Pharmacist prescribed wrong dosage

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Hi, I have epilepsy and my pharmacist gave me 200mg instead of my usual 500mg on my repeat prescription. I have been feeling really ill lately, like I'm going to have a seizure and didn't realise until I looked at my medication that I have been taking less than my normal dosage. Am I being unreasonable to complain? I think I should seek medical attention too.

Agreed. You need to increase your doses immediately and seek medical advice.

Really??

Yes, obviously you need to bring it up with the pharmacy and see your doctor!

What are you expecting people to say - nah, you'll be fine, forget about it

What have they put on the white label on the box? They may not have had any 500mg in stock so to take 2 and half tablets.

Did the pharmacist put any instructions on the tablet box, like ‘take 2 and a half tablets’ ?

So it was a dispensing rather than a prescribing error?

How long ago was it dispensed?

What does the dispensing label say, are they labelled as 200mg or 500mg tablets on the chemist's label?

It just says take 1 or 2 a day. They gave me a 300mg box too. So i assume they wanted me to take 1 200mg and 1 300mg a day to make 500mg. But they did not point this out when I collected my prescription, so I have been taking 2 to make 200mg a day without realising.

It was dispensed about 2 weeks ago. I have been feeling sick and vacant since then. Now I know why.

Surely the gp prescribed your drug and has either made a mistake on the prescription, or the pharmacist has made a mistake re your dose. Do you normally take the same amount of tablets so you’ve not noticed the lower dose? Quite a dangerous mistake, up your dose and investigate what has gone wrong.
Hope you’re feeling better, can you take 2 200mg tabs and half one if they aren’t capsules but def find a way to get the correct dose ASAP hope you’re feeling ok soon

On the chemist label, one box is labelled 200mg. The other box is labelled 300mg. But I had assumed they were just my regular 500mg tablets. I've been collecting them for years, and there was no issues before.

"I have been taking 2 to make 200mg a day without realising."

How do 2 tablets make 200 mg a day?

Well I assume 2 make 200mg. I'm not sure. I usually take my 2 tablets a day to give me 500mg.

They must have had stock issues with the 500mg and expect you to take one of each but this should have been pointed out when you picked them up. DH takes naproxen 500mg and they often can't get the 500mg so give him 250mg and tell him when he picks it up.

I’m really confused by this, you’re not actually making sense if you’ve been given 200mg how do 2 make 200mg that would be 400 :s

I’m surprised they put such a vague instruction in your medication! Definitely complain. And they should have pointed out that they were dispensing a different strength to what they normally give you!

So the pharmacist didn't dispense incorrectly, you didn't read the labels correctly?

What does it actually say in each box? I.e., how many mg per tablet, and how many tabs to take each day?

Purplerose01 they did dispense incorrectly because they have given me a much lower dose than my usual and did not explain to mix two different doses to give me my usual strength. They can't assume potentially vulnerable people can do mathematics to give them the correct dose or that people will actively check they have been given the correct meds each time.

The pharmasist did make a mistake but you also need to take responsibilty for your own medication and make sure you check what you've been given not just take it mindlessly.
I'm pretty sure the 200 doesn't look exactly the same as the 500 either.
My chemist regularly makes mistakes so I always check everything before taking it.

On 200mg box- it says take 1 or 2 tablets a day.
On 300mg box- it says take 1 or 2 tablets a day. On neither box does it say take one of each tablet to give 500mg.

Isnt it obvious that you should have taken 1 x 200mg and 1 x 300mg to make 500mg?

You can complain so they are aware of it. But you should also check the dosage every time you pick up medication. I get my medication in different sizes of tablet depending on what they have in. So sometimes I have to divide up tablets, sometimes I take a whole one. Learn from this to always check in future.

You normally take 2 tablets to make 500mg. One of each packet would have been the same. It should have been made clear to you but I don't understand how you could have only been taking 200mg if you took 2 from 200mg pack.

I’m sure you can do the basic maths though?

So what you're saying is you usually take 2 tablets a day that are normally 500mg, which would be a total of 1000mg per day, as each tablet is the strength it says on the box.

Now you've been taking 2 x 200mg , which is a total of 400mg, so 600mg less than you should be taking.