Posted by Racer on November 30, 2007, at 14:29:58
In reply to Generics, posted by Dinah on November 30, 2007, at 8:58:43
> I am so annoyed with my pharmacy. They said they no longer will fill prescriptions with the name brand if a generic is available. They can't order it, or anything.
That's so annoying. What's worse, is that sometimes it's absolutely untrue. The pharmacist at Costco told me that he "could not" order Ritalin for me, just wasn't available to him. He's gone now, and the new pharmacist told me that there was no problem with getting Ritalin -- the former pharmacist there simply wouldn't stock scheduled drugs! Sometimes "can't" actually means "won't" -- regardless of what that means for customer service or our legitimate medical needs.
> In general I don't mind, but Klonopin has never seemed the same to me in generic. The pharmacist says that's all in my mind, and maybe it is.
Actually, generics can vary as much as 10% from the name brand in bioavailability, which means there's about a 20% window of variance from generic to generic. So, it may be all in your mind, but only in that these can be called "mind drugs" -- your pharmacist is offering the accepted wisdom regarding equivalence, but not the facts of the matter. Generally speaking, generics are equivalent to the name brands, but that's not the same as identical.
>
> Is my pharmacy unusual? Are other pharmacies refusing to fill prescriptions for anything but generics?As far as my experience goes, yes, your pharmacy is unusual. I know we had trouble getting name brand Prozac for me to try from one of the two pharmacies we use -- I think it was Walgreens, but it might have been Costco -- but in the end they got it for us.
On the other hand, our insurance will not cover name brands if a generic is available. For my Wellbutrin, this wasn't actually a problem, since the generic XL is only available in 300mg, and I took three 150mg tablets. For the Prozac, it meant we paid out of pocket. (The problem there was that the binders in the specific generic caused an allergic reaction. We switched to another pharmacy, with a different generic, and it was fine.) In this situation, my doctor would have contacted the insurance company to try to get approval for the name brand, had the other generic continued to be a problem.
I'd say it's time to use your power as a consumer -- fire them! I switched from Walgreens to Costco, because the level of service is so much better. Before, I made my husband take care of all medication needs, because I couldn't handle walking into the Walgreens. Now, getting prescriptions filled is no problem whatsoever, and I can deal with it myself. I strongly recommend to you the satisfaction of firing your pharmacy, in favor of one which will offer you a measure of respect and courtesy.
Good luck.
poster:Racer
thread:797802
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071125/msgs/797857.html