We leave for Italy on August 30 -- next Saturday. My husband has a prescription for Adderall for extreme sleep apnea. It is an amphetamine, and he can only get it every 30 days. He just picked up his next 30-day supply, which will run out during the last week of our trip. He has a prescription for the next 30-day supply.
How difficult will it be for him to get this in Italy? He's pretty much asleep on his feet without it.
see if the pharmacy will give him an additional 15 days before you go.....the doctors office may need to call it in. others here may have specific insight on Italian pharmacies, but if I were you I'd try to head off the problem before I left.....
He will not be able to refill it in Italy. His best hope is to tell his doctor about his trip and see if he/she is willing to give an additional 7-10 days. Insurance might not pay for an early refill but that is out of the doctor's hands. If you are unable to get extra pills, the doctor may have some helpful suggestions (like taking half a pill a day as the samples are running out, etc). Does he have a CPAP? Even if he doesn't think that helps a lot, I would still bring it.
I would also call the doctor's office tomorrow as soon as they are open. This will allow as much time this week as possible for the doctor to help you out.
There are few, if any, European countries that have prescription amphetamines.
I work for a retail pharmacy here in the US- and I wouldn't wait until you get to Italy to find out. When we were there they didn't even sell simple AZO which is OTC here... not even as a prescription there. Im not sure what state you live in, but I'm sure he could talk to his doctor about the trip and the Dr. should write him another rx to last him the trip (have the dr write on the rx "Early fill ok for vacation" . Then take the prescription to your pharmacy. They may tell you it's too soon but print out your flight itinerary and show them (Talk directly to the pharmacist not just the tech), they may need to call your dr to verify the early release. Then the hard part is insurance. Ask the pharmacy to call your insurance company for a "vacation override", now because of the class of medication the insurance company may deny the claim- which is common for any class II drug, then you would have to pay the full cost of the medication. Good Luck!
I don't believe you can even fill in a different state. I highly doubt he could fill in Italy. I'm an RN and very used to Adderall Scripts. If you explain the situation to your MD he should give an early script and would have to advise the pharmacy he is oking an early script. You also will most likely have to pay cash unless you call insurance and explain the situation.
Don't quacks have samples stashed in the back room?
Talk to the pharmacy/DR/Insurance about a vacation override - we have been successful with other highly regulated medications
Hi Mary k,
I would hope you wouldn't have any trouble getting an extended Rx to cover for your vacation time. I am on two Rx that are very restricted and after asking my MD for a vacation extension I was able to get both with no problem. I did have trouble with the communication between MD and pharmacy, so it took going to the pharmacy three times before I got. So, get on it right away to avoid conflicts.
@Ed- You can't have samples of controlled substances. Even samples of other types of medications are fairly limited these says.
Thanks everyone. He is in bed now -- forgot to take his 2nd pill today and just realized it when we got home from dinner, so instead of taking it he just went to bed. He does use a C-Pap, but his sleep apnea was so severe for so long before he got treatment (the sleep test said he was waking up every 32 seconds -- I had told him about 10 years earlier that he should be tested, but he wouldn't listen because he figured his doctors would have mentioned it if it was a possibility) that even WITH that he is on 2 medications and takes a nap most days. The doctor said his brain just doesn't recognize the sleep, for some reason.
I will tell him to call the sleep center in the morning to see about an override.
Thanks again.
I get a vacation override every year, be prepared to invest a little time in phone calls to the insurance company.
To get the prescription meds in Italy he would have to see a doctor and get a scrip - the doctor may be a pharmacist as well, but you don't want to spend time looking for one, and the Italian scrip may be for a different brand name. Pursue the vacation override.
incest
All- time spell fixer.
Where's Beavis when we need him?
Incest/invest -- LOL -- that was a good one
This is a real world problem for "world travelers." My wife is on heavy duty pain killers for a bad back and she takes Klonopan 1x per day for restless legs.
We have to coordinate her doctor's visits and medicine inventory when going on vacation out of the country.
We're also part time RV'ers, and we cannot be gone for over 3 weeks at a time. We could never be full timers because of her prescription needs. We're hopeful that her Pain Clinic doctor will eventually give her a post dated script--to keep us from having to drive 75 miles every month for a personal visit.
So now you know how I feel about insurance companies - thanks for catching it!
My husband just dealt with this same type of problem. We will be leaving for Italy on Sept. 2, and he will run out of a med that is a controlled substance. He had to e-mail a copy of our flight details to the insurance company, and then they did ok a refill. Good luck.
David, my husband gets three post-dated 1-month prescriptions at a time. We just have to be sure to keep them in a safe place and remember to take them to the drug store every month -- and then to call the sleep clinic to request new prescriptions for the next 3 months. Don't see why this couldn't be done for your wife.
Diane -- maybe we will run into each other. ;-) We will be in Milan the 1st week of September.
Spero che tu abbia un grande viaggio!
