Day by Day with Parkinson's and Peripheral Neuropathy

I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and Peripheral Neuropathy in 2006, but my symptoms seemed to take a turn in a different direction in late 2007. The current diagnosis is Essential Myoclonus. You will find record here of a my journey - coping with the testing, the medicines, nutrition, digestion problems, exercise, the emotions, and no telling what else!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

My Pharmacist wears an S under his lab coat!!

Yep, as far as I'm concerned, he's Superman, ready at any moment to rescue this damsel from danger. I went to my Orthopedist today to get some relief from the painful neck spasms I've had for the last two weeks. He prescribed the muscle relaxer, Flexeril, which I have taken before, long before I was diagnosed with PD.

We dropped the prescription off on our way home, and DH went back to get it about an hour later. He came home with Methocarbamol, not Flexeril. Sure enough, I would have had a serious drug interaction with Flexeril and my PD meds. My pharmacist called the doctor and they found a muscle relaxant I could take, all before hubby ever got there to pick it up.

I think that makes three times in the last few months that my fantastic pharmacist has caught medicine errors that my doctors have made.

We live in a very small rural town, and we went without a pharmacist for quite a few years. When this one opened up shop, I told him the first time I went in there that he could depend on us to patronize his shop, even though we realized that we could buy cheaper at Wal-Mart or the chain store pharmacies. He's not open at night, or on Saturdays and Sundays, but I wouldn't trade him for anything. He more than pays for his higher prices with his service and the fact that we are close enough to walk to his store if we had to. The franchise pharmacies would require an almost hour round trip, which is no fun if you are miserable. Sure, there have been times when we had no choice but to patronize the big boys on the weekend or at night, but we try our best to give our local fellow as much business as we can.

I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again. Everyone should keep all their prescriptions medicines on file with one pharmacist, and make sure that pharmacist cares about you, and not just about making money!!

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4 Comments:

  • At 11/14/2007 7:59 AM , Blogger Marion said...

    No kidding, DB! I have one of those superman pharmacists...Every time I'm given a new drug by my doctor, I have him check it out with my other prescriptions. So far so good...other than drug interactions I've had, which he helped with, as well.

    I'm so glad he's watching out for you! He's doing his job really well, for sure...especially when he's caught problems three times!

     
  • At 11/14/2007 9:29 AM , Blogger Dirty Butter said...

    He's worth whatever extra we pay him over using a discount pharmacy, as far as I'm concerned. Years ago, when we did not have a drug store in town, I had to drive about 40 miles round trip in the throes of the flu to get medicine. It was horrible.

     
  • At 12/01/2007 11:55 AM , Anonymous Lee said...

    i can relate. i had dropped off a script that my neuro had written he change a script from a pill to a capsle form and i was concered since i had read u cannot do that with this medication. my pharmacist checked it out and called me at home to assure me it was ok. he has done this several times to make sure what i am taking is ok with everything else i am on he even called me once while i was on vacation. i was so thankful he is concerned and makes sure before he gives it to me. i have seen meds mistaken never caught and ended up in death.

     
  • At 12/01/2007 12:06 PM , Blogger Dirty Butter said...

    Thank goodness we can depend on our pharmacists to watch out for us, Lee. It's very reassuring knowing mine is keeping a vigilant eye on everything I take.

     

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