Wednesday, May 07, 2008

In The Battle Against The Large Breasts Of Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives, Tonight The Drugmonkey Scores A Small But Significant Victory

From the mailbag:

I just wanted to thank you immensely for the post you did on Oct. 22, 2006, concerning idiotic doctors who give Pexeva prescriptions instead of paroxetine. My husband was diagnosed as bipolar about a year ago. We have been in terrible financial condition, in large part to his inability to work because of his mental issues. After years of discussion, I finally got him to see a doctor about it. He was diagnosed using the same damn checklist I found online years before and the doctor prescribed Pexeva. It was like a miracle -- he was under control for the first time in a long time. The only problem was that his prescription cost about $200 a month (he's uninsured), and it was very hard to scrape the money together to pay for it.

Imagine my surprise when googling around about a generic alternative, I found your post. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Our dumbass doctor didn't believe there was a generic Pexeva (amazing!!) so I printed your post and enlightened him. Incredibly, it took some arm-twisting to get the damn paroxetine prescription from him, but we got it. $4 freaking dollars a month at any Wal-Mart or Kroger's; hell of a difference from $200 a month. Honestly, we can now pay the electric bill thanks to you!!!

By the way, the headline of that old post the letter writer printed out and showed to her doctor?

If You Are A Doctor That's Ever Written A Prescription For Pexeva, You Are By Definition A Numbnut.

BBBWWWWAAAAHHHHAAAHHHAAAAHHHAAAA!!!!!! Oh God I wish I could have seen it......

If you guys keep doing things like this, you're gonna put my future in the chicken-fat removal business in serious jeopardy......

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm telling you, you should be featured in that uber gay CVS commercial about being a miracle pharmacist and wrapping each customer in a rainbow. That's you! You softy-wofty, lifesaver, you.

hee hee

Anonymous said...

That is just uber.

Unknown said...

In case the letter writer reads this:

I'm glad your husband is doing better.

If, however, things start going poorly -- for some people, SSRIs like paroxetine work great for months or a couple years and then stop -- please, please go to a different doctor.

And consider going to a psychiatrist. Yes, they're more expensive, but it could save you a lot of money in drugs. Psychiatrists know a lot more about psych drugs than most general doctors. (And I once walked out of my psychiatrist's office with over $300 worth of free drug samples.)

A general doctor's fine if you're getting a Prozac prescription for mild depression, but most don't know enough about psychiatric meds to competently handle any more than that. (There may be a few with a personal interest/focus in such diseases that keep themselves well-informed; yours is obviously not one of them.)

In case you needed any more confirmation your doctor's an idiot, SSRIs are not usually considered first-line treatment for bipolar. First-line treatment is usually lithium, which at an aggressive dose clocks in at $40/month at drugstore.com and $8/month at Walmart.

Anonymous said...

Well dang, I am a pharmacist and I am trying to figure out why I have heard of Paxil before but never Pexeva...

Anonymous said...

I got one on a drug rep today, (and I'm just a tech).. they were at the consultation chatting up our Pharmacist about how great Xyzal® is and yada yada they are Tier 2 on Tricare's formulary and yada yada yada I brought over the reject for a patient's insurance, saying that Fexofenadine and Clarinex is perferred, but that isn't.. and gads they didn't know what to say.
Maybe next time the chick should have showed us some tatas, threw us some pens, and left.

Mother Jones RN said...

Drugmonkey:

You're smart, honest, and one hell of a patient advocate. I think you should run for public office. I hear that Hillary wants to run for President in 2012. You'd kick her ass, and the White House would serve you well as a way cool babe magnet.

Drugmonkey in 2012!!!!!!!!


MJ

DrugMonkey, Master of Pharmacy said...

MJ,

I'm not sure i would want to live in a country that would have me as its president.

Although I would be a vast improvement over what we have now.

And the White House as chick magnet thing has been proven to work before.

And I wouldn't have to win. Ever see Dennis Kucinich's wife? Hot.

Fred Thompson? You really think he could have scored that spouse without the power trip thing going on?

My God you may be on to something.

On the other hand, Barbara Bush.

I'm torn.

Unknown said...

Please be sure to "give some love" to my new favorite: Treximet. It has 85 mg of sumatriptan plus the added bonus of 500 mg of naproxen sodium. I'm hoping that this one dies a fast death. How shocking that it was not 50 mg or 100 mg of sumatriptan!

Love the blog, keep it up.

Anonymous said...

I blame the FDA for Drug Manufactures for approving me too drug so easily. Instead trying to extend patent by slightly changing the formulations, should make them spend for public health program to cover health care expenditure and give them tax break.Also approve generics only if it is rated AB and reject the rest. Mandate all state funded and federally funded insurance to pay for generics