Wait, what?  WTF SSRIs are they proscribing that cost $200/month?

Prozac and Paxil (to name two) are cheap.

You have to learn the difference between brand names and generic.

http://www.mariayang.org/2011/02/16/anti...a-graphic/

Quote:Accord­ing to drugstore.com, 40mg of flu­ox­e­tine costs $40.99 per month. 40mg of Prozac costs $398.49 per month. Prozac went off patent in August 2001.

These fucking doctors who are owned by the drug companies push the brand names.

This reminds me of when someone claimed I should be wearing Levis, instead of Wranglers. I told her Levis are more expensive, and less comfortable. Big brand name products aren't always the best products.

I'm terribly sorry to hear that you're going through this mess. That's insane.

Depending on how things are set up at your clinic, I would complain to this doctor's superior about the situation. You need a different pair of ears.

I wish you luck finding a doctor in nearby towns.

(May 10, 2015 at 4:10 pm)Minimalist Wrote: You have to learn the difference between brand names and generic.

http://www.mariayang.org/2011/02/16/anti...a-graphic/

Quote:Accord­ing to drugstore.com, 40mg of flu­ox­e­tine costs $40.99 per month. 40mg of Prozac costs $398.49 per month. Prozac went off patent in August 2001.

These fucking doctors who are owned by the drug companies push the brand names.

Yes, my doc doesn't want to put me on just any SSRI (I know some have gone generic now), she wants to put me on a new one, Vortioxetine.  Of course she doesn't want to put me on any of the generics, I've already tried all of those in the past, and so her excuse is I should try the new one, or how will I know it doesn't work?

Well, if the 6 before didn't work, why would this one? Why even the desire take me off of an inexpensive, few to no side effect, EFFECTIVE medication, and put me on an expensive, multiple side effect, type so far ineffective for me medication? 
Also, she's just wrong or lying about the side effects of my old, effective med, and telling me the new one has few bad side effects.  Well....I have the internet, I can tell she's lying after 2 minutes of Googling.

I can't see any motivation except the money.  That's why I titled this thread the way I did.

---

Also, thank you for the John Oliver link, I'm going to check that out now.

I've gotten used to taking an inexpensive generic medication for so long (with a good, sane doctor who gave a crap about me and was willing to give me what worked for me, and not just his pocket book), so I really lost track of how bad Big Pharma is.

You might ask about Buspar.  Non-benzo, non-SSRI, for treating general anxiety.  I took it for awhile after I insisted on going off benzos until I went off daily meds altogether.

(May 10, 2015 at 4:34 pm)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: You might ask about Buspar.  Non-benzo, non-SSRI, for treating general anxiety.  I took it for awhile after I insisted on going off benzos until I went off daily meds altogether.

I appreciate the thought.   However, I don't think anxiety disorder was the correct diagnosis 20 years ago.  I have a half dozen symptoms, and anxiety is just one of them. 

The progesterone (almost) completely got rid of my severe mood swings, anxiety, headaches, AND depression.  I just want to go back to taking that.  It worked, no side effects. I don't want to go on the rollercoaster of trying new drugs for no good reason.  If I DO have PMDD (I need a new doc to ask about it I guess since this one won't even look at that idea), then progesterone is the correct treatment anyway.

Now if the progesterone really did have a high risk of giving me a stroke or a heart attack, then that is a good reason to try new meds, BUT IT DOESN'T. My doc is misinformed or lying.  Remember, she also told me marijuana CAUSES schizophrenia.

@Minimalist, thank you for the John Oliver link, that was very enlightening.  I went to the government website and did a search, and my doc is on the dole from one company, Takeda.  She also has a 2.5/5 star rating on health grades, well below the national average. 

Looks like I don't need a new medication, I just need a new doctor!

I'm very sorry to hear about all this, you have my sympathies  I'm afraid I don't know anything about this that could be useful.

Definitely a new doctor. It's too bad if this is the only one for many miles that takes medicare, but you need to find someone else.

John Oliver is fast becoming the best journalist in the non-news business.  Which says something about the media, too.