In terms of health care, your pharmacist is your last stop between your doctor and any prescription drugs you take. Subsequently, they're trained to answer all kinds of questions about drug interactions, types of drugs, and plenty more. With that in mind, here are five questions every should ask their pharmacist before picking up medications.
Prescription drugs are a complicated business, and drugs interact with you, each other, and even your diet in all sorts of ways. So, it's important to have a firm grasp on what's really going on with those medications. I spoke with Stan Katz, RPh to figure out the best questions to ask your pharmacist to get the treatment you need.
First: Get to Know Your Pharmacist
You and your pharmacist are going to have a longstanding relationship, so it's good to take the time to get to know them before you choose your pharmacist. Just like you would with a doctor, Katz recommends spending a few minutes chatting your pharmacist up to get a feel for how useful they'll be:
I'd recommend that when you go into a pharmacy for the first time you spend two minutes talking to them just to get a feel of if you're comfortable with them. All pharmacists have to pass the same state boards, and took the same courses, but it's still a good idea to talk with them. Make sure you feel comfortable with them just like you would a doctor, lawyer, or anyone else.
Your pharmacist has a lot of power, and when they're doing their job properly they're going to help you through using your prescriptions properly, so ensuring they're on the same page as you is a worthwhile way to spend a couple minutes. If they're not really forthcoming, then they're probably not the pharmacist you want.
They Can Tell You About Your Prescriptions and How They Interact
Anytime you get a new prescription you need to talk to your pharmacist about it. You should have already done this with your doctor, but your pharmacist is trained to really understand what exactly a drug does, how it interacts with other drugs, and potential problems you might come across. This might include information your doctor doesn't know, and Katz points out that it's not always just about interactions with other drugs:
The first thing you should do is discuss with the pharmacist about that particular drug if they haven't taken it previously to make sure it's not going to interfere with anything else they're going to take. That includes prescription items, or over-the-counter, or in some cases food.
Certain prescription drugs can interact with the food you eat, or even any holistic or herbal supplements you might take. So, even if you've talked with your doctor about what a prescription drug is, it's still worth speaking with your pharmacist as well. Doctors aren't always aware of every single possible drug interaction. So, if you have a lot of prescriptions, especially if they're from different doctors, it's worth discussing the issue with your pharmacist because they have a lot more information than your doctor does:
We have computer programs that highlight drug interactions and incompatibilities, but it's still up to the pharmacist to discuss that with the patient and make a judgement on it. Very often that results in a call to physician to ask if they really want the prescription.
In general, your pharmacist should notice right away that a prescription could potentially interact badly with another one, but if you're worried about it then it's always worth the couple of seconds to make sure that you, your doctor, and your pharmacist are all on the same page.
Finally, it might seem like common sense, but when you pick up your prescription it's good to take a look in the bottle to make sure everything's the same. Your pharmacist can tell you why:
If you've been taking a drug for a while and notice a difference in appearance, you should definitely ask if it's the right medication.
Sometimes, a prescription drug manufacturer might simply change the shape of a pill, but it's also entirely possible your prescription may be been mixed up with something else. So, before you leave, take a look inside the pill bottle and make sure you recognize what you're walking out with.
They Can Give You Information About (Cheaper) Generic Options
Generic prescription drugs are usually significantly cheaper than name brand drugs. In most cases, you can supplement a generic for name brand prescription and never know the difference. However, as Katz points out, they're often not produced under the same kinds of conditions as name brand pills, so it's good to also ask your pharmacist a little about their history:
In general, generics are required to be equivalent to name brand drugs by having a certain blood level within a given length of time. That level has to last approximately the same length as the name brand drug. Personally, I prefer to use generics for myself that are made in places where I know. There are a lot of drugs made in countries that are questionable, and I'd avoid those. When I was working, I'd direct people to generics I would use myself, but now that I'm retired I do it for myself.
As Fortune points out, all sorts of different issues can arise from generics:
With an estimated 80% of active drug ingredients and 40% of finished medications coming from overseas—in some cases from manufacturing plants that the FDA has not yet inspected—quality can be significantly compromised. In November the maker of generic Lipitor, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals, recalled 480,000 bottles after tiny shards of glass were found inside pills. (The FDA granted Ranbaxy, India's largest generics company, permission to produce a version of the anticholesterol medication, a process Fortune chronicled in a 2011 article titled "The War Over Lipitor." The approval came after a seven-year investigation in which the Justice Department concluded that, among other misbehavior, Ranbaxy had fabricated drug-approval data. The company agreed to pay $500 million and entered into a consent decree.)
Your pharmacist should have a pretty good idea of where generics come from and how they're made. So, ask them for a recommendation, and if they'd take it themselves. Generics are supposed to be of the same quality as the name brand, but that's simply not always the case, and your pharmacist should be able to help you navigate the pros and cons of a particular generic.
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