I think I smell...

... because I sure attract some weirdos. Or maybe my true calling is to be a detective, or a crime stopper... or simply I have "STUPID" tattooed on my forehead...except I looked in the mirror this morning and I SWEAR I didn't see it.

The other day, I was at work doing my thang, when a lovely gentleman comes in with a new rx. Never seen the guy before, new to the pharmacy. Hands me an rx that looks like the image posted to the left. HM.

Weird that the baclofen is written in two kinds of pen, and the dilaudid in one. Weird that the dilaudid is written in a completely different script than the baclofen. ODD. WEIRD. STRANGE. DUH.

So.. I took all his info, and called his Dr. to confirm (hoping he'd take the hint and leave me alone and let any other pharmacist with1/2 a brain catch him). The following is how the conversation went.

Forger Eesucks (now to be referred to as FE): Is there something wrong with my rx?

Me: I'm confirming your rx as I do with all narcotic rx. It is routine.

FE: YOU ARE JUDGING ME BECAUSE OF HOW I LOOK!!!!

Me: Do you look strange? You look fine to me. This is routine.

FE: THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS TO ME!!!! PEOPLE ALWAYS JUDGE ME!! I HAVE PAIN!!!

Me: I am not saying you are or are not in pain, I am simply doing my job, like I would with any other person who would walk in this door.

FE: ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT IF I WAS AN OLD WHITE GUY WITH A LOVELY WIFE THAT YOU WOULD DO THE SAME THING??????

Me: Yup. And for all I know, maybe you do have a lovely wife. Or maybe you don't. It is really irrelevent. Just have a seat, and I'll call you when it is ready.

FE: I have a bad feeling about you.

****** intermission : please note that last comment. ok, stop laughing. read on*******

ME: Ok, I'm not sure why that is the case, but you can feel free to take your rx elsewhere if you'd like! No pressure.

FE: But are you gonna fill it?? Do you have it??

ME: yeah, i have it, and once I confirm it, I will fill it. So if you want, please have a seat.

After this, I proceed to confirm (in the back room) that it is a forged Rx, and call the cops. FE bolts (guess he has instinct).

Two hours and one hot cop later, my statement is taken verbatim and I am told that this dude is known and violent. SUPER.

All in all, it was a great day :D

*********

To top it off, I must still smell today because today this woman comes to fill her 3rx for oxys, and I get an Oxycontin "refill too soon"... but miraculously the lady "doesn't recall" getting it elsewhere. "I'm baffled" -she says. Yes.. baffling indeed. Except you got it this month from another pharmacy and you must have been sleepwalking or stoned and forgot. Thanks for coming out!

Signing off,

P.I. Mariam ("Dr" is overrated)

Arguing over $3.00

"I trust you more than I trust my doctor" is something I hear very often. You want to know something I hear just as often..."I never pay" or "what is this the fee or something" or are you sure I get my seniors discount. Albeit I do work in a predominately Jewish neighborhood where the patients ...lets just say careful about their money. Honestly though I feel like they should have a course in school bargaining 101 or "how to deal with bargainers 101" or "the real value of $2.00". The other day I looked at a patient who said "they never pay" and just said the following verbatim : "Look brother this $3.26 that apparently you've never been charged before is less that a value meal at McDonald's. Regardless of this donation, I'll survive, but this is what you owe so if you would like to pay it you can if you don't want to please leave" Dude looked at me a little embarrassed and said no no no its not about the money. Let me repeat that again "its not about the money". "Its not about the money? really its not about the money" I'm sure you can all sympathize with me, scratch that empathize, but unless this profession starts becoming about something more than "the money". I invite you all to keep it reppin and try to get your patients to stop and think about what they're arguing about and see the reaction you get.
Also, some jackass backed into my car, and I'm quite upset about it. So that may have a little to do with the angry tone of this post.
Please keep it reppin on this Thursday cause it means one more day till the weekenddd
awwww yahhhh

The trouble with a formula

Since this blog has taken somewhat of an intellectual turn as of late (nougats and circumcision aside) I thought I'd put my two cents in on how to handle the dillemna that M alluded to. If only we had someone who had some kind of post post post graduate education on health outcomes to shed some more light this topic.
A patient came down the other day who was prescribed Seroquel 25mg (1/2 tab at HS) .. wow this is starting to get nerdy.... anyways he was told me the doc had told him it was for anxiety and he wanted a leaflet. I explained to him how the drug worked to the best of my knowledge then I showed him the leaflet. One of the listed side effects was ..... yes you guessed it... anxiety. This dude totally lost it, and starting twitching. His hand started shaking and he kept repeating .... "i can't take this, i already have anxiety, i can't, i can't..." he kept reading and saw some note on suicidal thinking and flipped his wig. I attempted to calm him down and explained to him  that is very rare and usually will only occur with aburpt discontinuation etc etc etc.... He looks at the sheet again and tears it up infront of me and says.... ok I'll take it but I can't be reading this.

A friend of mine who is a physician doesn't believe in informed consent. Informed consent for non health care people is when a medical professional must disclose all benefits and risks to the patient before the start of any treatment (surgical or medical). He says that true informed consent is going to medical school.

The point is there is no formula. Patients will react different based on level of education previous experience with prescription drugs, family upbringing , even religion plays a factor.

So what do we as pharmacists do in the 12 -91 seconds that we may have. Is make an attempt do decipher all of this and make a judgment call and how and what to say to the patient.
Keep it reppin

The Rebuttal

To all those who want a trophy just for showing up, to those who think that being just ok is ok, to all of you who love marijuana (reppin that) and sitting on your bum and drinking beer and calling it a job, this for you.

Mr. M to call us facists is like calling you a communist which also isn't "cool" anymore. Also, dumbing down our political views to "we want to cut taxes," is like saying that you want a paycheck issued by said government to each individual with the same amount regardless of vocation. Government assistance and taxes are of course necessary, but government by definition (weather it be conservative, liberal or NDP) is inefficient. Giving my money to an enterprise that is by inefficient and spends wastefully is not on the top of my to do list. Strong good business fuels the economy, creates jobs, which in turn give people money to go give to this inefficient enterprise. Big government and liberalism would be incredibly awesome IF people always tried their hardest in everything they did, regardless of the reward, and people were honest all the time. Yes, in fairy tale land a liberal, socialist government would be great. Immigration is wonderful, social spending is wonderful, government health care is wonderful when done APPROPRIATELY).
Also Mr M if I have reaped some benefits of the political system it doesn't mean that I should agree with it in its entirety. If I cheat on a test and get an A, should I then think that "cheating" is the greatest thing since Chipotle? (in case any of you are lost in this case cheating is entering in a number on my computer and the government then give me money).

Not allowing citizens to choose better healthcare or education outside of going to the United States or frickin the carribean or egypt or england i guess now... and then making it more difficult for said students to come back and contribute to the economy of their own country is just plain stupid. Of course a country should provide to its citizens some level of education and healthcare but denying any privatization of either of those is denying its citizens access to be better healthcare and better education and as a direct result of that students like myself as well as most other people who are reading this right now go outside of this wonderful country for education and often for healthcare as well simply because we want better healthcare, education that our government can't provide and isn't allowing anyone else to provide.
Just like I benefit from liberalism, many of us who hate "capital greed" have also benefited a fare share from it in going abroad for education etc.
Here's to high taxes, free education (that we don't use), free health care, prostitution, abortion and all other great things a big government can give us!
reppin it hard


Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. Thomas Jefferson

Nougat = Oxycontin

Dear readers.
It has been 2 years. Two VERY eventful years. Why did the blogging stop? I can only answer for myself.. I just found it easier to make my husband's life hell and complain to him rather than use my rather tired fingers to annoy others. Since I've been here since 9am and have only done 30 rx, I figured my fingers could use some exercise. A couple months ago I had an experience that will resonate with me forever (sorry for using big words). I was minding my own business (not my business, someone elses, but I get paid to do that), and this ornery dude (more big words), came in.. Rather should I say STORMED in... and here's how it went.

Angry man (will be subsequently reffered to as AM): I MUST SPEAK WITH THE MANAGER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: Hi, I'm the pharmacist, can I help you in any way? (I was so kind, trying to spare the manager from AM)

AM: MY NOUGAT!!! THE WRAPPER WONT COME OFF!! THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!! MY NOUGAT AAAHHHHHHH!!!!

Me: Hm. Ok, bear with me, I will get the manager (not really my area of expertise, I'd say).

Me to Manager : crazy dude, really upset about his Nougat.. can you take this?
Manager: Uff. Ok.

Manager: hi sir, how can I help you?

AM: MY NOUGAT!!!! THE WRAPPER WONT COME OFF!!! I BOUGHT THIS GARBAGE FROM YOU!!!! I WANT TO EAT MY NOUGAT AND THE WRAPPER WONT COME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS DISGUSTING!! HOW CAN YOU SELL THIS!!!!

** I will break in the story to explain what nougat is in case anyone is wondering. Nougat is a type of candy, and is often encased in rice paper, which is edible, and keeps it from sticking to other things, and makes it easier to cut and serve - back to our scheduled program**

Manager: Sir, this is rice paper. It is edible - it is not a wrapper. You can eat this! Nothing wrong with this candy bar. Perfectly great candy bar.

AM: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!! THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!! IVE NEVER SEEN NOUGAT LIKE THIS!!!! I WANT MY MONEY BACK!!!! ***WAILING AND GNASHING OF TEETH***

Manager: Sir, I assure you that there is nothing wrong with this nougat.

AM: BE QUIET!! GIVE ME MY DAMN MONEY BACK!!!!!!!!! THIS IS NOT NOUGAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAHHHHHHH

Me: SIR!!! IT IS JUST CANDY!!!!! FOR GODS SAKE IT IS JUST CANDY!!!!! CALM DOWN!!!!!

Manager: here is your money. that is quite enough.



*****

why don't i just work at longos.


love you all dearly (no nougat for you!)

quickie

one of my most favoritist patients comes in ... he looks at me and says michael come here.....i say...
yes mr reppin and this is how the convo goes...
mr reppin- michael what is it they call when a boy is born and they clean him
me- they clean him?
mr reppin- yes they clean him down there (points to his genital area)
me- u mean when he gets circumcised?
mr reppin- circum- what?
me- circumcised
mr reppin- circum-what?
me- circumcised
- this goes on for a little bit until i finally break the loop -
me- do you want me to write it down?
mr reppin- sure! (has an excited glare in his eye)
- i proceed to write it down , he looks at the piece of paper, makes a couple more attempts to say it
and walks off out the door repeating circumcised circumcised and leaves.....
he doesn't pick up an rx's , doesn't drop off any rx's doesn't ask any med related questions just leaves.....

made my day.