Pharmacy errors - given wrong medication.

[parkie13]

Yesterday went to pick up my sinemet CR at the pharmacy. Stayed in the car, my husband went to get it. When I called in the prescription I asked for three months refill. It felt really light so I decided to take a look at it, I'm glad I did. It was only for a month however it must have been sinemet IR, the pills were completely different. I went back to the pharmacy, the tech looked at them and sure enough they were the wrong pills. Nobody keeps a track of the mistakes, read an article that said about 3% of prescriptions are Miss filled and 24% of those are dangerous for the patient. If it is a generic and it's a different manufacturer they are supposed to put a sticker on your bottle alerting you to that fact. I have had bottles with two different generics in them with no sticker. I have had different strengths of a drug mixed up before. I guess you always have to be vigilant and watch I told the tech, I'm glad I didn't have dementia.

[wifeofparky]

Yes, it is very important to check what you are getting. I recently had a dose change and it was ordered for a 90 day supply. Before I paid, I asked what the drug was, the dose and how many there were. I then checked again before leaving the store. Mistakes happen BUT it is happening too often. I also suggest filing a complaint with the store, mentioning a copy going to your State Health and Insurance departments. If they are understaffing, this may help get staffing levels corrected, training issues resolved and perhaps save someone's life.

[annmariebaird]

You have to be alert at all times for sure!

[Bailey_Texas]

I always check for type and strength but i did not check for maker. I was having a bad day and could not figure out what was going on. I just happened to see the maker of the drug. Of course it was a different maker. That just proves that all meds are made the same. I just read that everyone should try at least 2 different makers of a generic drug to see which one works for them and stay with the one that works the best for them.

So insist that your pharmacy give you the same drug by the same maker. I had a lot of left over meds and need to know how many i had left so i weighed 50 pills and then put them all in am bowl and weighed them all and calculated how many i had. Now i have a lot of pills from 2 or 3 makers all mixed up so i don't know if they are going to work or not. They seem to work ok for the most part but sometimes my meds do not work at all. I have aout 4 months supply and on hand about 4000 (yes 4000) pills so it will take a while to get where i know what maker rpills i am taking.

[parkie13 in reply to Bailey_Texas]

I remember you mentioning that before, about one kind not working so I even asked which kind of generic they had. Notorious generics are the time-released pills. They don't seem to get those right.

[JANVAN]

Totally agree, I had the same some weeks ago....., and than also a discussion with the pharmacist.....pfff, what a story.

Another question : do you something good against cramps ??

[arwenmark]

CVS pharmacy is one of the worst for that, they almost killed my father with wrong med. then they sent someone to his home to get them and give him the right ones. They did this without telling anyone.

I suggest you change from whatever pharmacy you are using currently.