Medication Rant

I have a bit of a rant today. I take Allegra and Allegra D for my allergy symptoms. I have been taking these two medication for several years and it usually works very well. The Allegra is a once a day pill and the Allegra D is a twice a day pill because the decongestant that it contains. So about two years ago I decided to only get the Allegra D so I would have twice as many pills. I usually wouldn't have to take them every day and rarely twice a day. This method worked out for me until this summer when my allergies have intensified.

This summer has been especially brutal on my allergies and I find myself taking the pills every day twice a day. I was concerned with the quantity of decongestant I was taking, so when I needed the prescription refilled I requested that doctor call in the regular Allegra to the mail away pharmacy that I use. When I received the pills I was annoyed to see that they only sent me a 30 day supply instead of 90 day supply that I normally receive. I just gave a big sigh at the hassle of getting the problem fixed.

I called my doctor the next day and told them that they only wrote the prescription for 30 days and not for the year as they normally do. The lady answering the phone seemed confused and suggested that I call Caremark and ask them what the doctor should do. Duh! They just need to call in an additional prescription. I let it go and took no action because the lady at the doctors office got on my nerves.

However, this week my allergies were getting bothersome and the medicine was no longer working effectively. I am getting fevers, constant itching, and red and irritated eyes. (BTW...the eye doctor told me last week that I should use eye drops and I keep forgetting to pick them up.) So I called the doctor again and this time asked if she could put me on stronger medicine. After we played phone tag for a day and a half it was decided that I needed to stay on the Allegra and add a nasal spray. The lady at the doctors office was going to call in my nasal spray to my neighborhood CVS and then call in the Allegra to Caremark and that would come in the mail in the next week.

Here is the part where I get mad. I stopped by CVS on my way home to pick up the nasal spray and guess what? They had both prescriptions. I just shook my head. I asked the guy how much was the Allegra. He said $20. I asked him, "Is that for a month?" He said NO, for three months! WTF! I just paid $20 to Caremark for a 30 refill and I normally pay $110 for the 90 day Allegra D. I was dumbstruck, so I asked why it was only $20. He explained that the regular Allegra has a generic replacement but the Allegra D does not.

I want to know how long I have been overpaying for the stupid Allegra D. I was doing it to be cheap. When did the regular Allegra run out of it's patent? This kind of health care BS just burns me up!