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Stupid Pet Peeves

This sucks. Cannot get percocet from any pharmacy in about a 20 mile radius, at least of the dozen or so I have called.

www.painnewsnetwork.org

Tight Rx Opioid Supply Causing Shortages of Oxycodone and Hydrocodone — Pain News Network

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor At least three U.S. drug companies have reported shortages of oxycodone, the latest sign that efforts to limit the supply of opioid pain medication have gone too far and are harming patients. On March 17, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) added imm
www.painnewsnetwork.org www.painnewsnetwork.org

‘Pendulum Swung Too Far’​

The end result of all these efforts is that opioid prescribing in the U.S. has fallen by nearly 50 percent, even as drug deaths continued to climb to record levels, fueled primarily by street drugs made with illicit fentanyl.

“It seems like the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction, where people deserving and people needing controlled substances are unable to access them,” said Colin Banas, MD, Chief Medical Officer for DrFirst, a healthcare technology consultant.

A recent survey of 400 patients by DrFirst found that one in four (27%) had run out of medication while waiting for their prescription to be renewed. Many had to contact their pharmacy or doctor more than once to get their prescription renewed.

Banas is concerned that DEA plans to reimpose “guardrails” on prescribing that were suspended during the pandemic will undermine telehealth and make it even harder to get controlled substances. The DEA’s proposed rules, which many consider confusing, will require patients to have an in-person meeting with a provider before being prescribed a Schedule II controlled substance like oxycodone.
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How about that, prescriptions for valid use are not the primary driver of the opioid crisis. Idiots.
 
I needed to change a flight on Delta for this Thursday from the illustrious city of Great Falls, MT the the **** hole backwater we all know and love, SLC, UT. First thing I tried was the mobile app. It let me go through the process until the confirmation and then threw an error. I tried several times. When I got back to my hotel I tried on my personal laptop (I travel with both a personal laptop and work laptop) and same thing, error after clicking the confirm button.

I tried an AI text chat and that was Dumb as ****! It told me that I should be fine changing the flight on the app. No problem. I tried again, it didn't work.

So, they have the ultimate convenience of being able to text chat with a representative. Wait time for the text chat (this is over SMS text) was 8 min. As per usual they needed me to confirm stuff that they most assuredly already know about my travel info. No problem. First actual text was the person saying "Is this triple confirmed info correct?" I'm like yeah. Then they say "I need to do a forensic investigation of your travel info, are you okay waiting?" That's not word for word but they did say they needed to look into my travel info, a non-stop from Great Falls to SLC, and asked if I was okay waiting. I'm obviously like sure, do what you gotta do. After (I'm checking the actual time) 8 min later they respond, "Because you used a third party, like a travel agency or online site they can't change the flight, since it's an unused ticket and has a negotiated rate." Their statement was longer than that but that's what they said. I booked through the app my employer makes us use to book travel, very very standard for business travel. I have changed flights after booking through this app before, but in that case the new flight was more expensive. In this case the price of the flight had gone down by quite a bit. I asked if that was why I couldn't change the flight. Then they tell me "If I change your flight you will have to pay a $50 fee and you will lose your negotiated rate. I hope you can understand this."

So now the flight CAN be changed but I'm being threatened with having to pay more for it plus a fee. They quickly followed up with "Can I help you with anything else?" I responded with, "Okay so how much will the new flight be?" 9 min later they said please wait while I check, 8 min later they said they are checking.

Meanwhile I just called the damn number to talk to a person on the phone. It said it would be a 20 min wait do I want a call back or to stay on the line. I picked stay on hold. A little less than 20 min later a person, presumably from Georgia by the accent, picked up the call and within 3-4 min had me on my new flight, gave me $122 credit in the price difference and upgraded me to comfort+ (poor man's first class). The person on text hadn't even responded. It had been 15 min since the last text from them. So 32 min of them checking the price.

I replied to the text saying I'm all good now, no further assistance is needed. Thank you.

It got even crazier as the text person couldn't let this go but I don't have time for that right now.
 
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Gameface said:
I needed to change a flight on Delta for this Thursday from the illustrious city of Great Falls, MT the the **** hole backwater we all know and love, SLC, UT. First thing I tried was the mobile app. It let me go through the process until the confirmation and then threw an error. I tried several times. When I got back to my hotel I tried on my personal laptop (I travel with both a personal laptop and work laptop) and same thing, error after clicking the confirm button.

I tried an AI text chat and that was Dumb as ****! It told me that I should be fine changing the flight on the app. No problem. I tried again, it didn't work.

So, they have the ultimate convenience of being able to text chat with a representative. Wait time for the text chat (this is over SMS text) was 8 min. As per usual they needed me to confirm stuff that they most assuredly already know about my travel info. No problem. First actual text was the person saying "Is this triple confirmed info correct?" I'm like yeah. Then they say "I need to do a forensic investigation of your travel info, are you okay waiting?" That's not word for word but they did say they needed to look into my travel info, a non-stop from Great Falls to SLC, and asked if I was okay waiting. I'm obviously like sure, do what you gotta do. After (I'm checking the actual time) 8 min later they respond, "Because you used a third party, like a travel agency or online site they can't change the flight, since it's an unused ticket and has a negotiated rate." Their statement was longer than that but that's what they said. I booked through the app my employer makes us use to book travel, very very standard for business travel. I have changed flights after booking through this app before, but in that case the new flight was more expensive. In this case the price of the flight had gone down by quite a bit. I asked if that was why I couldn't change the flight. Then they tell me "If I change your flight you will have to pay a $50 fee and you will lose your negotiated rate. I hope you can understand this."

So now the flight CAN be changed but I'm being threatened with having to pay more for it plus a fee. They quickly followed up with "Can I help you with anything else?" I responded with, "Okay so how much will the new flight be?" 9 min later they said please wait while I check, 8 min later they said they are checking.

Meanwhile I just called the damn number to talk to a person on the phone. It said it would be a 20 min wait do I want a call back or to stay on the line. I picked stay on hold. A little less than 20 min later a person, presumably from Georgia by the accent, picked up the call and within 3-4 min had me on my new flight, gave me $122 credit in the price difference and upgraded me to comfort+ (poor man's first class). The person on text hadn't even responded. It had been 15 min since the last text from them. So 32 min of them checking the price.

I replied to the text saying I'm all good now, no further assistance is needed. Thank you.

It got even crazier as the text person couldn't let this go but I don't have time for that right now.
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Decent chance the text person was AI.
 
LogGrad98 said:
Decent chance the text person was AI.
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Well then it was in full hallucination mode. I didn't add the stuff from after my issue was fixed but they continued to say that they would have had to charge me a fee and "take full control" of my ticket since it was booked through a third party, etc. Then they said they kept trying to get the info but since I was talking to a person on the phone they couldn't get access. I told them I was talking to the person for easily less than 5 min after waiting more than 30 min for a response from them.

I think it was a person in Pakistan or India (based on the name they provided) who was expected to simultaneously be texting with several people at the same time. I told them I wasn't going to cause them any trouble but that I was upset that they gave me incorrect info and didn't help me solve my problem. They continued being defensive and telling me how they couldn't do what I was asking for.

The person on the phone basically stopped me from giving my flight info mid stream because she was like yeah, I have it right here. I said I want a later flight and while she was looking for that she explained how I can always avoid fees by changing within 24hrs of the flight, only issue is if the seats sell out. Before she even got done saying that she had the next flight and was telling me the price had gone down and that I'd be getting a credit. I was like "nice" and then she said she could upgrade me. I say less than 5 min but it might have been 2-3 min.
 
**** the war on opioids and especially **** Walgreens. Most opioids are backordered here, so I've been calling pharmacies to see if anyone has it. Walgreens is the only one just won't tell me if the have it in stock unless they get a prescription for it. Every other pharmacy has just said "hang on let me check". Of course, no one has it. But Walgreens adds the extra ****-you of we won't even check unless we already have the prescription. And getting my doctor's to move my prescription around takes a ****ing act of Congress. This whole thing is so ****ed up. So I'm using kratom almost exclusive, but even there I am having problems with supply. I called the customer service of the site I use mostly and they said this year they've seen a huge surge in demand and are having a hard time filling it. Well yeah, we've cut off the ****ing prescription supply so people are being forced to turn to alternative sources. Kratom is high on that list. I've also read there has been a significant up-tick in heroin use. Restricting opioids like this makes the whole things worse all the way around. Especially considering that in recent years most deaths have occurred from illicit sources largely laced with fentanyl. They have ****ed this up so bad it's hard to put into words. I'm lucky that I'm used to it largely and can still force myself to function without it, but even people like terminal patients are having a hard time getting it. Legislators need to get their heads out of their asses and start actually listening to medical professionals and look at the ****ing data about it.
 
Working on changing or adding to my antidepressant. The current one has been good for me for a half dozen years now, which is a long time for an AD, and so the effects are starting to wane. One thing you work through with this is the side effects, as they can be horrendous. One issue with the changes I am working on is it messes with my eye-sight as it causes different pressure inside the eye which can slightly change its shape, so today everything is ****ing blurry. I am told that after a few MONTHS it might pass, but in the meantime I am probably going to need new glasses. And with no job? They might have to wait. Ugh.
 
Gameface said:
Haha you're probably used to early morning trips during the week. Different crowd.
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Even middle of the day trips during the week is a different crowd. Saturday was a different version of the weekend warrior that has no real idea how to shop in a Home Depot.
 
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