I live in the U.S., first off.
I was prescribed a narcotic following a minor surgery. I’m not going to say what kind of surgery that was and please don’t ask. I’ll just go ahead and say that the prescription was for hydrocodone/acetaminophen 5-35. I’m worried about having been prescribed this because I know there’s a state-wide electronic system used to monitor all prescriptions—accessible by all doctors, pharmacies, etc. anywhere else in my state—and I know that system is used to flag people for prescription drug abuse. I also know that medications like this are highly frowned upon by the healthcare system itself and even more so by the authorities. I assume it’s entirely possible that I look suspicious according to that system now.
I’ve only taken a three pills so far, out of ten total. If I take the other seven back to the pharmacy to have them destroyed, they’ll make a record of that, I would imagine.
What I mean is that I could just stop taking them now but never tell anyone that, and anyone looking at my medical history in the future would see that I picked up ten pills from the pharmacy, and that’s all they would see, and so I took the entire script as far as they know; whereas if I take the other seven back, and they make another entry in their records about that, that’s in effect like plus ten and then minus seven, and that way I would theoretically have three pills counted against my medical history instead of ten; right?
I could be way overanalyzing this, but frankly, I’m already terrified to take another one anyway. I honestly don’t like how they make me feel, which is good, but it would be just my luck that I’d take one more pill and start liking it immediately. I know what happens to people who end up liking this stuff, and how easy it is to end up liking it; I’ve seen it. It’s also that I’m still relatively young, and my health’s already bad enough at this point as it is, that I already know they’ll eventually put me in the ground with at least one major surgery, and I don’t want to have to get through that with ibuprofen because I’ve already blown it.
Pharmacy professional weighing in.
You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Controls are monitored for what’s filled. Like another user said, if you take them back the pharmacy will just destroy them, nothing is documented. There are often self-serve drop boxes for meds in pharmacies, look to see where they might be in your area (Most of the time it’s a pharmacy, but can be elsewhere). Nothing is reported with med disposal.
Gonna say as well that 10 tabs is absolutely nothing. 5-325 can come in bottles of 500 tabs, and seeing prescriptions for month-long supplies for chronic pain users is pretty common.
The drug reporting watches for patient safety by making sure that a patient isn’t getting multiple prescriptions (potentially at different pharmacies, or different prescribers) that could interact with each other. Let’s say you take Oxycodone 5mg three times daily chronically. You get in an accident and the emergency room prescribes you Norco (your hydro/APAP 5-325). The monitoring tool lets them know that you’re already on an opioid and to either change therapy or verify the additional dose with your PCP.
Anyways I’m rambling. Long story short, you’ve got the least suspicious prescription. Nothing to worry about.
I’m still relatively young
Your naivety gives that away. I’m putting this on your permanent record.
I’m quite a bit older than you think and even more naïve, I promise.
Don’t get so distressed
You’re over analyzing.
The system is (supposedly) to track narcotics to prevent overprescribing. Your one-off script because of one surgery isn’t a concern.
Take what you need. Don’t think just because today you feel OK you don’t need the refill - pain can be sneaky, and come back with a vengeance tomorrow. What the surgeon prescribed is based on experience with prior surgeries - there’s a bell curve of post-op pain level and time, that’s used to guide prescribing.
For example, after one surgery I felt fine and had already been given a strong pain med injection, and figured I’d be fine for a few hours. When my nurse realized my pain med prescription hadn’t been filled yet, she rushed off to get another shot for me, knowing that I’d shortly be in major pain. She’d seen enough of that type surgery to know how it works for most people. I thought I had plenty of time to get it filled.
The focus of the tracking system (ostensibly) is to expose patterns of abuse…which is (supposedly) more likely from long-term use/prescriptions (months/years) - such as with chronic pain sufferers. It’s more concerned with docs over-prescribing, since they instruct the pharmacy what to give you - you can’t just walk in and say “gimme 30 vicodin”.
They don’t care if you bring them back. They put them in a disposal system and won’t document who you are.
The only time prescription monitoring comes into play is if you’re filling more than a normal amount. Some states have limits on pain pills or morphine equivalents. Unless you’re popping 10 a day and begging docs for refills, nobody gives a shit.
Are you afraid of becoming addicted? Or just that they won’t give you pills when you need them?
Are you afraid of becoming addicted? Or just that they won’t give you pills when you need them?
Kinda both, although more so the latter, tbh.
You could definitely bring them back to a pharmacy. But It might be better to give them to a trusted loved one who will give them to you when they know you need them. Although if you have a doc that wrote the script for you, they’d almost certainly do it again next time, assuming you go through a similar surgery.
There’s a lot of talk about pain meds, but tbh docs are still willing to give them out. Docs are trained in red flags but anyone looking at your record would see someone who legit needs it.
What the fuck? Nobody is going to give a damn lol. Stop reading shit on the Internet.
You’re over analyzing it. These medications are prescribed all the time, especially for surgeries. They’re only concerned if you start filling multiple prescriptions for the same narcotics at different pharmacies. They aren’t going to care if you return the pills back. It’s just going to go into a pile with expired medications to get destroyed. I doubt they would make any record of it. You don’t have to take any painkillers if you don’t feel they are warranted. I didn’t take mine when I had my surgery. Once you have completed recovery, if you want to get rid of the medications, any pharmacy will carry the materials you need to destroy the medication safely. I don’t remember what it’s called offhand, but you can go to any pharmacy and ask for some packets of the stuff that destroys medications, and they’ll just give them to you.
It’s 5/325, the Tylenol is in there mostly to “prevent abuse”. I say that in quotes because you can separate the two by powdering the pill and putting it in cold water overnight. The Tylenol won’t mix with the water. It’s a pointless addition to the pill.
As for your concern though, they gave you ten. You’re way over thinking it. If you don’t want any remainder when you’re done most pharmacies have a drop for old meds or will otherwise take them but they don’t care who you are and won’t keep track.
Like everyone else here…your over thinking it.
That med is barely anything to worry about. Your doctor prescribed it, take it.
Trust me, you’ll know when you’re on the serious stuff when you have to get a new script every month that makes you go to the doctor just for a refill.
I’ve a new medication that I can only get from the hospital. They have to send it out and give me a months supply. I can’t get this one from the Dr. It’s a biologic and used for ulcerative colitis so it’s not an addiction reason.
I’ve only taken a three pills so far, out of ten total. If I take the other seven back to the pharmacy to have them destroyed, they’ll make a record of that, I would imagine.
probably not, actually. you got the pills legally. You’re not trying to get more. nobody is going to look at you like you’re a chronic user.
that last paragraph, though, is an excellent reason to return it anyhow. Especially if the pain is manageable without. I would suggest talking with your doctor/pharmacist about it. they can give you better guidance.
I don’t think there’s anything you can do about it. Taking them back is not likely to make it to the database. The most important thing is to not need pain pills again soon - try to push off any further. Surgery.
My ex got hit with that - came back from surgery and was red flagged so couldn’t get pain pills for recovery. My best guess is it was because she had two unrelated surgeries from two different specialists. It’s possible one ten pill prescription overlapped the second, I don’t remember. As a teacher she had the summer off so wanted to get them out of the way and have the rest of the summer to recover or enjoy. Don’t do that
Okay, yeah. That’s exactly what I was afraid of, and thanks for telling me. It’s as literally dystopian as I was had assumed. Great.
Flush the rest down the toilet and move on. You’re overthinking it.
No, taking the medication to the pharmacy to have it destroyed is a good idea. Medicine shouldn’t be thrown away and especially not flushed away, it’s bad for the environment.
It’s 7 pills and is an immediate solution that doesn’t cause more anxiety to the person.
Firstly, why the fuck would it be seen in anyway as a bad thing to take the medication prescribed to you? It’s prescribed to you for a reason.
And secondly, if you have to dispose of them for some weird reason and the pharmacy is annoying, it’s probably better to throw them in the trash.
In general, never flush down anything that’s not body fluids, excrement or toilet paper down the toilet.
This. This right here. I’ll back it up by saying that I was on orders of magnitudes of higher doses of narcotics for over 10 years and just flushing the narcotics are not in any way going to cause you issues.
I live in the US. Last year I had a wisdom tooth removal and was prescribed Hydrocodone, like you.
I took one and it made me sick, so I didn’t take the rest. They’re still in my medicine cabinet and won’t ever be touched, I’m sure. No one has come after me for it.
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