I just got various prescriptions filled for an intense pain I have on the right side of my face (ear? mandible joint? inflamed nerve? it's still up for debate). I have noticed that while the doctor told me to take a certain med for 4 days, I got a box of 30. Another medication is for 6 days and I got another box of 30. Seems to me the Italian healthcare system could save some Euros by dispensing medication only in the quantities prescribed...making up their own prescription bottles and not just dispensing it as provided by the manufacturers. Are meds not expensive here?

What am I supposed to do with the extra? I write on the box what it is for and no doubt in the future I will self medicate if I think I have the same or similar condition. I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this way.

Diane,
This is how medicine is doled out here and it is incredibly wasteful (and leads people to self medicate). Yes, you just keep the box around until you need that particular medicine again or until it expires. Not sure how cheap or expensive the particular medicine you bought was but keep in mind that you paid for an entire box even if you only need a few.
Michelle

I’m not sure why they do that. My bf’s mother gave me her surplus of antibiotics…….

diane,
did you see a dentist? i'm just curious do you feel any of this symptoms in your arm (weakness) and which side of the mandible are you feeling the pain?

quote:

Originally posted by dentpatient:
diane,
did you see a dentist? i'm just curious do you feel any of this symptoms in your arm (weakness) and which side of the mandible are you feeling the pain?

No, I haven't, though I'm tempted to go to the dentist before the six days are up. It is all on the right side of my face. Is that significant? There is no weakness in my arm.

See the dentist. It could easily be an infection and he's the one to handle it. Dental infections have a way of responding to antibiotics and coming back even stronger later on if the underlying cause isn't treated.

I'm off to see the dentist for a set of x-rays at 8 pm tonight... this will be my 3rd opinion about this *@(# pain! Let's see what he says.

i'm glad youre going to the dentist. and glad youre not feeling weekness in your arms. sometimes a heart attack can present symptoms on the mandible and weakening of the arm on one side (in most cases the left). or it could be just your bite "occlusion" thats causing some joint inflammation. i hope all goes well and keep us posted. be well

The dentist is 95% sure its a problem with my bite. The molars on the right side hit before those on the left and therefore, I guess, take extra stress and pressure. My mouth is twisted, however slightly, and the muscles are in pain right now. I need to have a device fitted into my mouth that will help the muscles relax. So, yes, dentpatient, your guess seems to be correct(are you a dentist?)

I go back on Monday afternoon. In the meantime these new pain meds have made it all tolerable most of the time.

Thanks all for your concern and advice.

yes i am a dentist. i'm glad you got it taken care off. i wear a device as well for teeth grinding and helps a great deal with muscle aches and releases pressure around the joint.

Medicines in Italy are packaged like that out of tradition. There was some debate on making at elast the most commonly used stuff in more manageable packaging, for isntance in strips of blisters that the pharmacist may cut at the desired length, but the pharmaceutic industries just failed to respond and probably they are too powerful for the government to tackle them too incisively.

quote:

Originally posted by Alice Twain:
Medicines in Italy are packaged like that out of tradition. There was some debate on making at elast the most commonly used stuff in more manageable packaging, for isntance in strips of blisters that the pharmacist may cut at the desired length, but the pharmaceutic industries just failed to respond and probably they are too powerful for the government to tackle them too incisively.

I don't see a problem here in Italy, my blood pressure med comes in packages labeled by days of the week. In the US it was just in a bottle. After a surgery in the Us they give you a big bottle of pain killers, some of which I still have a long time later.

I'm currently taking antibiotics and the pills are packed indivually in a plastic tin foil pack.

Don't really see where Italy is behind at all.

It wouldn't be a problem with a med you'd be taking long-term, or antibiotics for that matter which are usually packaged for one "course" (Zithromax was 3 tabs only in the box, another antibiotic had 10 tabs, for 5 days worth only). The problem was with a pain med that I was only supposed to take for 6 days (came in box of 30 as perhaps most people DO take it long term) and another drug was for nerve pain, again 6-day prescription and box of 30. I have a cabinet half-filled of half-empty boxes of prescriptions so it happens all the time with meds for acute (not chronic) problems, in my experience.

If the farmacia issued only the number of pills prescribed they would have to: open factory packages, buy bottles, print labels, print instruction sheets, etc. Also, you have to figure the cost of extra labor. I think it is just cheaper and easier to dispense drugs in their factory packaged containers.

I've heard it's good to periodically go through your unwanted things and sell or donate them. Surely this applies to pain killers as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill 2:
I've heard it's good to periodically go through your unwanted things and sell or donate them. Surely this applies to pain killers as well.

Illegally selling prescription drugs, good plan, maybe ebay! Another home based business.

I usually give unused drugs to my Doctor. He gives them to people that don't have insurance and/or can't afford them. I don't know if this would matter in Italy with the nat'l health plan.

quote:

Originally posted by Gil:
If the farmacia issued only the number of pills prescribed they would have to: open factory packages, buy bottles, print labels, print instruction sheets, etc.

Not necessarly. The proposed solution for some drugs was to pack them in strips of blister packaging: the pharmacist just ought to cut off the desired length of the strip with the right number of pils and add the preprinted sheet.

I have a different issue with my pill. I am on Yasmine, which seems to be working fine so I have no wish to move to a diferent one, but the pill is not covered by the SSN and it only comes in single-month boxes. Each box contains one month's worth of pill, a large instruction sheet, a heavy paper sleeve to keep the blister in and the box itself. it all costs about 13 euro per month. If the producer also packaged Yasmin in larger boxes (say 6 months worth) it could use one box, one sheet and one sleeve. The monthly cost would be lower, say at 11 euro per month. But they don't.

Unused, still sealed boxes are often accepted by various organizations that assist the elderly or the immigrants. When my grandfather died, his stash of unused medicines went to the local "ricovero". Banco Farmaceutico is a cathlic organization that collects medicines and distribtes them to various assistential organizations. It mainly accepts OTC medicines. Also Caritas collects medicines, only totally unused packs, to donate them to people in need or to organizations that woork in third world countries.