Canadian in Texas

Hey folks... long time since I've been around or posted.

I've been on therapy since 2008. I was originally diagnosed with apnea when I was
living up in Canada and have my original prescriptions from Canada.

Fast forward a few years and I now find myself on a work visa living and working in
San Antonio, Texas.

Just attempted to order from cpap.com and was told my international prescription,
I call it Canadian prescription, cannot be used for an order.

Reason is that Texas is the only state that has a law where international prescriptions,
again my Canadian prescription, cannot be used for orders.

Two workarounds...

- get my Texas doctor to issue a new prescription based on my existing prescriptions

- get the items shipped to a friend living out of state

- I suppose a 3rd option is to go through the whole diagnosis procedure again which I
don't want to do.

I am pursuing getting my Texas doc to issue a new prescription so will see how that
goes and report back here.

Just a heads up to anyone else in Texas with an International prescription... it will
not be accepted if you reside in Texas due to some ridiculous Texas law.

You Canadians agitate easy...

I don't think its anything against our neighbors to the north. But the issues is with prescriptions coming from Mexico. I would just ask your local doctor to rewrite the prescription. I am sure after you explain your issue it will not be a problem. Then you have both International and US script and can order from where you can get the best price and shipping.

An online supplier not located in Texas might be willing to fill the order. cpap.com is located in Texas.

What parts were you trying to order? You can get mask parts on ebay, and some online suppliers don't require prescriptions for mask parts, or even for whole masks.

You should have no problem at all getting a local doctor to write a new prescription. I just did that without showing any old documentation at all - she just took my word for it.

Sheriff Buford wrote:You Canadians agitate easy...

No, not easily.

There has been a bit of mild agitation regarding this going on
since Sunday. I suppose I am too aware of customer satisfaction
issues given I'm a manager in that area.

I am pursuing the issue with my Texas doctor who I think will be
amenable to writing a fresh new prescription. In the meantime I
have canceled the cpap.com order for a Swift FX.

I've been also dealing with Walmart Pharmacy since Sunday attempting
to get a prescription medication refilled. They told me on Sunday there
was an issue at Humana with their computers being down.

Today, Walmart tells me there is another issue with Humana... <sigh>.

I call Humana myself...

- their systems were running fine on Sunday and were unable to located
an attempt by Walmart to file the claim
- their systems have been fine all day today
- my account record showed the the renewal went through fine earlier
today.

Another trip (4th one so far for this issue) to pickup the meds.
I'm seriously considering switch my medication supplier to perhaps
Walgreens as I'm told they are easier to work with than Walmart.

Aside from that... I'm enjoying my Texas experience.

When it comes to pharmacies unless the drug is one on the $4 or $10 list I would go with Walgreens. They are much easier to deal with. Walmart is a pain!

I'm confused by this. I'm in Toronto Canada and have used my Canadian Rx to order from CPAP.com. Because I ordered a Resmed mask, CPAP.com could not ship it to my Canadian address. As a workaround, I had them ship it to relatives who live in Houston Tx and CPAP.com had no problem with this.

The ONLY difference in your case is that you placed your order from a Texas address. Why don't you just order it using a Canadian address (you still have relatives here, I assume) and have it shipped to your Texas address?

Hose_Head wrote:I'm confused by this. I'm in Toronto Canada and have used my Canadian Rx to order from CPAP.com. Because I ordered a Resmed mask, CPAP.com could not ship it to my Canadian address. As a workaround, I had them ship it to relatives who live in Houston Tx and CPAP.com had no problem with this.

The ONLY difference in your case is that you placed your order from a Texas address. Why don't you just order it using a Canadian address (you still have relatives here, I assume) and have it shipped to your Texas address?

Yep, that has been suggested and is a possibility but it means paying for shipping twice.

I should have coordinated my purchase with the trip I took back to Canada in September.

Talk to my doc next Tuesday and hopefully have a Texas based prescription which will
open up more options.

I'm quickly approaching 10,000 hours on the machine in my signature so I'll be in the
market for another machine if only for a backup.

MidnightOwl wrote:You should have no problem at all getting a local doctor to write a new prescription. I just did that without showing any old documentation at all - she just took my word for it.

I did too, although the doctor also did a quick physical exam of my throat and determined that I had the worst possible jaw structure for OSA. I got my prescription and was happy. I guess it didn't hurt that it was my doctor who said I had to get back on CPAP. (And thanks immensely to him for that too.)

Paul56 wrote:

Hose_Head wrote:I'm confused by this. I'm in Toronto Canada and have used my Canadian Rx to order from CPAP.com. Because I ordered a Resmed mask, CPAP.com could not ship it to my Canadian address. As a workaround, I had them ship it to relatives who live in Houston Tx and CPAP.com had no problem with this.

The ONLY difference in your case is that you placed your order from a Texas address. Why don't you just order it using a Canadian address (you still have relatives here, I assume) and have it shipped to your Texas address?

Yep, that has been suggested and is a possibility but it means paying for shipping twice.

I should have coordinated my purchase with the trip I took back to Canada in September.

Talk to my doc next Tuesday and hopefully have a Texas based prescription which will
open up more options.

I'm quickly approaching 10,000 hours on the machine in my signature so I'll be in the
market for another machine if only for a backup.

No. You'd only have a shipping charge from CPAP.com to your Texas address. In fact, for purchases over $100, they will ship at no charge to you.

Why does CPAP.com think that you are ordering from Texas and not from Canada? Are you using an American credit card or bank for the payment? Do you have an American address on your account with them in addition to your American shipping address?

An alternative (expressed by a previous poster) is to order your equipment from a different, non-Texan, supplier. There are reputable alternatives.

It's a pain in the a$$, having to deal with the varying and nonsensical regulations around the world. Best of luck to you.

An update...

I now have a Texas prescription and have re-ordered from cpap.com.

We'll see how this goes this time around.

Hose_Head wrote:

Paul56 wrote:

Hose_Head wrote:I'm confused by this. I'm in Toronto Canada and have used my Canadian Rx to order from CPAP.com. Because I ordered a Resmed mask, CPAP.com could not ship it to my Canadian address. As a workaround, I had them ship it to relatives who live in Houston Tx and CPAP.com had no problem with this.

The ONLY difference in your case is that you placed your order from a Texas address. Why don't you just order it using a Canadian address (you still have relatives here, I assume) and have it shipped to your Texas address?

Yep, that has been suggested and is a possibility but it means paying for shipping twice.

I should have coordinated my purchase with the trip I took back to Canada in September.

Talk to my doc next Tuesday and hopefully have a Texas based prescription which will
open up more options.

I'm quickly approaching 10,000 hours on the machine in my signature so I'll be in the
market for another machine if only for a backup.

No. You'd only have a shipping charge from CPAP.com to your Texas address. In fact, for purchases over $100, they will ship at no charge to you.

Why does CPAP.com think that you are ordering from Texas and not from Canada? Are you using an American credit card or bank for the payment? Do you have an American address on your account with them in addition to your American shipping address?

An alternative (expressed by a previous poster) is to order your equipment from a different, non-Texan, supplier. There are reputable alternatives.

It's a pain in the a$$, having to deal with the varying and nonsensical regulations around the world. Best of luck to you.

I'm actually a Canadian currently living and working in Texas... that is where it gets
confusing.

You'd think under those circumstances my Canadian prescription would do... but no.

Anyway, no matter... I now have Canadian and American prescriptions for xPAP.

That was simple... Swift FX and some other sundry items on the way.

So for any other Canadians who find yourselves living in the States...

-first get medical insurance
-then get a doc
-then show the doc your Canadian prescription for xPAP
and have them write you a new American prescription
-the order from cpap.com
-you are now done

Ordered my Swift FX on the 20th... had it on the 21st.

Thanks cpap.com!

After wearing a Quattro every night since 2008 I find
the Swift FX rocks and is a refreshing and welcome change.

Less issues with leaks and less mask over my face.