was to break or not to break - Pharmacist as resource

April 14, 2003

Don't want to put down my docs because I do count actually try to listen to

their advice, but it was the pharmacist who flagged the penicillin-with-a-fancy-

brand-name prescription that had been written for my son (the son that's

ALERGIC to penicillin). Saved us a trip to the emergency room, at the very

least.

>snip. 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

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* nosophist1@... *

amy@...

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> 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