You can keep your socks on

How are you doing, Diane?

I'm sitting here getting more and more angry, 3 different docs wrote me prescriptions for drugs when I left the hospital; tonight trying to organize my meds I discovered that I have several drugs that are identical other than their brand names, several of these are narcotics (pain killers) and several others are blood thinners/antibiotics, and any of these doubled could be detrimental to my well being. I'm getting paranoid. I also got home with an "emergency inhaler" I had never used or knew about. I am not taking about half my meds.

Grrrrr!

Might be a good way to test your pharmacy. See if they'll fill them all, without comment. Nah, that would be a pretty expensive test.

Telephone, to the one of the docs you trust the best.. But also.. one good pharmacist for a talk about this.

The lack of communication on the prescriptions is icky, and behind the times. That should all be on the computer forthwith. Plus dumb of the prescribers, not that I can see clearly from here.

I second the idea of calling a good pharmacist. They will contact the doctors and get the dosages straightened out. Diane...do you deal with a pharmacy you can trust?

Dys and Diane, I urge you to contact the hospital's "patient advocate" immediately, who can investigate what is going on with the meds. She/he can monitor all of Dys' treatment and advocate for his interests. You will recall that the patient advocate at another hospital helped my son when he needed help regarding his care. She did a really good job and she probably saved his life .

BBB

I've no idea about how all this works in the USA but I'm sure you'll get some advice at the hospital and -better- at a pharmacy.


Stay cool.

When I was in Lanjanau getting my heart put back on a normal rhythm, I was assigned a PA. He was there at all times and was checking on all my meds, their interactions and **** like that. He saved my ass because they had me on these huuuge potassium pills from a long time misundertanding that my muscle aches were from a potassium (hypokalemia) condition. Well, he removed the Potassium and much of the action that initiated arhythmia later went away. I still had a n arythmia but , when converted, it didnt start up again after a few days.

Most docs dont know **** about pharma. They get all their advice from pill salesmen and the stupid "apps research" done by other docs who get large baksheesh from drug companies.


My secretary has put together an interaction alert by making lists of all the interactions and (by extension) the mega interactions AMONG groups of BP meds, heart meds, statins diabetes meds, paun killers etc. I now have a cautions list about how and when not to take certain meds by consulting my charts. Ive discovered food antagonists and much **** I was just ignorant of.

I suggest that this is best done by Diane and Sys, not your docs. Your docs have no real investment in knowing any bad news about their pharmas.

Course, that is just my opinion . I HAVE A QUOTION FOR RESPECT FOR THE MEDICAL PROFESSION ,I HAVE A SIMILAR RESPECT QUOTION FOR ALUMINUM SIDING SALESMEN.

If you have a copy of the discharge papers, in there , some where should be what you were sent home with.

Sometimes you get really lucky and a doctor will write out what you need to take and how you need to take it.

That's what confused me: here, in Germany, you get a (short-) letter for you family doctor (or specialist, if it was her/him sending you to hospital) with all the relevant infos she/he needs - you don't get prescriptions from the hospital.
Your doctor(s) get additionally a longer letter later.

Even though Dys has been discharged from the hospital, the Patient Advocate will monitor his out-patient care regarding meds with the doctors and pharmacists. It will help to lower the stress on Dys and Diene to know that someone is looking out for their interests.

These doctors need to know when they independently prescribe without being aware of other doctors' prescriptions. The Patient Advocate can make them aware, which will benefit all patients without creating pique toward Dys.

BBB.

popping in to say good morning

so

good morning

That's the best reason I know for always using the same pharmacy for prescriptions. Especially when more than one doctor is prescribing things. It'll raise a red flag if you try to fill two for the same medication or condition. Good pharmacists are on the lookout for interactions, too.

I've never used a PA, but it sounds like a terrific idea.

that's not quite the way it works in canada .
after mrs h had her hip operation in october , she stayed in the hospital for a few days .
she was released on a sunday of a long weekend (hospital had to find beds for accident victims - it was thanksgiving weekend , when the car accident rate goes through the roof) .
when i picked up mrs h (a sunday afternoon) , the junior staff physician handed me several prescriptions . i took mrs h home and rushed to a pharmacy to get her prescriptions filled .
when we saw our family physician two weeks later , he had just received (but not yet read) the surgeons report .
we were lucky to have a visiting nurse for the first week - she was our saviour ! but i had to raise QUITE A STINK and become THREATENING (such as : "i guess i'll have to contact john - our member of the provincial legislature - to have a nurse assigned immediately " .
one of the first phrases i learned when coming to canada : "it's the squeaking wheel that gets the grease " has served me well over the years .)
mrs h is doing extremely well now - not sure if the outcome would have been as good without the visiting nurse .
hbg

"The nail that sticks up the highest gets pounded down first."

Sorry, just had to toss that in.

Good grief...don't they all write in the notes what they are prescribing?

I certainly can understand your getting pissed off. I hope by now that you have spoken to a doctor or pharmacist.

I have found this website to be very useful:

http://www.medscape.com/druginfo/druginterchecker

You can type in the meds, and the site will spit out all interactions and side effects.

Thanks for the drug site, Phoenix. I read through all the pharmacy sheets explaining the drug, its use, side effects and interactions, but the site you posted looks very efficient.

We are practically shaking at the knees wondering how much the operation and hospital stay will cost. Bob was supposed to get in-home physical and occupational therapy and while the therapists were here, they could also take a weekly blood test for the Warfaring (coumadin) Bob is taking. Now it turns out, Bob isn't covered for therapy at all.

When I got all the prescriptions filled at Walgreens, the bill was $531 dollars and some cents. They almost needed to call an ambulance for me.

Too bad Canada won't let us in. We are too old and don't have enough money.

We are both feeling better since Bob came home. The relief is enormous. The amount of money we owe is so huge that we can't really comprehend it. I know we will become all too familiar with it in a few days.

We are both doing well. Now that Bob is home, he can get some satisfying sleep. Without all the stress, I feel like I could sleep for a week--just hibernate.

oh man, national health care isn't perfect, but it beats the alternative

know that you guys are both in my thoughts, and now that everybody's home take some time to regroup rebuild