Prescriptions required for things they should not be required for.

[41magsnub]

I use a CPAP machine.  My mask is getting tired after several years, rubber wearing out, that sort of thing.

I figured I could order a replacement mask online.  Nope, even that requires a prescription.  Thanks FDA!

What next, need a script for a rectal thermometer?

What ticks me off more than anything, is the home oxygen folks around here that have a prescription on file for me are like extra slick used car salesman to the point I will buy online even if it is more expensive.  This is far from insurmountable to get a prescription faxed in, but it is really stupid.

[mtnbkr]

Crazy, eh?

It's going to get worse.  I read the other day that California passed a law requiring a prescription for currently OTC cough syrups containing dextramorphen (SP, but I'm too lazy to look it up).  I tend to get a nasty cough when I get a head cold.  I already have to jump through hoops to get codeine, now I'll have to do the same for regular ol' Robotussin DM.  If I can't get that, what else is there that works?

Chris

[Monkeyleg]

When I quit smoking, I wanted to get some Nicotrol inhalers. It's a plastic tube that you open, insert a small cartridge that contains a trace amount of nicotine, close it back up, and inhale through it every so often to get a very small dose of nicotine.

The cost if it were not prescription would probably be about five or ten cents per cartridge, but Pfizer's patent is good through 2013, so the cost is $220 for 168 cartridges (each cartridge lasts a day or less), plus 10 of the small plastic tubes. Insurance will pay about $60 toward the cost, but only once in a person's lifetime.

[230RN]

^ Couldn't you get the same dose regulation by using the over-the-counter "electronic" cigarettes from the tobacco shop?  Or was that before the fake cigarettes came out?

I would like to see some antibiotics go over-the-counter, but I'm not medically-minded enough to figure out which ones.

[Jamie B]

I use a CPAP machine.  My mask is getting tired after several years, rubber wearing out, that sort of thing.

I figured I could order a replacement mask online.  Nope, even that requires a prescription.  Thanks FDA!

What next, need a script for a rectal thermometer?

What ticks me off more than anything, is the home oxygen folks around here that have a prescription on file for me are like extra slick used car salesman to the point I will buy online even if it is more expensive.  This is far from insurmountable to get a prescription faxed in, but it is really stupid.

Same here. I always figured that it was a conspiracy to keep the dollars flowing into the doctor's pockets.

[AmbulanceDriver]

I would like to see some antibiotics go over-the-counter, but I'm not medically-minded enough to figure out which ones.

No.  Not only no, but HELL NO.

Or, you can go live on a little island in the middle of [censored] nowhere with all the antibiotics you ever want, with the rest of the people that want antibiotics to be OTC.

Sorry, now that I've got that rant out of the way, lemme explain why:

We've got a bad enough problem with people wanting antibiotics for VIRAL infections.  Seriously.  I've heard it a couple thousand times...  "I'm not feeling well, I need antibiotics!"  No, you've got the flu.  You need rest, nutrition, supportive care, and lots of fluids.  Or you've got a cold.  Also not gonna get antibiotics.  

And we've got way too many problem with medication resistant strains (aka superbugs) WITH antibiotics being prescription only.  I mean, yeah, it sucks when you know you've got some kind of bacterial infection that you have to go to your doc, pay them, and then pay the pharmacy a bit of a steeper price for the antibiotics than if they were OTC.  But here's the problem:  Let's assume for a moment you get a bacterial infection:  WHICH antibiotic is effective for the particular infection you have?  Because if it's a lung infection, you're gonna need one type of antibiotic.  A tooth infection?  A different type.  An intestinal infection, like e.coli?  Yet another type of antibiotic.  Because each particular class of antibiotics is effective against a specific type of bacteria.  If you give penicillin to a bacteria that isn't really affected by penicillin, all you're gonna do is make that bug even more resistant to penicillin.  And if by chance it happens to pass along that bit of genetic material that encodes for penicillin resistance to a bacteria that's not normally penicillin resistant?  Guess what, you just created a new bacteria that IS penicillin resistant.  And that is a Bad Thing^TM.

You ever want to cause a medical person to panic?  Suggest over the counter antibiotics....

*shudder*

[MillCreek]

Actually, over-the-counter antibiotics are readily available.  Go to your nearest large petshop and check out the fish antibiotics.  You will usually find penicillins, tetracyclines and cephalosporins.  The trick, of course, as AD said above, is knowing which is the likely causative organism and what would be the appropriate drug and dosage.  Having said that, cephalosporins cover a lot of bacterial infections. 

[41magsnub]

More on the CPAP thing ranting on home oxygen companies trying to run my life...  they put lock codes on the machine itself to prevent me from changing settings.  When we needed to change a setting they wanted me to bring it in between the hours of 11 and 3 and pay them $50 to turn it up one pressure.  Um...  no.  Luckily a guy had posted the factory reset procedure online and I knew what pressure to set it to.  I just factory reset the unit sans lockout code and set it up again.  It took me all of 5 minutes to do this.  Screw those guys...

Plus, my doc wants to see the reports from the unit (reasonable) at each check up.  Officially to get the reports I need to bring in the memory card to the home ox bastards and they want $25 to print and then fax it to the doc.  Again...  um no.  I bought a card reader for $15 and downloaded the management software that I am not supposed to have, then print my own reports at home.

[brimic]

I use a CPAP machine.  My mask is getting tired after several years, rubber wearing out, that sort of thing.

I figured I could order a replacement mask online.  Nope, even that requires a prescription.  Thanks FDA!

Yep.
For that reason I have to schedule an appointment with the pulmonary specialist every 2 years to keep my prescription up.
Appointment pretty much consists of "how you doing?" "doing fine" "ok, I'll see you in 2 years then." Then pay $300 bill.

I get a new mask every 6 months, can't imagine using one for years

[brimic]

More on the CPAP thing ranting on home oxygen companies trying to run my life...  they put lock codes on the machine itself to prevent me from changing settings.  When we needed to change a setting they wanted me to bring it in between the hours of 11 and 3 and pay them $50 to turn it up one pressure.  Um...  no.  Luckily a guy had posted the factory reset procedure online and I knew what pressure to set it to.  I just factory reset the unit sans lockout code and set it up again.  It took me all of 5 minutes to do this.  Screw those guys...

Do they test the machines for the actual pressure they are putting out? I always suspect that mine might not be putting out as much pressure as when it was new, as I've been running it for about 7-8 years now...

Plus, my doc wants to see the reports from the unit (reasonable) at each check up.  Officially to get the reports I need to bring in the memory card to the home ox bastards and they want $25 to print and then fax it to the doc.  Again...  um no.  I bought a card reader for $15 and downloaded the management software that I am not supposed to have, then print my own reports at home.

I no longer have my CDL, but an inlaw of mine was telling me that he had to bring in the card from  his CPAP to work every morning before he was allowed to get in a truck, and it had to have a minimum number of hours of sleep logged on it. Some new federal law or something...

[Tallpine]

Or, you can go live on a little island in the middle of [censored] nowhere with all the antibiotics you ever want, with the rest of the people that want antibiotics to be OTC.

Or most of the world outside the USA ? 

Lot's of livestock ABs available too 

[41magsnub]

Do they test the machines for the actual pressure they are putting out? I always suspect that mine might not be putting out as much pressure as when it was new, as I've been running it for about 7-8 years now...

 I no longer have my CDL, but an inlaw of mine was telling me that he had to bring in the card from  his CPAP to work every morning before he was allowed to get in a truck, and it had to have a minimum number of hours of sleep logged on it. Some new federal law or something...

They did not test mine the one time I brought it in, I failed to find the value they provided for the fee after that.

That is crazy on the CDL requirement.

[gunsmith]

Actually, over-the-counter antibiotics are readily available.  Go to your nearest large petshop and check out the fish antibiotics.  You will usually find penicillins, tetracyclines and cephalosporins.  The trick, of course, as AD said above, is knowing which is the likely causative organism and what would be the appropriate drug and dosage.  Having said that, cephalosporins cover a lot of bacterial infections. 

yup, the local red necks used to give their kids antibiotics they got at the feed store because of the long expensive trips to go see a doctor ( roughly a 300 mile trip all day excursion ) I'm thinking of getting some for my shtf preps, if teotwawki happens there won't be any tetracycline available and folks with a scratch from a dirty nail will die.

Stock up now but learn how to use them correctly.

I hate the stupid useless drug laws, I do not have any med insurance at all or money to see a doc, if I get a bad cold I want the same codiene cough syrup I got as a kid because I have had bad acute bronchitus in the past and have found that if I nip a cough in the bud I live better.

Same with psudoephredine and hydrocodene ... I notice that the illegal drug trade has gone away due to stupid drug laws. 

 I have been tempted to buy pain meds off the street to stock up my shtf supplies.

I have managed to quit drinking/smoking without gov't nannies- I'm sure I can handle pain meds and antibiotics too.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Or most of the world outside the USA ? 

Lot's of livestock ABs available too 

Yeah, but most of the world outside the USA has at least a rough understanding of the difference between a viral infection and a bacterial infection.... 

Or I'm just really jaded by the idiots patients I see on a daily basis.

[Tallpine]

Yeah, but most of the world outside the USA has at least a rough understanding of the difference between a viral infection and a bacterial infection.... 

Or I'm just really jaded by the idiots patients I see on a daily basis.

Mexicans are smarter than Gringos ?   

Or maybe they're just taking the antibiotics that Americans can't take. 

[Hawkmoon]

Actually, over-the-counter antibiotics are readily available.  Go to your nearest large petshop and check out the fish antibiotics.  You will usually find penicillins, tetracyclines and cephalosporins.  The trick, of course, as AD said above, is knowing which is the likely causative organism and what would be the appropriate drug and dosage.  Having said that, cephalosporins cover a lot of bacterial infections.  

Sssshhhhh!

There are parts of the world where antibiotics are readily available -- either w/o prescription or through some type of black market or grey market.

Guess which parts of the world are known for MRSA and superbugs?

[just Warren]

I oppose prescriptions for the same reason I oppose restrictions on weapons. It's government nannyism that abrogates freedom.

Plus it is more mercantilism for the medical cartel. Along with compulsory licensing, and all the crap the FDA requires to get things on the market this raises the price of medical care and thus extracts rents from some to give to others. Making us all that much more worse off.

[230RN]

I'm thinking of getting some for my shtf preps, if teotwawki happens there won't be any tetracycline available and folks with a scratch from a dirty nail will die.

Stock up now but learn how to use them correctly.

That's what I was thinking of --the shtf situation --but failed to mention it.  I'm sure a reasonably intelligent person, given some written guidance, would be able to use them appropriately in emergency situations without drowning the rest of the population with resistant bugs.  (And it strikes me that an awful lot of these resistances were caused by over-use by the medical industry in the first place.  But what do I know?)

I am not enamored of the FDA.

Terry, 230RN

[Perd Hapley]

I guess we don't need prescriptions, but it is much easier to have Reader's Digest delivered to your house than to buy it at a store every month.

[BridgeRunner]

Nebulizer parts too.

My issue though is the monthly joy of getting amphetamine prescriptions filled. No refills, have to get a new scrip every month. Which can't be called in. Have to walk in with it. Have to pick it up myself, in person.  No partial fills.

Oh, and there are shortages. Most places don't have it. Or don't have enough of it. And the scrip cannot be adjusted over the phone. Has to be a paper scrip. I take 40mg/day.  It's available in 5,10,15,20,30. If they don't have sixty twenties, they cannot give me thirty 30s and thirty 10s, not until I got back to the dr office, get a new scrip, and take it back to the pharmacy. By which point they will invariably have sold out of the 30s and 10s.

 

Keeping the world safe from legal, medically-indicated use of drugs with high abuse potential.

[41magsnub]

Bwahahaha..  they shipped the mask anyway after I placed the order.  They had contacted me afterwards for the prescription info since they screwed up.

FDA swat team incoming to my house in 3....  2... 

[gunsmith]

Bwahahaha..  they shipped the mask anyway after I placed the order.  They had contacted me afterwards for the prescription info since they screwed up.

FDA swat team incoming to my house in 3....  2... 

or perhaps there is a thinking person in the warehouse that knows what a pita it is having to track down a script at the drop of a hat and decided to do you a favor.

Once when I was doing cable installation I felt the company was being unfair & unsafe to me, so I gave a bunch of senior citizens free cable...like 10 to 20 of them in a senior apt complex.

[stevelyn]

yup, the local red necks used to give their kids antibiotics they got at the feed store because of the long expensive trips to go see a doctor ( roughly a 300 mile trip all day excursion ) I'm thinking of getting some for my shtf preps, if teotwawki happens there won't be any tetracycline available and folks with a scratch from a dirty nail will die.

Stock up now but learn how to use them correctly.

I hate the stupid useless drug laws, I do not have any med insurance at all or money to see a doc, if I get a bad cold I want the same codiene cough syrup I got as a kid because I have had bad acute bronchitus in the past and have found that if I nip a cough in the bud I live better.

Same with psudoephredine and hydrocodene ... I notice that the illegal drug trade has gone away due to stupid drug laws. 

 I have been tempted to buy pain meds off the street to stock up my shtf supplies.

I have managed to quit drinking/smoking without gov't nannies- I'm sure I can handle pain meds and antibiotics too.

A lot of the dog mushers i know would be pretty good practitioners of ditch medicine in the event of shtf, and they have the med and surgical supplies to do it too.

[roo_ster]

Driving through Arkansas today, needing some pseudoephedrine for sinus congestion, and being told by the pharma-ho that I needed a mike-foxtrotting Rx got me over the hump and into Voting For Ron Paul in the GOP Primary (Again) territory.

At this point,  I don't care if chemo drug / methamphetamine / antibiotic cocktails are sold on street corners next to day-cares in little baggies with Rick Santorum's face printed on them.  Tar & feathers are too good for the pack of jackals in DC and our state houses.  I'm thinking heads on pikes, short rope/long drop, and similar educational activities.

[Boomhauer]

As a firefighter/first responder, I can't administer O2 to a patient because it's a drug. Only EMTs can do that.