Background is a repeating image of small pills of different types, text reads "how to ger urgent refills on restricted medication, free script! janetjay.com"

How To Get an Urgent Refill on A Controlled Medication: Free downloadable script and step-by-step instructions on communicating effectively with your medical team

You need an urgent refill on your pain pills, brain pills or another controlled med, and you need it now. How do you make your doctor understand, listen and act? How do you make sure the pharmacy cooperates with them? What’s the best way to keep track of all this nonsense? And most of all, what exactly do you say to make this magic happen?! Let me lay our your options for how to get that urgent refill in your hand. I’ll even throw in a printable script with effective voicemail messages for your medical team.

Preface: Don’t Let It Come To This!

Don’t wait until the day before your script is out to try to get an urgent refill. The more important a med is, the more wiggle room you need to leave your pharmacy. Do what you can to avoid being in a position where you have to carefully choose your words and your stress is through the roof. Set up automated refills! Reminders! Alarms of all types! Now is the time to set up alerts– however your brain works, do what you can to keep on top of this stuff.

computer, phone with spreadsheet open on screen and paper / tablet showing "medical contact log", text reads "printable medical contact log and custom spreadsheet, etsy.com/shop/painchronicbuticonic, janetjay.com — ***First, download a free medical contact log to keep track of interactions with doctors, pharmacists and medical staff.***

However: shit happens. Lines get crossed, to-do lists get forgotten, and emergencies arise. Sometimes you find yourself in this position whether you like it or not.

So when you really need an urgent refill ASAP, here’s what to do.

Call (actually call) your doctor ASAP

The next morning, within an hour or so of the office opening, you call your doctor. Here’s the default message I would leave.

Call #1 (As soon as the office opens for the day)

Hi this is Janet Jay, I am a patient of Dr. Martin calling because I am completely out of Medication A. I took my final dose this morning and am trying to pick them up before my next dose at 4 PM, so it’s important to get this called in as soon as possible to the Walgreens at State Ave. and Main St. Thank you SO much for your help on this, and give me a call at 555-555-5555 if you have problems.

An infographic titled "how to message your doctor for refill requests" with six sections detailing what to include in the message: why you're calling, who you are, the issue, when you left your last message, what you need, and how to solve the problem, from janetjay.com

Take a look at that script: there are a lot of important hooks in there. No matter what, you MUST say: your name, your doctor, your medication, how much you have left, if it’s time sensitive and just how much, your pharmacy, and your phone number.

No matter how you word it, you have to make sure you communicate:

Who you’re trying to reach
why you were calling,
what you need them to do,
when it needs to be done
& why it’s important to do ASAP

Next? You wait. Double check with your pharmacy. Pet your doggos. Wait more.

Getting an urgent refill on a controlled medication? Don’t trust your pharmacy’s app or automated line

You’ve left the message above and are hoping to hear back soon. Most pharmacies have an automated system or app that you can check prescription status on. Unfortunately, it really varies how quickly and accurate their they update. That’s fine normally but when you are waiting at home with bated breath, trying to play middleman between a doctors office and the pharmacy about a medication you have to have ASAP, you don’t want to call and nag your doctor about calling in a script that they’ve already called in an hour ago. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if you made that mistake, of course, but when you’re asking for special treatment you want to be aware that you’re asking for special treatment.All that to say: even if the pharmacy app says they’re still waiting to hear from your doctor, you need to actually call and ask a real person whether your doctor’s office has gotten in touch. Half the time they’ve already heard from the doctor and it just hasn’t updated yet. But even then, the call isn’t a waste! It lets you reiterate to the pharmacy tech when you’ll be there to pick it up and the importance of it being ready then. They truly have no way to tell what’s important or not, but remember, there’s a human there!The big thing is to be aware of what you’re doing and what you’re asking of people. Hopefully you don’t find yourself in this position often!

Call #2 (Midday)

Hi, Janet Jay again calling about the status of my Medication A refill. I left a message at 8:12 this morning about my need to get a refill script called into the Walgreens at State and Main, and I’m reaching out to check the status and stress the urgency a bit more. It’s crucial for my pain to maintain continuity in my medication and I’m now completely out. If the pharmacy doesn’t get the script from you by the end of business today, I’ll miss both my 6 PM dose today and my 8 AM dose tomorrow, causing a lot of pain and disrupting some important plans. Please let me know if there’s anything at all I can do to speed this process up, and sorry to have to bug you about it again.

Do NOT leave a message like this!

I’ve definitely had refill sagas that made me cry, but leaving a sob-ridden message– or worse, a rage-filled rant–is not going to do you any good. Here’s a really bad example of a call that, best case scenario, will leave you at the bottom of the call-back list.

Listen, I’ve been calling and calling you over and over again. I thought picking up the phone was your job! It’s extremely URGENT that I get my meds refilled because I am completely out! The pharmacy won’t give me any, your office doesn’t answer half the time and every damn person I talk to says something completely different and contradictory about how to get a goddamn refill. I’m absolutely fed up with all these bullshit excuses and infuriated with this ridiculous runaround. I’ve left countless messages that you fools seem to be completely ignoring even as I’m missing doses and laid up here on the couch in pain– do you understand that people have to GO TO WORK?!? You had better get your act together and get me on the line with a real human IMMEDIATELY to resolve this clusterfuck or I’m going to call my lawyer and sue you for malpractice!

If you left me that message I wouldn’t want to call you back either! It also doesn’t provide who’s calling, what med they need a refill on, the name of the pharmacy, when they called previously or who they spoke to. Also, I kind of can’t believe I have to say this, but you want to leave a call with no profanity, no disrespect and no threats, of legal or any other variety. (Pro tip for life in general: using legal action as an empty threat will backfire more times than it will help.) These are people working a job and doing what their boss says. Whatever’s going on, it’s probably not their fault. Don’t unload on them just because they’re there.

Call #3 (early afternoon)

Here’s your last-ditch effort.

Hi, this is Janet Jay, calling for the third time. I previously left messages at 8:15 and 10:45 this morning regarding the urgent refill of my medication A to the pharmacy at State and Main. Unfortunately, I am now completely out and increasingly concerned about getting a refill sorted before the end of the day. I understand the complexities involved with controlled medications and am happy to help with any additional steps required, but your swift action on this would mean a great deal to me. Let me know if I can do anything to speed the process along– my contact # is 555-555-5555. Thank you very much for your understanding and help, and sorry to have to keep calling!

See what I did there, with a lot of very specific details, a legitimate reason why I’m asking for the things I’m asking, and a call to action? That’s your goal.

What if someone picks up?

Just hit the same who-what-why bullet points at the start of this document, and note their name. That way on your next message, you can say “I spoke to a physician’s assistant named Monica at 9:23 AM and she told me….”

What if you still don’t hear back after multiple messages? Time to examine your urgent refill options.

Do you have an email for the office or for your doctor specifically?
Is there a different line you could call where you speak to a person instead of leaving a message?
Is there a patient portal you can communicate through?
Are you close enough to the office that you can come in physically? You’ll have a much better chance of stealing a couple minutes of someone’s time that way.
Do you happen to know semaphore? (It won’t help you here, I’m just curious.)

How to get an urgent refill on a controlled medication: Free downloadable script with exactly what to say

Here are those 3 calls of increasing urgency with exactly what to say to your doctor on the days when you absolutely have to get your controlled meds. Fill it in with your own details, then print for your medical binder or just save it in the cloud for the next time you find yourself in this unenviable position. I hope this script manages to help some people who might be struggling just to get through the damn day. Phone calls can be so daunting and anxiety-ridden that a lot of people avoid them, but they’re really crucial for problems like this.

Did I leave anything out? Do you have other questions or did this post help you in some way? Let me know!Pin these so you can find your way back!