Juggling the Pharmacy Stuff

None of my asthma inhalers "align" anymore - never mind my other prescriptions. One is 2 puffs a day and has 60 puffs, one is 3 puffs a day and has 120 puffs, another is 3 puffs a day and has 200 puffs, and one is 2 puffs as needed, so, GOOD LUCK TO ME. Then we have the as-needed nebs and prednisone, a random one-off refill is given "just in case", the pills in 3-week packs, the pills in 100-day intervals, and the steroid nasal spray I take when I feel I need it.

Sometimes I can manage to pick up 2 or 3 prescriptions at a time, but other times I feel like I'm in and out of the pharmacy and its phone system, or website, like a revolving door!

Juggling doctors and prescriptions

Further complicating my prescriptions/refills situation is that I switched to a new family doctor 4 months ago, having seen my previous family doctor 5 months ago who gave me 6 months of prescriptions, and my asthma specialist also fills some prescriptions when needed. Given that none of my prescription renewals ever match up, whenever I hit 0 refills on something from my former family doctor, I have to call the pharmacy or my new doctor's office for a refill, as they cannot simply fax (yes, FAX) the old doctor anymore because she is no longer practicing here.

Fortunately, the solution here was pretty straightforward. Aside from my ADHD medication (which has other safeguards and technicalities related to its prescribing and dispensing), formerly dispensed by a specialist, who also left the province, that will now be prescribed by my new family doc, I simply got him to renew everything except that and my nebules for the time being. Just to keep my midnight refill train on track since I cannot call the pharmacy at midnight and speak to someone for a refill they have to fax elsewhere, but if it is on file from the right prescriber I can pop it into the online system.

Because, for whatever reason, I feel like 12 AM is my most common time to request prescription refills!

Technology helps... but only to a point

Do not get me wrong, the ability to see and manage prescription refills most of the time on the pharmacy's website, from my phone, has been a game-changer for the last several years that has been an option. It helps a lot, but there still has to be a better way to manage refilling prescriptions. I have been doing this for 13.5 years and still trip up and end up refilling something or the other too late at times, or the system has a glitch and tells me I am ineligible for a refill when I am, causing needless confusion (especially where it comes to my ADHD medication). I could resolve some of this with auto-refill, but--back to the prescriptions I need never syncing when I run out--I don't know that this will help minimize trips to the pharmacy--and since I have ADHD and don't have to initiate it, I will likely forget it's there anyway!

Prescription management is one of those things that really adds to the chaos of managing chronic illnesses--especially when you're juggling 6 daily medications, 3 "sometimes" meds, and 2 "just in case" ones!

Multiple asthma prescriptions

How do you manage to keep your asthma prescription refills...manageable? Does your pharmacy have tools to help you do this?