Want to get in the middle of an argument between Mr. DD and myself?
If your doctor prescribed you a new med and told you specifically to take it in the morning, but then when you went to pick up the prescription, the pharmacist told you to only take it at night, which professional’s instructions would you follow and why?
Punch Drunk 
I’d look at the leaflet or label!
Both need watching! But the patient will be the one to suffer if something goes wrong.
I would follow the doctor’s instructions
Unless wife.imp got mad enough to post about the argument on the internet. Then I would follow the instructions from the Rx.
I would check with the doctor, being careful to explain that the pharmacy had advised otherwise.
The only time it has happened to me, the pharmacy had it wrong. But, as dispensing is what they do, there is a fair chance they are right.
My first inclination would probably be to go with the pharmacist but he could have read the prescription wrong. I would of course google things to see what is recommended and because I’m super anal I would call the pharmacy and the doctor to get clarification. Good luck!
Pharmacist. All the way.
That’s a tough one…..
I’ll just take your side & tell Mr DD that no matter what, HE’S WRONG!
I would call the doc and clarify, or if the doc wasn’t open, clarify with the pharmacist. I wouldn’t start taking it until I knew for sure.
Hubs said he’d take it at noon, so he was partially following both directions!
Neither, I’d look it up and or call my nurse practioner friend.
Helpful, aren’t I. Can I look it up for you?
Depends on why they tell you. If it will help you more during the day like your dr said but the pharmacist was telling you to take it at night so it won’t hurt your stomach – which would you be more concerned about, it working or a tummy ache?
We all know from experience to be your own doctor, do your research and figure out what works best for your own body. Be your own advocate.
I’d say it depends on whether you use only one pharmacist’s pharmacy (or inter-connected ones) who can see ALL the meds that may currently being taken, and/or whether the doctor is aware of ALL of the meds.
I’ve seen plenty of screw ups because the two or more doctors didn’t know what the patient was taking in their entirity (which is wrong on so many levels, but not always the MD’s fault – sometimes it is oversight by the patient or just out and out hiding info from the MD by the patient.).
On the other hand, the pharmacist may be looking at a list of meds and seeing a conflict but may not be aware that the doctor has changed the orders.
I’d 1) google the med & read the “for medical eyes only” prescribing orders; then 2) call the pharmacy and ask again on the time of day (did they say that because that is how they usually see the rx written, or is it what the MD wrote, or is there a conflict with another med, or is there a common breakfast item which might reduce the effect of the drug? THEN after I had all that straight I’d call the MD and ask when to take the med & see if they still say the opposite of the pharmacist. If so, I’d ask why.
The only person who can be your or your husband’s best advocate is each of you alone or together by asking all of these questions and then following the advice of the doctor if it matches up with your research, or finding a new doctor for a second opinion.
I would call my doctor to confirm and relay the info from the pharmacist. I also would have mentioned the doctor’s instructions to the pharmacist. Then I would do what my doctor said.
I am going for the pharmacist??? But what the heck do I know! 🙂
Depends on what the med is if it even actually really matters. Often it doesn’t all that much.
I’d look it up in my MIMS.
J
Well, I only trust me, and never Docs or Pharmacists, so there’s that.
I basically only take drugs I have already researched and read up on, whether it’s at drugs dot com or emedicine, or medline plus, or just plain old Google.
Sometimes my pharmacist is wrong and sometimes my doc is wrong, but honestly, my own personal research is never wrong.
doctor and check with rxlist. i feel like you don’t get pharmacists anymore you get ‘pharmacy techs’
I vote for having the two duel it out. Everyone is human, so I would want to have more than one opinion trying to figure out my med schedule. Then again, my whole life is one interdisciplinary team meeting… so I’m all about the compromise 🙂
Pharmacists aren’t the pill pushers… docs are… I would have the pharm call the doc to clarify why he said morn, when the pill is supposed to be for night….
A lot of times, docs are busy, and they forget (simple to do when you work with about a gazillion different people and sicknesses every day) when or how a pill is supposed to be taken. I once saw a doc who was on call write a prescription for an anal suppository and wrote to administer orally in the instructions!! In the doc’s defense, he’d been on call for going on three days, and was half asleep I’m sure. If there’s any discrepancy, it’s recommended to have the pharmacist argue it out with the doc. Either the doc will have a valid reason for wanting it taken in the morning, OR he made a simple mistake that can be clarified in a matter of moments.
Hubby says Doctor because a pharmacist is just a pill pusher. I’ll agree with doctor, but more because he knows my history better than the pharmacist.
Also, I think you should use your sweet baby as your banner. If anyone looks like Dementia Puglisitica it’s her, poor girl! I hope she’s feeling better.
Google’s and only Google’s. Google has never let me down and is always there for me. In fact, I’m going to go spoon with Google with now.
In all seriousness, I’d just wait, call the doctor back when he was available, let him know about the conflicting info and see what he says. Then I’d do that. OR, try it both ways and see what works best. How big of a deal can it be? (She said after a six-day migraine.) I’m really only kidding about that last option.
Pharmacist, because they’re the one’s who see all of the complications.
I would ring and clarify with the doctor. Unless its a drug for cholesterol. In the old days, the instructions were to take it at night but now the instructions are to take it in the morning. In reality…….as long as you take it around the same time every day……it doesn’t matter.
The doctor because I would assume that they were selecting the drug and dosage specific to my case and hence the time of drug too. However if the pharmacist was pretty convincing I’d end up calling the dr back and checking…
Perhaps the Dr is privy to other meds being taken and wants this to be opposite. Of course, I trust neither doctors or pharmacists and would have to research it on my own.
Stuff taken specifically in the morning tend to need food with them or are stimulants of some kind.
It also depends on the doctor. OHN mentions thyroid meds/empty stomach/30 minutes. My Dr, who specializes in thyroids, says hooey to that – and I’m glad b/c I have enough trouble remembering to take it w/o it getting so complicated. She also divides the dosage between breakfast and lunch, that way the dosage has fewer side effects and can essentially be higher, thus induce more weight loss.
Different strokes.
I’d say the doctor but it would depend on what kind of doctor it was. If it’s someone you trust and feel confident in, I’d go with their response. But you never know if they were having an off day or something so I’d just call and ask. I also have a skeptic view of pharmacists since I once had an allergy prescription filled only to get an antipsychotic medication handed to me. Good thing it was a refill prescription and I knew that the pills looked different. When I took it back to get the right thing they never said sorry and just said “We were busy”.
It depends on the medication. For example thyroid meds should be taken in the morning without food for 30 min. Cholesterol meds should be taken at night because that is when your body produces the most cholesterol.
Sometimes the doc have a weird reason they want you to take things at certain times, but then again pharmacists know meds reactions and interactions. Maybe the drug has sedative side effects and the pharm was worried about Mr DD staying awake.
I would google too, like the others said, and see what I could find out and then ask the doc why he said morning.
I’d call my doctor’s office and ask if it made any difference when i took the meds and why.
I would have asked the pharmacist and told him that the doctor said morning. I love to pester pharmacists (especially about OTC medications), because they’re always advertising that that’s what they’re there for. Then I probably would have asked the pharmacist to call my doctor too. (I have done this before. It’s very entertaining to watch them fight it out between themselves).
What did your husband say?
Here I would head straight for the British National Formulary (the book all drs have to hand on selection and use of drugs) (bnf dot org – free to register) .
I’d check rxlist.com and double-check with the doctor. And if the pharmacist told me only to take it at night in an actual conversation (rather than by printing it on the bottle) I would have asked why.
Hmmm…I would probably do what the doctor said, basing this on the fact that he made a specific point of the matter.
I would google the drug, too… because the “innernets” know everything :).
Honestly it would depend on the doctor. I tend to think Pharmacists are more up to date on meds and pay more attention because that is their total focus. However if it was a Doctor who I had a relationship with and felt that he/she was paying attention when he/she said take in the AM, then I would go with the doctor. How is that for clear as mud?
Call the doc and clarify the instructions. Or ask the pharm why he says night only.
Pharmacist. They should know their drugs, shouldn’t they? NEver trust a doctor ;). Oh and of course I’d check what Google has to say too, and probably base my decision on the result of that research.