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office of refugee health

Medicine

Prescription Medicine

If you need medicine, your doctor will give you a Prescription.

• A Prescription is a piece of paper with the name of the medicine.

You will go to a Pharmacy. Give your prescription to the Pharmacist. The pharmacist will give you the medicine. This medicine is usually paid for by health insurance. Health insurance will most often pay for the generic, less expensive version of medicine. Many medicines have more than one name.

Non-Prescription Medicine/Over-The-Counter Medicine

You do not need a prescription to buy some medicine:

For headache

For stomach ache

For couch or cold

For cuts

You can buy this medicine at the pharmacy or grocery store. This medicine is not usually paid for by health insurance. You may have to pay with money. Some health insurances have special programs to get the generic version of nonprescription medicine for free. For example, your insurance may pay for Ibuprofen which is the generic form of Advil. Ask your case manager or doctor about these programs.

Instructions for Medicine

Medicine can be a pill or a liquid.

The doctor or pharmacist will tell you how to take your medicine.

You should know:

How many pills/liquid to take

How many times each day

What time during the day to take your medicine

How many days or weeks to take your medicine

If you need to take medicine for a long time, the prescription may have Refills

Refill -the pharmacist will give you more medicine without a new prescription from your doctor

Note how many Refills listed on your medicine bottle

This is the number of times you can get new medicine without visiting your doctor

If you have -0- refills and need to take more medicine, see your doctor

Your doctor may give you a new prescription for more medicine

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