What Does N Mean At The Beginning Of An Rx Number (Top voted first)

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I am trying to find out what the letter "c" and the letter "n" stand for at the beginning of my rx number. Example - n123456 on my oxycodone and for my lomotil, alprazolam and loratab it looks like this Example-c123456. I know the prescriptions are all controlled but my doctor can write refills and call in my "c" prescriptions and I have to have the hard copy written in order to get my "n" prescriptions. What do these letters stand for? Are their other letters? If so what do they stand for? If all these medications are controlled what is the difference?

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The letter N stands for "Narcotic" - these are prescriptions of Schedule II meds.

The letter C stands for "Controlled" - these are prescriptions of Schedule III - IV meds

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Here's a simpler way:
Schedule 1 Drugs- Drugs that are illegal and addictive. Heroin, Crack Cocaine, etc.
Schedule 2: Drugs that are very addictive but that have a clinical use- ritalin, oxycotin, etc. These can only be prescribed one month at a time.

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C: means that it is a controlled substance
N: means that it is a narcotic
*This is true if it says C or N instead of RX



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Does the RX numbers mean anything? Do the RX numbers tell you more name

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As to what those letters stand for, you'd actually need to ask at your pharmacy. Such numbers aren't universal. The RX number is unique to your pharmacy, or pharmacy chain.

For instance, if you get it filled at Walgreens, you could use the RX number to get a refill, if available, at any Walgreens throughout the U.S., or to access information about the prescription.

However, if you go to Wal-Mart and give them the number, it's not going to mean anything to them, at all.

Many other pharmacies don't even use letters in theirs, I have a bottle of Vicodin with a couple left in it that was prescribed to me back in January, which I had filled at the local pharmacy that I regularly use and it's only a series of numbers for the RX number, they don't use any letters.

And controlled substances are divided into tiers and whether or not a medication can have refills, or if refills can be phoned in, depends on what tier it falls under.

There are 5 tiers, and they are basically separated according to how much abuse or addiction potential a medication may risk.

So, schedule V controlled substances are those that are not known to have abuse potential and that allows your doctor to give you up to a years worth of refills on them.

For life-sustaining medications, in the lower tiers, they can be unlimited for a year, so you can just go pick them up anytime you need them, in case your dosage was changed and you ran out early, or you lost tablets or etc.

And the top tier, which would be schedule I are those which currently have no accepted medical use in the U.S.

Do you have any other questions I can help with?

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