In November 2019 my Doc put me on Taltz and shortly after the 2nd dose I got a pretty nasty fungal infection on my foot and … other places … Anyway, I got that cleared up and started again. But after 4 or five months I had no improvement, so now they’ve put me on Tremfya.
Here’s my problem, my specialty pharmacy kept sending my meds even when I was taking a break to treat the fungus. So now I have 2 pens still in my fridge and don’t know what to do with them. I hate to just turn then in at the pharmacy take-back box, the waste of that makes me crazy. Does anyone know of any charitable programs that might collect and redistribute these types of meds to people with valid orders for them but no access?
It’s probably too much to hope for. But if you know of anything, I’m in the Pacific Northwest area of the US. Thanks in advance.
Stacy
They are usually deemed ‘spoiled’ once they leave the dispensing pharmacy. There’s good reason for that as there has been no objective control on how you’ve stored them. Yes of course you stored them properly but no one else can vouch for that. Given what our meds contain it would be far too risky from a medical negligence point of view (most especially given you’re in the USA) for any charity etc to redistribute them. So you give them back sadly or put them unused in your sharps bin for collection. Anything less would risk you being liable or the charity etc being liable and I’m guessing you don’t want that.
I agree completely with @Poo_therapy . I’ll also add something in for future reference. I have to specifically schedule my shipments of my biologic. So with that in mind when I have to take a break due to surgery or illness, I purposely hold off on scheduling my next shipments they don’t wind up with extra. It does not do you any good for the ones that you already have, but for anybody else that might be helpful.
I place them in my sharps container so they are disposed of. The pharmacy won’t take them back and you should never dump the medication in the sink or on the ground, etc.
Go to wallgreens and get a biologic container that they will dispose of. Every syringing is considered a biohazard. Look we are not junkies but that does not relieve of our responsibility to minimize the perceived harm from some trash collector or homeless person searching for cans in our garbage; You go walllgreens or cvs you pay $12 for a container and you return it when it is full without charge, There is no difference between us and diabetics.