Pharmacy Fiasco

October 28th 2022 / 6 minutes to read

I am so tired today. I even napped from 7-10 pm. It’s totally unlike me to nap.

Monday, I had an appointment with my thyroid doctor. It was a bit confusing because she was saying my meds didn’t need to change and how I had improved… but I now suspect she was looking at bloodwork from June and not August? Because my thyroid got worse. Optimal Free T3 should be near the top of the range, and Free T4, to be optimal, should be mid-range.

August 2022

  • Free T4 – 1.0 / Reference Range: 0.8-1.8 ng/dL
  • Free T3 – 3.1 / Reference Range: 2.3-4.2 pg/mL

October 2022

  • Free T4 – 0.8 / Reference Range: 0.8-1.8 ng/dL
  • Free T3 – 2.8 / Reference Range: 2.3-4.2 pg/mL

I told her that no, they had gotten worse, and I wanted to reduce my Tirosint (T4 medication) from 125mcg to 100mcg and increase my liothyronine (T3 medication) from 55mcg to 65mcg. So we did that.

We also talked about Mounjaro, and my concern was that many people say it’s an appetite suppressant, but I haven’t felt actual hunger in years. It’s a battle for me even to eat once a day, primarily weighed and measured lean meat occasionally (and usually poultry) and raw or cooked veggies, but she said no, the medication helps so much internally with balancing hormonal responses, and we should look into it. So I contacted my health insurance company, and as of that day, it was covered by insurance, which is amazing! I sent a message via the health portal to let her know that same day, Monday, but haven’t heard back yet, so I sent another message today, Thursday, at 11 pm, to hopefully get this dealt with before the weekend.

So then it was the pharmacy phone calls, oh my freaking goooodddddd. It’s been endless.

I was with a local pharmacist for some time. Still, I noticed that my generic covered under insurance common manufacture prescriptions were expensive, specifically for my T3 medication. I started comparing it with other pharmacy pricing, and I was charged $34.06 more than Walgreens is charging me for the same medication and manufacturer. And I have a higher dosage now with Walgreens!

When I asked via their messaging app why it was so expensive, I was told I needed to call. I said I would prefer to discuss it via their messaging app or email but was refused. So I called and was told that he has to charge more because he can’t give discounts, and he’s not Walgreens (to sum it up). I always felt like I annoyed him because I couldn’t have any of my prescriptions on auto as the dosages change every 6-7 weeks, and just my personality overall, I think, is too perky for some people. It made me uncomfortable with how he responded overall.

I switched my Tirosint to a Tirosint direct pharmacy, as it’s not covered under my health insurance, to get the price reduced to $60, and had all of my other prescriptions moved to, funny enough, Walgreens.

The office messed up and sent all my prescriptions, including the Tirosint, to Walgreens, so I called Walgreens and explained the situation. The person I spoke to was convinced it was covered under my insurance, so I called my insurance again, and nope, it wasn’t. So I called the Tirosint direct pharmacy to transfer the prescription, but they said they had a policy not to call Walgreens or CVS due to hold times and that I had to call my doctor’s office back to have them send it directly to them.

I figured since I had him on the phone, I would ask about the liothyronine manufacturer, and he confirmed that it was the same one I had at my current pharmacist.

So after that, I called my doctor’s office and had to repeatedly explain that only the Tirosint was supposed to go to the out-of-state pharmacy, and all others, including future prescriptions, were to go to Walgreens. Once that got figured out, I saw Walgreens had my prescriptions ready. Since it was raining all day Tuesday and part of Wednesday, I chose to pay online and do the free FedEx shipping.

So now we are at today. I thought my prescriptions would have arrived by now as it’s 1-2 day shipping, but I had no notice from Walgreens or FedEx. How often can I use the words “Walgreens” and “prescriptions” in this post? Anyway, I called Walgreens multiple times as I got hung up on twice, and then I finally got the man I spoke with on Tuesday. He explained to me that they never received the QR code that corporate was supposed to send them and that he would contact them and see what was going on. He called me back and informs me that the system was down from the corporate end. I explained that I had already paid online and that the reason I was doing the delivery option was that I have a compromised immune system. They don’t have a drive-thru at this location and do not offer prescriptions for the curbside service. He also brought up the Tirosint again, so I explained he was incorrect. It was not covered under my insurance, and after some back and forth, he figured out why he thought it was and told me I was correct and to leave it at the Tirosint direct pharmacy.

He told me that if they don’t scan the QR code within 72 hours, the charge should fall off. That I should pay over the phone, and as a one-time courtesy, he would meet me at the curbside parking to bring me the four prescriptions I was picking up. So that’s what we ended up doing. I see two of my meds have different manufacturers, which concerns me a little, as I am weirdly sensitive to stuff like that.

I am worried that the same fiasco will happen next month regarding the Walgreens delivery situation. I also will be stalking my credit card, waiting for the now duplicate charge to fall off.

Yay for being a hot mess! Please tell me I’m not the only one with pharmacy nightmares like this because it’s starting to make me feel like I’m fucking up somehow!

This post is over a year old which means the content may be outdated or no longer accurate.

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It’s not your fault. I used to have pharmacy trouble too.

As long as I’m not the only one, LOL!

Bibi

Ugghh how frustrating! Fingers crossed it goes smoother next time.

Reply to Bibi

I hope it does next month, I ended up having to call again today about one of the medications that had a double prescription somehow. Another situation LOL!

Dani C

You’re not the only one. Pharmacy issues abound, which I have experienced both personally and as an RN, professionally. So frustrating for me, but it’s even worse for my patients who may have challenges navigating such messes.

Reply to Dani C

I’ve done bougie pharmacists and local pharmacists, and now splitting between specialty pharmacy and Walgreens. And it’s not even for complicated or uncommon medications, but somehow, everything got messed up. My family has always worked in healthcare, and I’ve heard horror stories about patients dealing with their insurance companies and pharmacies. It’s so unnecessary!

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