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Two Letters Re: Stocking up on Prescription Medications

Jim:
One more opinion on this, RARELY if EVER do medications cause ANY harm if taken past their expiration date. The only thing you MIGHT lose is some of the effectiveness of the particular drug. If they are stored in the oft-mentioned common sense fashion ( cool, dark, dessicant-added, etc.) meds are easily good for 5-10 years past their expiration date . I am a family doc with 27 years of experience in both the civilian and the military end of family medicine. Thank you for your daily dose of great information. - FLS

James:
Your topic of stocking up on medical supplies holds some interest for us because we have an elder living with us by our choice in our home. The price of prescription drugs notwithstanding, it may be
just our situation in our state, but we find it difficult to stock up on my parent's prescriptions when the insurance company(ies) won't allow one to buy more than a 30 day supply.
To take this a bit further, even when you have a sympathetic doctor, the local pharmacies won't allow you (and this includes the Canadian pharmacy we buy from as well) to purchase more than a three month supply of meds for your elder. Most of us do not have a way to acquire more than this amount of any needed prescription meds. So is there a way around this?
Also, how does one go about obtaining other very practical meds that seem to be a doctor-only prescription that would be nice to have in the medicine kit bag at home (antibiotics are a prime
example.) I would appreciate some tips from your readers out there. Regards, - Redclay

JWR Replies: Getting extra prescriptions is not a problem if you have a sympathetic doctor. You can always visit multiple pharmacies with these prescription slips. But you probably won't be able to get around the insurance company "three month limit" policy. You must resign yourself to paying for the extra medications entirely out of your own pocket.

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