Prescription Drugs - Having Problems Getting Them? (Knoxville, Morristown: insurance, crime)

[LauraC]

This is the 4th time in about 8 months that my Kroger pharmacy could not fully fill my prescription. This time it was eye drops, Previous times it was everything from a very common antibiotic to very common blood pressure medication to another well-known and heavily advertised non-pain old lady type of medicine, of which the latter two are refilled by me regularly. Each time, they give me a partial fill, tell me they have to call around for the rest and to come back in a day or two day for the rest of it. Trust me, none of these medications have to do with crime or drug abuse so forget that angle. This is a royal pain in the butt (of which none of the prescriptions are for ) This is not a small pharmacy. I would like to know whether this is a Kroger problem in Tennessee and/or whether anyone else here on common prescription medication is having trouble either getting their common prescriptions filled or FULLY getting their prescriptions filled wherever they go to fill them. Are any of you using chain drug stores like Walgreens or CVS or even Walmart because after 5 years as a Kroger customer, I'm ready to jump ship if I find out it's just their problem? They, by the way, are blaming the drug manufacturers.

I posted something like this a few months ago in the P & Other Controversies forum and didn't hear that anyone else around the country posting to C-D was having this problem so now, after experiencing the problem yet again, I'm trying to nail down whether it's a Tennessee problem or a store problem.

[hiknapster]

I take a lot of meds. Well, I think it is a lot. I've probably filled heck, seven prescriptions in the past 7 weeks? Something like that, anyway. I haven't had any problems. In fact I've never had a problem in filling anything ever. I use CVS. I hope that helps. Laura, if you want to compare meds just let me know.

[Barking Spider]

I use Sams and have never had a problem.

[Pam& Bill]

I use Food City and have never had a problem. And both my scripts are generics and common ones too.

[DubbleT]

My son had some problems getting some scripts filled a couple of months ago at Walgreens in downtown Knoxville. He called me to see if we had it in this area so I checked with my Walgreens here in the tri-cities and they were out of his medication too, said it was a mfg problem and that shipments were spotty. Pretty much you had to luck out and time the refill just right to get it filled. They partial filled his rx several times. Haven't had any problems lately though.

[Beretta]

Currently there are around 200 drugs that are experiencing a shortage here in the US. This is a very complex issue that has many tentacles to it. It is difficult to say if your particular prescription is on backorder or is just not well stocked by your pharmacy or they just had a run on it. For a list of drugs that are experiencing a shortage you can check the FDA website here: Current Drug Shortages

The FDA has come under scrutiny lately for being the bump in the road for certain manufacturers to be able to produce drugs; that was dealt with about 3 weeks ago and we are just now seeing some benefits. Drugs started shipping this past week.

This thread probably should be in the Health and Wellness forum.

[kdweller]

When we bought a house a few years ago, I began using the local Krogers and never ran in to so many delayed orders in my life, as well as other service issues. I switched to Walgreens and it was great, but for insurance reasons, I had to return a year or two ago to the same Krogers. And I still have many, many more delays/out of stock prescriptions there than any other pharmacy.

However, I just checked and found another pharmacy has better hours than I thought and includes the discount I need, so I hope be changing pharmacies soon.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by kdweller

When we bought a house a few years ago, I began using the local Krogers and never ran in to so many delayed orders in my life, as well as other service issues. I switched to Walgreens and it was great, but for insurance reasons, I had to return a year or two ago to the same Krogers. And I still have many, many more delays/out of stock prescriptions there than any other pharmacy.

However, I just checked and found another pharmacy has better hours than I thought and includes the discount I need, so I hope be changing pharmacies soon.

Thanks for everyone's answers. I read the FAQ on the FDA website where Beretta gave a link (thanks).

If there are drug company "shortage" issues, it may be Kroger's policy for dealing with it that just exacerbates the problem and makes them stand out over other pharmacies.

You know, your issue (and mine) may be that Kroger, when they are low on stock for a particular medication, makes everyone come back instead of fully filling the prescriptions and only making the people come back who show up with a prescription when they are totally out of stock. Perhaps they fear that people will just take their prescriptions elsewhwere and never come back if they don't give them at least some of it. I once actually thought it might be a ploy to get people to come back into the supermarket to shop. It could also be that it's easier for a pharmacy like Walgreens, for example, to get their hands on prescription drugs when they run low compared to Krogers so the rest of you guys don't know what's going on after you drop off prescriptions at other pharmacies. Maybe they just ring up the pharmacy in the next town to get their hands on more.

My issue is just that friends in New York and Maryland aren't complaining about this which is what made me think it might be a Tennessee issue or a Kroger issue (the supermarket isn't in those states)...and why I posted it here. Also, the kind of prescriptions where I experience "the shortage" were so varied in type. And one of them is so heavily advertised. Why is the drug maker plugging a product it can't produce enough of to fill the demand for whatever reason?

So, like the common antibiotic, I got maybe 4 pills instead of 8. I got half of the eye drops. (They had enough to fill 5 more so they could have given it to me when I first walked in the door.) I got some of the very common blood pressure medication instead of the 90 days my prescription calls for. I got some of the heavily advertised drug. I had to come back for all of them to get the rest, usually within 3 days...and I'm retired. It must be a double pain in the butt for people who are working to keep running back to the pharmacy after work.

Anyway, thanks for the responses.

[bbkaren]

If you have a medication that you take on a maintenance basis or wind up needing often, I've been very happy with alldaychemist.com. They're based in India and charge a flat $25 shipping fee no matter what you buy.

You don't need a prescription, and they offer just about anything that's not a controlled substance.

We started off buying albuterol inhalers from them, when the new ones came out here that were environmentally-friendly and 10 times the price. If I recall correctly, the inhalers at alldaychemist.com are around $4 apiece.

We now also stock up on routinely-used antibiotics, vigamox eye drops, acne medications for my kids, etc. That way when doc prescribes, we just go into our stock and use from there.

I have literally never heard a direct complaint about their products, even though you read general warnings on the internet "Watch out, in India, they put chalk dust in their pills" and "there are no standards in India so don't use their products". It hasn't been my experience, nor has hit been the experience of many of their customers I've been in contact with.

YMMV, but there are several people whose opinions I value a great deal, who regularly use - and swear by - the meds bought at this site.

Just thought I'd put that out there for those having trouble getting medications you need routinely...

eta: There's nothing illegal about it - customs regularly opens our packages and inspects them.

[RamblinRoseRanch]

I have heard great things about alldaychemist as well. I have several internet friends that order there. It's a great source for discounted maintenance meds such as the inhalers and such. Also great to purchase antibiotics.

I, like Hik, take a lot of meds. I use Sams Club pharmacy. Because of our business membership we recieve an additional discount on our meds- up to 7% on name brands and up to 40% on generics. I save more than enough money on our family's scripts to pay for the fuel from Morristown to Knoxville. Never had a problem with the meds being out of stock either.