Posted by laima on February 26, 2007, at 8:20:53
In reply to Re: What is Abilify? Sebastian..Costs of all drugs, posted by stargazer on February 25, 2007, at 18:36:48
Stargazer, have you considered generic oral selegeline? Or just time to move to a new med altogether? Just wanted to toss that out as an idea. Yes, there would be stricter dietary restrictions with the oral, but it's still not as finicky of an maoi as some of the others. Or- you might already know of this- but supposedly GlaxoKlineSmith has some sort of program to provide Emsam to people who can't afford. It might even be for free- "goodwill" PR.
As for the expensive meds, any luck getting samples to try for some of those? Some offices, perhaps bigger ones affiliated with hospitals or universities (ie- big, attractive targets for those sales reps) seem to have an entire arsenal of samples. I've found some doctors- ie, my psychiatrist, the person who did my endoscopy, eye doctor- all go get me an entire shopping bag of samples if I mention my financial difficulties. That includes numerous bottles of special eye drops that retail for close to $300 per teeny bottle, several boxes of Emsam, lamictal, rozerem, even the "dreaded" zyprexa and others. I used zyprexa for six weeks, and never filled a single script thanks to the enthused Lilly sales reps who are always hanging 'round that office. The gasteroenterologist gave me an apparent life-time supply of nexium and prilosec, which I don't even use. (I had mentioned being unemployed when she asked about my occupation.) One of the saddest things ever was getting about 20 bottles of saline solution from my eye doctor, only to have the brand recalled two weeks later over that eye-infection mess! (He's such a sensitive and empathetic man-the assistant mentioned that their cabinets were stuffed to the gills-- and what brand would I like?, as she filled a large shopping bag. Bummer about that recall negating this contribution. Guess I chose the wrong brand.) Dermatologist not quite as generous, but she gives samples, too, and some of those prescription "beauty creams" can be quite costly, and not all insurance plans cover what they deam to be "cosmetic".
If they don't offer samples, mention you lack insurance for meds, or whatever the situation is, and politely ask if there is a sample you might be able to try. Or mention the obvious- it can be very expensive to fill scripts for one expensive med after another in search of one that works-would it be possible to try a sample before filling? Pretty often, except for benzos/stims/generics, they produce at least one sample, as long as they have it. And again, apparently, the more drug reps hanging around, the more they're dropping off. So ironic- they think they are selling meds, but seems to be that I've been able to avoid filling some scripts for many of their products thanks to their "generosity"!
poster:laima
thread:735162
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070224/msgs/736370.html