unwarranted discrimination

[Nokiraga]

I just got back from a 24 Right aid with no medicine in my hand, it's 1:00am and I have to get up start work at 8 tomorrow, I am completely out of meds and while I'm not "scared" or "fretting" at the though of not taking my regular dose of adderall in the morning, I am furious and upset at being lied to and discriminated against the "face-ists" at the Right aide pharmacy.

I brought in my script at around 12 at night because I didn't have the time to take it in during the day, and I don't have time to take it in tomorrow morning. When I gave the pharmacist assistant the script and asked if they had generic in stock, she said let me check and came back in about 30 seconds and said they don't have it, and that "it's a rare medicine we'll have to order it"

Immediately I knew I was being lied to, because obviously adderall isn't rare at all, I've been taking it for years and millions of people have been prescribed this medicine by competent professional doctors because it works and is completely safe if used properly.

I look up at the assistant and said, "really, I've been taking this medicine for years and have had it filled here before"

Immediately the pharmacist chimed in, "our computers are down, they'll be up in the morning"

Now it was set in stone that they were lying to me, and they knew I knew they were lying now. I said " I work in the morning and am out of my meds, I'm here now, why can't I fill it."

To save face, the pharmacist said that the computers will be up in two hours. What a bunch of bull ****. They did have it, and the computers were not down. At this point I didn't want to continue this or make any a scene, it was clear I was being discriminated against because of my looks and a phony hyped media-induced perception of what amphetamine is.

[KMiller]

Humor me: what do you look like, that would cause a pharmacist to be suspicious of giving you medication?

[anonone]

I'm curious too. But more to my impression on the situation, you can't rule out the possibility that this clerk you had to deal with just likes being a ***** to people. Sometimes, employees that work customer service careers to nowhere act like dicks when ever they can and don't necessarily discriminate between who they're jerks to.

[WanderingNobody]

Guys, I really, really believe this guy.

You wanna know why? Because the same exact thing happened to me last week.

I went in to get a refill for my Adderall XR 20mg. The first Walgreens I went to had some lady who just shrieked and said, "we don't have that. Good day."

So I go to a second Walgreens, and a pharmacist (female) says, "Sorry, this is a rare medicine and I don't have that specific dose." BULL****! I've been to that same Walgreens last month and this broad was making it up to my face.

I ended up going to 3 other Rite Aids, 1 other Walgreens, and a CVS pharmacy before finding a Walgreens Pharmacy who were willing to give me my prescription.

I swear to you this is the whole truth. Nobody in my town seems to believe in this "ADHD" and most have horrifying anecdotes about their "brother's friend" who abused it as their evidence. Screw them, I'm quite tired of it.

I'm sorry OP for what you had to go through, but know that you are not alone.

[anonone]

Weird, do you live somewhere in California? I heard from someone online that there were stores there that didn't sell "speed," officially, because they "didn't think it promoted a healthy life style" or something like that.

You should exchange some emails about the stores in question and figure out what exactly is going on, and forward them to Shire (lol, or Teva now actually). If the pharmacy managers are actually implementing a completely unsanctioned boycott of ADHD medications, you should get your favorite stores to restaff the management at their pharmacy departments, which I'm sure Walgreens would be willing to do, given the financial detriment they're incurring by keeping these zealous managers employed.

At the end of the school year, after the finals week for my college, it becomes more difficult to get Adderall at my Target. (I've been denied at that time of the year 2 or 3 times in a row now). The shortage is either due to the fact that demand naturally decreases at that time and so the stock fewer units, or they do it intentionally to keep people who abuse it from getting it (although that strategy would do nothing for the rest of the 9months of the year they sell it). I don't really care, I try to go to another pharmacy now whenever I can. I would be ****ed if everystore in town denied sale though.

[December15]

I don't have a problem so much with Walgreen's as I do with my insurance company. They already refuse to reimburse me for my compounded bio-identical HRT products and now they're requiring prior approval for many prescriptions - of course, all of mine! What gives them the right to second guess a prescription my doctor gave me? But they do and they'll find any excuse to do so; I've been taking Ritalin LA 40 mg twice a day along with first Provigil and now Nuvigil 200 mg twice a day. Last month my doctor was writing out several prescriptions for me and accidentally reduced the Ritalin to once a day. I didn't realize it until I'd had the prescription filled and now based on that single prescription they're refusing to pay for more than 30 capsules a month even though they already approved the higher dose! Same thing with Nuvigil - I was approved for 200 mg bid Provigil. Cephalon brought out Nuvigil and I believe they are discontinuing Provigil - I have to go through the whole approval process again. That entails a group of pharmacists and I think one MD sitting around a table deciding without ever having even met me whether or not I need x amount if any of any particular medication.

I haven't as I said run into noticeable pharmacist's prejudice regarding Adderall or Ritalin but I absolutely do if I need pain medication as the only one I can take is Percodan. I'm 53 years old - I'm not inclined to accept it gracefully when someone who is paying neither my mortgage nor my medical bills has the temerity to question any damned thing I want to take!

And the board overseeing whatever health care reform we get is made up entirely of health insurance executives......that should be jolly.

Humph.

December

Originally Posted by WanderingNobody

Guys, I really, really believe this guy.

You wanna know why? Because the same exact thing happened to me last week.

I went in to get a refill for my Adderall XR 20mg. The first Walgreens I went to had some lady who just shrieked and said, "we don't have that. Good day."

So I go to a second Walgreens, and a pharmacist (female) says, "Sorry, this is a rare medicine and I don't have that specific dose." BULL****! I've been to that same Walgreens last month and this broad was making it up to my face.

I ended up going to 3 other Rite Aids, 1 other Walgreens, and a CVS pharmacy before finding a Walgreens Pharmacy who were willing to give me my prescription.

I swear to you this is the whole truth. Nobody in my town seems to believe in this "ADHD" and most have horrifying anecdotes about their "brother's friend" who abused it as their evidence. Screw them, I'm quite tired of it.

I'm sorry OP for what you had to go through, but know that you are not alone.

[Roserazzle]

Wow, this is nutty, however, personally I do not think the peeps at Rite-aid are fascists.
Is that what you meant, Nokiraga? I think probably the pharmacy people are just arrogant $h!Theads. I have extreme dislike and intolerence for people like that. You should call their corporate offices or something. That is despicable behavior.
Next time...(I have learned the hard way) stay at home and pic up the phone and call around, find someplace that is ready to fill your rx for you. Target pharmacy here on the east coast (Northern Virginia) has been very helpful to me.

I hope you got your pills filled.
I am expecting USPS to deliver my brand Adderall XR from "medco pharmacy" today.
I went to the website, signed in, it says that they have not recieved any rx's for 120 days (whateverrrr) and this morning we got a call that we should expect a package from USPS today that needs signature. Nothing noted on Medco about the rx received, processed or anything... I am planning on sending them an email later.
Why have a website if you do not update it.
btw, this is my first Medco fill and I specifically asked for brand (my NP also checked DAW) so I am interested to see what I receive today.... stay tuned

[JR1973]

I've been getting my scripts filled by Medco for about 2 years now. I get a 90-day supply of Adderall XR. They ship mine via UPS 2-day shipping and always require an adult signature (they won't leave a package with a C-II script on the front stairs). I've never had a single problem with Medco.

[Elandruss]

Yeah, I've had to wait nearly a week sometimes to get my prescription "prior authorization" which is always a hassle, but once you get it for a med you like and will continue to use, it stays in the system for a year I believe.

To those of you using Medco online, is there a way to specify which generic you want to buy? I'm looking at the cost difference and unforunately I don't have $40 to drop a month on the brand name. Any info?

[ben72227]

I always get mine filled at Wal-Mart's pharmacy, Walgreens or USA Drug (a regional pharmacy here). I've never had problems like those mentioned above, and things have gotten much better since Adderall became a generic - I can get my prescription filled now for $10!

[CalmTheChaos]

I'm not saying I don't believe you, because I wasn't there. But, based on my 10 years experience with getting these Rx's filled, it does appear to me that you may have overreacted to something that is really quite common.

They may have misspoken by calling Adderall a "rare" drug, but I have had it happen many, many times where they did not have my meds in stock and had to order them.

It only takes a day or two, but they always show up without a problem. If I have ever been in a rush to fill the Rx that day, I just called around to different pharmacies until I found one that had inventory of the dosage and quantity I needed.

I can confidently proclaim that I have never experienced a conspiracy against ADHD meds that led to me being lied to by pharmacy staff. But, I can't even count the number of times I encountered employees who just didn't care about providing decent customer service.

Just something to chew on...

[PedroDaGr8]

Haha, as the phrase goes: " Do not attribute to malice that which can be attributed to stupidy".

I have found mom and pop pharmacies tend to have much better customer service than do the chain stores.

[keg1986]

Always know of a "back-up pharmacy". Some pharmacies run out because they aren't too keen on stockpiling addictive meds. As for the clerks attitude, maybe she didn't get her meds that day!

[ginniebean]

pharmacy refusal project has started to include ADHD meds in the types of medications becoming more at risk of refusal.

[fredonian]

Greetings, It's only natural that you would be upset when treated in such a manner, but I think much of what you encountered at Rite-Aid was not discrimination, but more or less, the stresses and crazyness of a drive-thru-chain (Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aid, Kroger) pharmacy. Drive-through (24 hour) pharmacies have taken front stage lately and are taking in a hoard of business. They are often micro-managed, understaffed, and behind with orders. If you will take time and observe the onslaught they receive (the phone-ins, fax-ins, drive-thrus, and the lines at the counter) you may be able to rationalize some of their lack of bedside manner. I've also noticed that when filling a prescription for a schedule two or three type drug (Adderall and the likes) they have to submit the order in their data-base and wait for some type of clearance. This may be more red-tape of micro-management and I noticed one will often have to wait a few hours to get their adderall prescription filled. Secondly, there has been a shortage in the generic adderall supply for reasons I'm not exactly sure, but it's likely that they were telling you the truth with not having any on stock. When filling my adderall Rx, I stopped using the drive-thru drug stores and went back to my local mom & pop owned pharmacy. Where as they seemingly inventory and document their own outgoing supply of adderall and often have me out the door within twenty minutes of submitting my presription. If you have a small family owned pharmacy in your area, you might consider giving them a try and taking a break from the trendy drive-in-chains for a time, as they seem to be in over their heads with business.