Prescription drugs on the road.

My wife had the same problem. Had three 1-month scripts for pain meds when we left home. When we got to Michigan no pharmacy would honor them. New MI law that only allows bordering state refills. Before leaving home (WA State) we checked with WalMart and Walgreen's and were told probably would not refill.

Simple solution - made an appointment with our son's family doctor, explained the situation, showed him the scripts. He wrote 1-month script and filled at local pharmacy. Next month exactly the same.

Heading home now after 2 1/2 month on the road.

Don't blame the pharmacies or doctors. They are just following new DEA guidelines.

Another solution is have someone at home refill then mail to you.

Doctors visits to get Class 2 medications is costing Medicare and our insurance company twice as much as the cost of the meds.

Seems to me it's a combination of many things:
Federal laws
Insurance company guidelines
Established AMA/Doctors protocols
and Doctors discretion

When I was working my previous Doc prescribed maintenance meds 3 months at a time. I asked her about it and she told me it was the protocol. But after a few years she switched me to 6 months at a time telling me she had enough history to support that change. When I went on Medicare I had to switch Docs and I'm back to 3 months at a time. I suspect part of it is a paperwork game with Medicare. It may be Medicare rules or it may be the Doc insisting on more office visits of dubious value so they can bill Medicare and cover other costs.

Our doctor refuses to post date prescriptions for Class 2 meds. DEA can revoke their license/ability to write such prescriptions, for doing so.

Water-Bug, you are probably going to get many responses from people that have no clue about the latest regulations on Class 2 pain medications stating how easy it is to get meds for 3 months and refill on the road.

Best we can do is visit doctors right before leaving. They can write 3 paper scripts post dated at 30 day intervals. Your recent move may make your doctors hesitant. Just have a talk with them about your travel plans.

The next problem as you mention is 'will a pharmacy in another town/state refill them?'
That is the unknown for us. We'll find out next month when we head out for our 2 1/2 month trip.
We did shorten the trip from our normal 3+ months due to this issue.

We have no problems getting most maintainance meds. It is the pain and sleeping aids that are the issue. Our problem could be that we recently relocated and our doctors have known us for less than a year. Never had a problem when we lived in Michigan.

It's not just a Florida issue. New federal regulations on various types of meds, to include pain meds as well as others control how many months a doctor can prescribe at a time. The local Walgreens has posted a notice that for meds such as oxyconton, a doctor can only prescribe one month worth with no refills and if you need more, you have to go back to the doctor for a new prescription. On other meds, you can only get one month with two months of refills before going back to doctor.

It's all due to some folks (doctors and patients) abusing the system and making it harder for the rest of us.

Our doctor will give us 3 month prescriptions with enough renewals to get us back home. We have the prescriptions with a national pharmacy so we can and have gotten refills anywhere in the country. We live in Florida too. Sounds like your doctor isn't being very reasonable.

Ed Headington