This is a belated follow-up to a post from several months ago.
TL;DR: New restrictions on controlled medications require that patients use a pharmacy within a few miles of their prescribing physician, and my psychiatrist is two hours away. Many comrades suggested looking into online pharmacies.
Developments
I called three online pharmacies and inquired if they could fill controlled prescriptions. They all said yes!
However…
None take patients without health insurance! 
And so, my routine continues. I’m going to the pharmacy tomorrow. If I leave by 8 AM tomorrow I should be back in time for afternoon classes. 
My Refill Workflow
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Leave a voicemail with my physician’s clinic requesting a refill
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Pharmacy never automatically fills it, so I have to follow up.
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Call pharmacy. Robot says
Hi. What can I do for you? :blob-no-thoughts:
I’m inquiring about my prescription’s status.
Okay, I can help you with that! Please say or enter your prescription number. :blob-no-thoughts:
As a matter of fact, I don’t have it because controlled substances cannot be refilled and thusly every dispensation requires a new, unique prescription number which I have literally no way of knowing until I receive it. :morshupls:
I’m sorry, I didn’t quite get that. Please say or enter your prescription number. :blob-no-thoughts:
I don’t have it.
What can I do for you? You can say things like: “what are the pharmacy hours”, or “refill a prescription” :blob-no-thoughts:
Motherfucker, if you don’t put me on the phone with a person RIGHT NOW I will crawl through this goddamn telephone wire and SHOVE your stupid-ass code through your interface!
Okay. I’ll get you to someone. :blob-no-thoughts:
Hello, mister pharmacy tech, sir. Can I pick up my prescription tomorrow morning?
I don’t see any prescriptions here… Wait! Oh, it looks like there is a problem with your prescriber’s DEA number.
Yeah, that sounds right. The very same thing the last five times, too. The head pharmacist should be able to straighten it up.
Okay. Check back this afternoon.
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Call pharmacy again for Follow-Up: Round Two. Repeat the locution with the bot to speak to a pharmacist who confirms it’s ready.
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Drive a zillion miles and pick it up.
God Bless America 
Half the reason I don’t medicate my ADHD is because in my country, controlled medication can only be prescribed by a psychiatrist, and with minimal repeats. So that means shelling out $200+ every month when I need a repeat script.
So that, coupled with the fact that ADHD meds turn me into a mean and angry piece of shit, are why I don’t medicate my ADHD.
Typical angloid run country cares more about punishing people than having functioning system.
Anyway, sorry about making that about me. I tend to empathize by sharing similar experiences. I’m sorry they put you through all of that comrade.
Only psychiatrists can prescribe it here, too. I actually see a (wonderful) nurse practitioner, and she has to forward all those prescriptions to her supervising MD.
Luckily, my particular generic is more affordable than yours, at roughly $40 for a months’ supply.
Just FYI you’d be able to get a psychiatrist to provide authority to a GP to prescribe Schedule 8 meds.
Some psychiatrists won’t do this. Most who are willing to provide authority will want to make sure that you are tolerating stimulants well, that you aren’t experiencing a manic episode or a psychotic episode due to the meds, before they do it so this often means a series of appointments with a psych before you get to the point that they provide authority to the GP.
There’s also some meds off the beaten path for ADHD. Modafinil is one that would be much less likely to cause you to rage, amantadine is almost certainly going to make you more mellow and focused. Each are much easier to get than (classic) stimulants. There’s someone in this thread who might be taking pemoline, which is another good candidate for this but it comes with significant risks so I wouldn’t be able to recommend it in good conscience. But there are options out there.
The antidepressants that are prescribed for ADHD are probably not a good idea, besides bupropion or maybe atomoxetine, given the side effects you’ve mentioned but they should be a lot easier to get a prescription for too.
I’d need to check to be certain but you get authority from the government body in your state that controls restricted meds once a year, I believe, and psychiatrists can prescribe at least 6 repeats for most stimulant meds.
Just wanted to let you know that there are some options available to you if you do end up trying to navigate this particular healthcare maze.
have your personal assistant do it
That reminds me of the Stanford freshman who had a job posting for a full-time personal assistant to do things like take her dog to the vet. The bourgeoisie are aliens to me.
guess i’ll keep sticking with my gray market stim that was rejected by clinical trials yaaaaay
What were its disqualifying side effects?
caused liver damage to children
analog of a substance that caused liver damage to children
analog of a substance that caused liver damage to children
What stim is it? Curious
Wait, are you taking Pemoline??
one of it’s analogs
Oh damn, I didn’t know they continued to develop analogues after they abandoned pemoline.
Just be cautious with it. I’m guessing that if ADHD prescriptions are out of your reach then I’d be missing the point if I told you to keep an eye on your liver function because that’s probably out of your reach as well. I’d recommend being careful with things that put a heavy load on your liver while you’re taking it, just to stay on the safer side.
Ugh I felt this. I’m a long term opioid user. I do not function without vicodin. My back will give out after an hour of just sitting. I have been on pain killers for over a decade. I have had the same prescription dose for over a decade. I have random drug screenings to make sure I’m only taking what’s been prescribed and nothing more or illegal.
But still, I’m only allowed to call in my prescription the day before it runs out. I have to call my doctor to have them write a new prescription and send it to the pharmacy. I can only have 30 days worth of medication at a time. God forbid I need to take more, the pharmacy is out and I have to go pick it up from somewhere else, or my doctor is unable to write the script immediately that day to have it ready for the next.
All of these bullshit restrictions for what? To make sure 1 out of every 50 users gets caught abusing their medication? WHO GIVES A SHIT? Why can’t everything just be over the counter? Why do we have to involve all these insurance fuckwads, lawmakers, and suburbanites in determining who should be taking what drugs?
It’s a prime example of “Better to kill a thousand innocents than allow one guilty person to be free.”
I’m only allowed to call in my prescription the day before it runs out. I have to call my doctor to have them write a new prescription and send it to the pharmacy. I can only have 30 days worth of medication at a time.
Yep. That’s the way it’s always been with adderall too. The distance thing is the only “new” requirement since I’ve been medicating.
In practice, I receive a 30-day supply every ~34 days, because of the latency between requesting and receiving the medication.
Why can’t everything just be over the counter?
Because, nobody uses drugs with forethought as a tool to to help them develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Everyone would consume as many narcotics as they are legally able to obtain at all times. That’s why I swallow all 30 pills like as soon as I’m handed my prescription. Please thank our brave law-enforcement officers for saving us from ourselves.
In practice, I receive a 30-day supply every ~34 days, because of the latency between requesting and receiving the medication.
Where I’m at, they count each pill and there’s a “no refills before XYZ” on the scrip. So they already know when I need a refill, but they still need the doctor to send over a new scrip each time. Driving to where my doctor is located to pick up at a pharmacy near them sounds like a fucking nightmare, though.
Because, nobody uses drugs with forethought as a tool to to help them develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Everyone would consume as many narcotics as they are legally able to obtain at all times.
W-w-wot? I don’t ju…
That’s why I swallow all 30 pills like as soon as I’m handed my prescription. Please thank our brave law-enforcement officers for saving us from ourselves.
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
WHY DOES THIS SQUARE PANDA WEBSITE KEEP TRYING TO BAMBOOZLE ME?
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pharma companies are producing even less than the DEA quotas
I heard the same. Why do you think that is?
Marxists hate this, beat the tendency of the rate of profit to fall with one simple trick. I suspect there’s price/supply fixing collusion, whether tacit or explicit between domestic producers. They are protected from import competition.
It’s the same reason inflation and profits have been going up for other common goods. The price setters realized they can get away with it.
one possible improvement: on most phone systems there’s some way to bypass the automated system and get to a person without yelling at it, usually by spamming pound sign, zero, or star. annoying as it is I like doing that better than just failing to provide what it asks for until it gives up. I’ve only ever run into one or two I couldn’t bypass that way tbqh (but I’m not on the phone that much)
This is such fucking bullshit and makes me not want to get medicated :/ even though I have insurance
I’m certain I’ve pressed 0 or 1 at least once and it replied “all right. Let me see if I can help you first…” It knows.
yeah usually you have to spam it. I’ve seen sites say 4-5 times but I usually just press pound like 20 times lol
Yeah I just keep hitting 0/# when I’m confident the automated system will be useless. Very rarely fails.
When I’m too lazy to do that, touching the jack on the 3.5mm cables to some old speakers I use together or against metal makes a popping sound that they detect on speakerphone but definitely don’t try to do anything with and just sends me to an operator sometimes.
A popping noise puts you directly through to an operator?
pharma companies are producing even less than the DEA quotas
