I've really been wanting to type out a new blog post, but I've been quite sick the last 5 days or so... and my white blood cell count is low, so I've been a little bit worried. But, I feel I'm almost close to being 100% sick-free... but not quite... I'm like 70-75% there. Maybe 80% even..
Anyway, there has been a lot I've been wanting to share. The main thing being that my medication was switched to the generic form without any notice. It seems like it would be a very obvious thing, seeing as the taste of them was different, and the look was different. I just assumed they changed the design of it.. for whatever reason. Not coincidentally, I started to feel a huge spike of anxiety and basically just not feeling like myself. The main reason I want to share this.. is because the system sucks. Once I realized that I was on a generic form, and whilst being on Vacation, I was somewhat angry and upset. No one gave me notice that it was changed. And apparently, they do not need to give you any notice. This, I thought, is really stupid. If someone has been on a certain kind of medication, and a certain brand, wouldn't it be smart to inform the client? Now, you might be thinking... "no big deal! Same Drug, Same Dose..." But actually, it's not like that at all! If you research online, you will find that generic medication can contain 80-125% of the contents of the brand. You can google this... That's crazy if you think about it. It has to be 80-125% of the contents of the normal Brand. If it's between those numbers, then it is approved. Read this: http://www.danielblockpsychiatry.com/generics-do-not-equal-brand-the-80-125-rule/ I'm writing this out for people who may be feeling bad symptoms after switching to Generics. When I learned this - I thought that is crazy! I knew that I had to get back on my original brand. Luckily I had some extra pills from my original brand (while in Mexico on Vacation!!). I knew, somehow, I had to get back on the original kind... and nothing was going to stand in the way of MY HEALTH! And I also don't want you to have anyone or anything getting in between you and your health! The first thing I did was phone my Counsellor/Psychiatrist team in Vancouver. (Will not say who this is obviously) And I asked what the hell happened. They said it was changed, because my original brand is not longer covered. (Actually going over this I don't remember the exact order of how I went about this)... All I know, is that I contacted both my team here in Vancouver, the pharmacy I get my meds from, and my original psychiatrist. Basically, everyone said it's no longer covered... and basically I had to get accepted on a special authority request... Which, I was told, they usually need you to try multiple generic brands before they can cover you. And, I already knew that the generics did not work for me. (I even tried one more generic at one point, though I felt the symptoms pretty much immediately). And the very stupid thing about this, is the counsellor/psychiatrist team know that people have the same experience as I did. The generics not working, and making people feel worse. So, people have to try multiple generics for a good length of time, before they can get accepted (the special authority request) to get the brand name covered. Meaning, people who have been doing well on their medication for years, have to go through generic brands and suffer through it, just to be able to have their health. In my eyes, this is very dangerous for people who rely on medication to balance out their brain. And the fact that the suicide rate for schizophrenia is 1/10. Something is seriously wrong here. Naturally, I asked my team to try to get my brand name covered, which is called a 'Special Authority Request'. I waited and waited. And eventually I actually did get approved (for a sorta different amount per pill ie. 400mg capsules instead of 200mg) and it worked out for me... LUCKILY! I guess the request was put in as urgent. (though, they didn't check the 400mg, just the 200mg... so I probably ended up paying for brand name seroquel when I didn't need to...sigh) I can't say enough, how this system works... is completely wonky! I hope you or someone you know, knows this information, and can clearly understand that a change from brand to generic can have an effect. Though, it may not for everyone. Again, I am no doctor, this is all just my own experience, and opinion. Anyway, in short, this is sorta what's been going on with me medically speaking. I had to actually buy around 1 month's worth of the branded kind, just so I had my health with me. That cost be about half a grand. Yeah... fun fun. But again, I am happy to have my health... well, almost there, once this cold/flu is gone. heh. Thanks for reading, and hopefully you gained some knowledge about how the medical system works here. Jonathon
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