Recent Neuro Visit

Hey Everyone

I recently had a neuro visit and thought i'd come tell u all about it. Just a follow-up visit, no new insightful info except for one thing. My eye pain that just keeps coming and is so relentless could not be attributed to anything. My eye doc says neurological...my neuro says migraines and has felt it was migraines for sometime now, but with the strangeness of how the pain can come on, i've felt he must be wrong. I can rub my eye and very soon afterward i'll begin to have that pain. My thought...must be related to the tearing of that cornea skin. Wellllllll....my neuro says that's a trigger to the migraines and not the actual cause of the pain. Geez...never considered that. Guess that's why the medical degree is hanging on HIS wall.   So he went to get me some samples of a new med he wants me to try...Maxalt. No samples so he gave me a coupon for $20 off...which is a bad sign. When u can get a coupon and one so large...it's ALWAYS gonna be expensive med! I was right. My prescription for 9 (yes, that's NINE) pills was $198!!!! Nine pills wouldn't be enuf to get me thru 1 1/2 weeks by the way!! So i have a call in to him for a hold on some samples when he gets more. The MS question is still on the table...wait, watch, continue to wait....watch. That brings me to the second half of my visit. I talked to him about the HTLV...the blood infection i possibly contracted from a transfusion. He was pretty interested and seemed not to know too much about it. He wants me to keep my appt with the internal med doc in Jan and we'll decide from there if another mri is truely needed. So things are still being watched and other possibilities still exist. All in all a fairly productive visit and hopefully will lead to some great help on the eye pain...if he ever gets any samples in! My husband wants me to go ahead and get the prescription filled, but to TRY a med for $200 is rediculous to me. I'll let u all know how the med works...thanks for getting this far and reading me post. ;)

rhonda

Rhonda,

I've been meaning to tell u about Maxalt. Occasionally I get Terrible migraine headaches. A dr. had prescribed Maxalt. I got it,as you know I'm on MEDICAID so I didn't know it was so much, and it worked great for me. If you don't know it's just a little pill that u put under ur tongue. It melts almost immediately and just leaves a little minty taste in ur mouth. The directions say u can repeat every 2 hrs as needed, but the most I ever took was 2. I too have a prescription for them bt with everything else I'm on I haven't been able to get it filled.

Good Luck with it.

Sheila

Hi Rhonda,

I watched a special on drug costs once and you can save a ton of money on prescriptions simply by switching pharmacies. The example they used in the piece was this one woman who was buying her drugs at Walgreens could save $200 on one prescription just by going across the street to the Sam's Club pharmacy. Walgreens makes their money only on drugs whereas other places such as Sam's sell other items and so can sell drugs for lower costs and still make a profit. It really is worth shopping around.

You may already know about this, but you can try going to freemedicinefoundation.com  They are an organization who will go to the manufacturer of your medication (which you can also try yourself) and try to get it for you at no charge.  I have a friend who needed blood pressure meds and they got them for him.  You have to send in $5 per prescription and have the medication mailed to your doctor's office.  If they are unable to get the med for you, you just have to write a letter requesting the $5 back and they will send it to you.  It might be worth a try.  I am alaways so sad to hear about anyone having to go without medication because they don't have insurance.  We all know that the prices are BECAUSE of the insurance companies!  You can also ask at a pharmacy if they have any drug assistane available.  The pharmacist often can tell you where to go for your particular area to get help.  I hope you are successful!  Happy New Year to all!

Hey Everyone!

Thanks so much for all u'r replies and help! Yes, the med is quite expensive and unfortunately my ins policy includes a drug DISCOUNT plan rather than a true drug coverage plan. That's been our biggest headache since my probs began. I use (instead of this discount plan) a discount card called Together Rx Access because the discount with this card is greater than my ins plan. It's usually great, but this happens to be one of those drugs not covered on that card. I really felt i'd be running in circles to call around to other pharmacies, but what Mez said makes sense, so i will absolutely be following her's and Michelle's advice. Also, thanks to My5cats and Kimber...i'll be checking into those sites as well. It's such a shame that u can go to the doc...pay the huge prices it can cost just to see them..and then get stuck on the costs of the meds they prescribe. Makes u wonder what the point is in seeing the doc sometimes. :( At any rate, not something that'll slow me down. In the end i will buy the med at the sky high price if i can't find a way to do it any cheaper, but it'd be much better to find a different route. O yeah John, thanks! Yes, the practice...and don't u just love being the guinea pig!? Thank u everyone!

rhonda