Medications while full timing

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rockin rockwood

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  So, we're in the middle of replacing the standard sleeper sofa and dinette for more comfort while looking for a new house in Az, should take 3 or 4 months total. Now the coach is super spacious and comfortable so the DW now says Why rush getting a house, lets travel!!
Our family doctor here in NJ says he is ok with giving us up to 3 months of Rx's (blood pressure,etc) but after that he would have to see us again. Thats not going to happen as we will be travelling on the west coast for an undetermined time and finally winding up in Az. How does a vagabond like myself maintain Rx's? Can you go to these urgent care places? The thought of going to Mexico just freaks me out. What can we do?
 
If you have the time, maybe you could get established with another doctor who would be willing to issue prescriptions that are refillable.  Most doctors I use will issue prescriptions that can be refilled for up to 1 year.  However, if the meds you are on are "controlled" that might not work.  For example, I take Lyrica and my drug insurance requires a new prescription every 90 days.  Apparently, there's a pretty big black market for such meds and my insurance is concerned about the high-dollar meds being sold on the black market (a 30 days prescription at Walmart's full price is about $700).
 
We get a new Dr. every time we need our scripts refilled - The new one gets the records from our last one and there is never any problem.
 
My Doctors all issue refills for a year including blood pressure meds, not sure why yours won't.
 
Jeff said:
My Doctors all issue refills for a year including blood pressure meds, not sure why yours won't.

Yep, same here for both my wife's and my BP meds, etc. Our prescriptions are for 90 day refills, but good for a year. We use CVS for refills wherever we are at the time. The only time we needed to find another doctor to issue scrips was when her upstate NY oncologist wanted her checked every 6 months. We found another oncologist in FL that was willing to work with her NY doctor, so we scheduled our trips around hitting one of them at each interval. Now she only sees the oncologist once a year, so she checks in during our winter holidays visit with our kids in NY before we head south again.
 
We are assuming your "blood pressure, etc" is well controlled and has been for a while. The only reason I can imagine for a doctor to see you every 3 months for something like blood pressure is if the diseases aren't stable. If they are stable, find a new doctor! If you aren't stable, you probably want to carry your medical records with you and visit a new doctor every three months.

I have been on the same BP meds for ~10 years, BP solid as a rock in appropriate range. If I didn't come in for something else at least once a year, he would make me do it before a yearly refill, but no more often.
 
Find a new DR and use Walmart. Our DR also give's us refills for a year and away be go.
 
What they said! I have multiple prescriptions, as does my wife, and all are renewable for a year. This includes three dr.'s total and six prescriptions (three of  which are bp meds).

Ernie
 
Agree with the others. If your BP,cholesterol, etc is stable when using the meds, there is no need for tri-monthly follow-ups and your doctor is just milking the system to keep his revenue stream flowing.

If it's not stable, see a doc at an Urgent Care (walk-in) center wherever you are.  Bring your recent history info and current Rx and they will test and prescribe as appropriate for your current condition.
 
Ones HUGE issue not mentioned here are for those of us with chronic pain that requires opiate pain meds.... the new "laws" have turned them all into schedule 2 meds, aka "triplicate", meds.  This means there are strict limits set in stone by The Fed.  The limit is a non-refillable 30-day supply.  For example say you need hydrocodone, maybe 10/325 dose.  The old limit was up to 6/day and 180/month. New regulations and guidelines are a max of 120/30-days plus a doc visit to get a new Rx every month, mind the rules allow for 120 every 23 days but few docs want to risk the wrath of the FDA inspectors to cover those who have no other options.... anyway, short story long because of the required doc visit to correspond with your new Rx and the fact most pharmacies seem unwilling to fill pain meds across state lines, what are people like me to do?  I should qualify that my old but now retired family doc just wrote the refill Rx which I would pickup when needed.  However most docs are now in medical GROUPS/CLINICS which do not allow this sort of thing...

It's a frustrating mess as my wife and I are preparing to go fulltime for at least a year around the end of this January... we have no idea what we're gonna do at this microsecond beyond asking the doc to write a larger Rx now and begin hoarding thus becoming potential felons... oh, goodie!!!  ;)

BTW, not on a soapbox here, just being stressed more after having to alter a pain management regimen 4+ decades in the making even further... so don't think I'm making some political thing just genuinely confused and so is my doc....
 
rkw, the info you posted is not correct.  There are DEA guidelines but a physician can still write for any amount of hydrocodone he wants.  Your insurance on the other hand limits how much they will pay for each month.  Also a physician can give you 3 separate scripts each dated when you can fill them, ie Oct, Nov, Dec. with specific dates. If the pharmacist has any questions of out of state scripts, he can call the doctor to get verification.  I have filled hundreds of these scripts and have no problem calling the doctor and usually do, so always fill those scripts a few days in advance to allow for this.  Using Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens is a good idea as their computers are linked and they can see your past history to also help verify that you need these meds on a regular basis.  Whether your physician will mail you another 3 months supply is between the two of you.
 
What Kevin says is true. It's becoming a huge issue, though, with physicians being afraid of losing their ability to write ANY controlled substances because of the "red flags" that go up on anyone who is prescribing large amounts of controlled drugs--especially hydrocodone--due to the huge increase in accidental deaths from these drugs--recently surpassing auto accidents as the most common cause of accidental death in the U.S. I could actually lose my license by prescribing hydrocodone without seeing my patient, and carefully documenting it, and periodically doing a urine test to be sure he/she was taking it and not selling it. Yes, I know you could sell 99 tablets and take one one the day of your office visit but the DEA and Board of Medical Examiners (at least in Texas) have decreed that this is an imperative. I don't have the answer for this very difficult issue because there are too many serious issues that affect both the people who have chronic pain and those who are addicted to the drugs because they were ignorant enough or uncaring enough to use the drugs for "kicks".
Bob
 
Of course other medications should not be that much of a deal. I agree with Gary. It's NOT necessary to see a patient every 3 months if, of course, one's medical issues are stable. I find, though, that many people are naive about how serious their medical issues are. It's actually going to get worse. Doctors are transitioning into being paid depending on how well they are sticking to certain preordained parameters. That's going to lead to "cherry picking" compliant patients. Also, in keeping to the OPs original concern, not accepting patients who can't stick to the "suggested" periodic office visits. I'm retiring in a couple of years. Can't stand the rigidity that medical care has become. No room for outliers.
Bob
 
Heh! Last year I called my doc's office to reschedule a 6 month follow up to my annual physical due to a travel delay. The receptionist said my doc was right there, and handed her the phone. She asked me how my weight was, and I told her the scale reading taken that morning, along with my BP reading that was normal. She said it sounded good to her, and if I didn't have any other issues, she'd see me for my scheduled physical in 6 months. Hmmmm, phoned in doctor "visits". Now there's a concept...  ;D
 
prfcdoc said:
. I'm retiring in a couple of years. Can't stand the rigidity that medical care has become. No room for outliers.
Bob

This does not surprise me Doc.....every time I talk to the various doctors I visit on occasion, they say that the regulations imposed on them are stifling. And everyone of them say that the ACA is the main driver of it all.

And oddly enough (or not) can't wait until they can hang up their stethoscope.
 
One important thing is to make sure you read the bottles or cartons about temperatures that medications need to be stored at.  Most are roughly what a house would be kept at, but as we all know, if you park an RV in a parking lot in the sun, it can quickly get to the 90s or 100s or even higher very fast.  Medications can lose potency if stored at a temperature that is too hot or too cold.

At the advice of a pharmacist, I keep my medications in a small cooler.  If I think I am going to be parked in the heat for a long time, I will pop in a one of those small igloo blocks.  You do not want to keep meds in the refrigerator or put too large an ice block in the cooler because it will get too cold, but a small one helps.   
 

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