I am extremely bitter right now. I went to pick up my prescriptions today, and found out that my Vyvanse has risen in price. Up until now, it’s varied from $35 for a month’s supply. Now, all of a sudden, it’s $80 for a month’s supply. For a sense of scale, all of my other medications are $10 each (sometimes less) to fill.

I did some research to try and figure out why they decided to more than double the price. The short answer: because they can. There are minimal government restrictions on the pharmaceutical industry in terms of their pricing, so they can charge whatever they want. In addition, Medicare/Medicaid is legally restricted from trying to negotiate prices. Another huge factor is that the pharmaceutical industry is monopolized, with many medications often being distributed by only one company.

And then there’s this little thing called “evergreening”. This is when a company slightly changes the formula of the medication, releases it as “new”, discontinues the old treatment, and then charges more for the “new” product that is effectively identical.

So, I suppose what I’m getting at is that the cost of one of my medications (one that I need to be able to function and stay awake), more than doubled in price for absolutely no reason other than some company wanted more money.

A lot of people aren’t aware of this, so please reblog if you feel so inclined.

College Chronicles

It’s an extra sleepy day. ;;; I told myself I’d do 15 problems of my calculus homework, but I haven’t even gotten started- I was supposed to start over an hour ago… 

I went to the neurologist today. I stopped the topamax, and got put on a new medication to try and ease the medications. It’s hard to find things I can take because I have so many other prescriptions. xux;;;;; Let’s hope this combo works…. 3348058th time’s the charm… right?

Trying a new combination of meds– again. It’s like a surprise every time. What drug will they give me this time? Which one will get voted off the island?

At least I’m down to six prescriptions since I’m donion rings with the side effects of prescription iron.

College Chronicles

I had to take my hydroxyzine for an anxiety attack for the first time in a while. It’s prescribed to me for both sleep and anxiety attacks but I don’t like taking it during the day because I’m already tired enough as is. However, during Calculus this kid near me was clearing his through in the most pronounced, loud way. I’m sure he didn’t mean to. He kept drinking water so he must just have had a sore throat. But my OCD does not give a single FUCK about the rationality of a situation. I hear him cough. And cough. And cough and clear his throat over ten times until I snap like a twig, scramble to find my medication tins, and dart out of class as inconspicuously as I can. I missed the second half of class and now have to teach myself the derivatives of trigonometric functions by myself- luckily they’re straightforward, but it’s a pain that my damned illness has just ended up giving me more work and a pounding headache.

Can I just take a minute to talk about MediSafe?

It’s a free app for smartphones and it’s absolutely fantastic. I’m someone that, if not reminded, will literally forget to take their meds for weeks on end. As someone who is on psychiatric drugs, that’s critical to my mental health.

Since I got this app I haven’t missed a single dose of anything; it reminds you at the specified time, and provides a virtual pillbox for those of you who take in information better with visuals.

You can even register a buddy to get a text if you don’t take your meds.

My phone goes off in the morning to remind me, and if I’ve already taken them I can just shake my phone and it will count all morning meds as taken. You can divide you pills to different times as needed.

Basically this is just such a cool app that’s been exponentially helpful for me.

So, if you’re on medications and have a hard time remembering when or what to take, or taking them at all, I highly recommend MediSafe!

That awkward moment when you have mountains of extra pills from those weeks you didn’t take any meds or switched to a higher dose.