Spondylitis Association of America Forums General Discussion General Message Board for Ankylosing Spondylitis and Related Diseases Looks like a med error...

I am finally starting treatment after years of pain! I am starting with prednisone and then we'll move to Diclofenac once this 6 month long flare is gone. If that doesn't work, we'll move on to what she called the "big guns".

The problem is that she wrote on my patient form that it would be 10mg of Prednisone 2x a day and I didn't notice until I got home that the pharmacy filled it with 5mg tablets 2x a day. My doctor's nurse sent the order via e-mail, so I have no idea if the nurse or the pharmacy made the mistake, or did the doctor change her mind.

I really wanted to start taking it tomorrow as planned, but since it's a holiday, I can't call my doctor until Friday. I guess I will just follow what the pill bottle says. 10mg is better than nothing for 2 days, but it may be too little for me to get any benefit.

Miz Que

Some retail pharmacies may be open tomorrow. It probably depends on whether it's a large chain or a small local one. A call to the pharmacy may help you figure out whether the doctor ordered 5mg x 2 or whether the pharmacy mistakenly filled the script.

If you can't get any answers until Friday, you can take the meds you have or just hold off until you figure this out. If it were me, I would probably choose to wait, but do what you think is best.

I had this happen once, luckily I use Walgreens (a chain of course) pharmacy and I was able to go to a 24hr Walgreens pharm (we only have one 24hr one in our area) and they were able to look up the rx since it had been filled it was in their system. They were able to fix it, and sometimes the pharmacy has an "on call" number for the different doctor offices that we don't have access to.

Miz Que,
Are you sure the rx doesn't say to take two 5 mg twice a day? Sometimes my pharmacy doesn't have the larger ones and just doubles up. I'm sure you probably checked that, but it's worth a shot. While you're waiting you can still double up for what your doc actually wanted for you. Good luck!

Luckily, my pharmacy was open today, but unfortunately the prescription was filled as ordered. I will have to call the doctor's office tomorrow to get clarification. Until then, I decided to take the 5mg 2x a day to hopefully get some relief.

Careful about how much you take at night, it can keep you awake.

Never saw 10mg pills either.

Anna

Miz, I have 10 mg pills, so there is a chance they might change it to that. Or if they don't stock the 10 mg, 2 of the 5 mg works, too.

I hope you get this all worked out soon and get some relief!