Adderall XR Shortage/Backordered

[kswiss76]

My pharmacist in Illinois has told me that my Adderall XR 15 mg is backordered and that they won't be getting any more until 2010. He also indicated that they checked other pharmacies and they are unable to fill it at this point as well. Anyone know anything about this?

[arrested_truth]

For my usual 90 monthly IR script, apparently there were only '83 available' and I had to take those and forfeit the rest or come back a week later and see if they have more
Strange because the only reasoning the workers gave me was "because it is a type whatever schedule drug"

[Josh_kelly]

All the pharmacies that I went to have to order it specifically for me at the quantity written in the script. They keep it in a safe with all the other controlled drugs. Maybe laws vary by state.

Why dont you use mail order pharmacies? I used to order from drugstore.com but they have only have barr so I started using my local pharmacy.

I can't even call to pre order it. Its hassle cause I have to take three trips each month, one to see my doc, one to drop the script and one to pick it up.

[kswiss76]

Thanks for the responses. I usually get it filled at Jewel-Osco but they said that their supplier for the 15 mg of Adderall reached their limit for the year. Something about the Federal Government limiting the amount that they can provide to certain stores. I was able to get it filled at Walgreens so it worked out for me.

[SilentCat]

FYI, Josh -- I'm in NJ, too. Concerning retail pharmacies:

There's no NJ state law or pharmacy regulation which prohibits or restricts them from ordering schedule II meds from their distributors ahead of time, nor is there anything compelling them to order only the amount needed for any one patient's particular prescription.

Actually, in most instances they couldn't order in those amounts, even if they wanted to. Pharmacies order meds in increments based on the quantities in which a particular medication is packaged and supplied by the manufacturer (e.g., sealed bottles of 30, 90, 100, 500, 1000, etc.) Distributors won't sell an open, partial container to a pharmacy. (I'm pretty sure that is against the law.)

A few months ago -- having just switched medications -- I had to visit eight local pharmacies in order to find one which had IR dex tablets in stock, to fill my first-ever prescription for it. (Furthermore, several pharmacists and pharmacy techs mis-read my prescription, interpreting what was written -- "dextroamphetamine" -- to mean "mixed AMP salts" (e.g., generic Adderall). Apparently NO patient in this local area uses dex -- because most of these so-called professionals had no awareness that they're even two different products. Once I educated them on the facts, a couple of 'em tried to tell me that what I was asking for was "hard to obtain." One, a pharmacist, told me that "it's been backordered for months".

Another mistake. As I later found out, he was actually referring to dexmethylphenidate (e.g., generic Focalin -- which had indeed been backordered for months), not dextroamphetamine.

Anyway, I finally got my script filled, at a nearby Walgreen's Pharmacy. But now I was very concerned that I'd have to go through this same insanely frustrating, time-wasting, merry-go-round every single month, just to obtain a routine, not-at-all-obscure, 70+ year-old maintenance med.

So I talked with the lead pharmacist at my local CVS pharmacy -- a top-tier, major CVS store (and one of the eight I'd visited, though I hadn't spoken with her when I originally came in with the first script. One of her techs had mis-read it as meaning generic Adderall, though.)

This CVS lead pharmacist was more than willing to pre-order "a couple of bottles" for me (100 tabs per bottle -- my script was for 120 tabs), several weeks before my next fill date. Further, she said that she could see to it that this medication was kept in stock continuously for me (she informed me that I'm their only customer using it.)

So Josh, if someone's telling you that they can't pre-order a schedule II med. -- they're telling you that for some other reason, because it has nothing whatsoever to do with either U.S. federal or NJ state law. The same is true for the quantities they order from their distributor. In fact, unless you're being prescribed some exact multiple of a quantity the drug manufacturer packages for wholesale distribution, the pharmacy literally can't order "just" the amount you are prescribed.

Honestly, what you describe makes me wonder whether someone's giving you a run-around.

[Josh_kelly]

Silent cat. thanks for the info. Maybe you are right. but that's what I experienced dealing with many pharmacies. I can not even call to see if they have it in stock. They will either say no or just hangup. one pharmacist told me that they got robbed at gun point for Oxycontin and I live in a good area.

And I never went to a pharmacy that had Adderall generic in stock.

maybe because I am young they think that i am an abuser or sell it to college students.

anyways, I try to be nice to the pharmacist cause he can be a jerk and simply refuse to fill the prescription suspecting something and can keep the prescription claiming its fake. he has to contact my doctor.
http://www.health.state.ny.us/publications/1059.pdf

I am sure I will win at the end but I don't have time to go thru all this adding the prescription expires in 30 days.