I think there is just something in their workflow system that tells them the pharmacist needs to speak to you about systemic estrogen. The pharm tech at my pharmacy was extremely obvious about seeing something on her computer screen that told her to have the pharmacist talk to me.
This mirrors my experience. The tech filling the order did seem to read something on the screen that prompted the “did the doctor tell you how to use this” response.
True. The guess it’s really the follow up phone call that made the initial interaction feel “weird” to me. Maybe they are trying to be more personal than just a pick up and drive away chain.
i filled HRT at my local walgreens for the last year. several times i was asked if i was pregnant. though the customer service in general at this location just forced me to switch to another pharmacy. delays in filling things i have on auto-refill, inability to fill Rx from Urgent Care in a timely manner. i had to travel the next day so i moved the refill to the walgreens near my sister's home in another state. they were much more responsive and made me realize my walgreens sucks. my hospital system has a nice new primary care clinic with pharmacy near my home. husband picked up my HRT there earlier this week and said it was amazing. polite efficient workers, no waiting for pickup, Rx filled in one day.
TLDR; walgreens sucks
I travel a lot so I have to use Walgreens because they're everywhere. I have my local Walgreens pharmacists trained very well, we get along famously, they are awesome. But after 5 years of filling my HRT Rx, they are still required to ask me if I'm pregnant. (I absolutely hate this question, btw, and refuse to answer unless medically necessary) So whenever I'm checking out, I make sure to tell them that I am NOT pregnant before they even get to that checkout screen. We have a good laugh about it, and move on. I guess they have to ask even if you're 90 yrs old as a matter of policy. Maybe Walgreens HQ needs some letters from this meno-posse?
They called me yesterday re: a medication follow up. Apparently it's a thing they do now, checking in about new medications, as explained to me by the pharmacist. So I don't think it pertains to the particular type of med you're taking. ETA: he told me they follow up 2 weeks after giving a new medication to check that there aren't any questions or side effects.
I also had a very weird experience at Walgreens when I filled my patch. I had to wait for almost an hour for the "right" person to be available to fill it. TBH it felt like a BS conscience objection since they kept asking if I was SURE there was no chance of pregnancy. I finally used my theatre major voice to inform the entire store that I'd been surgically sterilized, but I still had to wait for someone else.
I transferred the scrip to another big chain pharmacy and it was completely different. No pushback at all. And now I've moved it to online.
I've had weird vibes at two pharmacies now and it made me wonder if they thought I was trans, even though one of my kids was clinging to me. I tried to switch to Wal-mart and the tech claimed that she couldn't find my insurance info, then she claimed she could but it had been canceled. I logged into my account on my phone in the store, but the first one told the second one that my info wasn't in the system, and she wouldn't look it up. It was bizarre.
Wow. I’m not sure why the pushback with them 🤔 It’s why I jumped on here. I wondered if I just didn’t know something that I should know about the meds.
I complained enough that I got a call from the district manager and he had no explanation for it, especially when I pointed out that that was my second fill and that I'd been checked out by an intern the first time with none of the extra questions or pushback. He said that IF there was an extra routine for counseling in the system, it should be completed with the first fill and that's it. So maybe the intern just didn't do something correctly, but it was still a degrading and upsetting experience and I've moved all my prescriptions away from Walgreens now. I'm using CostPlus for routine meds and a different local pharmacy for when I need a one-off.
If anything, the 0.0375 is a very low dose of systemic estrogen.. like its a tiny whiff of estrogen that may not even knock out the average woman’s hot flashes depending on how little of her own estrogen she is actually making. If I were that pharmacist I would secretly be calling just to encourage the person to follow up with their dr again if they aren’t getting relief on that dose!
But you are also totally within your rights to phone the pharmacy and anonymously inquire about their general practice around this type of medication versus other types. Whatever helps you feel comfortable with these service providers is what you deserve as a customer. You can even ask them to make a note on your file not to call and follow up, if it makes you uncomfortable. They may not always follow the note, but then you can correct them and explain that your request is on file. That way you aren’t feeling violated and helpless!
I’ll bet they aren’t calling men to ask how the Viagra prescription is going! You could even say that as a retort — that’s funny, I don’t remember you calling about my husband’s viagra!
lol thanks for this! I guess I didn’t realize it, but yes, I’m uncomfortable that she called about these Rx. I’m already antsy about the whole thing having been ignored by so many MD and resorting to using Midi, which I am so happy with honestly. I finally felt listened to.
Well, good to know it wasn’t specifically about my HRT. Maybe they are going for a more personalized touch and I’m so jaded these days that I found it suspicious 😂
Yeah, I get that, but this was out of the ordinary - calling me a week after to check in on me. Just odd compared to the past decade of going to this exact location for our family’s Rx
It will be something in their system prompting it. I've been on Dupixent for 9 months now and I get calls every month to make sure I'm comfortable with using the auto injection pen, do I have any questions, blah blah blah. It's a whole script, and takes like 10 minutes. If I don't answer the call, they keep calling back every day. I've asked if I can decline these calls and been told "they'll make a note of it", but of course they keep coming. SO ANNOYING!
Walgreens has made it a point for the past 1-2 years to call and ask how you're doing on new meds. They're losing massive numbers of customers and attempting to keep the ones they still have.
My local Walgreens (in a red state), asked the preggo question loudly at every refill for an aromatase inhibitor that's only prescribed post-menopause. They can keep track of your allergies, but not your menopausal state.
You can try ordering your refills for pickup at a different location. They irritated me enough that I no longer use Walgreens.
When I was first prescribed HRT, the pharmacist asked what condition it was for. I’ve never been asked that before. I was taken aback, to be honest. I guess it’s good to know there might be a flag in their system prompting the parks it’s to ask.
I said, “Symptoms associated with menopause.” She asked in a kind and professional way. I am very private and I didn’t want to attract that kind of attention in a store where my neighbors shop, you know?
I don’t know about how it is there but here they legally have to offer you a conversation with them when you have new meds. I don’t know what that would be weird for them to check in. It’s their job. 😉
Walgreens has problems minding their own business. Change pharmacies, imo. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/retail/2022/07/21/walgreens-pharmacy-birth-control-condoms/10110827002/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/retail/2022/07/21/walgreens-pharmacy-birth-control-condoms/10110827002/)
I was recently prescribed HRT (pretty much the same regimen as you, only I opted for the estradiol gel instead of the patch). The menopause clinic that I went to has its own in-house pharmacist who works with peri/post-meno patients full-time and even she gave me her direct number and told me to call her before my 3 mo follow up to check in.
In my case I think this is partly because the clinic provides an amazing level of care, and partly because so many women on hrt experience bleeding issues (I was told 40%) and other unwanted side effects. The pharmacist wants to know sooner rather than later how I'm tolerating things so that adjustments can be made right away, rather than me just suffering in silence or stopping hrt on my own.
I also have a history of migraines with aura so they want to know whether estradiol was exacerbating those.
I also went through MIDI and received rx for estrogen patch and progesterone. I got mine filled at Costco and I noticed that on the rx it said CONSULT. The pharmacist didn't do a consult on the initial rx pickup but they did on the refill (which happened to be at a different location). I think it's something that either MIDI is denoting or perhaps something associated with the medication itself.
I have had 2 appointments with MIDI now and am quite satisfied with them. The first appointment was as expected because I have done a fair amount of research on current menopause information, so fully expected to be prescribed the patch and progesterone. In my mind, the follow up appointments are more telling because that is when there is opportunity for necessary adjustments to the treatment plan. I was worried that the provider would be rigid about what was previously prescribed and try to keep the plan the same. However, My provider listened to my concerns about the lack of expected improvement and we explored several options, including one that I brought up. She ended up modifying the treatment based upon my suggestion, and we also discussed non-prescription interventions ie supplements. Overall I found my provider to be very attentive and collaborative.
I have another follow up appointment in a few weeks and I'm confident we will be eventually be able to find the optimal solution.
The only thing that gives me a little heartburn is knowing that it might take me numerous appointments to find the right treatment plan, I wish I would have given Evermore more consideration since they have an annual option to pay a singular amount that allows unlimited appointments.
With these store closings, I just feel like Walgreens got comfortable on the wrong side of abortion/reproductive health.
Inevitably, it would come back to bite them in the ass because they couldn't see the bigger picture.
Maybe I am wrong, but that's the vibe I get with these store closings.
No, it is NOT about HRT. I have gotten a call recently from them on a trazadone prescription, it is a new policy I suspect to ask patients how they are doing on meds now.
I think there is just something in their workflow system that tells them the pharmacist needs to speak to you about systemic estrogen. The pharm tech at my pharmacy was extremely obvious about seeing something on her computer screen that told her to have the pharmacist talk to me.
This mirrors my experience. The tech filling the order did seem to read something on the screen that prompted the “did the doctor tell you how to use this” response.
As someone in healthcare, it sounds like good practice. I honestly think most new scripts should be gone over better with patients than they are.
True. The guess it’s really the follow up phone call that made the initial interaction feel “weird” to me. Maybe they are trying to be more personal than just a pick up and drive away chain.
I get the feels, I got weirded out the first time my old dentist phoned to check the next day. Like, what do you people want?
Agree as a nurse
i filled HRT at my local walgreens for the last year. several times i was asked if i was pregnant. though the customer service in general at this location just forced me to switch to another pharmacy. delays in filling things i have on auto-refill, inability to fill Rx from Urgent Care in a timely manner. i had to travel the next day so i moved the refill to the walgreens near my sister's home in another state. they were much more responsive and made me realize my walgreens sucks. my hospital system has a nice new primary care clinic with pharmacy near my home. husband picked up my HRT there earlier this week and said it was amazing. polite efficient workers, no waiting for pickup, Rx filled in one day. TLDR; walgreens sucks
Did they ask him if the person he was picking up for was pregnant?
They did!
I don’t blame you for switching.
I travel a lot so I have to use Walgreens because they're everywhere. I have my local Walgreens pharmacists trained very well, we get along famously, they are awesome. But after 5 years of filling my HRT Rx, they are still required to ask me if I'm pregnant. (I absolutely hate this question, btw, and refuse to answer unless medically necessary) So whenever I'm checking out, I make sure to tell them that I am NOT pregnant before they even get to that checkout screen. We have a good laugh about it, and move on. I guess they have to ask even if you're 90 yrs old as a matter of policy. Maybe Walgreens HQ needs some letters from this meno-posse?
They called me yesterday re: a medication follow up. Apparently it's a thing they do now, checking in about new medications, as explained to me by the pharmacist. So I don't think it pertains to the particular type of med you're taking. ETA: he told me they follow up 2 weeks after giving a new medication to check that there aren't any questions or side effects.
Thanks! Good to know. I’ll stop being paranoid now lol
This is standard practice for certain risky medications that could interact with certain conditions or cause them.
Good to know. Thanks! We’ve been lucky to not have to taking any long term meds before, so I guess that’s part of it too.
I also had a very weird experience at Walgreens when I filled my patch. I had to wait for almost an hour for the "right" person to be available to fill it. TBH it felt like a BS conscience objection since they kept asking if I was SURE there was no chance of pregnancy. I finally used my theatre major voice to inform the entire store that I'd been surgically sterilized, but I still had to wait for someone else. I transferred the scrip to another big chain pharmacy and it was completely different. No pushback at all. And now I've moved it to online.
I've had weird vibes at two pharmacies now and it made me wonder if they thought I was trans, even though one of my kids was clinging to me. I tried to switch to Wal-mart and the tech claimed that she couldn't find my insurance info, then she claimed she could but it had been canceled. I logged into my account on my phone in the store, but the first one told the second one that my info wasn't in the system, and she wouldn't look it up. It was bizarre.
Yup, this is a completely foreseeable consequence of political campaigns and laws denying gender-affirming care to trans people. 😣
Wow. I’m not sure why the pushback with them 🤔 It’s why I jumped on here. I wondered if I just didn’t know something that I should know about the meds.
I complained enough that I got a call from the district manager and he had no explanation for it, especially when I pointed out that that was my second fill and that I'd been checked out by an intern the first time with none of the extra questions or pushback. He said that IF there was an extra routine for counseling in the system, it should be completed with the first fill and that's it. So maybe the intern just didn't do something correctly, but it was still a degrading and upsetting experience and I've moved all my prescriptions away from Walgreens now. I'm using CostPlus for routine meds and a different local pharmacy for when I need a one-off.
If anything, the 0.0375 is a very low dose of systemic estrogen.. like its a tiny whiff of estrogen that may not even knock out the average woman’s hot flashes depending on how little of her own estrogen she is actually making. If I were that pharmacist I would secretly be calling just to encourage the person to follow up with their dr again if they aren’t getting relief on that dose! But you are also totally within your rights to phone the pharmacy and anonymously inquire about their general practice around this type of medication versus other types. Whatever helps you feel comfortable with these service providers is what you deserve as a customer. You can even ask them to make a note on your file not to call and follow up, if it makes you uncomfortable. They may not always follow the note, but then you can correct them and explain that your request is on file. That way you aren’t feeling violated and helpless! I’ll bet they aren’t calling men to ask how the Viagra prescription is going! You could even say that as a retort — that’s funny, I don’t remember you calling about my husband’s viagra!
lol thanks for this! I guess I didn’t realize it, but yes, I’m uncomfortable that she called about these Rx. I’m already antsy about the whole thing having been ignored by so many MD and resorting to using Midi, which I am so happy with honestly. I finally felt listened to.
I use Walgreens and this happened when I started a new blood pressure medication.
Well, good to know it wasn’t specifically about my HRT. Maybe they are going for a more personalized touch and I’m so jaded these days that I found it suspicious 😂
Sounds like a good pharmacist. If it’s a new prescription they are supposed to go over it with you.
Yeah, I get that, but this was out of the ordinary - calling me a week after to check in on me. Just odd compared to the past decade of going to this exact location for our family’s Rx
It will be something in their system prompting it. I've been on Dupixent for 9 months now and I get calls every month to make sure I'm comfortable with using the auto injection pen, do I have any questions, blah blah blah. It's a whole script, and takes like 10 minutes. If I don't answer the call, they keep calling back every day. I've asked if I can decline these calls and been told "they'll make a note of it", but of course they keep coming. SO ANNOYING!
Ah! Thanks for chiming in. Makes sense now.
Walgreens has made it a point for the past 1-2 years to call and ask how you're doing on new meds. They're losing massive numbers of customers and attempting to keep the ones they still have. My local Walgreens (in a red state), asked the preggo question loudly at every refill for an aromatase inhibitor that's only prescribed post-menopause. They can keep track of your allergies, but not your menopausal state. You can try ordering your refills for pickup at a different location. They irritated me enough that I no longer use Walgreens.
Very interesting. Maybe they ARE trying to give a more personal feel by doing the follow up phone calls.
Walgreens is in trouble. They're getting ready to close up to a quarter of their stores.
When I was first prescribed HRT, the pharmacist asked what condition it was for. I’ve never been asked that before. I was taken aback, to be honest. I guess it’s good to know there might be a flag in their system prompting the parks it’s to ask.
Ok would have loudly said “my dry vagina needs this medicine” to embarrass them.
I said, “Symptoms associated with menopause.” She asked in a kind and professional way. I am very private and I didn’t want to attract that kind of attention in a store where my neighbors shop, you know?
I’m private too and live in an area where people will talk about you. I still do it to embarrass them.🤪
Oh my goodness! I laughed so hard I scared the dog!
Poor dog!😂😂
I don’t know about how it is there but here they legally have to offer you a conversation with them when you have new meds. I don’t know what that would be weird for them to check in. It’s their job. 😉
Not asking at pick up. The call a week later is what was odd. Never happened before in my 10 years using this same location. That’s all. 😊
I have those with the exception of the vaginal creme and the Pharmacist did ask me certain questions.. just precaution.
Walgreens has problems minding their own business. Change pharmacies, imo. [https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/retail/2022/07/21/walgreens-pharmacy-birth-control-condoms/10110827002/](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/retail/2022/07/21/walgreens-pharmacy-birth-control-condoms/10110827002/)
Thanks everyone! It’s sad that my experiences with my health have made me so hesitant and suspicious, but here I am. 🤦🏼♀️ I appreciate y’all!
I was recently prescribed HRT (pretty much the same regimen as you, only I opted for the estradiol gel instead of the patch). The menopause clinic that I went to has its own in-house pharmacist who works with peri/post-meno patients full-time and even she gave me her direct number and told me to call her before my 3 mo follow up to check in. In my case I think this is partly because the clinic provides an amazing level of care, and partly because so many women on hrt experience bleeding issues (I was told 40%) and other unwanted side effects. The pharmacist wants to know sooner rather than later how I'm tolerating things so that adjustments can be made right away, rather than me just suffering in silence or stopping hrt on my own. I also have a history of migraines with aura so they want to know whether estradiol was exacerbating those.
Sound like a great practice that you’ve linked up with! Hopefully, we both get the relief we seek.
Yes, I hope so too!
I also went through MIDI and received rx for estrogen patch and progesterone. I got mine filled at Costco and I noticed that on the rx it said CONSULT. The pharmacist didn't do a consult on the initial rx pickup but they did on the refill (which happened to be at a different location). I think it's something that either MIDI is denoting or perhaps something associated with the medication itself.
Interesting. Are you happy with Midi? I just started with them, but so far so good. I do like my provider quite a bit.
I have had 2 appointments with MIDI now and am quite satisfied with them. The first appointment was as expected because I have done a fair amount of research on current menopause information, so fully expected to be prescribed the patch and progesterone. In my mind, the follow up appointments are more telling because that is when there is opportunity for necessary adjustments to the treatment plan. I was worried that the provider would be rigid about what was previously prescribed and try to keep the plan the same. However, My provider listened to my concerns about the lack of expected improvement and we explored several options, including one that I brought up. She ended up modifying the treatment based upon my suggestion, and we also discussed non-prescription interventions ie supplements. Overall I found my provider to be very attentive and collaborative. I have another follow up appointment in a few weeks and I'm confident we will be eventually be able to find the optimal solution. The only thing that gives me a little heartburn is knowing that it might take me numerous appointments to find the right treatment plan, I wish I would have given Evermore more consideration since they have an annual option to pay a singular amount that allows unlimited appointments.
With these store closings, I just feel like Walgreens got comfortable on the wrong side of abortion/reproductive health. Inevitably, it would come back to bite them in the ass because they couldn't see the bigger picture. Maybe I am wrong, but that's the vibe I get with these store closings.
No, it is NOT about HRT. I have gotten a call recently from them on a trazadone prescription, it is a new policy I suspect to ask patients how they are doing on meds now.