Caught Between Rock and a Hard Place

Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Dorcas Annette Walker

It is positively ratty to be in the position of having to depend on drugs to survive- not that I’m not grateful for all the advancements in the medical field. Believe me I am very thankful for the pharmaceutical companies that have programs for disbursing drugs to low income folk or those with no medical insurance. As one of those dependent on the pharmaceutical companies for my medications, I find myself unfortunately all too often caught between a rock and a hard place not of my choosing.

The first negative aspect is the reams of paperwork one must fill out. I understand the concern of the pharmaceutical companies needing to make sure that a person is qualified. But entire forests could be saved of once you were approved and in their computer system to only be questioned and upgraded over the phone instead of having to continuously fill out entire applications over and over with the same information- not to mention all the postage involved. What really gets interesting is when you have more than one pharmaceutical company to deal with. Then second part is the continual monitoring of your meds to make sure that you keep enough of your medication on hand so you do not run out. I’ve learned to keep an eagle eye on my prescription bottles and as soon as they are half empty to start the process of resubmitting a form for a refill. Even so that still doesn’t guarantee the desired results.

Recently after waiting three weeks and still not receiving my medicine in the mail after sending in the refill forms, I called the pharmaceutical company only to be informed that they no longer carried my regular drug- now they carried the same drug with an XR attached. I immediately called my doctor’s office to obtain a new prescription with the XR added to my original prescription and sent it back out in the mail. It was another couple weeks until I got my medicine. Unfortunately, I realized that my prescription was for only once a day instead of twice like the doctor ordered. After calling the pharmaceutical company again to verify the prescription, I recalled my doctor’s office and they gave me another prescription to mail in with the correct dosage. After waiting three more weeks I called the pharmaceutical company only to be told that my second prescription had been cancelled! The reason- the pharmacy personnel failed to see that this prescription amount had been increased so they thought it was a double prescription. In defense they said that they called my doctor’s office, but like usual it was busy so they cancelled the prescription. Now I had only a week of medicine left in half of the amount of what I needed. So once again I called my doctor’s office for another written prescription. to mail in for the third time hopefully to reach me before I ran completely out. Not only have I had to suffer since I’ve been living on half the medication of what I needed, but I will now have to fill out another application, and make another visit to my doctor’s office to get another prescription to mail in. Evidently the head folk figure that I have more than enough time on my hands for making numerous phone calls, doctor visits, and filling out repetitive forms for just one medication.

Then when I didn’t get refills on my two other prescriptions after mailing in for refills and waiting a couple of weeks, I called the second pharmaceutical company and was informed that my yearly membership was up without any notification. So I quickly fill out another complete application for their company, but by the time I was able to get back in to see my long-suffering doctor for a visit, get another written renewed prescription, and send them in the mail one of my medicines had run completely out. I spent a couple of weeks in increased pain while I tried different combinations of pain pills that I had on hand to try and get my pain under control where I could function. As long as I have my meds I always take the prescribed amount of my medicine each day.

Meanwhile I juggle managing a month’s supply or three months supply depending on how much the pharmaceutical company send along with keeping all the paperwork straight. Even if I was able to work I don’t know when I’d get the time between all the phone calls, doctor visits, and filling out paperwork. Just when I think that I have everything under control, I invariably end up between a rock and a hard place in keeping enough medication on hand.