#online doctor prescription refill

[travelmeds2go]

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[dxmedstudent]

What do GPs do?

For the past few years, there's been a constant undercurrent of hostility towards the medical field in mainstream media, particularly GPs. Especially from certain conservative former doctors who write in to the Torygraph.

One of the charges levelled against GPs is that they are purpotedly ruining the NHS by not working enough hours. They need to be making more time for appointments and are all shirking.

How do GPs work?

GP work is measured in sessions, defined by the BMA as a 4h 10 minute time slot. 3 hours of this is meant to be clinical time, with some admin time for tasks - meant to be at least and hour. Typically, a whole day will involve a session in the morning and a session in the afternoon.

What do GPs do? The BMA breaks it down here. I also find articles by GPs can be useful for explaining. When not talking to patients, we are sending referrals or liaising with specialists about their care. We are checking blood test results and other investigations that were carried out by the practice, and then informing patients. We are filling prescriptions- each time a patient asks for their prescription to be refilled, a doctor or pharmacist is checking the order and whether it is safe to give, abd whether we are monitiring blood tests and keeping the patient safe. We are reading letters from specialists and actioning their recommendations.

However, in reality, multiple surveys reveal that GPs spend significantly more time working than what they are directly paid for. Whilst a 6 session GP should be spending around 24 hours at work, it's closer to 38 hours on average. GPs report spending up to 40% of their working time on admin - much of it being unpaid time outside of the hours they are contractually hired for. I and most GPs I know routinely stay late at work in order to make sure patient care is completed. We're in before 9am and leave between 7 or 8pm.

Add to that that many might have further responsibilities, especially if they are a partner in the practice.

Funnily enough, full time in general practice is considered to be 8 sessions. That's 4 long days. Gone are the days when anyone would consider a 5 day working week for GPs, because the workload is increasingly intense and sessions generate more paperwork than they used to.

Demand Is Increasing

GPs may be moving towards working less sessions, but that's because our work is getting more complex. As patients live longer, with more complicated combinations of illnesses and treatments, and we exist in a society that has progressively defunded social care and benefits, and impoverished our most vulnerable patients, there are more calls on our time abd attention than ever before. Stripped hospital services are increasingly rejecting our referrals, often inappropriately and against actual guidelines. Services are being pushed onto GPs via shared care agreements that would once have been handled by specialist teams in clinic. Services that we heavily rely on to serve our patients are sometimes defunded or disappear as contracts end or are transferred to new providers. Long wait lists lead to exasperated patients repeatedly seeing their GPs to manage issues that can't be managed well in the community.

There's a narrative in the media that appointments are impossible to get, but in reality, nationally GP surgeries are providing more appointments per month than they did before the pandemic. For example, 25.7 million appointments (excluding Covid vaccinations) were delivered by GP practices in December 2023, an increase of 9% compared to pre-pandemic. Practices are trying to find how to offer more appointments on a budget and how to improve access and find alterantive ways to serve patients; for example online forms, so that phone lines are freed up for vulnerable patients. Many practices are also offering longer appointments as many patients have complex needs.

Let's talk Pay

People also assume GPs are rich, but that's not really the case, especially given most of us wrent working full time. Average pay for a session is somewhere between 10k and 12k a year for each session a week that you work, depending on things like seniority and location. So for example, a 5 session GP earning 10k per session can expect to earn 50k a year. That's barely above the London average salary of 44k for a job that requires medical school, often an additional bachelor's degree and then at least 5 years of postgraduate training at minimum. That's more comfortable than a lot of vulnerable people, but it's nowhere near what most people think. Even if someone is paid higher per session and working more sessions, the average is still closer to 80 or 90k for salaried GP roles.

I've found figures that suggest the average GP salary is just over 100k, but that includes people doing separate private work or being partners, where in reality these are different roles that are paid differently. Partners are effectively shareholders in the practice. Locum or private work is much more lucrative and needs to be considered separately from a standard salaried role.

Some Partners may be earning £100k-150 in a good year, but that will be after working a LOT of overtime outside of their clinics, abd is in line with hospital specialists. The proportion of GPs earning more than that are miniscule. And honestly, if someone is working a ton of extra hours with their local LMC or med school or deanery, or doing a ton of locum work in evenings and weekends, I'm happy for them to be earning more money than me. Extra work and hours should be rewarded.

The Gender Aspect

I think we need to address the fact that complaining about doctors choosing to work less than what is defined as full time, often goes hand in hand with people complaining about women having the temerity to work in medicine. Apparently we're devaluing the profession by making it too female, going part time and having children. Why us ut that nobidy cares about whether men are going less than full time to look after their kids, and whether fathers are missing out on their children's upbringing?

As women, many of us are still facing sexism in our working lives. Whilst still having to deal with the fact that even uf we earn more and work longer hours than our menfolk, we usually end up doing the majority of the childcare and housework. Women in medicine are more likely to go less than full time because we are more likely to feel compelled to take on unpaid labour at home. Like our non medical sisters.

For reference, the full time nursing week in the NHS is 37.5h - with some variation between 36-40h depending on where you work. Working part time would benefit nurses, too. The nursing workforce is mostly women, and yet there's not the same outrage about their working hours or going less than full time, because women being nurses is expected. People don't seem to care about nurses' working conditions or the stresses they are under, and honestly most articles ignore the financial stresses or difficulties of most NHS workers because they are normally focused on doctors as a resource that they want to exploit maximally.

We aren't out there trying to police what hours other professions work - or at least, we shouldn't be. So why does the public feel entitled to dictate what hours doctors should be working? It's not like people are being paid for hours they aren't working!

[c-ptsdrecovery]

Things that happened today...

...that would have put me in an ABSOLUTE PANIC two years ago, but now that I've got trauma therapy and mood stabilizer medication on board, I handled absolutely calmly:

--Touchpad on laptop froze (turned computer off and back on again; it was fine)

--Couldn't find one of my prescriptions on my online pharmacy account to refill it (turned out it needed to be renewed. did that online)

--While renewing prescription, discovered that my doctor's appt today, which I took off work for and thought was at 10:30, and which we had carefully fitted today's schedule around, was actually at 1:30. Called doctor and rescheduled.

--Appt had to be rescheduled for February. It's okay; it wasn't urgent.

I expect to run into other normal troubles today. These are things that would have felt like LIFE OR DEATH when I was dealing with PTSD and intense anxiety/depression. Life is SO MUCH BETTER now... Therapy and medication are ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT!

[cervinelich]

You can get cheaper meds right now!!!

I know I have made this post 100 times, but it needs to be made/shared again.

Make a CostPlusDrugs account RIGHT NOW. It is an online pharmacy that is legally licensed. They are transparent about their pricing model.

Directly from their mission statement:

You can even go on the website and check if they are going to carry your drug and exactly how much it will cost before making an account or entering any information at all.

On the homepage scroll down just a little bit and click this button.

Type in your medication, it will give a list of variations of that medication including generic/brand name differences.

Enter the specifics like the dosage, quantity, etc. and they will give you a price breakdown right then and there without you even needing to make an account!

Look at this difference for my dog's liver medication!! I was paying $140/month for his liver medication at a compound pharmacy and it could have been $18.

I have used this website myself and had prescriptions delivered it is not a scam, it is not fake. My pantoprazole for acid reflux is $60 at the corner pharmacy and I have been paying $11 for it since using this website. Please, please, please my struggling friends DO THIS.

Check to make sure they carry your medications

Make an account entering your medical info (allergies, current meds, etc)

Next time you need to ask your doctor for a refill, CostPlus will give you a code/email instructions to show/send to your doctor. The code is for verification purposes.

You will get an email and/or a notification in the website when your script is received.

Pay for your prescription + shipping (the shipping is usually very cheap, like $5).

You will get updates as they prepare and ship your prescription.

I love you, take care of yourselves.

[yurious-george]

4'33'', by John Cage, is commonly remembered as 4 and a half minutes of silence. But contrary to popular belief, the song is not actually meant to be the sound of silence, but the sound of quiet. Ambient noises contribute to - and consist of - the performance. True silence does not exist. If one tilts their head right, the whole world sings. and, with that said, a playlist.

yeah, this one's a doozy. hi, cubewatermelon and co. miss me?

rhetorical question. don't answer that.

A few nitty-gritty things out of the way, first. this is specifically intended for the 2018 mod team for the sleepless domain fans discord server, primarily cubewatermelon/mary cagle. Folks who knew me are welcome to look on, but I'm not going to do much to catch people up to speed. hi, everyone! hope you're well!

I also might be a bit disjointed or biased in my recollection. For reasons that will be made clear extremely soon, I can't put my childhood on a linear timeline. I can only express myself, and hope I don't mess it up horribly this time.

Noooowww to the big stuff. re: stalking; i genuinely didn't mean to stalk anyone, and when they told me to back off, i backed off. I am not willing to discuss this further. not being able to conceptualize other people's emotions or the consequences of my actions has caused some problems for me

that's an autism thing btw. im autistic i dont think i told anyone that

And now, the special guest you've all been waiting for: a big round of applause for the elephant in the room! In accordance with the WMA Declaration of Tokyo, the deliberate overprescription of psychotropic medication is a form of pharmacological torture. Most victims of pharmacological torture and experimentation are children, because it is nigh-impossible to sue for brain damage when there is no fully-formed adult brain for comparison prior to the abuse.

Torture is a strong word, but I don't have another word to use. psychiatric abuse usually describes mistreatment in psychiatric wards; pharmacological abuse describes a patient who takes advantage of a prescription; medical abuse is when a doctor (usually physically) abuses their patient. Being able to understand what happened to you is a form of agency, and I don't even have the words. I identify as a torture victim; this may change.

This high dose was precedented and legal, but the vaginal stretching of intersex infants is also legal. much involuntary psychiatric & psychotropic treatment (such as restraints and solitary confinement) are legal, and child marriage is legal. abuse is not abnormal: it is profoundly normal. Because something is normal, legal, and precedented does not prevent it from being torture.

and when your mother hands you a poison apple and says "here, eat this; it will be good for you; i hope someday you'll forgive me" you have to eat it, because you are eight years old and you don't get to argue with your mother. despite all this, I don't blame my aunt for refilling the high dose. when I said the dose was hurting me, she listened. (thank you, auntie. i wouldn't have gotten out without you.)

And this brings us to you. oh, you four. (five? i forget myself!)

I'd like to establish some context. I was used to things getting taken from me. friend groups in particular: I didn't expect to keep any friends, because I constantly expected to have to pack up and move on. I moved a lot in my childhood, and in Africa, i was constantly told that at some undetermined point in the near future, i'd have to go back to the states. living with my aunt was a temporary thing, i was expected to eventually move back in with my parents at some undetermined point in the future. I relied heavily on online friends because they were people I could have anywhere, so online communities were my only lifeline - not to mention, i was basically in solitary confinement while in Kenya.

Most of all, I was terrified of my mental health/actions being exposed, examined, found lacking, and ultimately excluded. (this is why i was so afraid of psychiatric wards.) When you decided something had to be done about me - cutting me off from the server so i had to speak with you - It was either comply with your demands to communicate (which I could not, and did not understand why) or lose the community. I was so, so afraid of you i wanted to die when you all confronted me, and of course i couldn't say that, because only manipulative people would say "your attempt to solve this problem makes me want to seriously hurt myself."

But then I got called manipulative anyway <3 yay <3

Seriously: I wasn't trying to manipulate anyone, and i have no idea how you can manipulate someone without intention. (ah, that felt good to say!) Between medication spellbinding, alexithymia, and prior abuse, all my thoughts were so disordered i genuinely couldn't explain myself most of the time. Looking back, I have no childhood memory where I was fully lucid. I leaned into a manic persona because it was the only way I had any agency at all. I was something beyond both reason and self-recognition, and I willingly tried to brute-force my way through an extreme trauma response to please you. And you still hit me with my worst nightmare. that's why i was mad at you lol

I was so, so afraid, all the time, and I didn't even have the tools to understand I was afraid. How could someone as confident and impulsive as me be so fearful all the time? Was that manic persona freedom? Or was it a longer leash?

(Forgive my impulse toward rhetoric. I shouldn't ask questions you can't answer.)

I also couldn't say how badly i was hurting, because that would be venting, but you also accused me of venting when I was just talking about my day? or what was on my mind? I didn't understand that very well. autism moment, don't bother explaining it now. I also couldn't burden people with my actual mental health problems, because making strangers deal with that would be toxic! I resent you for setting up a system where it seemed safest not to speak and then punishing me for my inability to communicate. I resent every system that set me up for failure and punished me for failing, including yours.

And yet - I know that was not your intent! I can see in retrospect how hard you tried to be kind using the tools you had. The people with power over me, who genuinely did not want to do me harm and gave me multiple second chances, still upheld and facilitated the systems that tortured me; a miniature parody of the psychiatric system. (talk therapy and communication are useless if you struggle with self-awareness.) The same is true for the source: No person in my psychiatric treatment wanted me to suffer, and yet, here I am: a torture victim without a torturer. (except my parents, sort of.)

The logical conclusion, then: the system only intends to heal those who are already compliant, or prioritize compliance. The rest of us are treated to induce compliance, and if we still cannot, we are sequestered away. My medicine made me sick, and my prescribers made money off of keeping me sick - off of my torture. This is not a conspiracy: it is my lived experience.

However, even if i could communicate perfectly, we still would have had massive communication issues. Like - you know that one page where ben and steffi talk about dating, and ben says he thought steffi was gay? and steffi gets super defensive and it escalates into a screaming fight? I found that offensive, because a character getting that offput by the concept of not liking men (or a man) is kind of lesbophobic! But I understood that it would be a pain to redraw/write the page so they they fight about something else, don't fight, or some other solution, so i didn't need it to be fixed - just wanted to point out that was a reasonable interpretation, and one to be aware of in the future. but somehow my concerns got interpreted as a phrasing issue…? like, Ms. Cagle rewrote the page to say "weren't into guys" instead of "gay"..? You were very polite about it, Ms! But I found this interaction so baffling I didn't even try to correct it. that… wasn't what i said…

frankly we should bring back mildly homophobic steffi. twas narratively appropriate (<- different essay for a different time)

but yeah the whole communication operation was doomed from the start. rip!

The issue was always my inability to communicate, but my meds made it nigh-impossible to understand what I was feeling, and when I did, expressing myself could get me institutionalized. My suffering was inevitable but always, somehow, my fault. Awesome! *disintegrates into a pile of sand*

I cannot deny I was a girl like a box of matches waiting to be struck. You had no choice but to do as you did. But is it really what you ought to have done? (On this, I have no answer. I hope you have one that satisfies you.)

(that was genuine, by the by. i've spent a lot of time pondering this mess, and I still haven't found the "right" answer. I don't think there is one - though action or inaction, there is no version of this story where I don't suffer. I can only hope it was worth it. wait, hold on *adds the omelas child to my Kin List*)

Nor can I deny making my previous open letter in a small attempt to 'get back' at you - i'm not above that. lord knows i'm not innocent. but i really was trying to channel that rage into something productive. unfortunately i was doomed to fail because i didn't know what i meant. if you showed me that letter now, you'd hear a lot of "what? I don't know why I said that" "i have no idea why i would complain about something so minor" etc. You can disregard all that. This is what I was trying to say. the obsession, the trauma, the projection: all of it. So much of my obsession was talking around an issue i couldn't identify.

(meguka image) I know now

I knew I would be traumatized by this whole situation. I saw it coming and i could do nothing to stop it. But Gear was crucial to deciphering all this - in fact, suddenly thinking about her last year prompted me to really dissect my medical situation and realize i was tortured. I couldn't have done it without her. cassie & maggie, against the world.

Gear scans surprisingly well as a victim of long-term torture, actually. I don't think you meant to do that but good job!

speaking of her - i still don't think she's consistently suicidal. she's a real cockroach of a character, and I love her for it! But sometimes, i want to die and i want to live mean the same thing, because they both mean i need to get out of here. Imo, her thought processes and desires frequently contradict themselves, like mine did. and making your favs kill themselves in increasingly gruesome ways is really fun catharsis!

But please don't take this to mean I consider myself - or Gear - blameless. I love her because she's not blameless, because she's cruel for fun, because she'd rather be wicked than helpless. Like knows like. What I mean to say is, as of 2018, there is a black space between little Margret and Gear, and I saw all the signs of something very, very bad happening in that space. I know because I shared that space. what I mean to say is, teenage girls don't go out of their minds over nothing. Everything I made here is just an expression of what I heard in the narrative's silences.

and thus my biggest apprehension around revisiting the comic. knowing the author and I have such fundamentally different experiences with mental health - what if the signs of torture i picked up on weren't intended, or i completely made them up? what if, in the parts i haven't read yet, there's information that uproots my entire interpretation, or berates her for refusing mental health services that hurt me profoundly? how do you reconcile that a character so crucial to deciphering yourself may not be anything like you at all? I Don't Know. Shitpost, probably

You're welcome to share those shitposts and whatnot by the way. Creating this let me put down years of hurt, and i hope it relieves you, too. I don't need to go back on the server, or forgiveness, or anything besides understanding. consider this a peace offering. the terms are yours.

Despite writing nearly 10k words, I still probably missed something or was callous or whatever. Self-expression and self-understanding are… new to me. My apology may be understated, but please take it as I meant it, with utmost sincerity. My askbox is open, and I'm more than happy to discuss antipsych resources, KB, What The Hell Is Wrong With Gear, artistic choices made in this comic, etc. I'm even down to reconnect on discord! Maybe. Uh, I'm conflicted. I reserve my right to not want to talk, be slow in responding, and so on, as should you. we've no obligations and all the time in the world. Let neither of us hurt ourselves in meeting because it's the "right" thing to do. I'm not blaming anyone or trying to start drama. If it would give you the most peace of mind to completely ignore this, please do so.

or, translated: as of right now, I'm not ready for any information about KB after steffi reunites with her dad, or difficult emotional reunions. I would really like to hear from everyone, and I'd appreciate casual well-wishes. I don't want things to be the same, I want them to be peaceful. Baby steps, cassie, baby steps. (very large and fearful prey animal tries not to run into oncoming traffic)

mostly, making this was for me. Perhaps I've said too much, but after spending so long unable to express myself freely, my art was cathartic and necessary. I'm no one's martyr or innocent, I'm just a torture victim trying to make sense of it all. I want to articulate some thoughts I couldn't figure out how to say before and make some silly things that make people laugh. Most of all, I'm happy in ways I never thought I could be, and I would like to share that joy with old acquaintances and other fans of a story I adored.

What I mean to say is: The train's about to leave the station, and there's an empty seat beside me. The train will still leave whether or not you board; but I would be honored not to go it alone!

Thank you to everyone who stuck by me even after the drama. Ethel, Felipe, Chris - even though we've fallen out of contact, your kindness and patience meant more than i can say. special thank you to @stars-in-a-jam-jar, the first person i confessed everything to after the smoke cleared, and someone i consider myself close with no matter how long we fall out of contact. My close online friends, @shafpanda, @theoandmoon, @dvanaestmrva, my honorary cousin @my-name-is-jimmy, and everyone else I confided in about my torture. and, of course, my partners @transloo and @teenyjellyfishy, and my little sibling, @aroacenezhaanddainsleif, the three people I love most in the world. Thank you, all. it is an honor to love you, and be loved by you.

[lunastarnight]

(Writing thing, mostly about Curt, sorry if there are any grammar or writing mistakes, english isn't my first language and I don't have much practice writing stuff like this)

Curt shot awake, his breathing heavy.

It happened again.

So many times, he had had that same fucking nightmare. Ever since the Inbetween, his dreams had just been reliving that time, every single thing that happened.

Being trapped. Terrified. Hurt.

He got out of bed, hoping that maybe some tea will help calm him down again.

When it had started, it was noticable, Curt quickly growing very outwardly tired, with heavy eyebags, slumped posture and his coffein intake rising drastically, Curt just trying anything to stay awake and not fucking pass out or anything. Honestly, those dreams terrified him.

But he could only keep up his "Everything's fine" facade for so long, it eventually just kinda crumbling when he passed out while they all were at Christians place, Curt almost hitting his head on the kitchen counter if they hadn't caught him.

Curt in all honestly still isn't quite sure how he managed to both not get put in a mental hospital, and still get medication for his sleeping issues. He obviously couldn't tell the truth, cause how fucking insane would that sound? "I got tortured by an eldritch Anime girl that kept me trapped between Universes, and I can't sleep anymore because I'm just reliving that every time I try to sleep". He had told the others the truth after they left the hospital, but he really could not bring anything like that with the Doctors. Instead he pulled some lie about "work stress" and "recently getting out of a shitty relathionship", and thankfully that worked.

After a bit of talk with his therapist, he managed to get some sleeping medications. The biggest thing he noticed when taking them, was that he just didn't dream at all, but he honestly prefered that over that Nightmare.

He was still supposed to take them, but of-fucking-course the Pharmacy wouldn't have the refill of his prescription until Monday!

Curt let himself sink onto the couch, the warmth of the mug in his hand helping to ground him a little. He was just so fucking excausted, he just hoped those nightmares would stop soon.

He couldn't be the only one with nightmares, could he? Yeah, he was trapped in the Inbetween, but everyone had some gruesome stuff happen to them. Wether it be Den turning into a Chaos God, Ivan just getting stabbed over and over- was there nothing? Was he really the only one affected by any of this?

Curt sighed, taking another sip of his tea. He stood up, tea in hand, slowly going back to his bedroom. He didn't know, he couldn't know on his own, and he honestly wasn't sure if he should ask, if any of them even wanted to talk about it. And really, at this point, Curt didn't really want to know that, as much as he just wanted to try and sleep. Maybe he could just find something online, maybe there was something he could just trick his brain into just fucking staying asleep for the whole night with, some Placebo-effect crap.

Hopefully.

[beetledrink]

first my doctor stopped approving med refills unless i come in for an incredibly expensive uninsured checkup, then after i made a doctors appointment my pharmacy dropped me as a client (and they were the only reason i could even afford my medication in the first place), and at that point having been unmedicated and utterly stressed i was COMPLETELY at my breaking point for a few weeks , but i ended up finding a purely online healthcare place that handles the doctors visits digitally AND fulfills their own prescriptions and mails them out, so even though it’s a lil expensive it’s worth it to not be literally, actually going insane

[millerflintstone]

My dermatologist appointment is in 15 minutes. I checked in online and am hoping I get a break so I can run in.

I hate driving in the rain. I've been running around today on my approved doctor appointment sick time. I hit Kroger at 7, went home and unloaded and then went back out for the eye doctor at 9. Picked out frames for my computer-use-only prescription. Then I got coffee at a new place (Ellanios?) and got Gigabyte some prescription food.

Next, was my chiropractor, who doesn't do all that crazy cracking. He uses a drop table. I feel much better. I didn't realize how tight my upper back was until I got adjusted.

Then I hit Costco for some things. Madness. I got in and out and then went home, unloaded, grabbed a quick shower and a protein bar. I refilled Gigabyte's Hydra Care bowl, brushed my teeth and headed to the last appointment of the day - a skin check.

Now I'm in the waiting room writing this. Gig was dead asleep. The fridge and front doors and me stumbling around didn't wake her up AT ALL.

It's been a day. And the weather has sucked for all of it 😡

[lauralot89]

All right friends let me tell you about my day because either I vent or I go to jail for murder

I don't even know who I'd murder but I would

Day starts out normal enough. I've been having an issue where my pharmacy did not autorefill the medication I need for my autoimmune disorder, without which I am in constant pain and will suffer deformity and mobility loss but you know, other than that

Until about noon I'm making some nice progress on a story I'm writing. Then I get stuck. It happens.

I check the pharmacy website and it says there was an error with my prescription and to call the pharmacy, so I do. They say they'll fill and I get a robot call about half an hour later saying the prescription is ready and my out of pocket cost is 120 USD

wait what

this medication has always cost me 20 USD

what the fuck

whatever, I tell myself. I'll get it sorted out after work when I go to pick it up.

At this point I check my email. Message from my auto insurance saying they never received my payment, and my coverage will expire in two days.

I call them. I explain I mailed the payment on July 9. They say they received a notification from USPS on the 11th that the payment was on its way, but then they never got it. And they consider payments lost in the mail if they aren't received within 15 days of being mailed. And today was exactly 15 days since I mailed the payment.

So I pay again, online this time, with the promise that if they receive the check, they'll refund the cost. Now bear in mind I pay the full amount at once rather than the monthly so there is a 900+ dollar check floating around in the backrooms somewhere right now, which does not make me feel great

Work ends. I go to the pharmacy. I'm like why is this 20 dollar medication suddenly 120 dollars? The pharmacist is like "Yeah that's weird. We ran it through your insurance like we always do. You should call them."

So I call them. After some time on hold, I get an agent. I explain what's going on. He's like "Yeah that's weird. Let me call the pharmacy."

I spend the next half hour listening to hold music as I pace around the pharmacy and when I get taken off hold, I'm now speaking to a pharmacy person instead of my insurance guy.

Apparently my insurance decided, unbeknownst to me because there were certainly no emails or letters, that for medications I take every day, they now want me to get ninety days at a time. Which, okay fine, whatever. But if I don't get this either by mail or through Specific Pharmacy My Insurance Works With, then it's an out of pocket cost.

Again, some random pharmacy worker had to tell me this. Not my insurance.

But wait there's more. Currently all my prescriptions are for a thirty day supply, so even if I immediately transfer them to Specific Pharmacy, I still won't get my prescriptions refilled without a bunch of rigamarole because they're supposed to be for ninety days now

(What does this do to birth control, you may ask? Fuck if I know.)

so what I need to do is to call my doctor's offices to have them transfer the prescriptions and change it from 30 to 90 days. which, great, but I have been without the necessary medication for a week now and I can't wait any longer, so I suck it up and prepare to pay 120 USD

Now by the grace of God, the pharmacy tech heard my plight and was like "that's some bullshit" and by reducing it back down to 30 days and also getting coupons involved, he was able to get the cost down to 28 dollars

so you'd think "Well at least there was a happy ending"

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE

So at this point my car is nearly out of gas. So I drive across the street from the pharmacy to the gas station. Get out of the car. Put in my card. Yada yada. And instead of asking me to lift the nozzle and select the fuel type, it says "Thank you! Take your receipt!"

The fuck?

I go ask the cashier.

"Yeah, it does that sometimes. Try it again."

I try it five more times. Every time "Thank you! Take your receipt!"

I drive to another pump. It happens AGAIN.

I go back to the cashier.

"Oh, it must be something wrong with your card."

Now maybe I'm weird but in my experience when your card declines, the message you get is "Card declined" or "Chip malfunction" or "Card error." Messages that I have gotten at this very gas station. But apparently that made too much sense, so they switched over to "Thank you! Take your receipt!"

The lady tells me I can pay at the desk. I wait five minutes before I can pay at the desk because the pump has not cleared out the last "Thank you! Take your receipt!" transaction. She tells me she would send me over to the pump to press cancel, but it would take too long. Then she has me do it anyway.

In conclusion, my heart is full of rage.

[sevarix-blogs]

update i discovered why the pharmacy wasn't filling my prescription 😔 i ran out of refills which means i have to get my doctor to call it in. except the online refill thing didn't tell me i ran out of refills and acted like it was gonna get filled and even told me a date it would be ready. ughhhh

[just-your-average-author]

That time Patton thought Virgil was a Drug Addict

Patton was worried. He didn't like being worried and he certainly didn't like why he was worried. Patton had always considered himself the dad of the group, and like any responsible parent, it was his job to make sure everyone in his famILY was safe and happy. Patton tutted and sighed, scrolling furiously on his computer, scanning the paragraphs with his eyes. Why did science have to be so difficult to understand? Finally, he smiled having found a simplified page, that even had a built-in questionnaire! Perfect! He quickly glanced around, and upon making sure no one saw, he scribbled down a few of the questions on a post it, and cleared the history. There was no need worrying any one else.

Virgil was worried. Granted, Virgil was always worried so he wasn't too bothered by it. However, he started a new job and the stress had really gotten to him, so he sucked it up and took himself to a doctor appointment and gotten himself a fancy new prescription. Virgil read the bottle, noting he could take it up to three times a day, and shoved it in his pocket.

Over the course of a couple weeks, Virgil felt a lot better. He took his medicine whenever he felt panicked or like spiraling, and was even able to tolerate more social activities. He even accepted the other Sides' invitation to the mall, which he didn't notice Patton's look of concern at that. Yep! All was going well.

Virgil fidgeted with the pill bottle in his hand, hesitating before taking one of his pills. He was almost out, and he didn't get a refill for a couple days. "Dammit!" he muttered. Patton walked into the kitchen, glancing over at the anxious side, but trying to look inconspicuous. "Hey Virgil," Patton remarked, sounding casual. "What's wrong?"

Virgil tutted. "I'm almost out, and I can't get more until later," he nonchalantly answered, before walking past a thoroughly horrified Patton.

That was it, Patton thought to himself. Virgil obviously needed help, and he would be damned to see him struggle like this. He wondered if he should really Logan and Roman for this, but ultimately decided for the sake of Virgil, he should hold off unless it was truly needed.

The next day, Virgil was in the living room, typing on his phone when Patton strolled in. "Hey, Virgil, whatcha doing?"

Virgil shrugged. "Not much, just checking to see if my drugs are ready."

Patton sighed, "Kiddo, I think we need to talk." Virgil looked up from his phone and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay?"

"I just want you to know this is a safe space, and I'd like you to answer honestly, you aren't on trial here," he assured. Virgil just looked more puzzled.

"Okay?.."

"I know you've been taking these pills and," Patton stuttered, "I just had a few questions."

Ah, Virgil thought. Patton must be nervous to talk to a doctor about his anxiety too. "Sure, Patton. Go ahead."

Encouraged by Virgil's surprising cooperation, he recalled his questions. "Does taking this, well, drug, give you a feeling that you've escaped reality?"

Virgil cocked his eyebrow. "Uh no, not really. But, I mean that's the goal I suppose. To experience a better reality."

Patton gulped. "Interesting. Do you take the drug to make you happy?" Virgil chuckled.

"Yeah, that's kind of the point, Patton." he laughed.

"Oh dear," Patton whisperered. Virgil looked at him confused.

"Patton, I-"

"And do you look forward to them after a long day at work?" Patton interjected frantically.

Virgil tilted his head, "Patton they're for when I'm at work."

Patton let out a strangled sob and crumpled to the floor in tears. Alarmed, Virgil jumped up and raced over. "Patton what's the matter?"

"You're a drug addict!" he wailed, covered his eyes with his hands.

"What???"

Patton sniffled. "I know you're taking drugs, and I found this questionnaire online and rehab is expensive Virgil, but I have to help and-"

Virgil just started laughing, laughing harder then he had in a while. Patton looked mad. "This isn't funny! You need help Virgil, you're obviously dependent on these pills."

Still laughing, Vigil got up and handed Patton his pill bottle, "Patton, these are Hydroxyzine!"

"Gesundheit?" he asked, looking over the bottle.

Virgil laughed again. "It's an anti-anxiety medicine. My doctor prescribed it to me for stress." Virgil barely missed Patton's "Oh", before descending into deep laughter all over again.

Virgil quieted and watched Patton, realizing he had some explaining to do. "Patton, it's not about escaping reality or not being happy without it; it's a tool to help me function better, and avoid killing my idiotic manager," Virgil explained, trying to reassure his well-meaning friend.

Patton nodded, a mix of relief and understanding crossing his face. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure you're okay, Virgil. I care about you."

Virgil offered a small smile. "Thanks, Patton. I appreciate your concern. If you ever have questions, feel free to ask."

"Sandy is a little idiotic."

Virgil cackled. "A little? Boy let me tell you what happened Wednesday."

With that, the two continued their conversation, Patton now more informed about Virgil's perspective on anxiety medication, and Virgil grateful for Patton's caring nature, even if it sometimes led to amusing misunderstandings.

[here-be-dragons-and-whatnot]

How to refill your prescriptions in 29 easy steps

I need to refill two prescriptions that I take as-needed for a chronic condition that flares on occasion. I've been using them for four years and filling it at the same pharmacy the whole time. Here's how I pulled it off:

Log into the pharmacy's online portal.

Get directed to the portal for my specific location for this chain pharmacy.

Attempt to log in here. It has two-factor authentication

Wait for the code. It does not arrive.

Request another code. It also does not arrive.

Call the store.

Get re-directed to tech support to get a code.

The tech support robots claim to send me a code. It never arrives.

Ask the robots for another

This one mysteriously makes it to my inbox

Log in

Am told to change password because of multiple attempted logins.

Change password.

Attempt to refill prescriptions. Since I have not ordered a refill in 6 months, they are missing from the online portal.

Call the pharmacy again. Navigate the phone tree to place an order through the automated system.

Manually enter 12-digit prescription numbers. It takes 7 minutes for two prescriptions

Am informed the prescriptions do not exist. Automated system hangs up.

Call pharmacy, repeat "Speak to a pharmacist" enough times that I am put on hold waiting for an authentic human.

Wait 47 minutes on hold

Tell the pharmacist what I need. They order the prescriptions

Get an automated voicemail that my prescriptions have expired and they will be contacting my doctor to order refills. Both bottles claim the prescription is good until mid 2025, but I have not ordered refills in 6 months so they do not exist in the system. I do not know why the pharmacist told me otherwise.

I changed health insurance this year and therefore changed doctors. My old doctor cannot refill the prescriptions.

My new doctor is on maternity leave.

The doctor standing in for my current doctor will not issue these prescriptions without an appointment.

The doctor standing in for my current doctor does not have appointments available this year.

I am changing health insurance again in January. I will not be able to see them in time.

Call an urgent care clinic. Explain that I need these prescriptions filled and cannot wait until some time in 2025 to have them. Urgent care says they can prescribe them if I come in for an appointment.

Schedule an appointment. This will cost me $120 out of pocket not counting the prescriptions.

Receive three expired login codes for my pharmacy's online portal.

And just like that, I should have these two prescriptions in-hand about a week from now, perfectly timed with my flare ending 😎

[muskmelon-enjoyer-199x]

I have an actual appointment with a real trans clinic coming up. I'm excited and scared at the same time

I've had a lot happen to me in doctors' offices.

As a teen, I had doctors give me antipsychotics to make me "normal." I've had others since who recommended me electroshocks and this weird magnet helmet thing. Some of them laughed when I told them I had experienced things they should have reported to relevant authorities (and also my parents? they didn't care either, though).

My first HRT doctor talked like an expert but only had a little experience in the field. My dosages and blood tests were handled well, and he gave me injectables by default. He got very familiar with me and starting trying to get me to let him examine my body. Unfortunately, i trusted him. He did prescribe me benzos regularly out of "concern" though. Does that make me cheap? I've done worse for less, I guess. If nothing else, I was free of narrow WPATH guidelines for a few years.

A few doctors in-between just filled my prescriptions and never spoke to me. I figured they wanted to get me in and out of the office quickly and quietly. I often didn't get blood tests as a result. Sometimes, I had to get my meds from alternative sources.

I had a doctor responsible for my care treat me like wet shit for five appointments and then just ghost me without refills. He laughed in my face when I told him i wanted to talk about progesterone and threatened to "take away" my medication if I didn't comply with his decisions. He reduced my dosage to the point that my meds weren't working and I was forced to buy supplementary amounts online. He insisted it was in the WPATH guidelines, but he also didn't check my blood very often. He was a very pushy man and I hated his eyes.

I started running out of HRT. To make matters worse, a package I had ordered as a stopgap was seized by customs. My last option was the shitty hotline on my insurance card. They never work for me, but I tried.

The guy I connected to first was in Alabama. You can guess how it went. I hate it when breeders couch their disgust in sanitized terms. It's like if someone painted a portrait of a monster, but never painted the figure itself. The background and foreground are there, but the intended figure is just filled in with raw canvas. They didn't color and detail the monster, but it's still clear that it's there. Everything else frames it in place and offers clear context for it.

The second was in Stillwater, Minnesota, and he was just confusing. He told me that he couldn't refill my medications because they were potentially dangerous. The spiro supposedly carried a serious risk of blood clots and required blood tests. He said that if I really needed this medication, my doctor would have ordered blood tests. I tried to explain my situation, but he wouldn't listen.

The real ridiculous part was the estradiol. He said it caused cancer and was a known carcinogen.

I told him otherwise, which upset him. He brought up breast cancer, so I told him that went up because I have boobs now (by choice). He added that I was at risk of cervical cancer, as well. I tried to explain why that wasnt true, but he continued to insist he couldn't rule out the risk.

(I don't have a cervix 🙃)

I just hope this goes better.

Im going to ask about moving forward towards surgery.

[weirdopponent]

Things they didn't tell me about HRT:

Something is happening to my body.

I noticed it this morning,

foam on my chin,

underneath the blade

were dark green scales.

Mere specs

like the few hairs on my chin

that have only just started growing

and that I do not want to stop.

I looked it up online;

"T side effects",

"T side effects skin conditions",

"T side effects skin conditions reddit"

Something is happening to my body.

I noticed it this afternoon,

my blood was boiling

so hot, no one could touch me

without flinching

"More blood cells,"

my doctor says when I call him,

the both of us not talking about

the way my prescription this month had extra refills

I breathe out

and smoke burns the inside of my throat

raw.

Something is happening to my body.

I noticed it earlier this evening,

my teeth so big

they stick out against my lips

and break the skin

I cannot kiss you without hurting you.

The dentist offers to shave them down,

but I don't want to be caught without a weapon

or an out

I've never had much of an appetite for

red meat.

Something is happening to my body.

It woke me up in the middle of the night,

in a cold sweat as if from a nightmare,

my hands shake on a water bottle I can't get a grip on because

instead of my gentle hands there are claws.

You told me I was home, and you would go where I go.

Something has happened to my body --

I welcomed it

It lets me defend the things that are mine

like the single-use needles, the syringes, the vials and the swabs,

you, and the place we have chosen to live

[anonymusbosch]

the mandatory doctor's appointments I am legally required to have for my regular prescription are so funnie. to me.

me: *confirms appointment online*

me: *fills out 13 pages of paperwork online*

me: *calls office because they never sent the telehealth link*

me: *sits in telehealth waiting room for 10 minutes*

doctor: Hi are the meds still working? Yeah? Any questions? I'll send the refill, see you in 6 months