DH Aricept prescription ran out a few days ago. Both neuro and PCP are out of the office until Monday. The Pharmacy has given me and emergency supply of 3 twice. I called this morning and they can't give anymore but suggested I try a Walk in Clinic and see if they would give me a prescription. I have called 5 places and none will do it. Dh has one pill for tonight and that will be it until I can get a prescription on Monday.
I am wondering how it will affect him not having any for 3 nights. I hope he doesn't get worse faster and not be able to come back.
I don't know about Aricept but my DH also takes Namenda twice a day. He was without it for about three days recently and I didn't notice any change with him.
Did he take a full pill this morning? If so, I would cut the one pill you have left in half and give him 1/2 in the morning and the other half either tomorrow night or Sat. morning. DH has missed his Aricept in the past - and I didn't see any difference. I know everyone is different though.
Jean21--is there no one on call for his PCP? Maybe if you call the doctor's office, the answering service would give the on-call doc a call for you. Otherwise Vickie's suggestion is good. It shouldn't hurt to be without the med for a short time.
Jean, isn't there someone covering for the doctors over this holiday? Surely you are not the only one who has had a need to contact a physician over this time period. (Bella, great minds think alike..LOL!)
I've cut it real close, trying to stay out of the Medicare donut hole as much as possible until it's officially 2010. I will have to go in first thing Monday morning to restock, because as of then we'll be flat out.
i agree that drs usually have an oncall dr in waiting for them when they arent in the office or a service that can get info to them - unless its a small town then they usualy have a recording that says to go to ER. try the drs phone number and they will give you info. it will be very pricey to to get a rx from ER though. all else try another pharmacy!- and tell them what happened. not to mention you already got some from another pharmacy of course- i did it once while out of town and they gave me 5pills. divvi
I guess we do live in a small town. If the doctor isn't in they tell you go to the ER. I went to get an adjustment for my DH Seroquel so I could up his dosage and get him a pee test to see if he had a bladder infection that might be causing wacky behavior. I think that medicare paid for all but the perscription went through like regular RX's. We are on the otherside of the doughnut hole so I had every RX's filled even though we weren't close to out yet. I only had to pay 30 bucks for all his meds, yay! By the way, tonight is a full moon. Get ready.
Oh, also, if you get a perscription from the clinic or ER, you don't have to have the pharmacy fill the whole thing. You can ask them to fill just for the days you need until the new year starts but then you have to pay your deductible again anyway. Ours is 275 dollars before they pay anything. Of course one fill of the Seroquel does that.
My DH, has been giving me a hard time about his meds lately...did not take his Aricept for a week..didn't notice any difference in his behavior....when do they stop taking Aricept?? anyone been there???
Last time I was in his neuro's office, we'd just had a close call of the mail-order not coming until the last pill I had. I asked the receptionist if she could give me a complimentary pack like they give you when you start them out. She did, without a murmur. I have used a few pills once, and been glad I had it.
Aricept and Namenda are both small pills, but the trazadone he takes at night is not, and he was having an awful time getting it down, as well as the two he takes for his arthritis. So I just started grinding everything up and putting it in ice cream for him. Works well, only takes a few seconds to do.
This week we had nearly run out of samples of Namenda from neuro; so I phoned her ofc and asked if they could send more or phone a script to Wal-mart. Mostly she's given us samples this year; kept him out of donut hole. Anyway, I picked up the Rx: $147+change. I was shocked. Then I read the paperwork--all about Alzheimer's, and hb has vascular dementia. Nothing in the material seems to apply to him. He's skipped meds from time to time because he's slept til mid-morning or gone to bed at 6. I never wake him. Neither he nor I can tell any difference, and as I've mentioned in other posts, he asks "why?" Would be interesting to know if a study's been done as to how long residual of meds stay in body.
RB13, the geriatrist told me when he started my husband on Aricept in January, 2007 that it would have no value after 3 years i.e. next month. one day from now. Recently, I read a blurb in the John Hopkins Newsletter about bradycardia (slow pulse) being a possible complication of patients who have just started Aricept. The Locum for my husband's doctor wants me to wait until he gets back from vacation to make that decision. I'll let you know.
DH went to bed early last night and didn't take his Aricept and Namenda. Normally I would wake him up to take them but because he is out of Aricept until Monday I let it go.
Today he has started on a new story,"they" are planning a picinic and he thinks "they" should have it indoors because it is too cold for outside. That was it for a couple of hours and a while ago he brought it up again saying "they" should call it off. If he saw people often I might believe some of the things he comes up with but I know he doesn't see anyone that lives in this unit unless he and they are at the mailbox at the same time.
He will take the pills tonight and then for the next 2 nights it will be just the Namenda. I'm hoping he doesn't come up with any more about the picnic or start yet another tale.