RFK Jr.: You need meds? What’re you gay?
PrFK Jr
Nothing a few hours on a tanning bed won’t fix.
he just dips in methyelene blue, suntans till his skin is more burnt than a rotisserie chicken and hopped on roids at 70. fun fact the bear incident was just 11years prior.
contrast this me picking up my dog’s prescription meds: “ah, shit, that was his last pill!” <calls vet office> “hey, could I get a refill of gabapentin and vetmedin? Let’s toss in some canned food. Sure, I can swing by after work. Thanks!”
From my point of view, the difference is there’s no insurance involved, so I pay out of pocket and no one has to deal with insurance companies. (pet insurance exists, but I’ve done the math and it doesn’t make financial or logistical sense for me.)
I do like my human pharmacy, but all my human meds are generic and not super controlled or abusable. I gave up on ADHD meds.
there’s no insurance involved
Oh, don’t worry they’re working on fixing that little “problem” won’t be long before veterinary care is as horrible as human health care is. Already have people around me signing up for that shit and raving about how it gives them peace of mind. Morons aren’t doing anything but feeding the enshittification.
Another meme I cannot relate to because I have the privilege of not living in america
Pharmacists deal with drug shortages worldwide.
Yeah, my pharmacy texts me to confirm I want a refill, then I go pick it up. One extra confirmation text and wait a couple days if there are no more refills
To be fair, this is generally my experience in the US as well. However, I do recognize that the insurance I get through my union is very good.
Americans just don’t get that brand name medications are exactly the same as generic ones either 😅
With prescriptions, it is not about what the customer wants, it is about what brands the insurance wants to cover (and getting a doctor that does not write a brand specific prescription). If an insurance company only covers a weird brand of a common (but expensive) medicine, the customer either has to hunt for a pharmacy that has it in stock, wait for their local pharmacy to order it (in either case delaying when the insurance company has to pay for it), or buy the in-stock brand without any insurance coverage. The insurance can still claim they cover the drug while paying less for it.
At one point, I was on a medicine that had a very high co-pay for the brand name and would not cover the generic. It was so high that it was cheaper for me to buy the generic uninsured instead of paying the co-pay.
The active ingredients are exactly the same. The inactive ingredients may differ and there may be some slight differences in bioavailability that for most people are not significant. There is no reason that the vast majority of people can’t take a generic equivalent of a branded medication. That said, there are sometimes exceptions that need to be considered on a cases-by-case basis. Anyone who says “I can’t take generic medications” is full of shit.
Source: I am a licensed pharmacist.
There is no reason that the vast majority of people can’t take a generic equivalent
There’s no reason why ANYONE can’t take generics. Over here (UK) its extremely unusual to be prescribed a brand. And we’re all absolutely fine.
The difference? Pharmas can’t advertise their products to the general public. Nobody falls for the marketing guff and nobody makes up reasons to need branded medication.
My daughter has an anaphylactic reaction to an inactive ingredient that is present in some generic products but not others. We have to be very aware of what company makes the generics she takes to make sure exactly what they contain. That’s why I say most people can take them and not everyone. Some medications will harm her more than help because of an inactive ingredient.
Surely thats a problem with ALL medications then? Not just generics?
Ok…but generics are not always compounded for delivery like the original brand, I.e. slow release, enteric coatings, dose size, different fillers.
But a licensed pharmacist should know that.
I don’t know if you are in the US, but AB-rated generic equivalents are determined to have a release profile that is within an acceptable range of variance from the reference product to still be considered equivalent. I’m not saying that all diltiazem products are equivalent because obviously Cardizem injection is not the same as Cardizem CD is not the same as Cardizem LA is not the same as Cardizem regular tablet. What I’m saying is that Cardizem CD 240 mg capsules and all of the AB rated equivalents a pharmacy would substitute for it may have some subtle differences, but in general they don’t matter clinically for patients.
The fun part is the generics aren’t always the exact same medication! In most cases it is a 1:1 between name brand and generic but there’s always edgecases, whether due to allergies or quality control or sometimes the recipe differences actually impact the potence and performance of the medication
Not all of them are though my wife can only take the name brand of cimbalta because the generic fucks with her body
Yup. In the uk, you pay the same charge for each prescription you pick up, whatever it is (or you get an annual flat fee pass if you get more than one a month). So if the pharmacy only found an expensive version, that’s a them problem, not a me problem.
Haha was thinking the same thing. Minor issues here for certain medication availabilities at times but nothing that would make this meme relatable to many people!
I live in America take boat loads of meds cause I’m post transplant and don’t have these issues, I think OP needs a new pharmacy
Anyone have that I’m too European for this image handy?
I am too Indian for this, even though we have a strange habit of copying the shitty parts of the US and ditching the actually functioning parts.
My wife recently had an issue where it was either an anaphylactic reaction or scombroid poisoning. They treated her at urgent care and prescribed an EpiPen in case it happened again. The pharmacy comes out and says sorry it’s $120. I know my wife has very good insurance so I had to fight with them, surely there’s a generic or something? Then they look into it and say well we have a different kind of one that this prescription covers that’s $5 but it expires in September. I’m like yeah, obviously I’ll take the one that’s 24x cheaper. Like why do we have to do this whole bullshit? Why didn’t you offer that one 1st? Fuck for profit healthcare.
Fuck any public service for profit.
I’m not in the medical field but EpiPens are expensive for their autoinjector technology. Having syringes with 0.3 mg of epinephrine ready would be a lot cheaper.
Downside is, you have to take the time to fill a syringe, which might be difficult if your mid reaction, plus it’s harder for a bystander to help you since they would have to work out the correct dose.
I use Toradol for migraines, and doing this mid migraine is hard enough as it is, I can’t imagine having to do this in anaphylactic shock.
You forgot the pharmacist who thinks they know more than your doctor and has the gall to opine on your prescription.
There are a lot of bad prescriptions to be honest. The amount of people who are prescribed both Adderall and large fills of benzos is too damn high.
don’t forget all those opiods the MDs told us were non-addictive.
And the pharmacists helped that… How? Exactly?
That was a shame. Because now we have gone the opposite direction and they are massively under prescribed to who need it.
They aren’t even that addictive. Look up addiction rates for people prescribed them legitimately. But saying they were non addictive is obviously fucked up… Pharma reps were literally gaslighting doctors into thinking that they just weren’t prescribing enough and that’s why their patients were having pain, after 12 hours. Definitely not withdrawal symptoms
Dude.
MDs fuck up prescriptions all the time. You want this.
Yeah pharmacists often know a lot more about drugs than doctors, and they get to focus their whole career on getting good at just that
Honestly I’ve always been surprised how much education is required to be a pharmacist when all they do is put pills into a bottle (obeying whatever the doctor wrote on your prescription) and pass it to you through the window. Then imagine going through all the years of University to get a master’s degree to work in the back of a CVS.
Seriously? They source the drugs, in the correct dosage, or they have to compound a drug, they have to know what other drugs you are on for conflicts that could kill you. They also teach you how to take the drugs correctly.
Why do people who have no fucking clue make comments?
As an outsider to the field it seems ridiculuous that being a doctor does not include this bit of knowledge. If a pharmacist is expected to do all this and able to override an MD (who can get the prescription wrong)… seems like a circus to me.
A pharmacist is much more qualified to give you that information than a fucking Doctor. The pharmacist instructions are for the exact drug in you hand, when you get the drug.
But thats like their main point. Pharmacist do know a lot about drugs. It’s important to know about negative drug interactions and a pharmacist is more likely to catch it since they most likely know all the drugs you are taking. Your GP might not know about the drugs your psychiatrist gave you or that off-label drug your dermatologist gave you because people are horrible at knowing what drugs they are on and for what purpose.
Fair enough. All I really mean is “idgaf some random pharmacist is opposed to stimulants.”
Doctor: for condition A use med B in C manner.
Pharmacist: Oh no, what is he nuts? Never use med B for condition A as it contains flixadidlian cortemolezeum which will react badly to manner C. No you’ll need med D.
i mean occasionally the pharmacist is right.
Yeah that’s the pharmacist’s job
yeah, now most of the time the pharmacist is too busy to actually do their job. what people get angry about is when they do it.
Oh I’m glad when they do it. But I also find it a little concerning that your doctor is supposed to be the one who knows everything and then it turns out they sometimes seem to talking out if their ass (or that’s what it looks like at the very least, I’m sure there’s more nuance to it).
I have found that going to literally any other pharmacy besides walgreens or cvs is a significant improvement in competence and convenience.
Exactly this! I’ve been going to a local independent pharmacy chain for years and it is a light-years better experience than either of the national chains
I’m pretty limited as to who my insurance covers, so I can’t go to any of the independent pharmacies near me. I’ve been going to the kroger near me and it’s great, they’ve never once had an issue with my insurance and typically order refills / reach out to my dr for a new script before I even realize I’m low.
CVS and Walgreens pharmacies are staffed like dollar generals. They can’t handle the load but they won’t hire more pharmacists.
I had a small pharmacy I loved I had to give up on when I got a new job and they weren’t in network. I was not going to CVS or Walgreens.
So I went to the hospital pharmacy that is in network. Can’t imagine that’s any cheaper but whatever insurance.
I’ve had exactly one prescription done at CVS (because I could get my med for like 60% of the cost there) because they managed to be out of stock on my med on month two. Immediately switched back and haven’t had a problem
Lemme guess… Adderall?
It’s far easier to buy crack online without getting caught than getting your legit Adderall script
And to make matters worse there’s some sketchy shit going on with reformulation to reduce euphoria 🙄 I’m so mad that I started taking medication because it changed my life and now I’m unstable due to this shit.
I didn’t know about the reformulation thing — is it Adderall that’s affected? I’m not personally on Adderall, but I like to be aware of the overall landscape of ADHD meds due to having many friends with ADHD (and also being a nerd)
If i recall, and someone correct me if im wrong, back in August the ratio of active ingredient allowed to filler allowed went from 2:1 to 1:1 for adderall.
Yeah, the reformulation cut the effectiveness nearly in half for me. I went from stable on the same script for 2 years to suddenly being emotionally agitated all the time, constant headaches, and 0 symptom relief. It took 8 months to figure out, but my provider and I finally landed on using a different manufacturer and nearly double the dose of what i had before to almost get me back to my original stable state.
Ugh yeah, and it’s so often based on these ideas like “too many people have adhd” or these worries of addicts. I’m sympathetic to addicts and the misdiagnosed, but at the end of the day, I have a medical condition that requires prescription strength stimulants in order for me to contribute to society and not cause accidental damage to myself and others. No choices were made to cause this other than when two people with adhd decided to have kids.
This whole limited supply thing comes from the drug enforcement agency, cops, not from the fda who are public health officials. Hell a lot of the hoops I have to jump through come from a government more afraid of damage done to those actively seeking this medicine who don’t need it than the damage done if I can’t consistently get the medicine I need in order to hold down a job, drive safely (or walk safely where cars may be), and not forget to pay my bills, do my laundry, and take dinner off the stove when it’s done.
Also the “see a psychiatrist every 3 months” thing is kinda funny because well managed adhd should be pretty consistent. Once it’s good annual checkups should be fine to just check you don’t need to change dose or drug due to tolerance.
I hate the three month appointment requirement. My psych is already overbooked as is and 9 times out of 10 our calls end up being a quick 10 minute check in followed by a 450.00 charge to insurance with 150 uncovered. The alternative is to see a primary care doctor, but they often require a drug test with every visit and its a 50-50 shot they wont try to mess with a script ive had for years.
fun fact its usually the pharmacy tech that deals with all the bullshit with insurance, the pharamcists rarely do it, they just determine the correct dosage, medicaiton.
the thing that annoys me is they don’t care that you have a chronic condition. it’s not going to change. i’m going to need this med for the rest of my life.
but they need my doctor to re-up the prescription every 6 months all the same
They do care if you have a chronic condition. If you do, they can charge you as much as they want.
I had this bullshit happen in Florida at a Walgreens…I had a doctor put a prescription for me…we had worked together for a good while and finally found a script that works for me. Walgreens tells me they dont carry it, except I’ve had it filled in the past at that location.
Then this way over stepping mother fucker starts trying to diagnose me and then had the audacity to say, “have your doctor call us and we can see if we can work something out.”
Bitch what the fuck do you think the PRESCRIPTION is, that IS the communication between the pharmacy and the doctor, last time I went to Walgreens
I commented without reading what everyone else had to say, and the first words I typed were, “Is Walgreen’s your pharmacy too?”
What would piss me off is that they would constantly blow up my phone telling me to come get my script, it’s ready. Then I get to the pharmacy, and nothing is ready and I have to stand around awkwardly while I wait for them to fill it.
The final straw was I go in person to request a refill 5 days before I am out of meds. “Oh we haven’t gotten the shipment yet? Come back tomorrow.” So I go back the next day, and the next until I am finally out of meds and they still don’t have it in. Like, bitch, I have been filling this RX here for 2 years, do you mother fuckers not understand how to inventory?
After my last refill was up I had my Dr. start sending my scripts to Hannaford. It’s further away, but when they call me for my RX it’s ready for me when I go to pick it up.
To personify a bit, if I came across Walgreen’s dying in the street, I would step the fuck over their body and keep walking.
Walgreens is just generally the worst pharmacy in the country. I’m convinced they intentionally create delays in picking up the prescriptions that are supposedly already ready to get you to buy more stuff in the store part, plus the store portion is always so chronically understaffed good luck being able to buy anything. Oh and now everything is locked up so you can’t even pull stuff off the shelves to attempt to buy anything. And then they wonder why profits keep going down…
Walgreens once gave me the wrong prescription, which I didn’t notice until after I already taken some. It was some weird drug for schizophrenics or something like that and it totally fucked me up to the point I had to take off work for the day. Instead of apologizing or trying to make the situation right the Walgreens pharmacist was a total asshole to me and tried to blame me for what happened, they acted like I had stolen someone else prescription instead of them fucking up and poisoning me.
Find a local pharmacist if you can.
Blaming pharmacists for things they have no control over, nice. Biggest brain
