Out of meds!

June 14, 2005 7:43 PM

Oh man am I stupid... I meant to pick up my prescription for Buspar (to treat anxiety) earlier today cause I knew I was out. I forgot.

I can get it tomorrow, but tonight might be bad... In the past when I've skipped a dose I've gotten a pretty bad headache that takes a few hours to go away even after taking the missed dose. So does anyone know anything that could help me make it to tomorrow without wanting to run my head into a wall?

posted by Stauf to health & fitness (8 comments total)

Have your doctor phone in the prescription to a 24 hour pharmacy?
posted by reverendX at 8:01 PM on June 14, 2005

In my experience, pharmacies will sometimes give you a couple of pills without a prescription to tide you over until you can get your normal fix. If you can find a 24-hour pharmacy, it might be worth a shot. YMMV.
posted by greatgefilte at 8:13 PM on June 14, 2005

Well, FWIW, if a 24-hour pharmacy won't dispense a temporary buspar or two you have few choices: go to an emergency room (expensive!) or go for an herbal backup like passion flower extract aka passiaflora, melatonin or (worse comes to worst) diphenhydramine - OTC antianxiety/sleeping pills, the same stuff as Benadryl. Not the same at all! But it could take the edge off. Sleepytime tea also contains passiaflora and chamomile, which can be helpful. Hang in there.
posted by nj_subgenius at 8:26 PM on June 14, 2005

Make sure you are in a comfortable place, with a person you can trust near you to keep the edge off. Call a pharmacy and calmly explain the circumstances. It doesn't hurt to ask.
posted by Dean Keaton at 8:58 PM on June 14, 2005

Apropos of nothing, I used to be confused by traffic reports here in Seattle that talked of a tie-up "just south of the Buspar" or whatever location in relation to... the anti-anxiety drug which apparently was a commuter landmark.

Turned out they were saying bus barn.
posted by kindall at 11:05 PM on June 14, 2005

When I get a nasty, pounding, makes-me-want-to-cry headache, I take a little known over-the-counter med called percogesic. It's Acetaminophen mixed with an antihistamine called Phenyltoloxamine Citrate. Doesn't sound very impressive, does it? Well, perhaps the results will vary from person to person, but for me, this stuff is almost as good as codeine. I take two and, twenty minutes later, I'm feeling no pain whatsoever.

I've seen it for sale at Wal-Mart, grocery stores, drug stores, etc. There's a generic version called Genasec which seems to be just as good.

If worse comes to worse and you do have to go without Buspar, this stuff may come in handy. Good luck.
posted by Clay201 at 12:16 AM on June 15, 2005

Call your doc's office and ask their answering service to please very kindly page him, have him call in the presecription to your nearest 24 hour pharmacy, and go pick it up. I guarantee you this won't be the first time a patient has woken him up in the wee hours for the very same thing.
posted by SpecialK at 12:36 AM on June 15, 2005

Seconding the percogesic. If you can't get what you need, you may want to try that for headache. Back when I had migraines, it worked better for me than any of the prescription stuff I got from my doctor.
posted by taz at 1:29 AM on June 15, 2005