Worship MD
I'm supposed to be trying this drug called Lamictal, a mood stabilizer, as a replacement for my anti-depressant and in concert with the anti-psychotic I've been on for a few months now. The hope is that, in addition to treating my mood, it will decrease the psychotic features I encounter. The problem is that the drug is expensive and I'll have to rely on the manufacturer's charity program so that I can receive it for free.
To that end I completed an application and made an appointment to bring it to my doctor to complete. The process is such that your doctor calls in the application which activates a voucher I can take to get my prescription filled the same day. My appointment was yesterday and when I arrived I found out that they had told me the wrong day - it was in fact set for a week from yesterday - but my doctor was kind enough to squeeze me in before her next appointment.
That was just the beginning of the fiasco. Doctors are supposedly an elite class of well educated and intelligent professionals entrusted with caring for our health. To that end I expected my doctor to review and follow the steps as outlined on the application, but she glanced at the steps, tried calling the number but it wasn't in service, gave up, and sent me on my way with instructions to just mail the application and wait. After I left I called the number myself and got through, which means she had mis-dialed. I called her office to explain, got her voicemail, and left a message to that effect and also trying to create a sense of urgency and have yet to hear back from them.
Make no mistake, I like my new doctor and I've warmed to her treatment plan, but it's a little disconcerting that she wasn't able to follow instructions and help me get on the new drug as soon as possible. If I have to wait until my next appointment it's going to be several weeks before I'm on the new medication and what's worse is that the appointment will just be a rehash of the one I had yesterday as there's no news to report but “my symptoms are the same.”