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Debra
Member
11-20-2003
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 7:22 am
War if you filled it at another CVS wouldn't all Caleb's prescription records still be in one place? I would think that all the CVS's would link up to each other. It still is frustrating though especially when you find out it isn't a CVS policy. The mail option is a good one that is how I get my prescriptions with Kaiser. I so hate to wait in line.
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Merrysea
Moderator
08-13-2004
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 8:15 am
With all the hoops you have to jump through for Accutane, mail order probably isn't an option. In fact, it's probably the reason the pharmacy chooses not to carry it. I can't think of any other reason why they wouldn't have it. Oh, and if you can, try to take Caleb with you the first time you pick it up, and then ask if he has to be there each time; or call before you go and ask about if he has to be there.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 8:16 am
War, Debra is right, the pharmacists at all CVS locations can access his info. Plus with you as his mom, I am sure you would question any new meds. Plus, does he even see any other docs besides the one that prescribed the accutane? Just be glad that you have that awesome insurance that you do. Not so many people are that lucky.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 9:01 am
Oh man, Merry, I didn't even think of taking him with me. With everything we have to do just to get it filled, it's probably a wise idea, thank you! I've picked up some pretty heavy duty meds for both my aunt and my mother in law and never had anyone even question me as long as I know their names and birthdates, I've never seen one med that's as hard to get, and yep, hoops to jump through, like this one. I don't think we can order it through the mail. You're probably right about all the CVS' being linked, Debra, I didn't think about that. Julie, actually the kidlets see several different drs. I prefer to get them into their pediatrician (3 drs in that group that they see) but for most urgent care stuff its almost impossible to get a same day appt with them. Up until recently, they had two different urgent cares they could go to depending on the day of the week and what time it was (one was only open 5-9, the other 8-12) and anytime after midnight if it was that urgent we had to go to ER. It was likely then to have several different prescriptions written by different doctors in different places (and a pain in the neck to keep track of!) A couple months ago, the medical group their dr belongs to was bought out by the medical group mine and Darren's dr belongs to and all that changed, including the fact that now they can go to our urgent care office which is open all night.
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Julieboo
Member
02-05-2002
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 9:12 am
Well at least you are well aware of the accutane issues and you will be there to question any additional meds that any doc may prescribe.
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Alwayzmovin
Member
11-06-2003
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 9:35 am
When my son took accutane my insurance at work had the Express Scripts (i think it's called) and we got a 3 month supply by mail. Of course that was back in the 90's so things might have changed. I do remember it was very very expensive, so perhaps that's why CVS doesn't have it on hand?
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Denecee
Member
09-05-2002
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 9:55 am
Wargod, I'm not sure if I missed this being discussed but did the doctor tell you of the mood changes that Dakota might experience while on acutane? Things might have changed since I was on it 15 or so yrs ago. Two weeks after I was on it my nodular acne came to a head and by that I mean instead of 3 or 4 nodulars, I had 30 to 40 of them. I was so depressed because when I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt I looked like a monster. My family and friends assured me that is not what they saw but I still hated my face. About the 6th week into the treatment, my nods started shrinking and I still had a couple months to go on the treatment. For 10 yrs or more I never even had topical acne, but now I get a couple of small nods every few months. I'm sure there is more education about the treatment now than when I was on it. I just wanted to share my experience with you. I look forward to his sucess story!
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Sugar
Member
08-15-2000
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 9:55 am
Could the CVS down the street have it sent to them from their other branch so you could pick it up there? BTW, when we moved, I changed all my 'scrips from Walgreens to CVS as it was down the street. After multiple hassles, meds not ready or available I stopped going there and now pick up my meds at the HyVee grocery store that is across the street from the pharmacy. We are very happy with the HyVee pharmacy. As an extra bonus, when you pick up meds, you can get .10 cents off a gallon of gas at the HyVee gas station.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 11:56 am
Alwayz, it's definitely changed. You have to sign up for the program with your social security number, you get a prescription for a 30 day supply that has to be filled in a certain time frame, and you have to have the id card they give you along with your ssn and prescription. The next month you have to go for another round of blood work, then an appt with your dermatologist, and then get the next months prescription. I've picked up all kinds of meds for my aunt and mil and have never had to go through anything like this for their prescriptions. Denecee, it's Caleb, he's always had acne, but in the last year it's gotten really bad. We've tried cleaners, we've tried those sets of cleaners, medicated wipes, and antibiotics. For about a week last month on the antibiotics, there was a small improvement, but to anyone who doesn't see him often or doesn't know him, it would have been an unnoticeble improvement. He's only 12 and already has some minor scarring. The dermatologist, and some of the folks here, have been very thorough about the possible side effects. They are downright frightening, mood swings, depression, suicidal thoughts, brain swelling, and that it will get worse before it gets better (Merry especially was very clear about that,) along with a bunch of others. We're to the point though we have to do something, pretty soon it will start to effect his self esteem and he'd have much worse scarring. His doctor's attitude puts us at ease somewhat. He hasn't sugarcoated anything, but he'll sit for an hour and answer questions and talk until we're satisfied. And he talks to Caleb (he's promised by the end of this treatment they'll be best friends and he'll know everything about Caleb.) The other day he was talking to Caleb about what's going on in his life (school, track, guitar, friends, gaming, etc) and then giving him tips and advice, like accutane could make his joints hurt and that may make track difficult, here's some things you can do that might help and remember to where sunscreen, chapstick, a hat and drink plenty of water. So, side effects are scary, but what we've seen of this doctor so far shows us he'll stay right on top of everything.
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 12:33 pm
someone named Nicky with a hushmail account (nicky151@hushmail.com) and an alledged birthday of 2/15/1990 has signed up for all sorts of things using my name and home phone number!!!! insurance, online degrees, home invasion protection. my phone rings all the ducking time now!!!!! one of the sleazy salemen (home invasion protection) says 'well, it obviously sounds like someone is trying to steal your identity, you really need home protection.' grrrr like i really need this shit right now! lets all bombard her addy with spam!!! LOL
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 12:40 pm
Why are there so many issues with accutane? Can they use it to make meth or something? Also, can the one pharmacy fill it the first time and then you could call and they could send it over to the close pharmacy? Ok, back up to read the rest of the thread, ignore my comments/questions if it is answered above LOL.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 1:19 pm
It's vitamin A. Besides the rather serious side effects, Dipo, and needing to be closely monitored by the dr, I think it has more to do with the birth defects risk. It's tough getting it for your 12 year old son, but for girls/women of child bearing age, it's even more so. They have to have 2 negative pregnancy tests before the dr will prescripe it, plus use 2 different forms of birth control (and I think, but not sure cuz it didn't apply to Caleb, that you had to show paperwork for having one primary form...tubal ligation, male partners vasectomy, bc pills, iud,) and then once going on it, had to have a pregnancy test every month you're on accutane. There's several spots on the paperwork where girls and their parents have to sign stating that they aren't pregnant, they're using two forms of bc, and that they'll take the monthly pregnancy test. Ok, yeah, after double checking something, it says that even one dose of accutane could cause major birth defects to the eyes, ears, skull, heart and brain. We're going to check today at Walmart's pharmacy and Costco's to see if they carry. I don't really want to, but if one of them carries it it'll save the trip across town and since I find myself at Walmart and Costco on a regular basis, picking up a prescription wouldn't be a big deal.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 1:29 pm
Wow, I never heard this was such a bad drug for some things, since obviously it is good for other issues. Thanks.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 1:42 pm
Well what the dermatologist told us was that he had taken it several years ago (he admits he's biased, lol) and that he's prescribed it for years and hasn't ever seen any of the serious side effects, and then added, but they do happen. I look at accutane as a last resort, he's done the cleansers, he's done medicated wipes, he's done antibiotics, nothing has made more than a minimal difference. The dr did say there were a few other things to try, but looking at Caleb's acne he felt nothing else would work and it was time to bring out the "big guns." Our main concern right now is the scarring and we'd rather deal with it now than wait til it gets worse.
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Denecee
Member
09-05-2002
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 2:08 pm
Dang it, I meant Caleb in my post. My dermatologist took one look at my face and took out the big guns(acutane). I had a gf who also had nodular acne and she only stayed on the stuff for 2 wks before she quit it. Wierd thing is her acne went away but her lips were so dry. Sounds like this is the right option for Caleb.
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Landileigh
Member
07-29-2002
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 7:24 pm
war, how long has caleb been on accutane? have you seen any improvement? or is it in the "getting worse before better" stage?
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 7:45 pm
Apparently he hasn't gone on it yet since War is having a problem getting the script filled.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Friday, March 06, 2009 - 10:44 pm
Today is day 1 Landi. I actually thought about taking a pic every week or two to check the difference over time, but I think that might bother Caleb. I will post about it though, just in case anyone else is considering it and it might help them decide one way or the other about using it. Denecee that was our appt almost exactly. I had to fill out a form about what he's used, what he's using now and how often and the derm came in and looked that over, looked at Caleb and spouted off some medical terms (like nodular acne) and said, "We could try this or this, but with it as bad as it is and he's just 12, we need to go for the big guns." I was ready for it, his pediatrician had been watching/treating his acne for a while and had mentioned that would probably be the way a dermatologist would go with further treatment. Gonna add a gripe to my earlier gripe. We went to Costco and stopped at their pharmacy. The lady was very helpful and nice, and asked if we'd be ok with a generic version. I didn't even realize there was a generic version and I'm fine with that (prescription co-pays are less if they are generic) but asked her to call the drs office to make sure it was ok. She called and they said that was fine so she told us to come back in half an hour to pick it up. We went shopping and then when we were done I left Darren in line to check out and went back to the pharmacy. Another lady came out to help me and when I told her I was there for Caleb's prescription she went and got the first lady (who may have been the pharmacist but I'm not positive about that.) She came over and told me there was a problem...our insurance doesn't cover it, not even the generic version. I have a few choices, I can pay for it out of pocket, I can take the prescription back to the doctor and see what he'll do, or she can get ahold of the doctors office and see if he'll fight the insurance company about it. If I decided to pay, it'd cost $162.70. That's a lot of money and I'm wildly looking around to see if Darren is done so he can come over and weigh in on it (he thought he'd be helpful and take the groceries out to the car and put them in.) I did have our flex spending card thingie with me and it has $1,100 on it so I decided to use it...this is the kind of thing we put the money away for. The lady did fax (derms office had closed by then) over a form for the doctor, she said he should fill it out explaining why Caleb needs accutane (or the generic version) and send it to the insurance company, then it'd go before a review board and they'd either approve/disapprove it. On the chance they approve it, they'll reimburse our flex account. When I got out to the car and told Darren his thoughts were pretty much with mine on it. Use the flex card, wait and see what the insurance has to say. We don't have much choice and we need to take care of his acne now. We did agree that if the insurance co doesn't approve it that we'll pay for the rest of the prescriptions out of our checking account. Would rather save the flex account money if we can just in case we need it later in the year. What really made me mad about this, the lady told me that the insurance company considers accutane cosmetic, or rather the acne, and not a medical problem. We're not talking one, two, or even five pimples here, we're talking full face, neck, shoulders, and back. Angry, red, irritating, painful acne that leaves scars. We're not talking about something like botox or breast enlargement! How the hell isn't it a medical problem?
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Alwayzmovin
Member
11-06-2003
| Saturday, March 07, 2009 - 3:47 am
And that right there is what pisses me off about insurance companies! They have no problem taking your money every week, month or whatever, but yet YOU have absolutely NO say in the matter. I hope this works out and they approve it, but at least you had the option of your flex card. Poor Caleb...at least this stuff works and you'll be happy with the end result.
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Nyheat
Member
08-09-2006
| Saturday, March 07, 2009 - 4:04 am
Hi War. I was on Accutane for six months about 7 years ago. Caleb's cystic acne is definitely due to hormonal changes in his body. I had terrible acne when I went though puberty at that exact age. I was lucky that the treatments at that time worked for me. Has he been on a tetracycline antibiotic yet? When I was a teen, tetrocycline worked for me.I only ask because unfortunately Accutane is pretty severe. I had cystic acne return after a trip to India, and Accutane really kicked its butt. I was very lucky that my doctor at the time put me on a medical trial so I barely paid a thing. I haven't had cystic acne since. I'm sorry he's going through this. Acne is more than an annoyance, and especially hard to bear as a teen. It's just not fair that it picks some kids and not others. He'll come through on the other side, by the time I was 14 the problem was under control. One treatment my doctor did for the scarring was some sort of freezing procedure. It worked, thank goodness. ETA Oh, I see you tried antibiotics! There are a lot of Accutane support sites on the net, Caleb will not be alone as he goes through this. I didn't find that I had mood swings, but for a few years after taking Accutane I could sometimes tast it in my throat. I know that sounds weird but it's true. Also I had a problem with fatigue. I would sleep a lot or get fatigued more oftern. I didn't suffer to badly with dry skin or a red face. I had very high oil production, and Accutane managed to even me out. I consider myself so lucky that it was inctoduced on the market in my lifetime.
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Rissa
Member
03-20-2006
| Saturday, March 07, 2009 - 5:11 am
DH used Acutane in his twenties and didn't have a single side-effect (physical or emotional). He did have to go and get a blood test every few weeks to monitor his liver (I believe it was his liver, long time ago). I have talked to a lot of people whose docs put them on the drug and never bother to do the proper monitoring. Perhaps it has to do with age of patient? Anyway, DH needed a 2nd go round but it did work and permanently and I hope Caleb gets the same end result. DD is just starting figuring out her acne options. She is only 12 and her acne is not half as bad as some but I wanted to nip it in the bud before it does. Cosmetic? Who are they kidding?
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Couchtomato
Member
09-09-2008
| Saturday, March 07, 2009 - 6:47 am
War, contact the pharmaceutical company. Some companies will send you coupons or $-off cards for their products. It's worth a try.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Saturday, March 07, 2009 - 11:48 pm
Couch, I hadn't thought about that, thank you! Rissa, if you haven't yet, I'd get her in to the doctor. I'm not pushing accutane, promise. Caleb's acne got real bad when he was about 10 and a half and we waited about 8 months before talking to his pediatrician about it. We thought we'd get him into a good cleaning ritual with otc stuff and see if that worked first, and now I'm wishing we hadn't waited so long since he does have some scarring that we'll have to decide what to do about later on. I've heard from a few people that things like the medicated face wipes that the ped prescribed worked great with their kids, while they may not have worked with him 8 months earlier we would have at least started the whole process much sooner. Ny, yep, doxycycline. I wasn't real happy with it, besides a barely noticeble improvement, I just wasn't all that thrilled with him being on antibiotics for a long time. I don't have any medical training, but I don't think long term antibiotics is a good idea. And Alwayz, I have even more reason to be ticked at the insurance co and the kids medical group today and yet another gripe about it! Last night, Kota told us she wasn't feeling well. Her throat hurt and she was running a small fever. I gave her tylenol and she went to bed early...Darren had the nasty cold last week and it's been making the rounds so wasn't too worried about it. When I went to bed, I woke her up cuz she was tossing, turning and talking in her sleep (sure sign of being really sick.) Her fever was high enough I didn't even have to touch her. I gave her motrin and a glass of water (also a wet washcloth) and she could hardly swallow it. She was up and down all night long complaining about her throat and it looks all nasty. I'm now worried it may be strep throat. Told Darren I'd take her to urgent care this morning. To explain...Dakota and Caleb's pediatrician belongs to one medical group, mine and Darren's to another. So the kids have always gone to one urgent care while we go to a different one. Six months or so ago, my medical group bought out the kids. My sil works for their urgent care and she had told me that eventually the kids would be going to our urgent care and within about two months sil was transferred over to our urgent care. 2-3 months ago I recieved a letter from the insurance co telling me the same thing sil had told me. This morning I got Kota ready and we went over to my urgent care. Signed in and set down to wait for them to call us to get her insurance card and all (waited half an hour) and I'm planning on telling them I think she has strep (at their old urgent care and the drs office if you tell them that they'll stick you in a room instead of waiting in the waiting room, might not get seen any sooner, but they won't keep you around other patients.) They finally called her name and I went up and handed her the card and she looked at it and told me they can't see Kota, the transfer between the two medical groups isn't complete yet so she has to go to the old urgent care. Told the woman that we'd just driven by there since it was on our way and they are closed. She said I'd have to call insurance co then to get approval to come back to this one. Took Kota and came home, called the insurance co and get a message that they are closed call back Mon-Fri, 9-5 (if I needed urgent care during those hours I wouldn't need to call we'd just go to the pediatrician!) Decided to take a chance and call the old urgent care and someone actually did answer. She told me they were closed, but to try the office in Palmdale. Called them and talked to another real person who told me they were closed and to call the insurance co. ARGH!!!! Now I have a kid I think might have strep, running a high fever, and I can't take her to the old urgent care, can't take her to the new urgent care, her pediatricians office is closed til Monday, and the insurance co is closed so I can't figure out where the hell I'm supposed to take her! I now understand why people with insurance go sit in the ER for problems they don't really need to go to the ER for. We're hoping she can wait til Monday (and it is just a nasty cold even though it's only her throat hurting) to go see her pediatrician. Switching between Motrin and Tylenol to keep the fever down though we know as soon as it wears off cuz she throws up. She's been drinking gatorade and had some soup broth earlier. I'm not sure what else to do, other than if she gets any worse I will take her to ER tomorrow. Otherwise we'll wait it out. I'm furious. It's absolutely ridiculous I can't get my kid into the drs office when she needs to go. Darren's planning on talking to the lady at work who takes care of the insurance stuff (though both of us agree it isn't so much the insurance co as the medical groups) cuz we probably won't be the only ones dealing with this problem and maybe she can get some answers for those who come up against the same thing.
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Biscottiii
Member
05-29-2004
| Sunday, March 08, 2009 - 2:03 am
That really sucks War! I think the next person I talked to that I would start firmly repeating a mantra: "This appears to be Medical Malpractice" yes, I understand the changes in the system but "This appears to be Medical Malpractice" "This appears to be Medical Malpractice" you left a KID in this sorry shape over a weekend? "This appears to be Medical Malpractice" Might Help them get their so called "Practice" together before someone gets hurt or even killed from the result. What if it was something like Encephalitis or something? We had a round of that last year with wrestling teams up here.
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Sunday, March 08, 2009 - 3:01 am
That's the problem though, Bisc, who is the next person to talk to? By the time the insurance co is open, her pediatrician will be open and I will take her there. I'm planning on calling my sil tomorrow and see if she has any ideas. She doesn't work with the insurance part but she might know who to ask to find out where I can take Kota. I'm rather embarrassed to say I didn't think about doing that earlier, but I was so mad about the whole thing it just didn't dawn on me. Either she'll know where I can take her or I think we'll end up in ER. I can't get her fever to stay down, I'm alternating tyelnol/motrin (both junior) every four hours which usually knocks it out, but it's not this time. The last 3 and a half hours have been pretty rough, she keeps waking up and crying cuz she feels so lousy. I really don't think we'll be able to wait til Monday morning at this rate.
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