I have a decent health plan, but for some reason, I have to pay for my scripts and then be reimbused. So I went to the pharmacy today with my $100 bill, expecting to pay…you know…for Prozac. I’ve been getting a generic version, but with my two pill a day habit, it was still well over $90/month.
Except today the pharmacist said, “That’ll be $14.00.”
So of course, I said, “No, mine’s the fluoxetine.”
To which she replied, ‘This IS fluoxetine.’
And then she looked at me like I was from Mars.
Let me just repeat this for all you non-believers:
Sixy pills.
Fourteen dollars.
Oh joy! Now even poor people can afford to be happy.
Ack! I really have been lucky in this regard. I’m not big on a life sentence of medication. So I only take anti-depressants for about a year at a time before trying without them. But I always KNOW for a fact that a couple of weeks of Prozac and I’ll be fine, which is a GREAT thing to have to rely on when you need it.
Of course, I’m now up to double the normal dose, so I hope it remains effective. I don’t know if it’s possible to “build a tolerance” to it. I just know one pill wasn’t working and now I’m doing two.
Did you find anything that did work? My attempts at taking other SSRIs were pretty miserable and rampant with side effects. I hope you had some luck!
L
Oh, p.s., I have to get off Prozac slowly as well or I have a big “crash” type withdrawal. Docs say this doesn’t happen due to the long half-life of the drug, but I’ve heard too many people say they have serious withdrawal to discount the idea.
I don’t have any insurance at all, now that I’m no longer a student - we’re sneaking my doctor’s appointment through on Monday while I’m still barely covered, but then nothing. I’m gonna get a scrip for some anti-depressants… I’m not looking forward to paying for them.
racinchikki, depending on your circumstances (too much $ for Medicaid, obviously too young for Medicare), you might qualify for some private, company-run programs. You can find a list of them, and application forms at http://www.phrma.org/searchcures/dpdpap/
Obviously I can’t guarantee that you’d qualify, but there’s never any harm in trying.
Well, racinchikki at least maybe you can get a reasonably priced generic now. This event seriously made my day. Last year, the same prescription would have cost me about $160.
If you don’t know what works for you, I suggest trying something with a cheap generic FIRST.
Wheee! Happy day. Now all I need is some ice cream and I’ll be all set!
Oh, a weird thing about me: I seem to react strongly to many drugs. For example, a benedryl knocks me out for about six hours. It’s not uncommon that when I get a prescription, it cures what ails me in hours. Of course, I also often have very strong side effects, which may be why I can’t take some SSRIs very well. I’ve considered that my strong reaction is psychosomatic, but there have been times when it was just TOO unambivalent to have been “all in my head.”
I have pretty bad, basically violent spells of depression that leave me non-functional. Hysterical crying spells, etc. Two to three weeks on Prozac and I just seem to wake up one day and say, “Ahhhhhh!” It’s GREAT! And the almost physical reaction seems to drastic to be placebo action. I wish it worked like that for everyone. It seriously is a live saver for someone who can’t work without it.
Unfortunately, I don’t have health insurance so I can’t even afford to go back to the doctor and ask to try something else. Prozac was the first thing I tried, because it worked really well for my mom.
My withdrawl symptoms have been mild, except for a weird physical thing that makes me feel as though I have a very high fever or really bad sleep-dep…sort of like physical “trails.” It sucks.
Are you referring to the so-called “brain shocks” where every few minutes (or more often) you feel a jolt of electricity through your brain that sometimes travels down your body? It’s probably the most common of SSRI withdrawal symptoms. I had them getting off Prozac and Paxil (both SSRIs) and I get them if I miss my Celexa (another SSRI) for a few days, especially since Celexa is supposedly the most “selective” of SSRIs.
The way I dealt with it with Paxil is to taper down, then go a couple of days without until the brain shocks returned. Then I’d take a small dose, and repeat. The interval between brain shock days grew longer and longer until I was off it completely.
Anyway IANAD or shrink, but it worked for me.
Interestingly enough, I had pesky sexual side-effects while on both Prozac and Paxil, but have had absolutely none on Celexa, even though it’s “stronger,” if you were. Proof that YMMV.
Brilliant explanation! When I try to explain it to my hubby, I say it’s a kind of dizzy thing, but the way you described it is exactly how it feels.
Good on you SexyWriter thats brill!
Prozac didn’t decrease my sex drive, but I was a young, horny thing, surrounded by hot guys. So I could get it up no problem, but reaching orgasm was difficult and sometimes impossible, so I’d often give up.
Paxil did decrease my sex drive somewhat, but I had the same orgasm problem.
Now, if you want a med that’s virtually guaranteed to cause no sexual side effects (in fact, it’s been known to actually increase sex drive) - Wellbutrin’s the one. However, a lot of people can’t tolerate it. It’s rather stimulating (not in the sexual sense) and can make one edgy. I don’t know why I ever went off it - it was the best AD I’d ever been on.
Also, Serzone, an SNRI, is also reputed to have a lower incidence of sexual side-effects than the SSRIs.
You might even want to make a lateral move to another SSRI, such as Paxil, Prozac, or Luvox… I mean, if the Paxil & Prozac caused sexual side-effects for me but Celexa doesn’t, it could very well go both ways.
