Stolen Medications: What to Do if it Happens to You

I have a wonderful pain doc.. on a sign in his office, however, states that refills will NOT EVER be given early.  Leaving town (as I have for surgeries) for any reason?  Too bad.  Have someone steal some or all of your meds?  Again, TOO BAD.  We sign contracts with our doctors that we will be responsible for any and all of our opioids.  This means they will never be filled early.  In some states, it is not possible to have prescriptions transferred in (Texas included there).  Once transferred out, future refills will not be filled again, no matter how many refil;s you had.  You can only transfer out one refill of any narcotic.  Then it's back to the doc to discuss and get it filled;; if you happen to be back in town.  I actually scheduled this next appt in Mass (next week) for a time when I should not need to refill.

Now, some of us have state-paid and hired "helpers".  I am lucky that my aide is now my son.  Until the decision was made to hire my son, I felt I had to keep an eagle-eye on the different aides who came in.  I would not allow them into my bedroom becasue that's where I kept my meds.   It was counterproductive in that I was exhausted each time they were here and my bed was never changed by them!  That's kind of crazy! 

And, I used to have a "friend" who I know was stealing meds from me.. when I figured it out, she was de-friended by me.. I count out my meds every evening for the next day.. and the bottle is so large, I am sure she thought I wouldn't miss them.. HA!  What ended up happening was I had to take fewer pills than prescribed.. for a couple of different months.  THIS is wrong and, until I figured out the problem, I was the one who suffered.   I never did file a police report  and i did not complain to my doc as I didn't want a red-flag on my chart;  I could not PROVE the crime, but, once I got rid of her, it never happened again!

Anyway, I appreciate your posting this but there are circumstances that the doctor's contract does not cover.. and we, the patients, tend to suffer for it! 

PLEASE:  all who do take narcotic meds, MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE ALL LABELS before you place any pill bottles or packages into the trash!  In fact, place them into two different bags inside of the trash can, so that nobody is aware of your need for medications.  That's what I do!  The CVS pharmacy close to me actually had to remove their trash can from in front of the store for all of the idiots who were tossing their Rx info in there.  People really need to be smarter about this;  at least smarter than the crooks!!

Thank you Mr. Rowe

Your articles are very informative and will really help a great deal of us in knowing what to do if we find our selves in some of these undesireable situations.

I look forward to watching for your future articles.

Betty

I had pain medication that was sent to me. Once I recieved it, it appeared to have been crumbled up a little, but where it was sealed did not appear to be messed with. I opened it and there were a whole month supply gone out of it. There were pills lose in the bag, but the lid was on the bottle. I had never had anything like this to happen before, and I didn't know what to do. The only thing I could think of was to call the pharmist and let them know the way that  I had recieved it. They talked as if I had a refill, they would send me the ones that were missing. I did not have a refill. I called my Doctor, and with being at a hosiptal you can never get him. It took me 2 weeks of calling every day and talking to a nurse, in which I really do not think they were sending him all of the notes that they claimed that they did. If they did it should not have taken 2 weeks to get a call from the Dr. This is not the first time it had taken 2 weeks to talk to my dr. Once I finally got a hold of him, he said that he believed me in which he should have, but he said it was between me and the pharmacy, I had told him what the pharmacy said and I also told him that they said if he would call them, so they can let him know what is going on, then they the pharmacy would send me the missing ones. Now to me my dr. said no promblem he would call them so they could let him know. When I called the pharmacy they told me he called and said no. Now this was in March 2008. I had a appointment with the dr on April 11, 2008. He knew I would be out of medicine on April 12,2008. Of course I asked him what was going on, and he told me that he could not give me a prescription until it was time for it, no matter that I has a months worth stolen from me between the pharmacy filling it and me recieving it. Now I have had fms,me,mps,mfs,rls,cfs and ect.. for almost 20 years. And I have never had anything like this to ever happen to me, I have always done exacally what the dr.s has told me to do. I have never, ever mis used my medicine, no matter how bad the pain is. And now my so called dr. has left me without my pain medicine. The pain is so bad that I have asked to be shot abd put out of my misery. It hurts so bad to move, to not move  even just to breathe. If any one can help me find a dr that for number one knows this disease, because if they don't know about it, they can not treat it. Please let me know of any Dr.s that can help me Please!

I had pain medication that was sent to me. Once I recieved it, it appeared to have been crumbled up a little, but where it was sealed did not appear to be messed with. I opened it and there were a whole month supply gone out of it. There were pills lose in the bag, but the lid was on the bottle. I had never had anything like this to happen before, and I didn't know what to do. The only thing I could think of was to call the pharmist and let them know the way that  I had recieved it. They talked as if I had a refill, they would send me the ones that were missing. I did not have a refill. I called my Doctor, and with being at a hosiptal you can never get him. It took me 2 weeks of calling every day and talking to a nurse, in which I really do not think they were sending him all of the notes that they claimed that they did. If they did it should not have taken 2 weeks to get a call from the Dr. This is not the first time it had taken 2 weeks to talk to my dr. Once I finally got a hold of him, he said that he believed me in which he should have, but he said it was between me and the pharmacy, I had told him what the pharmacy said and I also told him that they said if he would call them, so they can let him know what is going on, then they the pharmacy would send me the missing ones. Now to me my dr. said no promblem he would call them so they could let him know. When I called the pharmacy they told me he called and said no. Now this was in March 2008. I had a appointment with the dr on April 11, 2008. He knew I would be out of medicine on April 12,2008. Of course I asked him what was going on, and he told me that he could not give me a prescription until it was time for it, no matter that I has a months worth stolen from me between the pharmacy filling it and me recieving it. Now I have had fms,me,mps,mfs,rls,cfs and ect.. for almost 20 years. And I have never had anything like this to ever happen to me, I have always done exacally what the dr.s has told me to do. I have never, ever mis used my medicine, no matter how bad the pain is. And now my so called dr. has left me without my pain medicine. The pain is so bad that I have asked to be shot abd put out of my misery. It hurts so bad to move, to not move  even just to breathe. If any one can help me find a dr that for number one knows this disease, because if they don't know about it, they can not treat it. Please let me know of any Dr.s that can help me Please!

I had pain medication that was sent to me. Once I recieved it, it appeared to have been crumbled up a little, but where it was sealed did not appear to be messed with. I opened it and there were a whole month supply gone out of it. There were pills lose in the bag, but the lid was on the bottle. I had never had anything like this to happen before, and I didn't know what to do. The only thing I could think of was to call the pharmist and let them know the way that  I had recieved it. They talked as if I had a refill, they would send me the ones that were missing. I did not have a refill. I called my Doctor, and with being at a hosiptal you can never get him. It took me 2 weeks of calling every day and talking to a nurse, in which I really do not think they were sending him all of the notes that they claimed that they did. If they did it should not have taken 2 weeks to get a call from the Dr. This is not the first time it had taken 2 weeks to talk to my dr. Once I finally got a hold of him, he said that he believed me in which he should have, but he said it was between me and the pharmacy, I had told him what the pharmacy said and I also told him that they said if he would call them, so they can let him know what is going on, then they the pharmacy would send me the missing ones. Now to me my dr. said no promblem he would call them so they could let him know. When I called the pharmacy they told me he called and said no. Now this was in March 2008. I had a appointment with the dr on April 11, 2008. He knew I would be out of medicine on April 12,2008. Of course I asked him what was going on, and he told me that he could not give me a prescription until it was time for it, no matter that I has a months worth stolen from me between the pharmacy filling it and me recieving it. Now I have had fms,me,mps,mfs,rls,cfs and ect.. for almost 20 years. And I have never had anything like this to ever happen to me, I have always done exacally what the dr.s has told me to do. I have never, ever mis used my medicine, no matter how bad the pain is. And now my so called dr. has left me without my pain medicine. The pain is so bad that I have asked to be shot abd put out of my misery. It hurts so bad to move, to not move  even just to breathe. If any one can help me find a dr that for number one knows this disease, because if they don't know about it, they can not treat it. Please let me know of any Dr.s that can help me Please!

I had pain medication that was sent to me. Once I recieved it, it appeared to have been crumbled up a little, but where it was sealed did not appear to be messed with. I opened it and there were a whole month supply gone out of it. There were pills lose in the bag, but the lid was on the bottle. I had never had anything like this to happen before, and I didn't know what to do. The only thing I could think of was to call the pharmist and let them know the way that  I had recieved it. They talked as if I had a refill, they would send me the ones that were missing. I did not have a refill. I called my Doctor, and with being at a hosiptal you can never get him. It took me 2 weeks of calling every day and talking to a nurse, in which I really do not think they were sending him all of the notes that they claimed that they did. If they did it should not have taken 2 weeks to get a call from the Dr. This is not the first time it had taken 2 weeks to talk to my dr. Once I finally got a hold of him, he said that he believed me in which he should have, but he said it was between me and the pharmacy, I had told him what the pharmacy said and I also told him that they said if he would call them, so they can let him know what is going on, then they the pharmacy would send me the missing ones. Now to me my dr. said no promblem he would call them so they could let him know. When I called the pharmacy they told me he called and said no. Now this was in March 2008. I had a appointment with the dr on April 11, 2008. He knew I would be out of medicine on April 12,2008. Of course I asked him what was going on, and he told me that he could not give me a prescription until it was time for it, no matter that I has a months worth stolen from me between the pharmacy filling it and me recieving it. Now I have had fms,me,mps,mfs,rls,cfs and ect.. for almost 20 years. And I have never had anything like this to ever happen to me, I have always done exacally what the dr.s has told me to do. I have never, ever mis used my medicine, no matter how bad the pain is. And now my so called dr. has left me without my pain medicine. The pain is so bad that I have asked to be shot abd put out of my misery. It hurts so bad to move, to not move  even just to breathe. If any one can help me find a dr that for number one knows this disease, because if they don't know about it, they can not treat it. Please let me know of any Dr.s that can help me Please!