Started HRT! But not the best experience picking up my prescription!

[greencoloredpencil]

Just started HRT!

All medications are oral route. Super excited!

...but ugh at the headache of picking it up at my local pharmacy. There was confusion over my preferred name printed on the prescription in parentheses beside my legal name that prevented them from initially being able to give me the prescription. This led to the pharmacists loudly talking about the problem with a busy line behind me. Of course they were constantly misgendering me and asking whether the medication was really for me...whatever.

Anyway, I'M SO EXCITED!

[Dena]

I would think about another pharmacy. I would walk in and tell them I am picking up a prescription for (room mates name) and they would hand it over. Some of these were for some pretty powerful narcotics but some were antibiotics as well. They would review the medication instructions but that wasn't a big deal as the instructions were printed on the bottle and the paper work. Some the drugs she had before so she could have taken them without the instructions.

The other point is after they get to know you, they might not be so bad about it.

[Mariah]

Congrats on Getting it filled. Sorry that they were misgendering and having some confusion over how the script was wrote. I hope all goes well in the future. Hugs
Mariah

[stephaniec]

congrats

[Eva Marie]

Sorry about your experience with picking up your meds. It seems to happen often when you are early in transition and have a bunch of decidedly female oriented prescriptions, especially if your pharmacy isn't used to dealing with trans people.

I had something similar happen but I had been warned ahead of time by people here that it might happen so I was prepared - I found it more amusing than aggravating. I got "the talk" from the pharmacist - "There are YOUR prescriptons?!?!" "You are aware of what they do?"

Why yes I am aware sir, and hopefully they do it quick! 

[Cindy]

Congrats Hon. The first time can be a challenge it was for me as well. But after that the whole of the pharmacy staff followed my progress with lots of love and support.

[Claire_Sydney]

That's a bit awkward, but at least you got your medicines.

I have filled my prescriptions for estrogen, progesterone and anti-androgens maybe 8 times at 5 different pharmacies. I expected to have to explain to the pharmacist, but so far nobody has asked any questions or made any issues of it. So maybe you were just unlucky or the name caused the confusion (my prescriptions are in my male name)?

The only issue I have had was when I was getting bloods done last week. In a full reception room, the nurse asked me if I was taking any medication. I told her what I'm using. She had a puzzled look and asked what the underlying medical condition was. I told her I didn't think it was important for the purposes of pathology collection. She jumped in with a 'yes, it's just that those medicines are...' I interrupted, telling her that I understood the effects and that this conversation had run its course. She retained her puzzled look and I doubt she figured it out at all.


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[KarynMcD]

This led to the pharmacists loudly talking about the problem with a busy line behind me.

You might want to mention "HIPAA violations" to them if it happens again.

[Emileeeee]

I didn't even know you could get a preferred name on a script. All mine have my male name on them still, so unless I go to a trans clinic to fill them, I get weird looks from whoever I go to.

[Deborah]

The first time I picked up my Meds the pharmacist had a lot of concerns to.  But he was discrete about it and nice too.  So it wasn't a bad experience.


Sapere Aude

[RobynD]

I had less of an issue with my first pick up, but similar. A long pharmacy consultation and a bit of confusion. Since then, its all been good though.

Congrats!

[Violets]

I've never had an issue, though my local pharmacist is a lot more friendly now than before I started HRT. He always greets me using my name now. It's nice.

[Asche]

I guess we're lucky.

When my son picked up his hormones from the CVS (pharmacy chain in the USA) just South of us, they did ask him if he knew what the doctor prescribed.  He confirmed it (estradiol and spiro) and that was the end of it.

When I picked up mine, at the other CVS in town (the one we've been going to for years), nobody said anything, I might just as well have been picking up cough drops.  Of course, the fact that they've never seen me when I wasn't wearing a skirt or dress might possibly have clued them in that it was no mistake, too.

I wasn't aware that you could have a different name on your prescriptions from what the insurance company knows you as.

[AnonyMs]

I've never had HRT from a pharmacist, but they always seem to want to discus other prescriptions I've had over the years. It annoys me intensely so I've found myself a pharmacist where they just hand it over, no questions asked.

I don't get all this hassle when I buy anything else. You'd think a doctor having prescribed it would be enough.

[MichaelaLJ1972]

My first pick up was awful too, but not because of the pharmacist. There is a certain woman who works as a cashier who questioned the prescription and asked me if I knew what it was for and if it was really for me. She's just a cashier, no medical background at all. She's this way with everyone for every prescription though. She even gave me crap about my anxiety and depression meds before.

[Rachel]

Congratulations on starting HRT.

My insurance only is with CVS. I had a cashier giggle as I walked away one time and a pharmacist ask if I knew what these would do. I said yes and he asked again. I now go to the pharmacy my primary care owns and have no issues at all. My Primary care treats 2600 trans clients.

[Sharon Anne McC]

*

So bad was your experience - you have my empathetic support.  Medical / pharmacy personnel should know better to not talk to their patient at the counter with other than a subdued level.  Also, a good pharmacy will strictly enforce a set-back for a waiting line to uphold confidentiality at the counter.

I got my first ERT (Norinyl) at K-Mart's pharmacy.  Was I nervous receiving that plastic flip pack - a 'male' getting birth control pills.

I was not so nervous a few months later picking up my DES.

Yes, I felt that, whether I was peri-transition to post-op, the pharmacy invariably acts with suspicion.  Even nowadays 35+ years on.  At least one consolation was that I do not recall being mis-gendered.

Admittedly, I received my ERT via a legitimate East Coast mail order pharmacy for most of my years - whether times under health insurance coverage (work-sponsored, MediCare) or self-pay.  The mail order was cheaper than going to the local pharmacy. 

Many chain groceries and pharmacies now offer a $10 price for 90 days generic ERT.  That seems a great deal if you are not covered for less.

I learned somewhere recently that Planned Parenthood now issues prescriptions and dispences ERT at their clinics.  That seems to be quite a positive step.  There are likely to be smiling faces and support at PP more so than at XYZ Pharmacy.

I have also been fortuneate at my blood draws.  No one at the intake desk asks why I am there and the phlebotomist does her draw without the third degree.  To them, I am merely one among their day's long line of blood draws.  'Next!'

*

[diane 2606]

In a full reception room, the nurse asked me if I was taking any medication.

Was this an actual nurse, or the receptionist wearing scrubs to make you think she has a right to that information? Even with the best of intentions, it's not appropriate. Medication discussions should only take place in a private exam room, and only with actual medical professionals.

Also, I now go exclusively to the pharmacy drive-up window. No muss. No fuss. No prying ears.

[Sophieraven]

Wow, and i thought that the doctors receptionists and pharmasists could be bad here. I'll look at them in e new light after the experiences on here.
Sophie

[XKimX]

There are recent changes in FDA regulations about the legal responsibility of the pharmacist to be able to assure himself that the patient has a clear understanding of the effects of any pharmaceutical he dispenses, and that the patient has either been counseled or has denied, in writing, the need for counsel.  He is also legally responsible to assure himself that the amount of any pharmaceutical dispensed is more or less than the normal amount dispensed for the time period of the prescription.  For an established patient, or in a busy chain pharmacy, much of this is pro forma, but at my pharmacy I do have to sign each month an electronic form stating that I have rejected counseling.  Even from mail-order pharmacies, when I have a script for a new med of any sort, not just HRT, I have received calls from their pharmacist asking if I know what I doing taking this med.

This all has to do from the underworld shifting from importing to the domestic manufacture of designer drugs.  Some very innocent pharmaceuticals are often used as the precursor for the manufacture of illicit drugs, and the pharmacist has been made legally liable for keeping detailed records of all sales.  And behind the scenes, the pharmacist often checks with the issuing doctor to assure himself that the script has not been forged or altered.  This is a big change from several years ago, and locally several pharmacists have received prison sentences for not doing the above.

There is no accounting for the innocence and rudeness of clerks and cashiers, but pharmacists are becoming increasingly uptight.  I have never had a script denied, but I have been told to come back the next day to pick it up so they can make verification.  And pharmacists will try to conceal this process by saying that they do not have enough of your needs on hand and will have to order more before they can fill your script.

None of this is meant to apply to us or our meds; we are just caught in the middle of the FDA's battle with pharmacists who knowingly assist in the illegal transfer of pharmaceuticals to the underworld.