Epic Pharmacy Fail

I recently discovered that my local pharmacy had been giving me the pediatric dose of Enbrel for the past 6 months! Yup. You read that right. Since January I have been receiving half the amount of medicine that I was suppose to be taking. I only discovered this mistake because I recently switched insurances and was requesting new prescriptions for my new insurance plan. My rheumatologist called me to clarify that I was actually taking the 25 mg "dosing kit," which is very rarely offered anymore, instead Enbrel typically comes in pre-filled syringes or auto-injectors. She was completely shocked about this dosing error, as her prescriptions had all been correct. Therefore, somehow my pharmacy had been giving me the wrong dose, month after month as I refilled it.

Now don't get me wrong. I actually really like my pharmacy. In fact, I found it very hard to call them and complain about this error, but I needed to make sure it wouldn't happen again. The pharmacist was literally speechless and didn't know what to say to me. I have used my local town pharmacy my entire life and even after moving away, I still traveled back home to continue using this pharmacy. It is a small family business and they know my whole medial history which has helped decrease many stresses and hassles over the past 28 years. I have been willing to pay a little extra money, instead of using mail order, to know that my prescriptions are handled correctly, will be ready on time and there are no surprises. Unfortunately, my trust was recently shattered. 

I know how lucky I am that even on half the intended Enbrel dosage, I still have felt OK. I know it could have been a whole lot worse. I am optimistic that now that I am on the correct adult dosage, I should continue to feel even better. Moving forward, I will most certainly check all of my prescriptions more thoroughly!