Medicine Follies

I haven't been able to get a renewal of my prescription of Flunisolide, or any nasal spray for that matter, for about two months now.  I have had ample supply of it from previous renewals (which I didn't use up entirely), but with no renewals since May now I have run out.

It's been a bizarre back-and-forth between the clinic, the pharmacy, and the insurance company.  The clinic and the pharmacy are within walking distance of each other, and they're both close to home.  And since I'm not working right now, I've stepped up my investigation into this by going to one and walking to both to see where in this process my, I guess, re-authorization for my allergy medicine is.  And I have literally gotten a run-around: The pharmacy says that the medicine has not been approved, so I walk to the clinic and they tell me that they sent the authorization to the pharmacy.  That has happened a couple times.

Yesterday, on my way back home, remembering that I can't be home too early, realizing that I hadn't yet blog posted for the day, I reminded myself that I need to check for the medicine again, especially now that I'm going to be in Atlanta (where it's presumably pollen country) for the next five days or so.  I figured that if the pharmacy hasn't left me a message yet, there's no reason for me to walk there, so I went to the clinic.  There, the receptionist (who was a bit snippy, I must say) said that there was some pre-authorization ... I guess ... so now I have to talk to the insurance company.  Too bad it was after five; I called only after I got home, and the offices were closed.

Should I even bother now?  It might be possible for me to call first thing in the morning, somehow get them to automatically approve it and shipped to the pharmacy for immediate fill-up.  I can then get it before coming home this (Wednesday) afternoon before leaving.  However, even though I have no idea how this works, I'm guessing it doesn't work like that.

In retrospect I should've been on the ball a lot more and a lot sooner.  That way it wouldn't have come to this.  I don't think I was so diligent because I had enough spray and late-July is inbetween allergies for me, so I wasn't that worried.  I'm worried now, and although I'm still kind of miffed at the bitchy customer service I was given last (Wednesday) evening, the bottom line is my insurance isn't paying for this Flunisolide, and so I'm scrambling to find something that'll work, and it looks like I'll have to make do with Claritin tablets until I get home.

Oh, one other thing: I'm changing insurance companies starting Monday (which is the 1st of August).  The insurance company I have now won't cover my shrink; that's why I haven't seen him all this month.  But I was able to change insurances earlier this month, so starting on the 1st I can see him -- well, at least until I go back to work.  Hopefully all this bullcrap with the nasal spray will be straightened out with the switch in companies, too.