insist that you come in to her office, or to the emergency
room, to get the problem looked at in fact, she may
have to require that you do so before she can write you
certain types of prescriptions.
care practitioners are very restricted regarding what
prescriptions they will write, particularly for a patient they
haven't seen. If Dr. Strate is willing to give you a couple of
doses of your medication to tide you over until Dr. Kool
gets back, she is bending the rules for you, and it would
be a good idea to accept with thanks. On the other hand,
if she does need to see you, go on in (rereading Chapter
3, if necessary, before you go). Demanding narcotics from
any doctor, much less one you've never met, is both rude
and clueless.
well before you run out, you can avoid a crisis if your
regular practitioner is unavailable: the person substituting
for him will not have access to your medical history, and it
may take several days before she can get the information
she needs to authorize a refill for you. Calls like, "I need a
refill of the little white football-shaped pills, I think they're
for my blood pressure," are particularly frustrating: there
are more kinds of little white football-shaped pills in the
world than you can possibly imagine, certainly more than
any doctor can remember offhand. It's also nice if you
know the phone number of the pharmacy where you'd
like your prescription filled.