That is why you are encouraged to get a 3-month prescription from your doctor each time. They'll probably fill out several shorter prescriptions at once, dated appropriately.

guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper

You see, it works, DoDo, it works!

I am skeptical of the value rendered by the med mafia in the first place -- they kill a lot of people every year by sheer incompetence, fatigue, overwork and excessive paper shuffling combined.  120,000 per annum as I recall die in the US from medical mishap or carelessness.  much is made of the shiny state-of-art technocratic icing on the US medical pie but I am firmly in the camp of those who say this is nifty but contributes little to general public health.  I will try to dig up some urls from old discussions in other venues about health care priorities.  iirc more than half our national health care budget is spent on valiant efforts to extend the final year of life, often against the patient's wish or without their conscious participation;  something wrong there.

anyway, I don't generally "go to the vet" unless I am convinced the injury or illness is serious.  have probably visited the doc only 3 or 4 times in 15 years.  it is not a system I trust; and as the pharmacorps suborn more and more docs, turning them into drug salesmen, I trust it less and less.  my experiences with it on the rare occasions when I venture into the waiting room have done little to alter my feelings -- though my GP is a good fellow and I think uncorrupted, his is the last generation of medical personnel who went through the system before near-total corporate infiltration and control of research and hospital management.  I don't trust any of the next generation.

in an emergency the system works fairly well.  but somehow that sums up the essence of corporate culture:  throw money and resources at emergencies in the present moment for quick results -- heroically if need be -- big flashy quick TV-genic results that people will pay big bucks for -- but skimp as much as possible on maintenance and long term investment and the kind of patient low-key effort that helps to prevent the emergencies.  more later...

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...