Spanish prescriptions

Hi people,
Im new here,3 weeks in but had to see a dr about severe back pain.i have a protruding disc in my lower back which i have no doubt has been aggravated by the long journey here and a new bed,sofa etc.
I get a very strong painkiller back in the uk and quickly found out its not available here and was offered codeine 28mg instead.
Not a great start but better than nothing as the pain was incredible.i took my prescription to the pharmacy and received 2 boxes with only 20 tablets in each,and asked the lady if there was anything else to be received.she said no.quite sternly.so i took my tablets and left.
As i thought,they only lasted a couple weeks and a bout of backpain usually lasts 4 to 6 weeks.so i got my prescription out and decided to go back to the drs.however when looking at the prescription i noticed another date underneath the first and slowly worked out there was medication still to pick up.so,i went back to the chemist yesterday to be told i only had 10 days to get the rest and as it was now feb i had no chance.i asked why she had told me there was nothing else to get and she simply grunted at me and shrugged.i was fuming.so its now sunday,im in so much pain and have learnt my first lesson on how you can be treated by some spanish.i must say i was warned but thought i would come with an open heart and mind.if anyone else learns from this i will be happy.

Very surprised at this. I find the pharmacy staff very helpful in every Farmacia I have been to.

It sounds like you were given a repeat prescription and the date(s) you are talking about are your next tablet issue date. You can pick up your medication on the date specified, but not before, and can pick up to the end of that month. If you go into the next month you will forfeit that previous months medication.

Might be worth taking a translator with you to the Dr's if your Spanish is limited so the Dr has a full understanding of your problem.

Try showing the Pharmacist your original box of tablets and see what he can suggest as a similar drug available here in Spain.

Constant chronic pain is a miserable situation to be in, I'm sure you will feel differently about the way you feel you have been treated when you get on top of your discomfort.

Which pharmacy was that as I find it very unusual. The Canal pharmacy opposite Gama and the one by Consum are usually very good and helpful and will do all they can to help you.
In fact, the one at the Canal pharmacy went through what I thought was a very complicated lot of prescriptions for my wife which was issued by both the hospital and the doctors.
She painstakingly explained what was to be collected, when and how many. She also told me when they should be taken (the one from the hospital had the instructions printed in English but not the one from the doctors) and what to do if they weren't working properly.
She also told me which ones could be obtained without a prescription and what the cost would be (very cheap, by the way).
The one by Consum helped out a friend who was staying with us and had brought the wrong packets of BP tables (an empty one) and told her what she could buy OTC (€1.98 for 2 months supply, by the way) and the man in there was also very helpful to her.
You surprise me unless you got a temp to deal with.

We always use the farmacia at Lo Maribu opposite JYSK the staff could not be more helpful and their English is excellent

I always used the chemist in Benin over and they were great they let me have 50mg tramadol also slow release ones for my back which by the way were very cheap €3.20 but very good for the pain

Going back to the original problem, the Farmacia cannot issue prescriptions after a certain date. It's not that they don't WANT to, it's just that their computer system DOESN'T ALLOW for it to be done. It's nothing personal and it affects us all. It's a shame this has caused so much pain and anger, and I'm very sorry for that. All I can suggest is to always take an interpreter to the doctor if you cannot speak or read Spanish and this will hopefully save anyone else having problems like this. Hope you can find some relief very soon Boradee49.

I always find the Farmacias very helpful. Unless you have good Spanish language skills, you need to bear in mind that the pharmacist is speaking to you in a second language and if that person only has limited English language skills, their responses may appear to be rude, when they are not.
Having left my Tramadol tablets in the UK, the pharmacist at ‘Canal’ gave me a pack of 60 Tramadol tablets for about 7 Euros.

Never had any problem,took my empty box from uk they spent a while on the pc and came up with an alternative,all spoke English,sure you could have bought something over the counter,good luck with the pain.

Yes you are all right,the date on the prescription was when my next course was due..however when i asked if there was any other meducation to pick up she said no...and it was jan whren i got the prescription and feb 1st when i realised there was more to pick up.
Basically i feel like she couldnt be bothered for whatever reason,as she seemed to understand what i asked..
Im chalking this up to lack of experience,but il certainly check anything like this myself in future as the lack of sleep,pain and discomfort iv been through because of this 'mistake' has had me wanting to get a flight back in my worst hours.
I went to see a private dr,who was polite and spoke good english and explained the prescription in full.im now a happy woman!!