melody comments on breaking up meds

[Guest guest]

Melody: That was an informative post. thank you. We get asked questions like

this at our support group continuously. Thanks a million

love,

ceep.

In a message dated 4/14/03 7:05:53 AM, Graduate-OSSG writes:

<< Message: 19

Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:06:08 -0000

Subject: My take on the " to break or not to break "

Ok, maybe I'm feeling a bit " mouthy " today, abut decided I'd put my

$.02 in here on splitting tablets. First off, I am a pharmacist, but

don't hold that against me. On the Wellbutrin, yes I see it given

twice a day all the time, in fact usually I see it started as once

per day then upped to twice a day in 3-7 days. Prozac does come as a

tablet, also, not just a Prozac. And please you guys that the doc has

on Serafem (it's just brightly colored Prozac geared towards women),

save your money ask the doc to write Prozac or under chemical name so

you can get generic, b/c even though they are the same drug, Serafem

technically has no generic, but Prozac does, boy Lilly/Dista did a

good job repackaging Prozac into Serafem to avoid generic

competition. On splitting long acting tablets, I argue with docs

about this all the time, and usually I lose. They tell me to split

them or have the patient split them anyway, esp expensive drugs like

Lipitor, but I've had them want me to split Prozac and Paxil, too.

Most tell me they feel the patient gets enough of the med, and

quietens down about the $$$$ spent, so maybe they just want to apease

the patient. And I do know it is frustrating that some drugs like

Lipitor,Paxil, Prozac cost the same or about the same no matter which

strength you buy. Just personal opinion, I think some

docs " overmedicate " anyway, please forgive me for that any of you

clinicians out there. Can we bariatric patients get enough action out

of long acting/sustained release meds? I'm still studying on this. My

doc says yes and he's had no probs with his patients in the past 22

yrs, but he only does the 150cm bypass. He feels we still have enough

gut for absorption and therefore action from the med. Knowing the

workings of the body and absorption routes of different drugs, I

always have loads of questions for him, as I am trying to learn all I

can about the new workings of my new body. And I want to be able to

help my customers/patients with their questions. I'm still learning

too. Well, got to get on the road and go count by 5---hey I just had

a doc (actually a resident, well not a US resident, but a medical

resident) tell me I was just a " shop keeper " and spent my

day " counting by five " , so I guess how dare I question what she had

written on a prescription, hey I've done this so long I just laughed

about it, you win some, you lose some, we just try to make it right

for the patient. See ya!

Melody >>

[Guest guest]

Melody: That was an informative post. thank you. We get asked questions like

this at our support group continuously. Thanks a million

love,

ceep.

In a message dated 4/14/03 7:05:53 AM, Graduate-OSSG writes:

<< Message: 19

Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 12:06:08 -0000

Subject: My take on the " to break or not to break "

Ok, maybe I'm feeling a bit " mouthy " today, abut decided I'd put my

$.02 in here on splitting tablets. First off, I am a pharmacist, but

don't hold that against me. On the Wellbutrin, yes I see it given

twice a day all the time, in fact usually I see it started as once

per day then upped to twice a day in 3-7 days. Prozac does come as a

tablet, also, not just a Prozac. And please you guys that the doc has

on Serafem (it's just brightly colored Prozac geared towards women),

save your money ask the doc to write Prozac or under chemical name so

you can get generic, b/c even though they are the same drug, Serafem

technically has no generic, but Prozac does, boy Lilly/Dista did a

good job repackaging Prozac into Serafem to avoid generic

competition. On splitting long acting tablets, I argue with docs

about this all the time, and usually I lose. They tell me to split

them or have the patient split them anyway, esp expensive drugs like

Lipitor, but I've had them want me to split Prozac and Paxil, too.

Most tell me they feel the patient gets enough of the med, and

quietens down about the $$$$ spent, so maybe they just want to apease

the patient. And I do know it is frustrating that some drugs like

Lipitor,Paxil, Prozac cost the same or about the same no matter which

strength you buy. Just personal opinion, I think some

docs " overmedicate " anyway, please forgive me for that any of you

clinicians out there. Can we bariatric patients get enough action out

of long acting/sustained release meds? I'm still studying on this. My

doc says yes and he's had no probs with his patients in the past 22

yrs, but he only does the 150cm bypass. He feels we still have enough

gut for absorption and therefore action from the med. Knowing the

workings of the body and absorption routes of different drugs, I

always have loads of questions for him, as I am trying to learn all I

can about the new workings of my new body. And I want to be able to

help my customers/patients with their questions. I'm still learning

too. Well, got to get on the road and go count by 5---hey I just had

a doc (actually a resident, well not a US resident, but a medical

resident) tell me I was just a " shop keeper " and spent my

day " counting by five " , so I guess how dare I question what she had

written on a prescription, hey I've done this so long I just laughed

about it, you win some, you lose some, we just try to make it right

for the patient. See ya!

Melody >>