Levaquin, Azithromycin, And Cindy #21

Levaquin is a drug prescribed by a family practice doctor I go to when I need to see a general practitioner.  I have been to this particular doctor 3 times in the last 16 months, including last week.  I have had an on and off again sore throat and mild cough every few weeks or so for the last 4 months.  My ears and throat were again bothering me and this doctor found that I had a bacterial infection and needed an antibiotic.  Me being allergic to penicillin brought the doctor to giving me a prescription for Levaquin, an antibiotic.   At Walgreens I found out that Levaquin is an expensive drug ($135.00 for 7 pills) there is no generic, and my insurance will not pay anything towards the cost.  My health insurance is pretty good.  Normally I pay $10.00 or less on most medications I take, my insurance paying the rest.  When questioned, our pharmacist told us although there was no generic available there were several other less expensive alternatives to Levaquin. Well, my medical advocate (Cindy), called this doctors office around noon telling them I had been in earlier and the rest of the story and could the doctor call in an alternative medication to Walgreens. The nurse said "sure."  About  6:00 pm still no prescription had been called in.  My ears and throat were getting worse, I was achy and was not feeling too well.  Cindy calls the office and gets the after hours answering service, goes through the complete story and gets the "our doctors don't do prescriptions on the phone after hours" answer.  My advocate reminds them of the doctor 6 hours earlier was suppose to be taking care of this, so therefore we are not asking for "after hours, against protocol prescription service". "Sorry we can't do that".  My advocate,   "You have the on duty doctor call me."   I won't drag this out any further but I was feeling pretty miserable, it took Cindy another hour or so but she got me an alternative (Azithromycin) to the expensive stuff Levaquin. Within an hour of taking it I was feeling much better and slept well.  Thank you Cindy.  

There is really a lot more to this story than my praising Cindy and continuing to go on about having an advocate.  Too many people take what is sent their way by their medical providers without questioning why, what, or where.  I was one of those people.  I ended up paying $10.00 for the Azithromycin versus $135.00 for the other.  There is some reason this doctor I used was prescribing that expensive medication. It is not the first time that has happened to me there, but it is the last time. I won't be going back to that doctor. That will be my choice, not my insurance company or someone else.  I am sure many of you out there are as dogged, determined, and involved as my wife in seeing that they, or their families, get the best medical treatment as possible.   Many more of you are like me, believing everything a doctor or nurse does for me is always in my best interest, and we are wrong.  It is not that they are looking to mistreat you, or take advantage of you. They are just like most of us, they are busy, under pressure, stress, and make decisions that are not always the best decision for you....or me. 

Since having a heart attack, my wife has shielded me from having to deal with a lot of stress. We have discussed earlier about stress and what part that plays over the years in leading up to heart failure and poor health. How you deal with it afterwards being a part of recovery, and living a heart healthy lifestyle.

I hope my encouragement has led some of you to exercising regularly as part of your recovery.  Next time we will get more into exercising.