Be Careful at the Pharmacy!
 

I just had a peculiar incident returning from the Walgreens pharmacy off 441 and Bella Cruz. I picked up my prescriptions and opened one of the bottles to put my pills in my weekly pill organizer when I noticed that there were two different sized pills in one bottle. The two different sizes have different markings and appear to be different medications.

I will be going back to the pharmacy in a few minutes to find out what this is all about, but it strikes me as being something that could be potentially dangerous. Someone not checking their pills carefully could easily accidently ingest the wrong medication. I never thought I would have to say this, but please be careful checking your medications.

Let us know. It could be that they didn't have enough of generics to fill your prescription and gave you the brand name...or vise versa.

Cappy, This might help you. This site has an area to help you identify pills by appearance.
Pill Identification - WebMD: Identify Drugs by Picture, Shape, Color or Imprint - Pill Identifier with Pictures

False Alarm
 

Well, I'm glad to report it was a false alarm. They were both the same medication, but from different manufacturers. Apparently they didn't have enough from the one manufacturer. It would have been nice if they would have told me or written it on the paperwork that came along with the bottle, but at least it was never a dangerous situation.

Indy, that is a great site. Thanks! I'll bookmark that site for future reference.

The explanation should have been given to you when you picked up the prescription.

This happened to me just last week at Publix - but they gave me two separate pill bottles AND explained why. That's the way it should have been handled at Walgreen's.

This also happened to me at Walgreen's. They did however tell me that I will be seeing two different pills in the bottle because of a change in manufacturer.

Since we're on the subject.....I have always used Walgreen's for my script's. Yesterday, I went to Target and decided to ask them the cost for my regular script's. They were HALF the cost of what I have paying at Walgreen's...plus they will give me up to $50 for out of pocket expense for any script's I transfer. I guess it's wise to shop around for script's.

I stopped using Walgreens several years ago. I got tired of the rude pharmacy personnel. I guess I'm not surprised they never told you...

Glad it worked out but as you probably know that YOU are your best advocate. Nobody is going to look out for you better than yourself.

They certainly should have informed you! As for your original comment, be careful at the pharmacy. It's true, we all need to be aware of our medications.....sometimes, mistakes are made, but usually not on the type of medication, but on the number of pills.....don't want to pay for 60 and only get 55!

It's not as rare as one might think.
 

Pharmacy mistakes are not as rare as you might think. Common errors: 1) the wrong dosage 2) the wrong instructions (For example: Take 4 times per day instead of 4 times per week.) 3) giving the wrong medication or substituting another brand that causes side effects.

It's recommended that everyone get a photocopy of their prescription. You can ask for a copy at your doctor's office. So when you pick up your prescription at the pharmacy, you can immediately check to see if the label on the pill container has everything exactly as was written on the prescription.

Almost 100,000 people die each year from prescription mixups. And the Institute of Medicine says that almost 200,000 die each year from medical mistakes in hospitals.

Boy that brings back memories. I remember when I was a little kid my grandfather used to count all his pills at the kitchen table and he would make my mother go back to the pharmacy if they were off by 1. I like thinking about those days. Thanks.

Thank you. This is a good reminder to check prescription drugs carefully. We are ultimately the only ones responsible for our good health. Please keep careful records on medications you take, treatments you've had, any surgeries and dates, copies of blood tests, dates of mamograms and colonscopies, etc.

I picked up my patches to prevent sea sickness before a cruise at the Walmart pharmacy. Good thing I checked them before packing them because they gave me nitroglycerin patches instead! Can you imagine how sick I would have been. After that I changed to Publix and am quite satisfied with them.

pharmacy
 

Same pharmacy,,,,received someone elses perscription...just saying...watch those pills before you leave the counter...they can kill ya!