Wrong meds needed, but how?

Don't know if this will help you in any way, but my mother takes HCT - not sure a doc would be handing out free samples of it anyhow, as it's a very cheap drug, and the samples are usually the expensive stuff.

Does the character have to get the drug from a doctor? The HCT is a pretty common blood pressure drug - I could see a case of character saying to a friend "hey, my sinuses are really screwed up, could I try one of your sinus pills" and the friend answering "yeah, they're in the medicine cabinet" - and he picks up the wrong drug (maybe dumped out into an unlabeled container?)

Rather than saying it out loud and making it a mispronunciation, he could write it down and it could be misread. The two words don't sound enough alike but with bad enough handwriting the mistake might be easier to justify.

Bingain said:

I need to give my MC a wrong medication. He needs to have small amount of hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) in his system that he doesn't know of. I prefer it to be some freebie samples the doc gives him and he takes 'em right away. I favor an innocent mistake/accident, but if I have to blame someone, it will be the nurse . I also need some kind of traces left behind so the truth can be unveiled. That can be as simple as name of real drug given that is jotted down on the file folder w/o signature.

So far I have worked my guy into having a sore throat. Doc prescribes him with Macrolides/erythromycin, and I've hoped that mis-pronunciation could get him Microzide from the nurse, but the more I look at it, the less likely it will happen. Any ideas?

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Why HCT? it seems an odd choice to me- it is not illicit and won't improve atheltic abiltiy- and why would anyone care if he had it in his system- or am i amissing the point? (quite possible)

I'm a nurse- so -The doc isn't going to give any freebies out- As someone else mentioned he could be given one by mistake at home- but HCT does not hang around inthe body very long and would not be that detectable and even if it were- I don't see how anyone would get in trouble for it- it is not a steroid or a narcotic or a controlled substance in any way- basically its going to make him pee a lot and maybe lower his blood pressure , but if he is young and healthy not to levels where he would even notice and if it is just a one time dose- i doubt he would even know he took it-
Just my 2 cents- but if you want some one to take theblame for your character having a drug in his system, I think I would pick another drug.

I don't know if this helps, but I've litigated several cases where a pharmacy slapped the wrong label on a box that looked similar to the drug they were supposed to dispense. In one case, it was discovered after my client was released from the hospital and the visiting nurse checked his meds. She peeled back the label and it was the wrong med.

There was a case a few years ago here where the pharmacy put extra-strength Viagra in a jar intended for a little girl. The child's parents thought it didn't look like chewable antibiotics, and even was told more than once by the pharmacy that the bad taste was just due to it being a generic. The child took several doses (normally you only take one a day, and of course normally this dose is for an overweight man) before the pharmacy admitted there was a problem and told them to stop giving it the child. I can't remember if there was reason she given Viagra (like the name of the drug being close to Viagra), or if it was just a plain mix-up.

In any case, they wouldn't have caught so soon it if the pills weren't supposed to be chewable, and of course the child complained of the symptoms of dangerously high blood pressure as well.

Could be something simple--the drug name was similar, and the pharmacist couldn't read the doctor's handwriting. I've seen periodic news articles of that happening. Could also be a mistake at the drugstore. My brother went to one of the chains to pick up medicine for his baby. He made a quick check of it and realized the prescription was for someone else with a similar name!

Also worth noting--My uncle is a doctor, but he was originally going to be a pharmacist (he switched after he was nearly blinded in an explosion in the lab). Because of that, he has a good knowledge of drugs, and he notes that many doctors don't. One time I was prescribed some nasal spray. On the label it says to discontinue use and call your doctor immediately if you get a sore throat from the spray. I did, and the doctor made it out like I was whining about it. He told me just rinse my throat out after I used it. When I later went to an allergy doctor, they suggested the same drug. I told them my reaction to it, and they immediately said they wouldn't prescribe it because of the reaction (and that came from the nurse!).

I saw on the news a few years ago that many meds come in similar bottles, and pharmacists can sometimes grab the wrong one.

Bingain said:

Viktor Night. I think that's a good idea that can be explored. Many thanks.

sheadakota: HCT is illegal to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) because even though it's not a performance enhance drug, it is often used as masking agent. Athletes can use them if they have the medical need but they need doctor cert. He will be tested a few hours after taking the freebies/non-freebies.

Well, now that's a really bad news if clinics won't have any HCT. He can't get it from a drugstore because he or his team would have noticed it. Won't pharmaceutical companies give you some samples just cause? Like, while they send the free notepads? Or the salesman says, honey, my briefcase is too heavy, can I drop some of these stuff here?

What other drugs can I use to get him into trouble? Something that causes doping charge but he's innocent? I used HCT in my plot because it has happened IRL but the WADA ain't gonna discuss these with me.

Thank. Thanks.

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awww see I was missing the point- sorry about that- note to self- stop jumping in the middle of threads and giving advice - ignore me and carry on

Silken Laumann, the Olympic rower, got into trouble taking pseudoephedrine instead of the 'approved' cold medication, if it's any help? Not sure where she got it, but maybe your guy mistook something on the approved list for something similar? Or, if you want someone to blame, a friend gave him some earlier and he was too polite to refuse, and to busy to check. Then, later, he takes one?

One time we had a pill in our pharmacy bottles that didn't match the others. The bottle was triangular chewable antibiotics that smelled sort of like blueberries.

There was this yellow oval one that was sort of bitter smelling in there. Looking through dad's PDR we identified it as a morphine pill.

We didn't take it of course, and told the pharmacy about it. Still don't know how it got in there.

Aaaaaany ways. You could just have one get mixed in with his normal prescription that looks similar enough to the rest of them that he doesn't notice it.