Morphex's blogologue (Life, technology, music, politics, business, mental health and more)

When medication is not available as advertised / promised

Recently I was at a pharmacy, to pick up some Seroquel Depot medication, at the Norwegian pharmacy chain Apotek1, their store at Heimdal.

I ordered 5 packs Seroquel depot 50mg online in their webshop, and things looked fine.

I went to pick it up, and I was the last customer serviced that day. It turned out that they did not have 5 packages available, and after some complaints from me, the pharmacist gave me a 150mg package of Seroquel depot, and 2 50mg packages of Seroquel depot, which was an OK solution, then and there.

However, I find it worrying that a pharmacy advertises, and makes it possible to order important medication online, and when you come to pick it up, it isn't available. I could've bought some packs before traveling, I could've had few packs left at home etc. - and it is an inconvenience that they don't have important medication - AS PROMISED.

I've read online that the maximum concentration of medication in the blood (and its effects and side-effects), can be different for a patient taking 2x150mg of Seroquel depot, as opposed to 1x300mg of Seroquel depot.

I've been on the same dose of Seroquel for quite some time, on 50mg tablets, and it has worked well, I'm in good shape.

However, I've also earlier experienced pharmacies (from other chains) having few packs of Seroquel available, so overall, it seems that a person that has emotional or cognitive problems, should keep a stash of medication at home. Which isn't a bad idea, because I see there are shortages of some medications from time to time.

Apotek1 is a commercial chain of pharmacies, and they get their rules & regulations from the state. They are basically an extended arm of the state healthcare system, when they dole out prescription medication.

I see that Seroquel depot is available in 50mg, 150mg, 200mg, 300mg, 400mg. But not 100mg.

I find that odd, and seeing that the dosage for various psychiatric illnesses start at 150mg a day, I'm entertaining the possibility that the medication is not available as expected, and the dose of each tablet is setup, so that the healthcare system can manipulate the patient in how they take medication, and how much.

I recently changed primary care physician, because the previous one was a bit of a disaster, and I've talked to my new primary care physician about wanting to reduce the amount of Seroquel I take, due to mental side effects, as well as long-term physical side effects.

Thinking about how eager my old psychiatrist Daniel Molyneux was to get me over on anti-depressants, and he, my old primary care physician Thor Digre, and NAV - the state welfare system, was negative to me using exercise as a way to manage and stabilize mood and manage physical health, I do entertain the possibility that they have setup the medication dosage, and the distribution system, so that they can fuck with the medication.

And if they fuck with the medication in such a way, what else do they see themselves are justified in doing? What else are they fucking with?

[Permalink] [By morphex] [Health (Atom feed)] [07 Apr 16:46 Europe/Oslo]