It's Been A While...But Drugs Will Do That To You

Due to the infrequency of my posts, one might start to assume that perhaps I've run out of material. This is definitely not the case. Quite the opposite is true. There are just too many things to share, and sadly, I have slacked in providing my loyal readers with their regular fix of druggy goodness. The majority of my pharmacy time this past year has been spent at a pharmacy quite different in nature and clientele than the pharmacy of years past. Lucky for you, this new location has provided me with a whole different set of loony things/people to write about. I will elaborate further on another day most definitely, but for now I will just do what I always do --- tell a story.

We have a couple of regular customers, husband and wife. Sometimes they come in together; sometimes they come in alone. One day the wife had sent the husband to pick up her prescriptions. Here's where it always gets a bit tricky. HIPAA regulations prevent us from giving out a person's prescription information, even to a spouse, over the phone (or in person). If a spouse calls or comes in to refill a prescription for the husband or wife, law prevents us from listing off medications that can be refilled. The person needs to know the name of the medication in order to refill it for their special someone. If the spouse is at the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions for the husband or wife, I know of no such law that says that the spouse needs to name the specific medications that are already filled and ready. Anyway, this fella came in and said his wife should have three or four prescriptions ready, like some hormone thing, and a couple of blood pressure drugs. We then asked, "There is indeed a fourth one. You want to get her Xanax now too?" Wrong question. His face immediately turned red and he yelled, "What?!?! What do you mean her Xanax TOO?" We didn't take that as a clue and we restated, "Yes, there's a Xanax here. Four prescriptions, is that correct?" He said he'd leave that one, and then he took off. What seemed like seconds later, I had an angry wife on the phone yelling at me that I had ruined her marriage. She "used to" be addicted to Xanax and had serious problems with taking too much and lying about it in the past, and now her husband thinks she's up to her old tricks. They just had moved back in together after a trial separation caused by her lies and drugginess. She had promised him that she was no longer involved with that type of medication. She rambled off a whole string of threats to me, as I was one responsible for the shambles her marriage was now in. She admitted to me, however, that she did in fact send her husband to pick up her other medications. I guess she's not really THAT good at lying and hiding things from the hubby. Still...it's my fault o' course. I didn't realize I could impact lives in such a way. Hopefully one day I'll learn to use this power for good.