Reply #9: The pharmacist has done that to me a few times. [View All]

[morillon]

My endocrinologist HATES the generic levothyroxine because the concentration varies so wildly from batch to batch, and he and his staff will only prescribe brand name Synthroid. They hate the generic so much they will talk your ear off if you ask about it. My prescription always says "brand medically necessary." A few times, the pharmacy has pulled a switcheroo and given me the generic, and I have to take the bottle back to the pharmacy and tell them to fix it.

It happened again this week, and I called the pharmacy to complain. When I mentioned the part about the doctor ordering the name brand specifically, the pharmacist said, "Oh, yeah, I saw that on the form, but I figured you would like to save some money." (The difference is about $12 with Cigna's discounts, which I certainly don't mind paying, given the alternative.)

I said, "My doctor is adamant that none of his patients take the generic because it's crap and it causes patients' blood levels to be all over the map. I'd rather spend the money and not have my thyroid levels constantly going up and down."

He said, "Well, maybe you could just get your blood levels drawn more often and adjust your doses accordingly, and that way you could save money." (A brilliant plan -- not.)

And I said, "On Synthroid, my levels have been the same for more than five years, which was NOT the case when I was on the generic, and I'd really rather not get blood drawn and redo my prescriptions every three months, thanks very much."

What a twit!