By Colleen Sullivan, Guest Columnist

I wrote an article years ago titled "Humiliated by a Pharmacist" about how difficult it is to be a chronic pain patient and to get prescriptions filled for pain medicines.

I would love to report things are better now, but sadly the truth is they aren't.

I was diagnosed with Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD) in 2001. Having MCTD basically means a person has two or more overlapping autoimmune conditions. Mine are dermatomyositis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. These are all very painful conditions to have.  

Since I've been dealing with MCTD for so many years, I've dealt with a lot of different pharmacists and learned a few things.

Whenever I enter a pharmacy for the first time, I like to speak with the manager, explain my conditions and what I need from them. Then, I ask what they need from me and if they are willing to work with me. I just want to make sure we understand each other and are on the same page. 

Picking up my prescriptions went smoothly for awhile. It was still stressful and scary to approach the dreaded pharmacy counter and hand over my prescription for an opioid. They still looked at the Rx and up at me with judgmental eyes. They still had an attitude and no empathy whatsoever.  

But I managed to find a place and a head pharmacist who was willing to work with me. It was a small pharmacy that wasn't part of a big chain and I thought they weren't going to be the "med police" like Walgreens. You know what I mean: Pharmacists who think they know more than your specialist and that it's somehow their job to judge if you're worthy of your medicine or not. 

This pharmacy is located in the same building as my pain specialist, which I thought was great.  First, if they have any questions or problems, my doctor is right upstairs. Second, it's super convenient being one floor below. I already have to drive 4 hours round trip to see my doctor in Homestead, Florida because there are no doctors in the Florida Keys willing to treat any pain patients. 

So, I went to this place and spoke to the owner and head pharmacist, Claude, who said it'd be no problem at all and he'd be happy to work with me. He assured me they have a special relationship with a drug distributor and a backup vendor as well. I was finally able to relax and not have a flare up every month from the stress of going to a pharmacy.  

Things were good for six months or so, but then suddenly the whole staff started acting weird towards me. Here we go again, I thought. They started insisting I call them days in advance every month to remind them I'm a customer of theirs and to order my medication. I didn't mind doing that, but the more I thought about it, isn't that their job?

They'd assure me on the phone that everything was good, they ordered it, and it'd be there for me when I needed it.  

Then one day I made the two hour drive there and handed over my prescriptions. They went to the back and whispered to one another. That made me extremely anxious. Then, they came up and said, "Sorry, we don't have it." 

I stood there frozen in disbelief before asking, "Don't you remember talking on the phone with me and assuring me you had it?"  

Claude just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I can't help you. Sorry. I can order it now." 

Order it now? That means I would have to make the 4-hour round trip drive the next day just to pickup a prescription.  

This happened from then on, almost every month. When they didn’t have my meds, sometimes Claude would nonchalantly say, "Just drive around and look for it."  

JUST DRIVE AROUND AND LOOK FOR IT?

If you walk into a new pharmacy with an opioid prescription, it never goes well.  They look at it, look back at you and say, “We don’t have it.” They don't look in the back. They don't check the computer. They just say no. 

One thing you should know about me is I really hate confrontation. Stress makes my conditions worse, so I try to avoid it at all costs. I never argue with them. I meekly walk away and, out of desperation, cry in my car. 

I kept trying to get my prescriptions filled at this small pharmacy, because each time they'd apologize profusely and say it was an oversight and won't happen again.  

One of the last times I went there, I called in advance again. Claude says, "No problem. I ordered it and it's here. I'm looking at it. No worries."  

I get there and he says "Nope, we don't have it. It’s a problem with the distributor. Wait a couple of days and they'll get it." The whole time he's talking, I'm thinking, “You lied to me. Why did you lie?” 

So I wait. Three days later, I call and Claude says he can't get it. I end up having to go to Walgreens -- and that's a whole other story -- but eventually Walgreens gets it for me that month with stipulations.   

But now I'm three days behind in my medication. I have to get infusions every month on a particular day and Claude is well aware of that. Being three days off means two 4-hour round trip drives a month instead of one.

The next month. I called a week ahead because Claude had assured me he would work it out. But on the call he says, "Sorry, it's still a problem with the distributor."  

Out of curiosity, I asked who was the distributor. He tells me it's Cardinal Health.  

I decided to call Cardinal myself and within 20 minutes I find out there is no issue on their end and they can ship it to that pharmacy within a day. I think, this is great! Problem solved and I don't have to keep bothering Claude.

I called the pharmacy to tell Claude the good news and he was furious that I called Cardinal. He's literally yelling at me over the phone saying, "How dare you!" and "Who do you think you are?"  

I thought I wasn't just helping myself, but the pharmacy as well with the distribution problem they kept telling me about. Claude then refuses to receive the shipment from Cardinal and says they no longer want my business because it's "too much work.” He says he's done with me and tells me not to come into his pharmacy again. 

After hanging up and crying for 20 minutes, I start to realize there never was a distribution problem. It was all just a lie and he’s angry at me because I figured it out. Keep in mind this is two days before I'm supposed to refill. Because of his lies, I now had 2 days to restart the process of finding a whole new pharmacy. 

Honesty, it's sad that chronically sick people are being treated like this by medical professionals. All Claude really had to do was be honest and say, "I'm not comfortable working with you anymore. I will fill them for you one more time, so you'll have a month to figure something else out."  

If he could've just been professional and told the truth, there would have been no problem.  

Colleen Sullivan lives in Florida.  

Pain News Network invites other readers to share their stories with us. Send them to editor@painnewsnetwork.org.