In the olden days, it was customary for people with money to buy the full dosage of medicines as per the prescription of the doctor. But now people have learned. In our case, we usually buy medicines for 2 days of dosage and just buy again when needed. When the doctor gives a prescription for antibiotic, it is automatically 7 days but we still buy dosage for 2 days only. There were cases where the patient develops allergy to medication and the doctor would replace the prescription. What happens now to the excess antibiotic capsules?
@Corie Henson Over here, I don't believe the option is available to buy meds a day or two at a time, though I have never tried it. The thought may be, regarding allowing this practice, that some folks having to pay out of pocket for meds, cannot afford to fill the prescription full-up. From that viewpoint, it's a good idea. From another, some cures require taking the full number of units, as in bladder infections, need complete medication.
Most generic meds aren't too expensive here even without ins. At least the common ones. It gets expensive if you want name brand. Even without insurance, if I got the generic thyroid it was only $5 for a month.
I had been using the prescription program run by the healthcare network that my doctor is employed through because they were offering a good price but now that I have a Medicare Advantage plan, the costs to me are negligible so I think I'll go back to an online pharmacy that I had used before, largely because they will fill three months worth of prescriptions at one time. For medications that I am taking longterm, such as Levothyroxine and Crestor, I like having a supply available.
My plan fills 3 months at a time for my thyroid med. I'm almost positive. I know I did before I had ins. but I'm pretty sure It hasn't changed. The only time I got it for a month only was when I was buying the brand and I didn't want to spend that much. Also, @Ken Anderson , don't forget your dosage with thyroid meds can change...I wouldn't want 3 months until I saw I was pretty stable which I am and have been for years but there were times were it wasn't. True that the blood work is every 6 months, sometimes 3 if your having issues.
We developed this habit of not buying the prescribed dosage in full when my husband's mother was critically ill in the hospital. We were given a prescription of a powdered drink like a chocolate with a dosage of 12 packs. It was early morning and feeling that it was very important for my mother-in-law's health deteriorating condition, we rushed to the pharmacy only to find out that it was very expensive. I think we bought only 4 as what our money could afford. One packet costs around $5. After consuming 2 packets for the day, we were about to leave for the pharmacy again when the doctor came to announce that he is stopping that powdered drink. By the way, that powdered drink is for the liver and it was found out that my mother-in-law's liver was healthy.
An interesting consideration about "cutting" pills: In the case of small doses, say, 1 or 5 mg, that amounts to a mere speck of material within a pill weighing perhaps several hundred mg. Unless the active ingredient is well-mixed to make a homogeneous mixture, cutting the pill let's say in half, is a crap-shoot guess: you may get the speck of medicine in one of the halves, the other having none. A pharmacist once told me a general rule amongst them is if the pill is scored, cutting is OK. If no score, no guarantee of homogeneity. Made sense to me. Frank
If you don't take the full amount of an antibiotic you are contributing to the spread of superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics. Some of the drugs my wife takes we paid zero copay before Obama care, now our copay is $32 for one and $70 for another. And the monthly cost of the insurance has gone up too.
Yes, in general you can cut scored tablets in half. Don't ever cut a time release one though. I'm sure most people know these things though.