Sheryl asked
I am out of my BP med losartan. I haven't taken it for 4-5 days now. It still has not come in the mail. Should I take my husband's BP med metoprolol? Or what should I do? Thanks!
Answer
It is certainly not recommended to take your husbands medication in place of yours. While both losartan and metoprolol are used for blood pressure, they are two different classes of medication.
Losartan (brand name Cozaar) is known as an ARB II blocker while metoprolol is known as a beta blocker. Not only are the doses between the two not interchangeable, but they also work by uniquely different mechanisms. Taken one in place of the other could cause some serious problems/side effects.
In terms of what you should do, most mail-order companies have stipulations for when a medication is not arriving on time. I don't know exactly who you go through, but for example, MEDCO/EXPRESS SCRIPTS allows for a 7 days fill of a medication at a retail pharmacy to hold you over until you receive your medication. The best approach would probably be to contact the company you do mail order through and ask what your options are.
Another possibility you could try is to contact your prescribing physician and ask to have your medication called into a local retail pharmacy. They should be able to fill it fairly quickly for you.
We know it can be somewhat frightening to be out of your medication. Doing either of the options above should yield a solution for you!
