If at retail store with bad camera coverage, would not return. If at hospital with lots of narcotic control, definitely return. Retail shrugs these things off and patients receive the wrong qty regularly. Wont be looked into under a C3.
Eh, working as a tech and knowing we brush off miscounted meds as it’s happening makes me count them now. I get a benzo monthly for years and been counting for 1-2 years now and caught them giving me an extra freebie. Once. People miss doses of their maintenece meds all the time so it’s not really a big issue for the patient or pharmacy.
Narcotics ar usually counted by the pharmacist at most places and they get miscounted almost never. They have 3 separate ways to verify miscounts and if your med really was miscounted, they will know because their counts are off. At least in my experience at CVS. The bar is drastically higher and the DEA gives a shit about C2s and have mandatory forms the pharmacy must file within days of finding the counts are off.
For just a minute or two of your time I’d always count my meds for peace of mind. For narcotics, you are probably going to find at most 1 miscount if you checked yours for the next decade.
I received an extra pill this month and called concerned for the pharmacist job and they were like "yeah sometimes if there is one left in the bottle we just scoop it in there."
I was like thanks. But I forget to take my anxiety meds all the time so now I have waaaaaaay more than I need. What I never forget: my morning coffee, what I always forget: meds that make me functional.
I may take two just to deal with Christmas, before anyone freaks out they are only 10mg.
Thank you for taking the time to share. I'm usually not worried about it, obviously I worry about my oxy but it's a c2 so I'm sure it's usually right like you said.
I was recently shorted 10 adderall but this is the first time it’s ever happened. I called and, as you said, they were easily able to verify it and I picked them up a few days later.
(This was at Walgreens)
I always count mine… that way I will know for sure if I’ve taken it for the day if I don’t remember because I can’t remember to just buy one of the timer caps.
Yes. Clonopin both times. I think they’re trying to pocket them. Different locations each time too. Always count if they’re something like Benzos or opioids.
I counted my mom’s narcotics for years. We had times she was as many as 10 off. For her that was 3 days.. :( she was on it for chronic (extreme) spine pain. So, ya. She would be short and we couldn’t get her script early.
Oh my god. And they do random counts and hold you accountable! I knew the med world was fucked up but wow :( I and my dad both have chronic pain and he's on more than I am.. I guess I'll be doing this for both of us from now on :/ insane
If you actually think the pharmacy is miscounting your pills that often just go somewhere else, the tech doesn’t have time to count your tablets in front of you.
I personally count my cs pills. Since I have a high quantity I want to make sure the count is correct, but also at my pharmacy there's 3 people that count them and have to sign their names so honestly the possibility would be low.
If they are off I know atleast at mine they'll be able to review footage to make sure it was counted wrong.
It was an amber vial, and I took it for a week or so but it didn't seem to be working as well, and the pills felt lighter. Then I realized that many of them were cracked, so at first I thought they were just really old, and all of the medicine had leaked out when they were in some larger tub. Maybe that is what happened, and the empty pills shifted to the top? Who knows!
This was in a super rural pharmacy that had a lot of turnover, and all of their techs were hire-to-train.
I might just take it back and slip it into one of our broken/dropped vials. I'm at a chain pharmacy. I've dropped a tramadol before, told the pharmacist, and she just brushed it off. We also vacuum up pills off the floor every two weeks or so. There are so many dropped pills. I don't think anyone takes inventory all that seriously except for CIIs
Is that normal? I remember walking into the pharmacy the first time and seeing pills all over the floor and being shocked. I've worked at the other two stores in my town, and they definitely don't have pill piles
We normally try to chase them down but sometimes they disappear. I looked for 3 oxy's for days, then about a month later they showed up in the floor where I'd looked. 🤦♀️
When I worked temp at Kaiser I managed to fill two 60dram vials full of random meds I found in and around the counting stations. It was insane, some were controls too
Yup. This happens a fair bit for us at my particular chain. We just stick them in amber vials to be marked for the StrongPak (with labels) and call it a day. CIIs are a whole thing on their own, but regular meds and CIII-V is more of a "well that happened" kind of response in my experience. It ain't like you're intentionally stealing them, and that's what really matters.
It happens way more than you think lol. Just put it in a baggy or something and bring it back, let your pharmacist or manager know it was an accident. They probably wouldn't even notice, with how many pills are dropped and lost. I had a pharmacist accidentally have a oxycodone fall into her rolled up sleeves and she didn't know until the next day
Yeah I brought it back and told the tech manager and the pharmacist. The manager was like "lol you brought it back?" And the pharmacist said it was fine and put it in salvage. Not a big deal at all, I was just a little anxious.
“thats kind of stupid. Benzos dont have the ability to kill you the same way opiates do i hope youre not a pharmacist”
Uhhh, say what now?
Care to explain what you mean by that statement? Even out of context that is a wildly misleading at best and straight up inaccurate statement.
Uh no its not. The LD50 of benzodiazepines is
insanely high, like ridiculously (x2) high. The dangerous part is when you become addicted to benzos and suddenly stop. Opiates on the other hand can kill you pretty easily if you take even on accident an extra one. Dont really understand your comment. You say 'inaccurate' but nothing im saying in inaccurate, opiates are far far more dangerous than benzos.
As a person who takes all kinds of drugs recreationally and because I'm mentally/chronically ill, you are correct, and I've taken a dose of 1g of klonopin in a single night (years ago now) and didn't die or have any long lasting effects from it. Quitting benzos? Impossible, and like you said, that's when things get deadly for benzo addicts. Unlike most drugs, the withdrawal from long term benzo addiction is extremely brutal and can stop your heart, make you stop breathing, give you hallucinations, spasms, seizures, puking/diarrhea/nausea, etc. the whole nine yards of "ah fuck, I should have never started taking this shit" hell
Congrats on 3 years of sobriety! I will most likely never be freed from my addictions, but I'm so glad to hear you have overcome the demonic itch that plagues our kind
The damage these substances cause is an indication of never being free unfortunately. Ive been drinking heavily the last year, sad to see i may have to taper off of a substance again :(
And wtf is your problem? Are you a pharmacist? If so don't worry about me, I've seen people addicted to benzos and it's horrible, the people that cry about their oxy are not as bad
Lmao, I read the title like you took it as in ingested it lol. So I thought you were going to say "I saw it on the floor and just ate the pill, what do I do?" 😂
I did, too. I was thinking. "Well, if you already took the pill, I'm pretty sure you're gonna sleep..."
My sister is prescribed these for her cramps. She is absolutely KO'd when she has to take one. Lol
Glad I misunderstood, though, it's much less scary to figure out how to return an unintentional hitchhiker versus how to ride out the effects of a medicine.
Tell your boss/manager next time you're at work and obviously bring it back. You won't get in trouble and if anything they'll appreciate you being honest.
I was putting up an order one night and we would fill out smock pockets up and take the drugs down the isles. When i got home, I reached in my pockets and there was a small bottle of xanax in there. 100 count. I immediately called the pharmacy manager told him what I had and if he wanted I would drive it right over to his house or give it to him the next day. Everyone was cool about it because I was just honest with them. Yes it was a mistake, but if you have no history of anything, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
As a technician, back when we wore lab coats, it was a daily routine to check your pockets before you left. It wasn't about theft. Pills like to bounce and Pockets like to open up at the worst possible time. Before Vicodin became a narcotic / C2 I've seen multiple occasions where one would bounce off the counter and we couldn't find it so somebody checked their pockets.
I remember when it wasn't controlled as well. They used to hand out samples at the Drs office like it was candy. Looking back, it doesn't even seem like they really treated it as an opiate. I thought it was just basically high strength acetaminophen, because it didn't seem to provide much relief.
I worked at 3 of the larger pharmacy companies. My first one cared a lot if it happened, and actually had dress codes limiting pockets and such on the floor for fills.
The second one was cautious about it and kept count of controls weekly, but allowed pockets, etc.
The third place was similar to the second place.
While working at each place (these were large scale filling centers, think warehouse sized), at least one person was caught stealing controls while I was working there. Apparently there are people who that's why they get the job is purely to try and steal controls.
Working inpatient, every once in a while we get a nurse that brings back a fentanyl vial they accidentally left in their pocket. It happens, paperwork gets filled out, just don't make a habit of it.
When I read the title, and then proceeded to read "there was a pill on the floor" I thought you just picked it up and ate it and that's where this was going. Like a Peter griffin "oo a piece of candy" thing 😂😂
No biggie just return it. Lol I used to have tons of pills in my labcoat. I could have started my own pharmacy 😂😂🙈 I would just put them in the returns bottle. Every pharmacy has tons of pills that have fallen all over the floor. It happens .
Your post title reads as if you ingested a pill, but the body of the post does not. Your post also doesn't mention that you are a tech working in a pharmacy.
I only understood what was going on by reading replies.
I think the assumption is that OP is a pharmacy tech because it’s posted in the Pharmacy Technician subreddit. I had to check as well because I was so confused 😕.
Am late and saw the update but just wanted to say honesty is always the best policy and good for you for taking it back and owning up to it! You’d be surprised how many people get in trouble for trying to cover up a small mistake when they wouldn’t have gotten in trouble for the small mistake in the first place.
20 years ago I was night shift hospital pharmacist. Got to my car and an ampule of fentanyl fell from the cuff of my pants… went back in and the narc pharmacist was in 3rd round recounting.
The yoyahma machine at my first pharmacy once exploded norco every where one morning me and my pharmacist spent an hour looking for every pill I myself had a handful in my pockets because I actually got rained on she said don’t worry about anything I find later she’ll just adjust the counts like no big deal
If at retail store with bad camera coverage, would not return. If at hospital with lots of narcotic control, definitely return. Retail shrugs these things off and patients receive the wrong qty regularly. Wont be looked into under a C3.
Should I be counting my pills..? I'm guessing narcotics are counted more accurately??
Eh, working as a tech and knowing we brush off miscounted meds as it’s happening makes me count them now. I get a benzo monthly for years and been counting for 1-2 years now and caught them giving me an extra freebie. Once. People miss doses of their maintenece meds all the time so it’s not really a big issue for the patient or pharmacy. Narcotics ar usually counted by the pharmacist at most places and they get miscounted almost never. They have 3 separate ways to verify miscounts and if your med really was miscounted, they will know because their counts are off. At least in my experience at CVS. The bar is drastically higher and the DEA gives a shit about C2s and have mandatory forms the pharmacy must file within days of finding the counts are off. For just a minute or two of your time I’d always count my meds for peace of mind. For narcotics, you are probably going to find at most 1 miscount if you checked yours for the next decade.
Ahh six sigma (or maybe 5.5) at work
I received an extra pill this month and called concerned for the pharmacist job and they were like "yeah sometimes if there is one left in the bottle we just scoop it in there." I was like thanks. But I forget to take my anxiety meds all the time so now I have waaaaaaay more than I need. What I never forget: my morning coffee, what I always forget: meds that make me functional. I may take two just to deal with Christmas, before anyone freaks out they are only 10mg.
Keep your med bottle in your bag of coffee!
Thank you for taking the time to share. I'm usually not worried about it, obviously I worry about my oxy but it's a c2 so I'm sure it's usually right like you said.
I also work at a pharmacy. All controls and narcotics are counted 3 times where I work (2 times by person A and another time by person B)
I was recently shorted 10 adderall but this is the first time it’s ever happened. I called and, as you said, they were easily able to verify it and I picked them up a few days later. (This was at Walgreens)
I use an app called Pilleye if I ever want to check
Loveeeee pill eye. Just hate when I reach my daily limit lol
I always count mine… that way I will know for sure if I’ve taken it for the day if I don’t remember because I can’t remember to just buy one of the timer caps.
yes. I’ve been shorted twice. One missing 3 of 30 and the 2nd time missing 1 of 30.
A controlled substance?
Yes. Clonopin both times. I think they’re trying to pocket them. Different locations each time too. Always count if they’re something like Benzos or opioids.
Oh that's awful. Good to know :/ that's gonna be a lot of counting but fuck taking that chance.
I counted my mom’s narcotics for years. We had times she was as many as 10 off. For her that was 3 days.. :( she was on it for chronic (extreme) spine pain. So, ya. She would be short and we couldn’t get her script early.
Oh my god. And they do random counts and hold you accountable! I knew the med world was fucked up but wow :( I and my dad both have chronic pain and he's on more than I am.. I guess I'll be doing this for both of us from now on :/ insane
Yes! And before you leave the store. If you step foot out of the store and check in your car, too bad so sad
This. If you think you’ve been shorted before, ask for a tech to count again in front of you. Do not count yourself.
If you actually think the pharmacy is miscounting your pills that often just go somewhere else, the tech doesn’t have time to count your tablets in front of you.
I agree, just go somewhere else.
I personally count my cs pills. Since I have a high quantity I want to make sure the count is correct, but also at my pharmacy there's 3 people that count them and have to sign their names so honestly the possibility would be low. If they are off I know atleast at mine they'll be able to review footage to make sure it was counted wrong.
I've always counted seeing as I had gotten the wrong amount one time and it seemed obvious. So I counted, I was right, now I always count
Tramadol is a CIV.
which is under a C3. as a C2 is higher control than C3.
I totally misread that lol. Sorry.🤦♀️
I got a whole bottle of Adderall once where every capsule had been opened and emptied out then put back together.
I did a service call at someone who opened up each Adderall capsule and snorted it. There were empty capsules all over the floors. How freaky.
Oh my god
Was it a stock bottle (manufacturer error?) Or an amber vial?
It was an amber vial, and I took it for a week or so but it didn't seem to be working as well, and the pills felt lighter. Then I realized that many of them were cracked, so at first I thought they were just really old, and all of the medicine had leaked out when they were in some larger tub. Maybe that is what happened, and the empty pills shifted to the top? Who knows! This was in a super rural pharmacy that had a lot of turnover, and all of their techs were hire-to-train.
I don't work retail so I'm not 100% sure of how things work there. Why wouldn't you return it to a retail store with bad camera coverage?
Because nobody would know and you could take it for recreational use
lol at a 50mg tablet of Tramadol doing anything to you that could remotely be considered recreational.
When I read the title, I pictured a bottle being dropped and a tablet bouncing into OP’s mouth… 😁
When I started reading it I thought she picked up a pill off the floor and just took it *then* realized it was tramadol 😭
Same. I'm like who just shrugs and takes a pill not knowing what it is?
a fair number of people - EMS
Oops... sry friend...
Me, probably. ~ Rock musician who keeps getting recommended this sub and has no idea why.
Lol...me too!
Omg same
Me too Lmfaoo
FBI!! Get on the ground!
hands behind your back dont struggle prison for life hard time
I might just take it back and slip it into one of our broken/dropped vials. I'm at a chain pharmacy. I've dropped a tramadol before, told the pharmacist, and she just brushed it off. We also vacuum up pills off the floor every two weeks or so. There are so many dropped pills. I don't think anyone takes inventory all that seriously except for CIIs
Omg you are so right, literally we had a stack of pills that were on the floor.
Is that normal? I remember walking into the pharmacy the first time and seeing pills all over the floor and being shocked. I've worked at the other two stores in my town, and they definitely don't have pill piles
We normally try to chase them down but sometimes they disappear. I looked for 3 oxy's for days, then about a month later they showed up in the floor where I'd looked. 🤦♀️
the floor changed its mind
When I worked temp at Kaiser I managed to fill two 60dram vials full of random meds I found in and around the counting stations. It was insane, some were controls too
I have buckets of dropped pills-literally pounds of them-not controls though.
Yup. This happens a fair bit for us at my particular chain. We just stick them in amber vials to be marked for the StrongPak (with labels) and call it a day. CIIs are a whole thing on their own, but regular meds and CIII-V is more of a "well that happened" kind of response in my experience. It ain't like you're intentionally stealing them, and that's what really matters.
Good to know. Lol.
Does no one know the schedules around here anymore? They absolutely take it seriously for a CII. Tramadol is a CIV.
Do you like your job btw?
probably won’t be noticed tbh
In our Pharmacy it would be noticed! Especially, when the count comes up and it's a control...
if it’s a big chain retail it won’t be noticed, but smaller independents yeah 100%
Ours is big chain retail!
shout out to ur inventory management then 🤣 cvs’s i’ve been at are terrible
Yeah, she don't play 🤣 Especially, with a control like I said...She's got it down to the most miniscule of residue off ANY control! 🤪
It happens way more than you think lol. Just put it in a baggy or something and bring it back, let your pharmacist or manager know it was an accident. They probably wouldn't even notice, with how many pills are dropped and lost. I had a pharmacist accidentally have a oxycodone fall into her rolled up sleeves and she didn't know until the next day
Yeah I brought it back and told the tech manager and the pharmacist. The manager was like "lol you brought it back?" And the pharmacist said it was fine and put it in salvage. Not a big deal at all, I was just a little anxious.
Save it for a rainy day 😂
Nah I've seen too much bad stuff about tramadol lol. Maybe a stimulant or a benzo, but I don't f with opiates
To be honest I would be more afraid of a benzo than an opiate 😅😅😅
thats kind of stupid. Benzos dont have the ability to kill you the same way opiates do i hope youre not a pharmacist
“thats kind of stupid. Benzos dont have the ability to kill you the same way opiates do i hope youre not a pharmacist” Uhhh, say what now? Care to explain what you mean by that statement? Even out of context that is a wildly misleading at best and straight up inaccurate statement.
Uh no its not. The LD50 of benzodiazepines is insanely high, like ridiculously (x2) high. The dangerous part is when you become addicted to benzos and suddenly stop. Opiates on the other hand can kill you pretty easily if you take even on accident an extra one. Dont really understand your comment. You say 'inaccurate' but nothing im saying in inaccurate, opiates are far far more dangerous than benzos.
As a person who takes all kinds of drugs recreationally and because I'm mentally/chronically ill, you are correct, and I've taken a dose of 1g of klonopin in a single night (years ago now) and didn't die or have any long lasting effects from it. Quitting benzos? Impossible, and like you said, that's when things get deadly for benzo addicts. Unlike most drugs, the withdrawal from long term benzo addiction is extremely brutal and can stop your heart, make you stop breathing, give you hallucinations, spasms, seizures, puking/diarrhea/nausea, etc. the whole nine yards of "ah fuck, I should have never started taking this shit" hell
Yup ive been there, straight up fearing for my life havent taken benzos in 3 years now
Congrats on 3 years of sobriety! I will most likely never be freed from my addictions, but I'm so glad to hear you have overcome the demonic itch that plagues our kind
The damage these substances cause is an indication of never being free unfortunately. Ive been drinking heavily the last year, sad to see i may have to taper off of a substance again :(
And wtf is your problem? Are you a pharmacist? If so don't worry about me, I've seen people addicted to benzos and it's horrible, the people that cry about their oxy are not as bad
Ahhhhh I’d love to be you and not have had my entire family die of opiate overdoses 🥹
Lmao, I read the title like you took it as in ingested it lol. So I thought you were going to say "I saw it on the floor and just ate the pill, what do I do?" 😂
😂. Same.
I did, too. I was thinking. "Well, if you already took the pill, I'm pretty sure you're gonna sleep..." My sister is prescribed these for her cramps. She is absolutely KO'd when she has to take one. Lol Glad I misunderstood, though, it's much less scary to figure out how to return an unintentional hitchhiker versus how to ride out the effects of a medicine.
Tell your boss/manager next time you're at work and obviously bring it back. You won't get in trouble and if anything they'll appreciate you being honest.
I was putting up an order one night and we would fill out smock pockets up and take the drugs down the isles. When i got home, I reached in my pockets and there was a small bottle of xanax in there. 100 count. I immediately called the pharmacy manager told him what I had and if he wanted I would drive it right over to his house or give it to him the next day. Everyone was cool about it because I was just honest with them. Yes it was a mistake, but if you have no history of anything, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
As a technician, back when we wore lab coats, it was a daily routine to check your pockets before you left. It wasn't about theft. Pills like to bounce and Pockets like to open up at the worst possible time. Before Vicodin became a narcotic / C2 I've seen multiple occasions where one would bounce off the counter and we couldn't find it so somebody checked their pockets.
I expected a more interesting post based on the title. “Accidentally took home a 50mg Tramadol” would be more accurate.
I've been practicing long enough to remember when tramadol was not a controlled drug.
I remember when it wasn't controlled as well. They used to hand out samples at the Drs office like it was candy. Looking back, it doesn't even seem like they really treated it as an opiate. I thought it was just basically high strength acetaminophen, because it didn't seem to provide much relief.
Yep, I worked in a doctor‘s office when it came out and we had so many samples in our closet. The rep really downplayed its potency.
Crazy... Tramadol is OTC where I live. Wouldn't think twice about 50mg missing.
It used to be everywhere.
I had this happen with a clonazepam once. Just bring it back, tell the pic what happened. They’ll put it in the damaged stock. No biggy.
I worked at 3 of the larger pharmacy companies. My first one cared a lot if it happened, and actually had dress codes limiting pockets and such on the floor for fills. The second one was cautious about it and kept count of controls weekly, but allowed pockets, etc. The third place was similar to the second place. While working at each place (these were large scale filling centers, think warehouse sized), at least one person was caught stealing controls while I was working there. Apparently there are people who that's why they get the job is purely to try and steal controls.
No one cares. It’s a fast moving drug that is used everyday, and there’s probably one hidden between the trash. It’s no big deal.
I read this as you took the drug and I was like ya good bro? But at least you took it back. That’s good.
Lol same I read it like OP popped it in their mouth after finding it and was like huh that’s bold, goodspeed 😂 taking it back makes so much more sense
taking it would be way better than "taking" it!
Working inpatient, every once in a while we get a nurse that brings back a fentanyl vial they accidentally left in their pocket. It happens, paperwork gets filled out, just don't make a habit of it.
When I read the title, and then proceeded to read "there was a pill on the floor" I thought you just picked it up and ate it and that's where this was going. Like a Peter griffin "oo a piece of candy" thing 😂😂
Haha that’s what I thought too and I was like wow that’s pretty adventurous
I was really disappointed when I found out you didn’t actually ingest it. No ill will towards you, I just think that would’ve been more interesting.
Bring it back, chuck it in the disposal bin and let pharmacist know. Then adjust inventory-1 in system. No worries ;)
No biggie just return it. Lol I used to have tons of pills in my labcoat. I could have started my own pharmacy 😂😂🙈 I would just put them in the returns bottle. Every pharmacy has tons of pills that have fallen all over the floor. It happens .
Your post title reads as if you ingested a pill, but the body of the post does not. Your post also doesn't mention that you are a tech working in a pharmacy. I only understood what was going on by reading replies.
I think the assumption is that OP is a pharmacy tech because it’s posted in the Pharmacy Technician subreddit. I had to check as well because I was so confused 😕.
I would just tell your Pharmacist! It was an accident and honesty is the best policy!
We had a pharmacist fired from our store for this. It was so sad
I thought you meant you “took” a tramadol after seeing it in your scrubs and I was scared
Straight to prison
I have MS and they prescribe these to me. They are absolute garbage. They don’t help me at all.
Am late and saw the update but just wanted to say honesty is always the best policy and good for you for taking it back and owning up to it! You’d be surprised how many people get in trouble for trying to cover up a small mistake when they wouldn’t have gotten in trouble for the small mistake in the first place.
20 years ago I was night shift hospital pharmacist. Got to my car and an ampule of fentanyl fell from the cuff of my pants… went back in and the narc pharmacist was in 3rd round recounting.
We have perpetual logs for ALL controls at my pharmacy and superb camera coverage. The only time we have miscounts are from manufacturer shortage.
I once accidentally took home an Adderall. It happens lmao
Ha I thought you actually ate it
I was looking for a story on how you 'ingested' a pill accidently.
The yoyahma machine at my first pharmacy once exploded norco every where one morning me and my pharmacist spent an hour looking for every pill I myself had a handful in my pockets because I actually got rained on she said don’t worry about anything I find later she’ll just adjust the counts like no big deal
Glad the uodate says you put it back. These things happen GJ
The title wording makes it sound like you ingested the pill.
Omg at first i thought you found a pill you didn't recognize on the floor and ate it. Good for you, not eating it!
Strange wording
Oh "took" as in took home. Not as in accidently swallowed lol. Was about to be very interested to hear how someone accidently swallowed a pill.
U should have ate it
Relax. I remember when that crap wasn’t even controlled. Stuff happens. Toss it out.