Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Five Too Few

I called the pharmacy to request prescription refills and got a recorded message suggesting I arrange to have my prescriptions ready on a certain date every month to save the bother of a monthly phone call. That sounds convenient, but how would it work exactly? 

My medications for high blood pressure and (sort of) high cholesterol come in 30-day quantities. I suppose most common prescriptions are packaged that way, yet seven of the twelve months in a year have 31 days. Only four months have 30 days, and then there's February, which, even at 28 days (in three out of four years), falls short of making up the difference. 

This bugged me enough that I made a little spreadsheet on it:


You see what I mean? If I were to get a prescription filled on the same date each month, I'd run out of it five times a year. I realize that 31 pills can't be laid out as neatly as 30 pills in a pre-packaged prescription packet (Peter Piper, etc.), but I could live with the disorder. Does no one in the medical profession care if we skip a daily dose now and then? Do doctors and pharmacies think most of us forget to take our medicine at least five times a year anyway, so what's the big deal? Nope. I'm going to have to keep calling in every month, adjusting the refill date as necessary, convenience be damned.

You go ahead and worry about world famine, foreign wars, the economy and global warning. I'm on top of the pill shortage.

10 comments:

  1. That spreadsheet is too funny, but I'm so glad you are on top of the pill shortage! lol

    Seriously, you've got a good point there.

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    1. Thanks, Joy. The flip side of the issue is that if pills were prescribed in 31-day quantities, we would end up with seven extras by the end of the year. Frankly, considering the ones that inevitably roll under the dresser or drop down the sink drain, I wouldn't mind having a few spares. :)

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    2. As I have previously written, I have decided to forget math. It it one of the perks of being married to a math genius; it's like a personal, talking computer.

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    3. Now that you mention it, I can see how having Scott around could be very handy.

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  2. Replies
    1. Hahahaha, ya think? In full disclosure, I originally scribbled out the math on the bottom of a piece of junk mail, which looked pretty sloppy. After I decided to write about it, I created the much more presentable spreadsheet. Do you think the fact I did it twice makes the case for OCD better or worse?

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  3. That's something I've thought about but never done the math on... very interesting!

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    1. You never did the math because you stay so busy. Being retired, I have plenty of time to ponder sh#t like that.

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  4. I get my prescription refills in 90 day supplies. No problem with the pharmacy. But, plenty of problems if the doctor has to approve it every six months. The people in his office can't get a prescription right to save their lives. Annoying, yes. I think they're just lazy, frankly, and don't pay attention, so I grit my teeth and let the pharmacy tell them they got it wrong.

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    1. Betty, I know exactly what you mean. When it was time to refill one prescription, I actually hand-delivered to the doctor's office a written reminder that the doctor had cut the dosage in half a few months earlier. When the refill authorization went through, it was for the original dosage. You're right: they don't pay attention.

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