I was going to put this in mpsims, screw that this is a rant.
Anyway, I went to the eye doctor, and was assured that I do have dry eye as I suspected. At least I don’t feel like I’ve been watching watching too many drug commercials. Anyway, the exam has left my eyes sore, swollen, sensitive, and it’s really hard to see. OK, temporary, hopefully better tomorrow.
The real rant? She prescribed me the first stage of treatment eye drops. Restasis, cool not zydra or Mibo, both being flogged on tv, so new and stupid expensive. Well, when I called the pharmacy, the co-pay for this stuff is 300+ dollars. Yikes! We cannot afford that.
We also can’t afford the steroidal inhaler I should probably be using.
So, fuck American “healthcare,” fuck American drug companies, and fuck my freakin’ eyeballs hurt more than usual, and tha is saying something.
Restasis has been around for many years, and it’s not a first-line agent. However, if they think that’s what’s best for you, maybe they have samples? Never hurts to ask.
They make thick almost ointment-like OTC eye drops. There are several common brands. Remarkably effective for overnight use. Or being out in the wind. They fuzz your vision for a couple minutes, but that fades quickly.
Using those a couple times daily and conventional wetting drops (not the “get the red out” kind) every couple hours may well keep you going long enough to solve the bigger problem of affordable Rx meds.
I used allaway. I was told they are too drying and they were. I’ve been using Pataday and refresh gel wetting drops. This has improved things, but the doctor thinks it’s severe enough to need something stronger.
Anyway, I found I can get it through Goodrx at cvs for 88 dollars. It’s still out of the budget, but not as much. However, there are no CVS near me, though there may be an online option. It’s just ridiculous a person has to go through all this for meds that have been around for years.
Whenever possible, avoid putting any preservatives in your eyes (ie, look for preservative-free options).
Failing that, avoid putting Benzalkonium Chloride in your eyes … unless it’s in a prescription eye drop that your eye doctor says is necessary, and – even then – only for short-term use:
Also … good resource (including helpful people on a forum):
A lot of drug companies are doing this. Near is I can tell, the situation is that your insurance isn’t willing to pay the vastly inflated price that the drug company is wanting to charge and so is billing you for the difference. But if this means that you won’t buy the drug, the company won’t make any money. So they agree to charge you whatever the insurance is willing to pay plus a reasonable amount. That way the drug company get the insurance money and you get the drug at a reasonable price. Everybody wins.
Whenever you come across an over priced prescription its worthwhile looking for something like this.
Target pharmacies are also CVS if a Target is within reach.
Barring that, ask a friend or family member who is near a CVS or Target to pick up your prescription and mail it to you. A flat rate Priority Mail USPS box would be about $10 to mail to you.
Good news for me I think. I Called the clinic where I saw the eye doctor, and explained my issue. They told me there is nothing she could prescribe that would be cheaper. I was not surprised.
However, I’m on the sliding scale based on income. Usually, I’m just shy of qualifying, but when I filled out the paperwork, they told me to leave Hubster’s income off.
Anyway, they will provide the medication from their pharmacy on the sliding scale. According to the woman I spoke to it will cost $20 or less. If it all works out, and this medication works for me, it will be a huge relief.
Thank you all for your advice and links. I’ll see how this all pans out. Hopefully, sseing better without discomfort, and light sensitivity.
Hi, Sylvanz. Resurrecting your thread because I just went through the same process for getting Cyclosporine (generic Restasis). I also used GoodRX, after I asked the pharmacist to just skip over getting my insurance involved. Final cost for one-month supply: $87.
And now I find on various ophthalmology websites that you can get two usages out of one of those vials, if you’re careful about not touching the tip and if you recap it and stand it upright in the fridge until your next dose. Reddit users also report doing the same thing and that their ophthalmologist says it’s okay. I started doing this - an egg cup is just the right size to hold one of those vials!
Actually you can get three uses out of each vial if you are careful, I posted this a few days ago in another thread but it’s easier to repost it then to ask my misbehaving eyes to go search for that post:
Right below the photo when you open the website is a block of text faintly outlined in blue-that is where the three uses out of a vial details are.
Let me recommend Muro eye drops. I keep one at work and one at home. Muro is non prescription, but you have to get someone to unlock the glass cabinet in order to reach them. What is really great is a prescription ointment called, “Erythromycin Ophthalmic Ointment, USP”. You put a tiny dab in each eye at bedtime and, because your eyes are closed during sleep and even moving during REM sleep, the ointment lubricates and comforts your eyes. It has a lasting effect during the day.
da nada. hope it’s useful. Getting 3 times the doses for the cost I hope makes it more possible to care of those eyes!.
Did this do-si-do so many times for clients in my 45 years as a nurse~it shouldn’t be this hard. Today I just had to ditch my Medicare drug coverage and go to GoodRx out of pocket to get not one but both prescriptions needed. Outrageous.
It took me awhile to figure out how to do the work the insurance vs. GoodRX thing. I was under the impression that you could only use GoodRX if your insurance refused to cover any part of your prescription. I wasn’t aware that you could just tell the pharmacist to forget about the insurance and have you pay directly, and then you can bring out the phone with the GoodRX coupon.
It’s good to check it out ahead of time to find out what kind of cost you can expect, though. I used to take Xiidra until Aetna stopped covering it, but even with GoodRX, it’s $700 a month. Yoiks - can’t take that anymore. And it worked extremely well, too. I produced so much tears that they were running down my cheeks.
I’m not surprised that you can get up to 3 doses out of those vials. I was sort of considering it asthere was so much left in each vial after use. However, she had me stop using it because my eyes were dryer after a month+ of using it. She prescribed me steroid drops to use for a few weeks, and then restart the restasis. I had to stop the steroids after 5 days because I could barely keep my eyes open. I see her again the 31st.
I’m sorry it did nothing for you. A year or two ago my opthalmologist put temporary plugs in my tear drainage ducts to see if that helped, and I couldn’t really tell any difference, so dry eye looks like a dodgy thing to try to fix.
I’m on about day four of using Cyclosporine, and my next ophthalmologist appointment is in mid-April. Hopefully he sees some change for the better. I read it takes a few weeks to really kick in and make a difference.
