Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'd have to agree w/ you on this totally! I have sleep disorders and have had it for many years. My Dr.'s gave me a medication and it had benzodiazepams? Spelling in them, it caused long term memory loss. (permanent) At that point in time I didn't know I had Alzheimers, Fibromyagia, or a few other conditions I have. Well they continually advertise Lunesta on TV. After extensive sleep studies and testing on me, there is only certain meds I can take that won't impair my memory further. My Neurologist prescribed Lunesta and the pharmacy absolutely gave me the worst time getting that precription filled because Ambien is the generic and they wanted me on the generic. Well In my case, Ambien would hurt the memory and it took days of fighting w/ insurance and such to get my Lunesta. Sleep meds are advertised like crazy. They should never be given out unless thorough sleep studies have been given. Aricept is another I take for Alzheimers. I see commercials all the time. I don't like at all that these commercials try to profit from people's misery. I can say bottom line, it's the Physician who determines what you will take and the commercials have no effect on what the patient takes. The commercials try to get you to plant a bug in the the Dr.'s ear. They are geared toward people like me who go to the Dr. a lot. Smart Dr.'s don't buy into that. Some of these meds are very dangerous and can cause long term problems and profiting form someones misery is awful. I totally agree w/ you 100%
Sorry to hear you had a negative experience in obtaining the prescribed medication the Neurologist felt best for you. Please ask the Pharmacy to better explain the situation. I don't want you laboring under the misconception that "Ambien is the generic for Lunesta". While they are both nonbenzodiazeopine hypnotics, they are NOT the same. I suspect that there was a formulary issue where your insurance covered Ambien as the low-cost first choice, and they were required to recommend this. If this was the case, the Pharmacy had to do extra work to obtain a treatment authorization request from your physician for Lunesta. Formulary restrictions from third party payors can be bypassed if the prescriber is willing to provide a statement that the cheaper choice is inappropriate (failed previous attempt with Ambien, potential increased risk of side effects in your case, etc) for you. Wishing you good health and a peaceful nights sleep, hopefully with minimal medication.
Sorry to hear you had a negative experience in obtaining the prescribed medication the Neurologist felt best for you. Please ask the Pharmacy to better explain the situation. I don't want you laboring under the misconception that "Ambien is the generic for Lunesta". While they are both nonbenzodiazeopine hypnotics, they are NOT the same. I suspect that there was a formulary issue where your insurance covered Ambien as the low-cost first choice, and they were required to recommend this. If this was the case, the Pharmacy had to do extra work to obtain a treatment authorization request from your physician for Lunesta. Formulary restrictions from third party payors can be bypassed if the prescriber is willing to provide a statement that the cheaper choice is inappropriate (failed previous attempt with Ambien, potential increased risk of side effects in your case, etc) for you. Wishing you good health and a peaceful nights sleep, hopefully with minimal medication.
That's exactly what happened w/ the Ambien for me. Side effects would make the memory worsen and we had the hassle of documentation business the Neuro had to take care of.
That was such a lovely post! Thank you for such a heartfelt post! I so appreciate it!
I am finding the amount of advertisment and the list of drugs being added for advertisment has been increasing as of late. I now even see drugs for diabetes are being advertised. Its bad enough adds for cholesterol meds are advertised, and no medical conditions are anything to fool around with, but diabetes goes way beyond that. No diabetic should ever be listening to some foolish drug add and then running to the doctor asking for that pill, or type of insulin. It is much to dangerous a disease and needs daily monitoring just to live from day to day. I know, I have dealth with since I was in my early 20's. This drug add issue really started to hit the fan with me, when during office visits drug salesman were constantly in the waiting room. When I would have my appt the doctor was giving me a handful of samples. I would come home and look for another doctor, I was turned off to that type of patient care. This only happened when I moved to Oregon and no longer had the doctor I had for years back east. That doctor also felt these drug adds were dangerous. I found the care was very different here and drug salesman seemed to be around all the time here in Portland. They seem to be very much a part of the patient care here and seem to work directly with the doctor more than I am use to. I am going to be writing a letter to my congressman over this, and I think everyone should. I feel this is a severe problem in this country that shows what a greedy and how out of control our medical care is in the USA. Thank you everyone for your inputs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
