Whoever can read chicken scratch, help :)
 

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what this prescription says, it would really help me out alot..especially whatever is circled at the bottom..thanks

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...1/Dsc00419.jpg

avita of my

la bio porn

de:15


.... if you call up the writer of that, he should beable to clarify that... pharmasists ussually learn to become deciferers over the years i would assume... soo see if they can read it

ativan 0.5mg
PO BID prn
#:15

edit: maybe I should have mentioned what that means

.5mg Pills of Ativan (brand name for lorazepam, an antianxiety medication)
PO means "per orum" or "by mouth" "BID" means "bi-daily" or twice per day, and "prn" means as necessary
the 15 is the number to dispense

What this would translate to on the prescription bottle is:

Ativan .5mg tablets.
Take one pill twice daily as needed
quantity: 15
Refills: 0

Ativan

0.5 mg (i think)

pc (i think) = after meals

bid = twice a day

prn = as needed

not sure about the "M" part, I am guessing it relates to the quantity since I don't see that anywhere else on the scrip and it needs to be there. So, I would say that the scrip is for 15 pills.

Edit: Just saw Mr. SD's, so I think the "M" could be a pound sign as well

Edit, Part II: It could be "po", not sure though, if it is, "po" means "per os" or "by mouth", similarly, NPO (sometimes heard in a hospital, prior to surgery, etc.) means "no per os" or "nothing by mouth".

so does this mean 15 pills/month for every month? meaning i have to get refills? or is it just 15 pills this 1 time

no, that means 15 pills total, regardless of the time period.

If you need more, you need a new scrip.

Also, you would not be able to fill another scrip for the same medication/dosage/etc. until 7 1/2 days have passed since you initially filled the scrip.

The "as necessary" part is misleading. Insurance relies on the "bid" part to decide if you "need" any more medicine.

If you neede more than the two prescribed per day, you could run out and have to wait until after the 7 1/2 days to fill another scrip.

thanks man

no problem.

Sometimes you can have the dosage upped on the scrip, even if you don't take that many pills a day, that is, if you have a good relationship with your doctor.

I have a scrip that says two pills twice a day, rather than one pill twice a day. I normally only take one.

Two benefits to this, especially with a medication that is taken every day:

1) If you need more than normal, you can take an extra pill and not get hurt on the refill time-stamp thingy.

2) If you normally take one pill a day, but the scrip says two, you basically get a two-month supply but only have to pay for a one-month supply.

how do you go about getting a presciption that lets you do this, so that you dont have to keep going to the doctor for new scripts every month

A really good, trusting relationship with your doc.

These days, people are trying to scam pain meds, etc. from doctors on a daily basis. This makes the doctors very nervous and hesitant about scrips for certain meds.

In my case, my family has seen the same doctor for years and years. She knows me and knows I hate pills. If I take a pill, it is because I really, really need it. If I ask for a pain med, she knows that I must really need it or I wouldn't be asking.

Plus we have a lot of dialog about the side effects, other options, etc, so she knows that I am not just coming in for a scrip.

If you have a good relationship with your doctor, just ask. Most doctors hate insurance companies and care about their patients, if they can help you, they usually try.

Female docs are usually better about this than male docs as females "read" people better.

Wow, you're good. Where did you study 'chicken scratch?' Are you a doctor or pharmacist or something?

I've seen a decent number of prescriptions, and I've deciphered handwriting for years.

Hmmm, this is the same guy that wanted to take Valium or Xanax to relax. Have fun on your trip through addiction man!

ugh....

Posted 12/12/04

methinks this is a bogus scrip, hence the lack of comprehension of the writing.

If that is the case, as it looks like it is, I wish I hadn't offered any help. If so, dude you got a problem and need to do something about it.

I say let him find out the hard way.

I assure you it isnt, I got it from the doc the day I posted this thread but I couldn't read it so I posted here

Ativan huh? Nice, well .5 mg isn't very much, should just take the edge off. Might make you a little drowsy.

edited by me

Why didn't you just ask the doctor?

And why is it written on what looks like a plain piece of paper?

I'm smellin somethin fishy too...

It looks like he 'shopped out the doctor's address at the bottom where that black spotch is. I'm sure the doctor told him what it was & what it was for, but if you've never read prescriptions you'd be :confused:
The scrip looks fine to me...no indication to believe that it's fake...

BID PRN means you can take it a maximum of twice a day when you need it (preferably as close to 12 hours apart as possible).

It does not mean you can take it twice a day OR however many times per day you feel you need it.

If you have any questions about prescriptions, sometimes pharmacists are a better resource than the doctors. It's their job to know the drugs and stay current on them.

0.5 mg is a very small dose, but it might take the edge off a bit to allow you to sleep.

Be careful about taking benzodiazepines like this, you can become addicted if taken routinely for a couple weeks. And withdrawal can be a bitch.

Good on you for being interested in the meds you've been prescribed. It's important for people to research things like this to look out for their own safety. Mistakes can be made even with numerous safe-checks in place in the healthcare system.

Here are some pages where you can find out more about Ativan (lorazepam)
webmd medicinenet.com
medline

Question: Are there exclusively English-speaking doctors in Montreal? Are pharmacists expected to be completely bilingual so they can read scripts in both languages?

at the bottom it says

re:15

98% in montreal are bi lingual, and yea, doctors have to be

Hi,

"Student" Pharmacist here (one more year left in school...)

Rx looks fairly valid to me. It's hard to make such a judgment without being able to see the whole thing and have the paper copy in hand. The way the number to dispense is written is strange to me, but that may be a regional thing.

.5 mg is the lowest dose available, but that is quite often enough for a lot of people. The lower the dose you have to take the better because it is addictive.

Odds are if it works for you, you'll be able to call your doc and talk to him about it and you'll get an Rx with refills on it so you won't have to see him every month. Really though, if you can avoid it I wouldn't take this for very long. Dependancy isn't very fun.

Feel free to PM me with any questions, if nothing else I've got the books to look it up in.

Just one quick question...do doctors purposefully write in chicken scratch so people can't fake the scrip? Even when I go to a female doctor the handwriting is unusually bad.

I actually asked my doctor this a long time ago. He said yeah, that is part of it, but that's not the only reason since it's very easy for anyone to fake a prescription if they really want to. His opinion is that there's several other reasons why they're unintelligible to the layman:

- When he issues a prescription, he tells the patient all the important details re: the medication, but doesn't want to waste loads of time discussing ALL the particulars -- he doesn't want people haggling over the dosage, frequency, refills etc. while they're there in the office. Just take the scrip to the pharmacist and they'll give you what's prescribed, and it will fix you if taken as directed. If further or different medication is required, come back and see the doctor. He writes the scrip based on knowledge and good faith and doesn't want to get into a long drawn out discussion on the theory behind it as patients are leaving the office.

- They're simply written that way, and have been for years and years. It's not tradition for tradition's sake, but for the sake of uniformity there's a specific protocol that's followed. The latin terms are used and recognized by doctors all around so there's less chance for mistakes; if every doctor starts writing prescriptions their own way, it would turn into chaos.

- This tradition also happens to include shitty handwriting :) Regardless of how shitty and unintelligible it looks, all the crucial info is there and it's readable and understandable by the pharmacist. The shitty handwriting is also almost like a signature too, i.e. personalized and unique to the doctor.

- Nevertheless it's still kinda FUN to write out out scrips which look like nonsense, but are completely understandable by the pharmacist, kind of an "in"-crowd thing...it's kind of funny to watch patients trying to analyze the scrip as they're walking out, most of them are all confused by the chicken scratch.

So, your original problem is still out there....what is causing your anxiety!

A doctor will treat you the way they were trained. A surgeon will operate, a GP will dispense a script, a psychiatrist will discuss and prescribe if needed. Wait a minute, you don't need an operation and we don't know if you really need the pills. Sounds like the last one is the one too see. However, perhaps that is the person that wrote out your script.

my bi-polar friend has an endless scrip on ativan.
she stock piles it.
she gave me some several yrs ago.
i still have some. i won't touch it any more though.
why do i keep it? i don't know. i suppose one day, i'll just toss it.

but ativan, like xanax & valium, may feel all comfy while you're taking it, but you lose memory, you forget what happened while you're all gumby. this is not a good side affect.

i have a friend who has taken xanax & valium regulariy for yrs.
she cannot remember shit. within an hour's visit she will tell you the same thing 6 or more times. it's sad.

don't take these Rxs unless you absolutely must.

yeah I know all about the dangers of banzos. As far as I know they're fine as long as you don't take too much or take them everyday.

Memory loss isn't to common with Benzos unless you're taking to much. Amnesia is the reason Rohypnol (sp?) isn't sold in the US, and sadly why it makes such a good date rape drug, because they don't remember in the morning.

Thought I'd touch on a couple of things I'd seen in this thread.

1. You all have done a good job deciphering the meaning of the script. You should be glad that it didn't say PR (per rectum) instead of PO.

2. Female doctors are no better than male doctors at "reading" their patients. In fact we are both equally bad. Studies show that doctors, regardless of sex, age, experience, are extremely poor at "reading" their patients. We'd like to think we can read our patients, but we're not.

3. I'll admit it, my handwriting sucks. It has only gotten worse as I've progressed further along in medicine. I blame part of it on having to write so much in such a short amount of time. When I am seeing patients in the hospital, I often have to write a 3 page note on each of the 15 patients I see per day. Add in all of the forms, and other insurance crap you've got to do, you start paying less attention to writing neatly. Add in the fact that some patients are on dozens of medicines and you'll find that your handwriting would get pretty poor in no time too. On the other hand, I do pay A LOT of attention to making sure my prescriptions are 100% legible. I do not want to see one of my patients harmed because they got the wrong medicine or dose because the pharmacist could not read my handwriting.

4. Picking a number of pills to dispense is a rather proposition. There are a lot of medicines I don't like to write for -- narcotics being the most obvious, because of their potential for abuse. Sometimes, there is an ulterior motive for me only prescribing a one month supply with no refills. In some patients, the only way I can get them to come in and get the follow-up that they need is to have them come back in for refills. I'm not trying to line my pocket. There are some patients that need VERY close follow up. Finally, I try to do whatever I can to minimize the expense that a patient has to incur for meds through their insurance plan. If your insurance plan makes you pay the same amount for 30 or 60 pills, I'll write you for 60 as long as it is safe to do so. Sometimes the 20 mg and 40 mg doses of a pill cost the same. If you can split the 40 mg pill and get two doses of your 20mg pill for the same price, I'll do it. A medicine won't help a patient if they cannot afford to buy it. As an advocate for my patient's health, I have to do whatever can to ensure that my patients get the care that they need.

Nope no help here. Dr.s take a different course in chicken scratch than engineers.