Frown Turned Upside-Down
Earlier today I was grumpy because my pharmacy called me to say my prescription is too old and they contacted my Asthma doctor and he won’t renew it. This happens once a year. I take a drug called ADVAIR—one that is very effective and very much a brand name. Which means it’s pricey. Every year my scrip gets bounced and every year I drag my annoyed self in to see my doctor.
See, there was a time in my life—from 9 years of age to … say 26—when my asthma was what doctors politely call “unmanaged” or “uncontrolled.” I took medications for it daily, constantly, and still had terrible symptoms all the time. Colds hit me hard and stayed with me for three weeks or so, when they migrated south and morphed into bronchitis—about five times per year. I used to take a drug called Theophylline, also known as dimethylxanthine, which frankly doesn’t work very well and kills some number of people a year. It made me jittery as a mouse all the time, and I had that unfortunate young person’s habit of forgetting to take it, getting into a crisis and then taking too much because maybe then I’ll feel better sooner. Yeah. No dice. I pounded my “rescue inhaler” constantly—20 times a day, just to function in the way sort of kind of approaching how I wanted to function in the world.
In my 20s, I was called by Kaiser to participate in a study of people who suffered from mild asthma. I answered a few questions over the phone and the caller told me, “Well, I don’t think you qualify for this study because your asthma is not mild.” She referred me to a Kaiser specialist and my life changed. That doctor, a woman with a striking first name: Stamatiki, informed me that asthma therapy had changed while I was busy singing in high school musicals and dating boys and going to college. She put me on different, much better meds. I even did allergy shots for a while. Let’s see, this was during my mortuary days.
ADVAIR came into my life about eight years ago. I’m a whole new me now. I take my maintenance dose, or less sometimes, and I can do all kinds of things that I couldn’t do when I was a child! It’s awesome. ADVAIR works so great, I only rarely take my rescue inhaler anymore. In fact, I’m now kind of bad about forgetting to have one with me. (That is telling.)
With my PPO health insurance, however, ADVAIR is also really pricey. About $140 per refill for a month’s supply.
So, back to why I was grumpy. I didn’t want to go to the doctor. I just wanted my prescription refilled. I didn’t want to take the time out of my day to tell him all is well, as long as I have my dang meds! And then he listens to my lungs and I watch him write the scrip by hand. It’s kind of a waste of our time, really.
But today was great. I called the office. They got me in right away. Dr. Marino and I had our customary yearly chat. He read in his chart how I thought ADVAIR was expensive, something I must have complained about in the past. He handed me a month’s worth of samples and a coupon for $50 off a refill of ADVAIR and a $20 off a refill of my rescue inhaler.
So, although I was bitchy about going in, I’m not anymore. He basically gave me $210. It took a total of 40 minutes out of my day and I didn’t pay a copay.
Thanks, Marino. See ya next year.
July 30, 2009 at 7:45 pm
It’s cool that your quality of life has improved thanks to advances in medical treatment!
A lot of patients hate it that they have to come in once a year to get refills, but it’s commonly considered good practice to see patients at least once per year if you’re prescribing meds. You might be on a new medication or have some new health problem that would make the advair contraindicated, and he needs to know that.
July 31, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Oh, I agree that it makes good sense. I just don’t like it. My doctor did ask me if I’d had any surgeries or hospitalizations. He did not ask me if I was taking any medications other than those he prescribes to me.