You're gonna laugh!

[Guest guest]

OK, this is funny but sorta serious in that we WERE lucky nothing bad

happened. I may have to make this 2 parts so the post won't get too

long, the " laugh " will be in the next part.

So - we began Celexa, the liquid. Got our prescription. Began

giving it to 2 weeks ago tonight. Supposed to begin with

10mg, then 2nd week, 20mg, etc., up to 40mg and then stay at 40. Our

psychiatrist appt is, I think, Aug. 28. He gave us one refill.

So yesterday I realized that I wouldn't have enough medicine to

last. Thought I might run out maybe Saturday or Sunday. I thought

that, well, when he gave the prescription OR when the pharmacy filled

it, it wasn't taken into account that we would be increasing the

dosage each week. So there's not enough.

Today I called the pharmacy as I knew that our health insurance

wouldn't pay for meds twice in one month. The pharmacist, a friend

named Corrine (sp), said to do this: have the psychiatrist write a

new prescription for the correct quantity and then I could get it

filled and the insurance would pay.

So I call the psych's office, knowing he's not there everyday, just

comes to that city certain days. I told the receptionist the

problem, she said she would page him. I gave her the pharmacy phone

number and the number the pharmacy said the psych should call and my

work number.

Well, I wait 2 hrs and call back. She hadn't heard from him yet.

This was before noon. So I wait again until 2 or so and call. I

actually can't remember if I talked to her then or left a message on

machine. In the meantime, I'm getting frustrated. I was sort of

concerned that she might reach the psych and he would call the

pharmacy, etc., and no one would think to call ME. Plus worrying if

he's unreachable for some reason. I call again about 4:15. She said

she still hadn't heard from him. I told her to page him again - oh

yeah, then it would have been the 3rd time she'd paged him. And I

asked her, since we were new at this, what should we do since it's

Friday and I don't know if I'll even have Sunday's dose, or even

Saturday's. The psych wouldn't be in town til Tuesday. She said she

couldn't tell me what to do and, when pressed, that she didn't know

what I could do. So I'm ticked off some.

Our psych where I work has gone home. I was gonna ask him about it.

So I go to our area director as he is a psychologist and has been in

the mental health field so long. (I work at a mental health center

but took my son to a private psych) I mentioned that since

just began it, maybe I could just cut BACK on the dose until

Tuesday. He said I shouldn't do that. We checked and the nurse said

we had no Celexa in the building (at this point I would crush

pills!!). So he advised me to call the pharmacy because a lot of

times they will give a patient more meds until they can see the

psych/doctor. So I called, my friend was still there, she said that

was fine, they'd give me some more to last til Tuesday, bring the

bottle in. Relief!

So I get to the pharmacy after work. My friend is gone and hadn't

mentioned to anyone there I was coming for the extra med. I explain

we hadn't got enough to last for the month what with increasing each

week and the psych wouldn't be in til Tuesday & hadn't returned the

pages from his office today and that I was to increase the dosage

tonight also.

OK - go to Part 2, I guess this one is getting long!

Chris