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.

Surely with epilepsy meds the directive would be more specific than one or two?

I wonder if it says take 1-2 as directed by your Doctor, or something on those lines?

So you don’t even know what dosage you’re actually on, you just “take two a day”? How do you know you haven’t been taking 2 x 200mg every day if you don’t bother reading the label?!

This isn’t about all the vulnerable people who might not be able to check - you’ve said you’re capable of reading and adding up. You’ve also made it quite clear that you don’t know what dose you should be taking! Take responsibility. Find out. Write yourself a note and stick it to the fridge if necessary (serious suggestion) if forgetfulness etc is one of the side effects you get. I set a daily reminder on my phone including what dose to take when.

I fail to see why you need to 'complain' about this. Yes point out to them next time you're there that they could of mentioned that your usual 500 mg dose was made up of two tablets this time. But they didn't dispense it incorrectly, you failed to read your meds properly. I think you are using the excuse of 'other people might not of been able to read or understand' as a reason to justify your complaint.

I get my monthly medication in different strengths depending on what is available but they always dispense the right amount. I don’t always get told but I know I’m on 150mg a day so that’s what I ensure I’m taking.

Exactly. Me too.

Why post on AIBU if you refuse to accept you might BU and will be making a complaint either way

I think you are totally unreasonable to complain. as you collect your prescription from the chemist, surely you check what you have been given, at least make sure its the correct medication and meant for you?

Geez, chemists are human too.

Yes maybe the chemist should have pointed out that you needed to take two tabs to make up your prescribed amount, but I guess he credited you with the ability to read a label- (thats what they are for)

My daughter who has LD has been taking a particular medication in syrup form for many years - 20+ in fact.

Recently I noticed immediately on opening a new bottle that the syrup was paler in colour to the usual, so checked the bottle to find that they had dispensed the infant version which is half as strong. The label on it gave instructions for the adult dose, so my daughter would have been getting half a dose.

I obviously took it back to the chemist to point out their mistake.
It wasn't much of an issue for us, but could have been more serious if it had been the other way round and an infant had been given the adult syrup.

I've also had variations from the normal mg dosage in tablets made in the past, (she has also taken epilepsy medication for 20+ years), but it's usually been pointed out to me - I would definitely have noticed because the tablets are different size/shape/colour. when they contain different dosages.

I think the lesson is always to know the dosage you are meant to take, and check the packets for yourself. People with LD generally have someone doing it for them, or have a blister pack. Their GP will know if this is necessary for safety.

I have a chronic illness. It is important to take ownership and understand what medication and dose you are meant to be taking. You are in charge of managing your condition on a day to day basis. I'm a bit surprised that you aren't even sure what dose you take normally. I think you need to contact your GP or consultant ASAP and find out exactly what you are meant to take.

medical negligence claim here I come

Sorry, OP, but that line made me lose sympathy for you. Instead of taking the advice given and working out how to take your correct amount of medication before you have any serious side effects, you seem to be aiming for the claim.

I too worry that you don't seem to know what your actual dose is/should be. How can you think 2 x 500 =500? Given that, I wouldn't trust you to correct this yourself, and would advise you call someone medical who can access your medical records and ensure you get back on the right dose TODAY. I think 111 can access your medical records to do this.

Make the priority getting back on to the right dose.

I take Eplilim. The dosage is written in very large letters both on the box and on each blister pack several times over. .
I genuinely, (not being snippy), don't understand how you can't have noticed. You were dispensed two boxes of medication where usually 2 a day @ 500 would be dispensed in a single box for a months supply.
The boxes are huge as they have very clear warnings on them now re taking when pregnant.

If you've under dosed by 600mcg a day, then I'd phone the pharmacist for now for advice until you can get hold of your GP.
Hope you're ok.

Medical negligence claim here I come

And there it is. The whole point of op's post.

medical negligence claim here I come

Well it's not really medical negligence though. The pharmacist dispensed the prescription correctly.

" I'm a bit surprised that you aren't even sure what dose you take normally"

Tbf, Op does know that they usually take 2 x 500mg tablets per day & that she has been given something different.

Unfortunately, they seem confused as to how the tablets they have been given can easily be configured into what they need to take.

To me the packaging is correct if the daily dose is 1000mg daily but split into 2 doses. 2x300 + 2x200 is twice daily 1x300 + 1x200 is 1 daily..... without seeing the actual box there may be a word missing???

I'm more concerned you don't actually know the dose your supposed to be on....

@diddl - she posted that she assumed 2 x 500mg equalled a 500mg dose - she is either taking 2 x 250mg for a total of 500 or 2 x 500 for a total of 1000 - quite a discrepancy in doseage.

You should definitely let your GP and pharmacist know so they can advise you on the next steps. A decent pharmacy would look into this, apologise for the miscommunication and look to amend their practice so this shouldn't happen again. For a set dose of medication, if it was made up of two strengths of tablets, normally we would put take one a day (total daily dose is X) on each box.

It is worth knowing your medication and checking it as mistakes can and do happen. Does your dose change regularly and that's why they didn't put clear instructions? Most warfarin prescriptions are prescribed and labelled as 'take as directed by anticoagulation clinic?

This isn’t medical negligence.

If your prescription says take 1 500mg tablet of xxx twice a day then absolutely the pharmacist should tell you the tablet sizes are different and explain what to do. If on the other hand your prescription says take 500mg of xxx twice a day then the pharmacist would not know your usual size. I would ask about the woolliness of 1 - 2 tablets a day though.

But this is absolutely fine.
A 200mg + 300mg tablet = 500mg

Surely you need to just read the box and take the correct dose. Likewise you should read the patient information leaflet.
I don’t understand the problem. By all means complain but they will not take you seriously. Unless you are not able to read then you have to take some responsibility for your dose of medication.
Sorry to sound harsh.

The pharmacist is a professional with a legal duty of care to op. The medicine label is not clear at all. It should say take one from box a and one from box b or similar not take one or two - wtaf does that actually mean to a lay person ?
She is used to her medication in a certain form and it’s not her fault this has occurred. And it’s almost certain she has suffered ill effects from this. She could have had an episode while driving or in the bath or if children were in the bath and who knows what might have happened. This is not trivial she needs to take the medication to keep the condition under control.

Regarding her responsibility in this it’s not her fault - She may be illiterate, dyslexic etc and while some of us might have questioned the labelling she trusted the pharmacist to do their job - not an unreasonable expectation imo.

The pharmacist should have said they didn’t have any 500 tablets so she could either have a mix of 200 and 300 and take one of each or they would order them/ ask other branches and come back later or take the prescription elsewhere .

Op if you’re worried go back to gp or at least phone them to make sure you don’t need any checks and confirm that you should now take the 200 and 300 together. I think op has reasonable grounds to make a professional compliant against the pharmacist.

maybe if we could see the boxes and the labels we would know a bit more.

You can fix this, today.

If you normally get one bottle, and take 2 pills from the one bottle, wouldn't getting 2 bottles be kind of an alarm that there was something different to do. So is the complaint that you lack capacity to realise that something was different?

If the meds are tablets not capsules then presumably pharmacist doesn't make the pills up, pharmacist has to dispense what stocks they have.

The worst the pharmacist is guilty of is not explaining. He hasn’t misprescribed though.

Ds takes multiple medications, including the same medicine in two different doses to make the dose he needs. I check each time I pick up meds to make sure it is still the same way things are normally made up

Supply problems seem to have been rife this past year, with his drugs at least, so it’s always best to check!

Op maybe you need a blister pack
Which is what they tend to do for people who are elderly/don’t understand what meds to take when .. where you argument falls short.

Yabu. You are on medication but don’t seem to know the dose or bother to check the box? Take some responsibility for your own health.