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doctors appointments in this time


ktgrok
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I am due for a routine med check. As in, I can't get my normal medication (ADHD meds) without being seen every 3 months - state law. I'm due, and will run out of meds in a week if I don't go in. If I go, I'll get (hopefully - there was talk of not doing this anymore) 3 scripts, each for 30 days, which can only be filled every 30 days not all at once. If I don't go, I'm off my meds. Part of me says going into a doctor's office for anything not life threatening is stupid. The other part of me says going off my meds when I am stressed and need to be able to think clearly and make important decisions on a day by day basis would be a really bad idea. I have a VERY hard prioritizing and making decisions when not on meds. 

The doctor's office is a family practice and their phone recording says that basically they are not seeing anyone with possible symptoms or who has traveled to geographic hot spots - that anyone in those categories should call the health department to be seen. I will go when my oldest can watch the other kids, so no kids with me. I do not have a mask, but won't touch anything, and will stay far away from any humans other than, obviously the doctor. I know how to properly sanitize myself and anything I have touched when I get back to the car and can shower and change when I get home. 

The only part giving me pause is being near the doctor and nurse. I am not high risk.

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You might check local laws first. I know I’ve seen that doctors can now order prescriptions for 90 days, but I can’t remember if that’s local to my state or if it’s nationwide. 
 

If they still can’t do that in your state, I would call the office and see if they will make an exception. Our governor is asking everyone to avoid non emergency doctor visits; perhaps your state is doing similar? (Yeah, Florida though...I know). As a last resort you can call your pharmacist. Ours called in extra insulin for my husband so he could have a 90 day supply. 

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16 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

I am due for a routine med check. As in, I can't get my normal medication (ADHD meds) without being seen every 3 months - state law. I'm due, and will run out of meds in a week if I don't go in. If I go, I'll get (hopefully - there was talk of not doing this anymore) 3 scripts, each for 30 days, which can only be filled every 30 days not all at once. If I don't go, I'm off my meds. Part of me says going into a doctor's office for anything not life threatening is stupid. The other part of me says going off my meds when I am stressed and need to be able to think clearly and make important decisions on a day by day basis would be a really bad idea. I have a VERY hard prioritizing and making decisions when not on meds. 

The doctor's office is a family practice and their phone recording says that basically they are not seeing anyone with possible symptoms or who has traveled to geographic hot spots - that anyone in those categories should call the health department to be seen. I will go when my oldest can watch the other kids, so no kids with me. I do not have a mask, but won't touch anything, and will stay far away from any humans other than, obviously the doctor. I know how to properly sanitize myself and anything I have touched when I get back to the car and can shower and change when I get home. 

The only part giving me pause is being near the doctor and nurse. I am not high risk.

Can they do over the phone or video?

 

 

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12 minutes ago, MEmama said:

You might check local laws first. I know I’ve seen that doctors can now order prescriptions for 90 days, but I can’t remember if that’s local to my state or if it’s nationwide. 
 

If they still can’t do that in your state, I would call the office and see if they will make an exception. Our governor is asking everyone to avoid non emergency doctor visits; perhaps your state is doing similar? (Yeah, Florida though...I know). As a last resort you can as your pharmacist. Ours called in extra insulin for my husband so he could have a 90 day supply. 

The governor made an order that allows 90 days except for controlled substances, which this is. The doctor's can't make exceptions without risking their medical license, unfortunately. Neither can pharmacists - insulin is actually not a prescription in the same way. 

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My daughters both have appointments next week with their psychiatrist-- one for ADHD meds.  The other for anxiety meds.  My ADHD daughter isn't using her ADHD meds since she is home from college.  She says that she doesn't need them right now.  But my other daughter needs her anxiety drugs.  I am going to call the office and ask if he could do the appointment over the phone and have him mail me the prescription, or just pick up the prescription, if that isn't possible.  I hope that he will allow it.  He is probably in his mid-to-late-60s, so I would think he wouldn't want to meet with a bunch of different people.  

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jOk, I called, they are not doing telemedicine. I left a message asking if I should come in, or if they can just prescribe, or what. What I don't want is to have them prescribe one month now, then in a month from now it is worse and I have to go in then. So, we will see. 

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From what I have heard and witnessed, doctors are taking lots of extra precautions in their offices.  Even the ones that don’t normally deal with illnesses.  All 3 of my kids had eye appointments this week that were scheduled months ago.  We are low risk and the virus is not widespread in our area yet, so we went.  Besides all doctors and nurses wearing masks, they have someone stationed at the door to take your temperature.  If you have a fever, you aren’t allowed inside.  I’m sure that offices that expect to see sick patients are taking even more precautions.  OP, I think your risk will be fairly low.  Go on to your appointment so you can function as normally as possible.

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1 hour ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Yeah that would be ridiculous to make you go multiple times. Hopefully they can give you the three separate at once and then you’re just dealing with the pharmacy and not a dr office AND pharmacy every month. 

Luckily I do live right by a drive through pharmacy!

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If they don't give you a choice, I still think the benefits of going in outweigh the risks.  Leave the floor lickers (aka kids) at home, go in and don't touch stuff, and rest easy knowing you're taking proper care of yourself with a necessary medical appointment.  

 

eta your --> you're  The world may have gone crazy, but that's no excuse for homophone screw-ups!!! 

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This is a timely question for me since Ds is also due for a similar appointment.

Our (West coast) state waived a bunch rules. Ds just got re-scheduled for a telemedicine visit and the rx can now be sent electronically for pickup. Previously we had to hand carry paper prescriptions for a controlled substance. We are still limited to 30 day refills. (Oh, TX, how I miss your 90 day mail order refills!)

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18 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

This is a timely question for me since Ds is also due for a similar appointment.

Our (West coast) state waived a bunch rules. Ds just got re-scheduled for a telemedicine visit and the rx can now be sent electronically for pickup. Previously we had to hand carry paper prescriptions for a controlled substance. We are still limited to 30 day refills. (Oh, TX, how I miss your 90 day mail order refills!)

They need to do that here.

On the flip side, some doctors will still see you every 90 days (or whatever their comfortable stretching it to), but give you separate scripts, give you a 90 day mail order (but you have to be able to sign for it--lots of red tape, and if you are using CVS Caremark, will undoubtedly screw it up), or you can just get paper scripts monthly without additional appointments.

Given that in our state all controlled substance Rxs needs to be run through a database when it's filled, we need to dispense (haha) with the stringency of laws for people on ADHD meds, IMO. 

Regarding telemedicine, do people have that option with their doctors? I am pretty sure our insurance offers it, but you have to use their practitioners who do only telemed, not your regular doctor.

I do know that our state is not allowing telemed for controlled substances.

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Ok, I just got off of a chat with our insurer and screenshot the entire thing.

First they told me that I had to use their telehealth provider. I explained that it was for a controlled substances visit and I was told that the provider needed to register with them for those benefits. I reminded them that the reason I had contacted them was so that I could verify that they had authorization from the insurance company to use those billing codes. Finally I was told that it would be covered because of covid-19. I reminded them that this was not for covid-19 care, but that we were in this situation because all outpatient clinics have been closed by the governor.  I was told we have coverage.  *fingers crossed*.

So, our state situation is that we are in such deep $h!t that the governor closed all dentists, doctors (other than emergent care), veterinary, etc. clinics and commandeered all of their masks, gloves, and PPE because our hospitals are out. There really isn't another option. 😞

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15 minutes ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

Have you called?  My guess is that they don't want to be near you any more than you want to be near them, and that they could come up with some solution.  I'm guessing for ADHD it isn't vital that they touch you, just that they lay eyes on you, and that you might be able to do it by telemedicine, or just talk in the waiting room 6 feet apart, or something else that Im not thinking of. 

But yes, having meds that help you make decisions seems like a good idea right now.

In most states, this is only a reasonable suggestion if they waive laws.

Yes, people with ADHD are treated like suspected criminals every single month. 

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1 hour ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

 

Does the law say there has to be physical contact?   My kid takes controlled substances, which in the past were prescribed by a psychiatrist, as well as those that were prescribed by his pediatrician on the recommendation of his palliative team.  His pediatrician weighs and measures him, but his psychiatrist has never touched him as far as I can remember.  I don't see how the laws, in the state where his psychiatrist works would prevent a person to person meeting where the parties stayed 6 feet apart.  

But maybe in a different state, or for a different drug?  My kid doesn't take ADHD meds.  

It's the telemedicine part that is totally off the table in our state right now. Standing 6 ft. apart might be okay though.

There is a BP screening for ADHD checkups, but in our case, we can do that at home.

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I don’t know your state laws but even when we were not allowed to do refills or 90 day prescriptions (now we can do 90 day scrips but no refills) we could give a patient three separate prescriptions at one time. They all had to be dated the actual date of writing them and then I would write DO NOT FILL UNTIL _____. I’d give the person one for the current month, one for the next month and one for two months out, if that makes sense. You could ask your doctor if they could do the same thing. We can also do electronic prescriptions, you could ask your doc about that. I believe soon, that will be required for controlled substances as it makes diversion harder. 

Other things we are doing that you could ask about...

-Car to room...patients can text us when they arrive and then we can text them back when a room is ready so they don’t have to wait in the waiting room at all. 

-Physically separating appts. All well things are in the morning. All sick are in the afternoon and then the office is thoroughly cleaned at night. We also are attempting to screen out anyone wiht respiratory symptoms of any kind or any kind of travel. That’s not always completely possible, but we’re doing out best. We know an office near here where a parent clearly lied to all screening questions until the room with the provider. 

-Televisits. 

-Limiting additional people in the office. Since it’s a pediatrician’s office, usually one patient might have multiple people with them. We are asking that only one parent accompany each patient. We know that’s not always possible and are sensitive to the fact that a lot of people have their kids home with them and no options for child care. So we’ll make exceptions but we’re at least asking people to think about it. 

-Gotten rid of all magazines, books, toys, etc. 

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9 minutes ago, Alice said:

I don’t know your state laws but even when we were not allowed to do refills or 90 day prescriptions (now we can do 90 day scrips but no refills) we could give a patient three separate prescriptions at one time. They all had to be dated the actual date of writing them and then I would write DO NOT FILL UNTIL _____. I’d give the person one for the current month, one for the next month and one for two months out, if that makes sense.

 

Yes - they do that already, but they said last time they may not be able to next time. I'm almost out of my third bottle, so hoping they can do that again this time when I go in tomorrow. 

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