Yeah, it's ridiculous. I've been taking medication for ADHD since the 3rd grade. Why in the good goddamn should I have to go in EVERY month for a refill for a medication I've been taking for over 20 years.
Insurance doesn’t cover 90 day bottles so it was $300/mo but worth it.
Nowadays there’s generic Vyvanse which is much cheaper so it probably makes 90 day prescriptions financially viable?
I just moved back to the US and had to find a new local doctor who gives me 30 day scripts so I haven’t asked about 90 day yet. I imagine these pill mills are pretty stingy. It takes a lot of time and calling around to find docs who don’t treat you like a fiend in some way.
But we need to count our blessings. People on pain killers need to put up with crazy shit like getting randomly summoned to the office so they can count your remaining pills.
You may have difficultly getting a 90 day, both the doc and pharmacist have to agree to do it - 3x30 day with 'fill on dates' is more likely.
When I had a long out of town trip I was able to get a 60 day script. When I came back the doc sent 60 day script again but the pharmacist wouldn't fill it and only allowed it because what ever code/note the doc added about long term travel. That was self pay so I wasn't even a risk for selling it. Some states won't allow more than 3x30 day.
I am surprised you got name brand vyvanse for $300/month, generic is ~$250/month without coupons/discount cards
Now I go to some "psychiatrist" pill mill where they made me take a BS $200 computer test to diagnose me with ADHD (CYA even though I've been taking this drug for 16 years) and they ask me the same goofy questions every televisit (probably more CYA).
Yeah, it was $1000-1200 for 90 pills of Vyvanse all that time. GoodRX only knocked it down $200 or so. And the website coupon only applies to 30-day.
Now with insurance, Vyvanse is $100 for 30 while generic is $10.
I don't trust the post office enough to bother.
I have episodic psychosis. It’s not something that happens every day. And I’m seeming to manage it with some genetic and nutritional understanding I have of myself so it’s not that much of a problem anymore. I just have to be careful with Covid because both times I had Covid I had the worst psychosis of my life.
All my disorders are mostly due to a CBS Deficiency.
It is only recently that over the counter birth control and/or three month allotments have been available.
For stimulants, they can't do an electronic refill, so I literally had to go to my doctor, get a paper prescription, then drop it off at the pharmacy, then come back a few days later (because it's usually backordered) every 30 days.
Some doctors would write 3 prescriptions with a "not before" date, but others were not willing to do so.
Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if hormonal birth control were to be Federally banned before this White House is done.
For the last few years I think the actual medication I take changes every month. Is it just amphetamine? Just dextroamphetamine? Both (like Adderall)? These aren't the same and effectiveness is at different dosages. And then I got to figure out how to adjust to the specific version and batch as the manufacturing tolerance is within sensitivity range. Not to mention food interactions. And most of this is a solvable problem!
But it's already a C/II class medication so the name on the Rx has to match the name on the photo ID and the pharmacy has to keep the records / there are rules for how often C/II medications can be dispensed. If you have a 30d Rx, the soonest you can come back with an Rx for that same medication is ~25d.
Regardless, does it matter if I have to re-fill every 30d or every 90d? As long as I'm only in there every 80d to get my 90d supply topped up, how is that any different from a 2d Rx or a 30d Rx being filled every 1d or every 25d?
Not sure what the correct solution is, but on the one hand we don't want doctors to overprescribe, but on the other hand we want doctors to liberally prescribe without re-checks to make it easier for those who need it to get their meds. That would seem to put providers in a bind.
Nice joke really, even after I started earning more after the internship period ended it was just too annoying so I stopped entirely, instead since it was work from home I literally spent 24/7 trying to finish my work so basically, "working" (if you have adhd you know that while you procrastinate, you aren't actually "relaxed" enough to go play games or whatever so it'd basically still being in work mode mentally) 16 hours a day.
The problem is that Schedule 3 meds can't be shipped and must be picked up in person at the pharmacy (where driver's license # must be entered in an extra procedure not required for other meds). Health plan pharmacies have lines, don't have drug store hours and aren't on every corner. The combo of "in person pickup" + "30 day limit", which were enacted by different people at different times for different reasons creates life disruption and a massive waste of time, energy and money (we're all paying for this in increased prices). I've been on these same meds like clockwork for decades. In such cases they should relax either "in person pickup" or "30 day limit" but, we all know, it won't happen.
And if I need to travel on a trip or vacation for a week or two, with the 30-day limit there's a 25-50% chance I'll run out of meds and getting special dispensation to refill early requires contacting and coordinating the doctor and pharmacist in a non-automated, out-of-band loop. There's a two day automatic grace period to account for the pharmacy being closed on weekends but when my 30-day window falls on a weekend, I now have to coordinate pickup on an exact day - like I don't have a life outside of this bullshit. All just to get the meds which help me function normally.
Being forced to deal with all this for years has made it so I understand the health plan's back-end IT system capabilities (and lack thereof) better than most of their employees. It's still inconvenient for me but I'm one of the lucky ones. My meds are dialed-in and working, I have a flexible schedule and can parse bureaucratic systems. I got diagnosed and stable on my meds back before every ADHD patient was automatically considered a suspected drug abuser - which is ironic because I've never even had a drink, much less used illicit drugs (ADHD and alcohol/rec drugs tend not to mix well and I was diagnosed as a child). Which makes it meta-ironic I'm required to have a drug screen blood test every year to verify I am taking my prescribed drugs and not selling them - as if I got diagnosed in 4th grade as the ultimate long con knowing these meds would become street drugs worth a buck a pill decades later. I can't imagine a new ADHD patient still struggling to find the right med and dosage trying to figure all this out without giving up.
(Glycinate or threonate, not oxide.)