Question about prescription access?

How about contacting your previous GI and asking them for a refill?

Or/also:

Make an appointment ASAP with your current GI; perhaps that one will prescribe something else.

If the current one is part of a network and they provide a physician directory, try to contact another one in-network that will prescribe the same medicine. Perhaps they could contact your previous GI and give you a scrip with nothing more than authorization from the previous GI, i.e., give you a scrip without having to see them before the scrip is issued.

I’ll definitely be contacting my old GI to see if he can help, but I’m not sure if I’m considered his patient anymore.

Don’t think there’s a replacement for this med.

Thanks for your suggestions :)

I would do what @Brian1946 suggests, but I would also want the new Doctor to tell me what the alternative is.

The medication is a fast-acting steroid that reduces inflammation. I take it when I get a bad stomachache that feels like a small bowel obstruction.

The lovely approved treatment for a small bowel obstruction is to go to the hospital and get a tube shoved up your nose. I’m not a big fan of the 3 times that I’ve had to get that done.

My old GI was a bit of a renegade (and I adored him for it) and he suggested the steroid as an experiment, basically. It works. I’ve taken it 4 times in the past three years and haven’t had to go to the hospital since then.

Nobody else seems to believe that it’s real medicine. They’d rather use the nose-tube. :(

I don’t know that you have to be his patient still for your old GI to prescribe for you. What about all the drug addicts that go round to various doctors getting pain meds? I would definitely call his office and then, as suggested, also make an appointment with your current GI to discuss why you feel this med works for you better.

“I don’t know that you have to be his patient still for your old GI to prescribe for you.”

^ I agree with @janbb‘s perspective and besides, you have nothing to lose by contacting them, just in case they are willing to help you without making another appointment.

How about contacting the steroid manufacturer? Perhaps they could recommend a physician for you.

As the others have stated, any licensed physician should be able to write up a script. I’m more interested in the reason your new GI so arrogantly blew you off. If he (or she) merely told you “I don’t prescribe that medication” without rendering an explanation, I believe you should get back to him (or her) and press the issue.

Your former GI sounds compassionate and receptive to helping you. I would certainly reach him by telephone, briefly explain what the new guy told you, and ask for guidance and advice.

Also, I would find another local GI. “I don’t prescribe that medication,” with no explanation or suggestion for an alternative treatment, isn’t even fair service; it’s supbar and irresponsible. The previous GI might be able to refer you to someone better in your area.

Sent a message to my old GI, we’ll see what happens.

Are you not able to make an appointment and be seen by the previous doctor, to meet the requirements he may have to prescribe a medication?

In the meantime, it may be worth your while to consider an anti-inflammation diet.

Please excuse me if this is TMI, but in 2009 I was having intermittent, shooting testicular pains. It developed into a situation where I went almost 7 months without any release.

I saw a doctor who basically had me taking a tablespoon per day of Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega oil, and I’ve been pain-free for over 6 years now.

However, I don’t know if you’re allergic to fish, but there might be other anti-inflammatory foods available to you.

@jca I could do it. It’d be a hassle. I don’t live in that city anymore, but I could get there by a 1.5 hour train ride. I’d have to take time off work. I don’t know when his next opening will be, either.

I’ll do it if I have to, of course.

Or maybe that doctor (previous doctor) has a local friend he can refer you to. A doctor who is in your area who he knows and who will be open to his suggestion for the medication.

Is/was your prescribed treatment beyond the norm for your particular ailment? From your descriptions it kind of sounds like it might have been.

What are the meds usually prescribed for?

Do you have a GP or just the specialist? Can he (the GP) help you out?

Have you been in to see the new GI yet or only got onto his client list? If not, it might be worth a visit to explain your history and the results you seem be be getting with the meds you now take.

Yeah it’s not a super normal prescription, but I’m not a super normal patient. Many patients will get maybe one small bowel obstruction as a complication from surgery. I’ve had 3 that have required hospitalization and several others that I’ve warded off with the steroid. I can handle the nose-tube once. I can’t handle the nose-tube several times a year.

Anti-inflammatory steroids are used for loads of stuff. Asthma, most notably.

I have a GP but she usually is not receptive to prescribing my GI-related meds. She tells me to ask my GI for them. I can try her, I suppose.

I’ve seen him. I’m seeing him again a week from today for a procedure.

The issue here (to me) isn’t so much the refusal to authorize the refill. It’s the shocking failure on the part of the doc to anticipate that you might be alarmed at being deprived of medication vital and familiar to you. There may very well be serious and legitimate reasons, and this particular doc might be exceptionally good and vigilant in veering away from your particular medication. The reluctance of your GP to shoulder the responsibility might be a clue, but there again you have no way of determining the reason. It might simply be from a lack of expertise. Regardless of any speculation on the reasons for your new GI’s refusal, the lack of an explanation on a matter so serious is not the sort of bedside manner you should tolerate. A swift and dedicated dressing down was fully justified. You’re a trained scientist. Have you looked into the negatives associated with your medication?

Since I take it exclusively on an as-needed basis (like once every 6 months, usually) I haven’t worried too much about its potential side effects or anything.

Someone was speaking on behalf of him in the message I received, so I can hope for different results when I see him in person next Monday, I suppose.

“Hello Rachel, unfortunately, Dr. ***** does not use ****, and therefore cannot write a prescription for this. If you are having symptoms, you should get in contact with our office…”

Thanks for the explanation. It makes a lot more sense

@Mariah Thank you for clarifying the information from the new MD’s office. It’s possible that this man isn’t uncaring or arrogant, and that he’ll be very willing to help you.

Do you have an autoimmune condition? I get that you’re staying private about the details, and I’m not asking you for them. It’s just that everything you’ve mentioned seems to point to an autoimmune problem; they can be very challenging to manage. Infectious diseases, whether bacterial or viral, usually have better prognoses than when the body attacks itself with no external causes.

Yes, I have an autoimmune disease, ulcerative colitis. I’ve had my colon removed and have far fewer problems now than I used to. But the small bowel obstructions are most likely a complication from having scar tissue in my abdominal cavity from the surgeries.

What is the exact name of the medication? I have a gall bladder chronic issue. I may suddenly ‘need’ this drug. Also, i have p pills i get next to nothing and have no use for. Any takers?

I’ll PM you @cazzie.

@Mariah So sorry to hear that. Autoimmune diseases run the spectrum from annoying (e.g. psoriasis) to gravely dangerous (e.g. Type 1 diabetes). Your condition is certainly among the most severe and devastating.

My own autoimmune condition is maybe halfway on the scale. What’s disconcerting, though, is knowing that autoimmune diseases don’t like to travel alone.

Autoimmune diseases suck so much. Nobody seems to care much about finding a cure for them, either. Sorry to hear you’re dealing with one too.

Budesonide?

@Rarebear No, but I’ll PM you. Thanks for showing up here.

Told you what to do by PM.

This is why I <3 the tidepool :)

Update. Talked to doc himself. The situation is a little more nuanced than the “he doesn’t prescribe that drug” that his associate dropped on me.

My doc’s belief is that the type of blockage we thought I was getting should not be affected in any way by anti-inflammatory steroids. So, either:

1.) It’s a complete coincidence that I haven’t been hospitalized since beginning to use the pills or
2.) The nature of my blockages is different than we thought and needs to be better understood.

If 1, not having the pills anymore shouldn’t affect me. If 2, I’ll end up in the hospital next time I have a blockage, giving my doctor a chance to do tests to understand my situation better.

It makes sense. I won’t pretend I’m thrilled about it, but it makes sense. I’m just sort of at the point emotionally where I barely even care why I get blockages anymore; I was content to just take my pills and avoid the hospital trip. I guess he’s looking out for my long term health though.

Blah.

@Mariah Blah!

I agree with the Doctor.