[pgrundy]

First of all, thanks for providing a space for me to get this out.

Ok, here is what is just frustrating the beejesus out of me:

For the second time since being released from a week inside a psychiatric hospital on January 28th, I am in the position of sweating out how I will stretch my medication due to systemic errors and red tape. This comes right when I am supposed to be increasing my dose, not parceling it out in hopes of making it until I can get some more.

The first time this happened was when the hospital discharged me with 30 pills instead of 30 days of pills, causing both my spouse and I to spend FOUR DAYS constantly on the phone getting the run around and not getting the meds. I didn't even have enough meds to get me to my follow up, and NO ONE would take responsibility for extending the prescription. Finally, my shrink got a cancellation and I got in earlier, so a meltdown was prevented, no thanks to the hospital.

Now, I am told by the insurance company I can't refill my meds at a pharmacy, I have to do it mail order. They plan to ship the meds a couple of days after I run out and have already botched up the scrip.

If I stop the meds I am on suddenly--Effexor XR (300 mgs) and Seroquel XR (100 mgs), I will get sick as a dog and maybe have a relapse on top of it. Plus, every time you go off Effexor there's less of a chance it will work when you go back on it, and conventional SSRIs (without dopamine) don't work for me.

This is crap. It just is. Why is it so difficult to put the patient's health FIRST? Why is that such an issue in this country?

No wonder people get depressed here.

[MirageXD]

Are you by any chance from US? Pharmacy is a US word. I know about their sucky health care system.

I'm from the Czech Republic, and my medications always arrived in time. It does suck here, too, though.

Usually, my doc prescribes some medication, and I get it the same day in a pharmacy. It costs me about $2.

Did you try to return to the hospital? They should give out free samples to those in need.

Good luck,
Mirage

[pgrundy]

Thank you for that suggestion! I might need to resort to that, and I will if I have to.

Yes, I'm in the U.S. The health care system here is very expensive and very chaotic and confusing. With insurance, my meds cost just under $100 for a 30 day supply. Without insurance, just the Effexor costs $365 for one month.

The insurance company is saying that if I don't use their mail order company they will not pay for any of it, meaning my costs for medication alone would approach $500 per month. Some months I don't even make $500, total.

Once it gets set up, the mail order should save me a little money, but that set up is even less responsive than going to a pharmacy in town. I just get tired of being told what can't be done instead of what can be done. That's how it always is here: as in, we can't do that and it's not our problem it's your problem.

Not a very nice attitude when you are supposed to be helping sick people.

[splitimage]

Geeze that sucks. I'm on high dose Effexor too and know how bad it is to miss even one day. One time I was in the hospital up here and the nurse doing the intake had screwed up the prescription. I'd told her 375 mg she wrote down 37.5 mg BIG difference.

In Canada it's not an issue that insurance companies tell you where to get your meds from, that's not allowed, the issue for me, is most people only get meds insurance through work, so if you're unemployed or your work doesn't provide supplemental insurance you're out of luck. I'm unemployed right now, and my meds are about $500 / month. I've already had to drop one med because I can't afford it. And i made too much last year for the public drug assistance program to be much use to me, since your deductible is based on prior year's earnings.

Both systems suck.

--splitimage

[pgrundy]

That does sound pretty sucky too!

What really frosts me is, I just know there's no way it really costs the drug company $375 to manufacture a bottle of Effexor. They say they have to recoup research costs, but they are rolling in profit. It seems immoral, to gouge people this way.

[online user]

I had trouble with our mail order pharmacy when they held up my script because the brand of sleeping pill wasn't covered and needed the pyschiatrist to order a different one. So, instead of shipping the two which were OK, they held up all 3! This was over New Years--no meds! Finally, my hubby got it all straightened out and they expedited the shipment for me. It took him calling and me shouting in the background, "Don't worry about it! I'll just kill myself!" We called the psychiatrist back and she gave me enough samples of the one most important drug to get me through. Talk to the mail order again, and explain the situation. They either ship immediately or you are in big trouble. Maybe ask to talk to the supervisor, if the first person won't satisfy you. Figure out how many pills you will be short, and maybe buy just that many from the local pharmacy. Good luck, dear--been there, know how tough this can be.