I have a Rx for vicodin, I have been getting my Rx filled at Walmart(*edit*) for at least a year now. I found out they took out the vicodin 10/500(60count) and replaced it with tylenol 500mg! I don't ever check my meds because I didn't know I needed to. But I started asking myself why these pills didn't have a perforation down the middle and also there was a different number on them, but other than that they look exactly the same. I called walmart and they told me the pills were tylenol and that they couldn't have been switched because they have camera's. Well I took them to walmart to talk in person and the pharmacist was all apologetic and said he doesn't think anyone switched them on purpose it could have been a mistake! HE REFUNDED MY MONEY. I pay out of pocket I have no insurance. To me, the fact he refunded my cash means he's guilty. WHY would a pharmacist refund my money for a Rx I got 2 months earlier and he doesn't know where the pills came from???? There's more details to this but I'm trying not to confuse anyone. I know for a fact someone at that Walmart switched my pills for tylenol AND this has happened in the past but I never knew why my meds didn't seem to be effective. This has happened over the past year at least twice.
I hate thieves.

The pharmacist Manager I spoke with first tells me that it's impossible that my meds could have been switched. He tells me there is camera's and that the meds are in separate locations in the pharmacy so they couldn't have been switched. After talking with him for awhile he changes his story and then tells me that there is a possibility that when it was filled there was a mistake by whoever filled it. This pill swapping has happened to me before 6 months ago I went through severe pain for a month and now I know why.

Just stopped to say hello. It seems there is something fishy in dodge. Something does not feel right about walmart. I would continue on your current train of thought and investigate more even. refunding money like that particular even you described seems fishy. ginnie

I believe I'd switch pharmacies. Especially if it's happened before. If someone did actually switch the meds it's highly unlikely they'd admit it. Aren't pharmacies under constant camera surveillance?

Getting a refund does not imply guilt IMO.

If this has happened in this pharmacy before to YOU... then you need to contact the proper agencies to deal with it.

Contact your State Pharmacy Board and make a complaint and detail the evidence, dates, etc that this happened to you.
They will act on it, be assured.
Be prepared to be interviewed if this becomes an action by the board...they make take a deposition from you, or ask you to testify.

I certainly would not patronize that place again.

There was a situation years ago when bottles of Zyprexa were tampered with at the wholesale level, and aspirin put inside them. That situation was because of the black market value of the drug which was over $600/60 at the time.
This is the link about that incident:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...GyzDfGVU-ecQ1A

If controlled substances are being stolen at any point in the distribution to the destination pharmacy, the DEA would have to be notified and involved. If you report this to the state where you live they will probably contact the DEA as well.

A real resolution of your problem may not reside at the pharmacy at all. Substitution of a drug to a patient, is a huge offense. You need to bring the proper attention to this problem to the proper people to find out what is really going on.

Here is a more indepth description of drug tampering and how widespread it really is:
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/94/19/1424.full

While it is certainly possible that someone at WalMart is stealing controls in their pharmacy, there are other common reasons for your experience.

A full investigation by the agency who licenses that pharmacy and the pharmacists who work there, would be the best route for this problem.

There should be a pharmacy board licensing division as well... REPORT IT TO THEM! They will examine your records in conjunction with a few hundred other records and get to the root of the problem! I'd had an experience in a hospital where prescribed meds were substituted by others 18 out of 24 times! At one whopping expensive rate to boot! All staffs got retrained, and I'm betting, but was never told that the hospital likely got a super rich fine to back up their fraud.
Pharmacies such as Wal-Marts? Can be fraught with individuals who 'cheat', not all are that way. Most really care.
I DO advise you to make a copy of your original prescription before submitting it to be filled tho...I've had cases of 'substitutes' in this area, and having a cy of the original backs ME UP. Then? Never, ever leave the pharmacy until you check all labels...AND the PILLS! Sometimes? Errors happen, they do, on occasion?
BUT-YOU MUST PROTECT yourself!
IF you don't know how to do it? PM me, and give me your state...I'll give you the sites YOU need to know to get things done! My own experience w/reporting to a state agency were really professional and thorough! While I no longer get treatments at that hospital? I know that they all got 'retrained' and now know THE LAWS! Fewer folks could be seriously hurt because of this all!
Good luck to you! AND I truly hope you will be better able to manage your pain! 's - j

Hi, thanks for the replies I'm calmer now, but unsure of what to do. The problem is the meds that I'm in dispute with walmart about are meds that were stored away in my closet from my very last Rx refill. I had 20 pills and I set them aside for my next appt. with the doc. Basically I "stock-housed" them if that's the right term, and my doc will not accept that, I don't think anyway. We have a contract. So I'm screwed and even though I know the pills were from walmart and are in fact acetaminophen and not vicodin, I should have checked them right then and there to make sure what I had.

The pills they switched me for say 44175 on them, that's acetaminophen 500mg, they look just like my 10/5 hydro but without the perforation.

I know it sounds stupid but I'm recalling pills like this without perforation that I can remember through the past year. For example this past summer I was using a pill cutter and wondering why they didn't have the perforation to cut them in half? At the same time taking 3 pills was not doing jack for my pain and I had to call the doc to complain about this so it just makes perfect sense that back then they were switching them too.

Well I found the website to Board of Pharmacy, thanks for the help everyone.