Last Wednesday I sent an email to my provider saying that I would be traveling internationally and wondered if I could receive a prescription to carry with me. He assured me right away that I could, but now eight days later I still don’t have it in hand. I reminded him this afternoon that I’m leaving tomorrow. He assures me that I can pick it up in the office tomorrow morning. Does this sound like a reasonable timeframe to everyone else?
Does it seem reasonable?
Sort of, sounds like the request got forgotten in a busy day, and now they are trying to make it up. It would probably sound better if he said, shoot I forgot all about your request, come in when you have time and I will make sure you have it.
To me it sounds like iffy customer service, and yes I would be frustrated.
@Irish Absolutely Not! If I get a prescription request from a patient it gets filled (or denied) within a couple of hours. I would expect the same courtesy from any provider.
Sorry to repeat myself but I believe it enough to say it again:
im-making-a-run-for-the-border-the-canadian-one
I wish I could say that’s what it was. I like him. I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but the truth is after assenting to the request last Wednesday, he wrote back to ask about TDD (even though I’d given him that recently at an appointment). I didn’t mind the question. Sounded reasonable. I wrote him back with it right away. Then he asked when I needed it by, which I promptly answered. Then he wrote some oddball message about insulin pens (didn’t ask for those, so I figured that was a communication from another patient that had crossed wires). Finally after another day passed, I wrote him again. This exchange took place over the last 8 days. It all seemed like an awful lot of back and forth.
This is good to know. Gives me a frame of reference. I certainly wouldn’t expect it in a couple of hours, but perhaps a couple of days seemed reasonable. Not 9.
I couldn’t agree more at this point. The difficulty is finding one. I have phonecalls into 2 offices. The first tells me I cannot see an endocrinologist because I was at one time treated by their NP, and I cannot switch providers within the practice. The second office says I cannot see an endo, that their NPs are all trained in diabetes care. I reiterated that I wanted to see a doctor, and was told they would appeal to the doctor to see if she would accept me. If she does, I might be able to see her in November.
I am considering looking for a doctor about 5 hours away in one of the major centers but can’t decide if it would be worth it. Not to mention, I’d need yet another referral (my third) from my GP. Might be a hard sell.
Yeah, that is either super unorganized or they don’t want to give you the scrip for some reason, which is stupid. Either way, not great.
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No that’s not a reasonable length of time, sounds like it got lost in the shuffle… that said, the type of request you made (to have a paper script to take to take with you) probably isn’t what they normally deal with every day when pretty much everything is done electronically with USA pharmacies, if that’d been the case he might just have been able to send it off with a couple clicks of the mouse and keyboard… so I wouldn’t completely lose faith in a provider over this one instance, but I would say you should expect a non emergent script to be taken care of same-day or next day for an established patient managing a known condition…
You know any doctor can write you a script for insulin. So if you find a reasonable GP or Internist in your area that you like, you can self-manage and just use them for the scripts. And then once a year see your Endo for insurance purposes.
You know you have much more useful practical real info on this site than you get from an Endo…
This isn’t a blanket recommendation for everyone, but you are sharp enough and diligent enough and have enough concern for your own well-being to manage it yourself.
Just a thought.
I have self-managed since I was 5. My parents did it for me first, and then I did it after that. Doctors told them - “do ‘this’ for 4 weeks and come back and we can adjust”, and my parents just started adjusting after a few days.
Seriously, I’ve never used any doctor’s recommendation on dosing or anything. It’s not rocket science. If you pay attention and know the basics, insulin up or down, carbs up or down, test, adjust. Something tricky or confusing you are seeing? Everyone here can offer feedback, and the truth will be obvious. This disease is not that hard.
Doctors write prescriptions and do insurance PA’s and appeals. You manage the disease.
Anyway, just my $0.02.
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That’s exactly what I usually do because I’ve found the local primary care doc to be more responsive and less of a run around for items like this than the out of town endo (even though he’s a family friend) who comes to town twice a month and juggles patients between his makeshift clinic here and his real one in another city
I find non specialists to actually be better equipped generally to respond to stuff like this in a timely manner…
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THIS!
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I don’t think it’s reasonable to have to wait that long. For what it’s worth though, in that situation I’d probably tell them I need it at least several days ahead of when I actually do, just to be safe. I’d also ask when to expect it filled at the initial contact, and then follow up quickly with them/their office if that didn’t happen (and repeat frequently as needed). I don’t think you should need to do any of things in theory, but in practice, that can be essential. Calling and bugging the staff enough can make things happen very quickly—negative reinforcement is a powerful thing.
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So, I went to the office this morning to pick up the paper rx. Unfortunately, it had been written for pens. I tried handing it back to the nurse, but she said my NP was out for the next hour and probably wouldn’t be able to get to it today. She insisted what they had written was good enough, even though I haven’t used pens in nearly a year.
Nevertheless, I wrote Marks Marine Pharmacy, and they sorted it out immediately. Expecting my first shipment in the next couple of weeks. Still planning on driving up to the border to test how difficult it is to fill in person, but Marks could not have made it easier. And they were so kind on the phone! Will update once I receive the shipment. Thanks to all of you for weighing in!
Also, feeling squeemish about not presenting the truth directly to my np.
“Hey, it’s legal and cheaper there, so could you send the script there?”
I simply don’t think i would have walked away with anything. Does that justify my dishonesty? Probably not. 
@Irish If your endo or NP would have problems with you saving some money to treat your diabetes, then not telling them the truth would be the least of your problems.
If it was a problem for them I would relate the story of Shane Boyle to them.
Irish, not telling the whole truth shouldn’t make you feel dishonest.
Is what you are doing immoral (I don’t think so), illegal (nope), did you have to lie to get the scrip?
I think you should feel good at saving your resources and using every option available to you to manage your diabetes.
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Man, I really can’t say enough good about them. They are awesome!
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I completely agree! And once the rx is on file, it’s always on file. No need to renew, which is apparently good news in my case since a new prescription would be even harder to come by.
And you can build them up, one at a time!
“Endo, I want to try ____ insulin…”
Get the script, send it to Mark’s. Keep getting scripts, and sending them…
NovoLog or Humalog, Lantus, Levemir, Tresiba, Afrezza…
Afrezza too?
I don’t think afrezza exists in Canada.
How were they able to straighten out your script re the pens vs vials? Do they need the prescription specifically written for a 90 day quantity like they do here in the US?