So, I have a new nurse practitioner for my medicine. The one I had took an offer somewhere else not client-facing.

Anywho, before she left she was trying to lower my dosages of medication to eventually eliminate some. Initially she talked about lowering my anxiety medicine but I was too worried about my panic attacks coming back. So we talked some more and decided we would take the Auvelity (for depression) down from twice a day to once a day. I did that for a week and a half and my depression started creeping back in. So I went back to two a day like she said I could if this happened.

So naturally I had to make this note with my Spravato team (there are two women doing it now) because my depression had gone up. Thankfully, taking the two a day Auvelity kicked back in so my depression level has gone down again.

During this time, my insurance denied one of my sleep aids (Quviviq). I’ve been on it for MONTHS with no problem. Now, ALL OF A SUDDEN, I get a letter from our insurance saying I need to try a different medicine (Belsomra) to see if that will work in place of the Quviviq.

Now, I’m almost positive Belsomra is cheaper for insurance than Quviviq is and that’s why, but why would you mess with something that is working? I know why.

Because it’s a numbers game! Some kid behind a computer sees that the insurance company can pay less if I’m on Belsomra instead of Quviviq. Craziness! This person knows NOTHING about me personally yet they are making quite a big decision in my life. *face palm* And the worst part is that it took over a month for insurance to send me a letter letting me know I needed to try this new drug. So my sleep has been crap for over a month because I’ve only been on one sleep aid.

Oh, and even better, in order to get put on this other medicine I had to set up ANOTHER appointment with my new nurse practitioner a week after I had already seen her instead of just being able to show her assistant the letter and the nurse practitioner send in the script to the pharmacy. *face palm*

And this happens to A LOT of people unfortunately, with all kinds of different medications. The insurance companies only care about the bottom line, dollars, they don’t care about the person behind the medicine.

I mean, how do drug companies come up with the cost of these medicines anyways? It seems to me, the more people need the medicine the more expensive it is. And the more that someone NEEDS the drug, like one to help someone breathe, the more expensive it is, even with insurance covering a portion. This should NOT happen! All medicine should be affordable and available to everyone. People should not be having to choose between their medicine, bills, and groceries.

But there are people whose pockets get padded by these insurance companies and it’s disgusting!

End of my rant. I hope you enjoy your week.

Join me next week when I talk about the relationship with my Dad.