Hi Junie, two years ago I was shorted my meds. My prescription (Avinza) was for 60 pills (one month's supply) and I only had 55. I must have counted ten times to make sure I wasn't wrong. When I called the pharmacy, the pharmacist was nasty and said they count the pills out three times so I had to be wrong. He kept insisting they were right and it was a narcotic (duh!!!) so they had to be careful. I was angry and besides myself; fortunately my husband works for the company where the pharmacy is located and spoke the the boss, who in turn told the pharmacist to recount the meds. The next I received a phone call to tell me I was RIGHT and they had an overage of five pills. If the pharmacist will not help go above him!!! They just don't understand. I hope all is much better for you, and God Bless. Lorraine

I just open my one months supply of oxycodone and was shorted 10 pills my scrip is for 240. This was a first for this drug store. I changed because of this happening to me several times at my old D.S. but I have never been short this amount before. I will be keeping a close eye from now on. This is a day + shortage for me.

Oh my!
Hurting, if i were you I'd do just like Lorraine did in the post above!
10 pills sounds suspiciously like 'skimming' to me!
They have an inventory and the sooner you make this known, the sooner, perhaps this won't happen to you OR others!

Skimmers make me SICK!!

For those of us in REAL legitimate pain and under pain management, being even ONE day short is NOT a good thing. We do everything we are supposed to do to stay under legitimate pain management, so even tho this wasn't YOUR doing, in your Dr's eyes it could make him give you a sideways glance and you end up feeling the humiliation of 'taking to much'.......

Oxy is VERY much sought after on the street. Skimmers from pharmacy's need to be shoved in a sack and stuffed in a pill bottle marked "unsafe for public consumption"

Really. Hurting, I'd call the pharmacy.

I will report the shortage but It has been 2 weeks ago when my wife picked up my scrips. I have been trying to cut back on the amount of oxy I take a day so I did not open this bottle as soon as I would have. My wife picked up my scrips. When I saw the bottle I new the amount was lite. I keep all my meds in a safe.

I just felt that since so much time pasted it would be hard to prove the shortage but yes I understand what you are talking about and agree that it needs to be reported some no one else gets shorted on their scrips.

I change to these store because the other store was doing this on every other fill but only 1 or 2 pills at a time. After changing for a long time I would count each fill to make sure the count was right. Being some what spacey form all the meds I have to take it takes me a while to count each scrip. This was the first time that I did not do the count right away since all the past was all correct. Mt fault but I fell I need to trust the people that fill my scrips. I was wrong and from here on in I will count my scrips the same day that I get them.

I will get with the store manager and make it clear that this has happen to me and that the next time it happens I will be back but this time it will be will a police officer along side me.

Thanks

Dennis

Hi, and It is good you lost the weight. Sorry about CVS. I had trouble with them too. I was taking Kadian too, was short two pills, well they gave me all kinds of ______. I have always been careful to not loose count, and to take them at the right time, so I don't make a mistake. CVS treated me like I was a druggie, just for having questioned. I switched to walgreens, hands down they are the best for me anyway. Not only do they listen, they call doctors for you, and really talk to you about your medications. I also told the one who I became friends with about the other pharmacy . She had indeed heard that our particular cvs had some issues. I had meds switched by my new Neuro, to another med, when I still had all of the other controlled substance. They didn't bat an eye, and wished me good luck with the new medication. I find them to be engaged with your health care. Ginnie

ABSOLUTELY!! I don't care if there is a line of people behind you.....I'd let the pharmacist know what happened and ask to have the bottle opened and recounted right there in front of you.
You get a bulk monthly supply and it's a lot of pills so, if there is a cheat at the store, this can be pinned down more easily (this IS a form of EMBEZZLEMENT).

I've been benefitting from this community for a while but finally decided to come forward and contribute.

I was recently shorted, big time. And luckily I caught it before I left the pharmacy, otherwise I would have been screwed.

Had a bad case of asthmatic bronchitis. Painful chest congestion, coughing, etc. So, my doc prescribed me some antibiotics, prednisone, and vicodin 10/650 for the pain. 40 vicodin with 1 refill for another 40. (I wasn't expecting there to be an extra refill, I've never had refills on vicodin for other painful encounters such as root canals, broken bones, etc). But Im glad I paid extra attention to it.

I double checked the labels on my bottle and the script for the vicodin said 0 refills available. If I hadnt paid extra attention to the "1 refill", I would have been shorted 40 pills. Granted, is a medication I don't like to take because it is more difficult weaning off it. But I still like to follow my doctors orders and take the medicine as prescribed.

If I would haven't noticed, I would have walked out the door, gone home, and the pharmacy would have done whatever it does with the prescription note (what do they do with them after the script is filled anyways? Send them back to the doctor like a cancelled cheque? Or keep them on file).

Anyway, if I had walked out, try wouldnt have still had my prescription note still on their desk.

So, I gave them the bottle back and showed them the discrepancy.

They fixed it for me, no questions asked. But who knows if it was an honest mistake or if the pharm tech was trying to pull a fast one. Because she could have filled that other refill for herself and it would have looked like a legitimate transaction.

My point is, make sure you know exactly how many refills you have and exactly when they come up. I like to write the refill date on my current bottle along with the number of remaining refills.

It seems a little paranoid to count your pills before you leave the pharmacy, I guess you just have to trust them. But as soon as you walk out the door and then come back to say you are missing pills or the label is inaccurate, they won't believe you, especially if you are dealing with the person that either made the mistake (because his or her ego is too big to admit a mistake) or worse, trying to conceal that he or she intentionally shorted you. They'll make you look like the crazy person.

I like to choose a pharmacy that isn't always busy. CVS is great because you can manage all that info either online or smartphone app.

Thanks for taking the time to listen to the story about my experience. I look forward to contributing more to this community.

Mike

First, I must tell you a little about my situation--I, like many others on here I have read about, am in pain every day. I live in Eastern Tennessee, and from what I have been informed, this is the worst place to live if you need pain medication because doctors here will NOT write a prescription for pain medication. I had to fight with my doctors office to get me into a pain clinic. I was with the pain clinic for a year and a half and was on morphine and loratabs. That clinic closed leaving me with no medications which put me back with my PCP. I am currently searching for another Pain management clinic with no luck of finding any that are taking new patients. So, I was forced to go out of state to a pain management clinic. I now have to drive 5 hours to be seen and get prescriptions. I just went on Friday to been seen for the second time at the new pain management clinic, was written prescriptions for pain management Oxycodone 30 mg., muscle relaxers, and motrin 800 mg. for inflamation. I then head out to the pharmacy only to be told they do not have the 30 mg oxycodone and that it is backordered and do not know when it will come in, that there is a shortage of this medication--not really a shortage but that the government regulates how much of this medication can be made each year and that number has been reached for this year and no more can be produced until next year, leaving a shortage of this medicaiton versus the amount of prescriptions that are being written. I end up back at the doctors office to go back in with the doctor so he can write my prescription for something else. I was originally supposed to get 120 30 mg oxycodone, and since no pharmacy had those (or were telling me they did not have them and were holding them for regular customers), the doctor checked with several pharmacies to find out what they did have. I ended up with 180 15 mg. oxycodone. Since 180 is the maximum they said they could write the prescription for, this means I am really getting 30 pills shorted for the month--the 15 mg. pills 180ct. = 90ct of 30mg pills. So, I had no choice but to take the lesser amount and then he wrote me for 60 Lortab 7.5 mg to help me get through the month. Now, I headed out to the pharmacy they told me to go fill the prescriptions with, fill out all the paperwork, give them my identification, answer all their questions and wait for them to fill my scripts. They way overcharged me for the prescriptions! The price was double what I have paid in the past, but again, I felt like I did not have a choice since I spent over an hour on the phone trying to find a pharmacy to fill my prescriptions with no luck. I get my prescriptions and start the 5 hour drive back home. A very long and tiring drive--I just wanted to go home and rest, I was in terrible pain from the drive and had to stop many times, even bought heat patches to put on my neck and back to try to ease the pain so I could continue home. It was late when I got home and I went to bed. The next day I got my prescriptions out and was going through them, the oxycodone bottle looked like it was not the right amount, so I counted them---they are 20 pills short, I count the lortabs and they are 10 short! I counted the motrin and flexirill pills and those were right on the money--correct, of course. Now I try to call the pharmacy to inform them of the shortage, and of course, they are closed! I have left a message letting them know that my pills were short and that they must already know this because their count will be over. I just have a feeling that this pharmacy is not going to call me back or laugh at me and tell me oh well......
After reading these posts, I feel I am not going to get anywhere with them. Who should I talk to next about this? This is a serious miscount on their part and serious shortage for me--I want to know who is over the pharmacies that I can contact about this shortage. I feel this was done intentionally--even number of pills being shorted--someone took those pills!(IMO). I am very upset right now-- Who do I talk to and will it do any good? I do not have much hope right now, but I paid for my prescription, and way too much, they need to give me my medication. Anyone have any suggestions? And yes, I am going to find a local pain management clinic to get into, as quickly as possible.

Welcome to NeuroTalk...

The board of pharmacy in your state, is who to contact.

Contacting the owner of the pharmacy (corporate if a chain)
can be secondary... but often this is of no avail.

Most pharmacies double count controls with initials of the 2nd counter on the label.

Fraud does exist, but I don't believe it is that common with
computer filling and the daily logs all pharmacies keep today.

I know most pharmacies double count the prescriptions, and I looked at all of my prescription bottles, NONE of them were initialed. Anytime I have gotten a prescriptions, and especially for pain medication, the number is circled and the pharmacy tech has initialed it. These prescription bottles do not look like they were double checked. I wish I had looked at the prescription bottles before I left from there. I didnt even open up the stapled bag! A big mistake on my part! BUT, I felt that of all the people in the medical field, you should be able to trust the pharmacy that fills your prescriptions. I never even thought for a second that there would be any problems. A guess that is a hard lesson for me