ll rest and know that although my pain affects EVERYTHING I do, it doesn’t own me and mean I can’t do some small pleasurable things sometimes.

At the strawberry farm, a daycare class of little kids was there. I bet they ate way more than they put in their baskets. How fun! Someday, no matter the pain, I hope to take my grandson strawberry pickin’. Here’s to strawberries and the joy they bring – betcha can’t eat just one!