TRIUMPH! This Friday, I’m more pleased than peeved, but still – what I had to go through to FINALLY get my Co-pay card!

I’ll back up for those of you who didn’t get a chance to read July 30th’s Zoë’s Pet Peeves: Inconsistency in ADHD Meds and Med Coverage. In researching that post, I inadvertently stumbled upon the fact that Ontario is the only province with the audacity to force ADHDer’s to take a so-called “generic” form of Concerta, the medication that I was prescribed for my adult ADHD (and which worked EXTREMELY well, thank you very much).

After being on the generic crap, I felt lousy and concluded that it wasn’t helping me at all. I’m not the only one. See comment from lb, “I found it quite upsetting to see [my daughter] struggling when given the generic.”

Further research indicated that there are alarm bells going off everywhere about this drug. In every other Canadian province, it’s not deemed the bio-equivalent of the original patented Concerta, and my own body, mind, and moods confirmed that.

During the writing of my Pet Peeve about this imitation “Concerta,” I discovered that there was a silver lining. To my shock and surprise, I found myself lauding a pharmaceutical company (Janssen-Ortho, to be precise; the developers and patent-holders of Concerta).  If anyone had told me a month ago I’d be singing the praises of a pharmaceutical company, I would have told them they’re crazier than I am!

And what is the reason for such praise, you might ask? It’s this: if I had any hope in hell of accessing the original Concerta (the one that actually works to for me, that is), I would need a Co-pay card. To find out more about this, read my Pet Peeve #21. In essence, the Co-pay card is issued once, and can be used with every subsequent filling of your Concerta prescription.

The purpose? It covers the difference in cost between the real Concerta and the fake Concerta (the so-called “generic” drug).

And who picks up the tab? Janssen-Ortho. Praise be to the drug Gods!

Now, actually getting that card proved a Quest for the Holy Grail. And as I went further and further un-medicated (having refused to renew my prescription with the Generic in lieu of my doctor-recommended Concerta), I began to feel worse.

Then I reached Day 10 of being off meds. In desperation, I nearly broke down and filled the damn prescription with the generic, knowing I’d be stuck with it for 30 days! Fortunately, one of my other prescriptions had no refills, so the Drug Gods intervened, delaying me over the weekend, while I contacted my doc’s office for a renewal.

Today is day SEVENTEEN of my Concerta drug fast – and today – I got to break the fast. And none too soon, because yesterday (when I’d planned to write my Pet Peeve), I couldn’t concentrate for four minutes on ANYTHING! I felt like I was using 2% of my brain. ADHD though it is, usually, it’s a pretty damn good brain; at least I can manage to get my writing done. I knew I was in trouble.

Then divine intervention kicked in. Here’s the path I had to take to breaking my Concerta fast:

Zoë’s Drug Diaries

Tues., Aug. 10/10
11:30 a.m. – called Shoppers Drug Mart in Owen Sound; told they don’t have any Co-pay cards and they don’t know where I can get one

11:35 a.m. – called my physician. Office closed until Thurs., Aug. 12 @ 9 a.m.

Thurs., Aug. 12/10
9:00 a.m. – called Dr. Rowley’s office & spoke w/Kim, receptionist. She’s never heard of the card; don’t have any; she took the information and said she’d call me back.  I told her I was a wreck.

Tue., Aug. 17/10
9:00 a.m.  – called Dr. Rowley’s office. Kim said she was looking into it then put it aside and forgot. This is DAY 7 for me not being on medication. Don’t want to get generic and be stuck w/it for a month.

Kim said she contacted her “rep” [pharmaceutical rep for Janssen-Ortho] but hadn’t heard back. I told her I’d give it 2 more days, then I’d have to get the generic.

Wed., Aug. 18/10
9:35 a.m. – No call back as yet from Dr. Rowley’s office.

Called Dr. Rowley’s office.  Kim said that she has a Janssen rep looking into it. She’ll try to speak with Dr. Rowley directly if she can, he’s on call today. I told her I’d call again if I didn’t hear from her.

5:30 p.m.      Broke down and decided to call Shoppers to get prescriptions filled. Feeling lousy; jumpy legs, etc.  Realized my blood pressure medication has NO REPEATS left.  Doctor’s office closed. Guess I won’t fill prescriptions today.

Thurs., Aug. 19/10
10:20 a.m.   Called Dr. Rowley’s office to ask for renewal of b.p. meds and follow-up on Co-pay card.  Recorded message told me office closed until tomorrow, Fri., Aug. 20 @ 9 a.m.

11:30 a.m. – Kim from Dr. Rowley’s office called to let me know that the Janssen rep is at a conference today until the end of the weekend so she wouldn’t be contacting me again until Monday.  Darn nice of her to do this as the office is officially closed. Nonetheless, tomorrow, sadly, I will go back on the generic ‘cause I need to do something.  Or maybe I’ll hang in there until Monday.

Fri., Aug. 27/10
Still no call from my doctor’s office.

Picked up my friend Sharen at the hospital after she had emergency surgery to remove a kidney stone. On the way to get coffee for her at the hospital coffee shop, realized I was on the psychiatric floor as well as post-op. On a whim, dropped into the office to ask if they had Co-pay cards, knowing full well the shrinks in my little town didn’t “deal with” ADHD. Secretary makes a call. “The psychiatrists here don’t deal with ADHD” she says. She’s new. I give her a mini-lecture on adult ADHD; why I need my meds; and why I need the Co-pay card. She listens. Then she suggests I go to the main floor and talk to the pharmacist there. Something in her voice tells me she knows more than she’s saying.

I enter the pharmacy, fully expecting to have to explain myself all over again, and that the pharmacist would not have the Co-pay card I’m after. Or, if he does, I expect him not to give me one because after all, this is NOT my pharmacist, he doesn’t know me from Adam, or have any of my records, and I am not a patient at the hospital.

Within one minute, the pharmacist has come out from behind the counter to speak with me personally, and says, “You want a Co-pay card?” And before I could answer, he’s turned on his heel and gone back in behind the shelves of the pharmacy. He emerges, with a charming smile on his face, and hands me the Holy Grail. I drop to one knee (drama queen that I am), hands clasped in mock prayer, and thank God. I nearly cried. He’s laughing, and trying to dismiss his considerate gesture.

When I get back up to my friend’s hospital room, she’s gone to sleep. I put the coffee down on the table beside her bed and leave to go get my prescription filled.

Footnote: Later, when I pick my friend up in the hospital to take her home, I feel the effects of the medication kicking in. For a second time in four years, I’m stunned by the calm sense of well-being that settles over me. The edginess, jitteriness and anxiety melts away. And I can’t believe how grateful I am to a drug company and a kind small-town pharmacist.

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    Last reviewed: 29 Aug 2010