I'm currently at 180mg a day on baclofen and life is great. It has helped me with my drinking problem like nothing else has in the last 10 years and obtaining it has been relatively painless with the help of the wonderful Dr. L.
But I'm traveling this month and currently 12 hours away from my normal pharmacy. I ran out of my last baclofen refill so I took my pill bottle to Walgreens today to get my next refill. I assumed I was fine because I had 1 refill left and the pill bottle had the prescription number, my pharmacy's phone number, and all that jazz . Easy enough, right? They just call my normal pharmacy, transfer the prescription refill, and give me my 40 day supply, right? Nope. The Walgreens pharmacist tells me that because the bottle says, 'Take as directed' they won't refill it without specific dosage instructions. They have to talk to my Dr. So it's Saturday and I'm completely out of baclofen. I tell the pharmacist that it is dangerous to go from 180 to nothing. She says, 'yes it is'. I say, 'I'm going to have to go to the ER if we can't reach Dr. L.' She says, 'yep.' I call Dr. L at home and he's not there and I wouldn't expect him to be. I feel AWFUL that I even have to attempt to bother this man on a Saturday after all he's done. So I go to the ER, waste the ER doctor's time, have a worthless claim hit insurance, and then spend money out of my pocket. All for 5 days worth of a safe drug that I had a legitimate prescription refill for.
I just don't understand why it's so hard to obtain a drug that is not a controlled substance, is helping so many people, and has been proven to be safe well above the ridiculous 80mg FDA limits. What is it going to take? Why aren't other Drs. open to this when it'd take so little research? What am I going to do when Dr. L retires? There is a safe, dependable treatment for something that was ruining my life, but I feel like I'm a thug just trying to buy it even with a prescription.
Ok, rant done. I just wanted to get it out there, and of course 99% of this is my fault for not preparing, not refilling sooner before my supply ran out, and not doing it on a weekday so Dr. L would be available. All the same, here's hoping some day that HDB is accepted as the successful treatment it can be for so many of us.
But I'm traveling this month and currently 12 hours away from my normal pharmacy. I ran out of my last baclofen refill so I took my pill bottle to Walgreens today to get my next refill. I assumed I was fine because I had 1 refill left and the pill bottle had the prescription number, my pharmacy's phone number, and all that jazz . Easy enough, right? They just call my normal pharmacy, transfer the prescription refill, and give me my 40 day supply, right? Nope. The Walgreens pharmacist tells me that because the bottle says, 'Take as directed' they won't refill it without specific dosage instructions. They have to talk to my Dr. So it's Saturday and I'm completely out of baclofen. I tell the pharmacist that it is dangerous to go from 180 to nothing. She says, 'yes it is'. I say, 'I'm going to have to go to the ER if we can't reach Dr. L.' She says, 'yep.' I call Dr. L at home and he's not there and I wouldn't expect him to be. I feel AWFUL that I even have to attempt to bother this man on a Saturday after all he's done. So I go to the ER, waste the ER doctor's time, have a worthless claim hit insurance, and then spend money out of my pocket. All for 5 days worth of a safe drug that I had a legitimate prescription refill for.
I just don't understand why it's so hard to obtain a drug that is not a controlled substance, is helping so many people, and has been proven to be safe well above the ridiculous 80mg FDA limits. What is it going to take? Why aren't other Drs. open to this when it'd take so little research? What am I going to do when Dr. L retires? There is a safe, dependable treatment for something that was ruining my life, but I feel like I'm a thug just trying to buy it even with a prescription.
Ok, rant done. I just wanted to get it out there, and of course 99% of this is my fault for not preparing, not refilling sooner before my supply ran out, and not doing it on a weekday so Dr. L would be available. All the same, here's hoping some day that HDB is accepted as the successful treatment it can be for so many of us.
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