Emend question

CherylHutch said:

Drugs
Awww Joanne, that really and truly does suck! The fact there are medications out there that can help... and everyone reacts differently to treatments so the medications that help are individual. I was so sick with my first treatment of the chemo Irinotecan, a chemo that so many have said they found easier to take with little side affects... but seriously, I can totally relate to what you say you are experiencing with your nausea. This second treatment of Irinotecan, my onc has basically cut the dose in half but has me coming in every two weeks instead of every three weeks... and put me on Emend. I know the smaller dose of chemo has helped, but the Emend totally cleared up any sign of nausea... so it obviously works for me. Phil here on the board said it didn't work at all for him, but that a little bit of marijuana cleared up his nausea. When I was on the FOLFOX chemo, one or two puffs of the smoke did the trick for me too... but alas, didn't come near to touching this horrid nausea I had with the Irinotecan.

Soooo, it's a matter of trying different things and something that may not work for one of us, might just do the trick for you. Another one you might ask about... it's the steroid they give those of us on chemo called Dexamethasone. It is NOT a med that you want to take long term... it can have it's own side affects (can cause high blood pressure, can trigger diabetes, etc)... but I have found it to be a miracle med for the nausea as well as various physical pains.

Talk to your doctor/radiologist... anyone on your team and tell them the nausea is beyond acceptable. I am always shocked at how I think a lot of Americans are being ripped off with the cost of drugs. I am in Canada... so we won't even go into the differences in Healthcare Insurance, that's a whole other topic. But when it comes to drugs/prescriptions, those are NOT covered through our healthcare insurance unless we are in the hospital. Any meds given when you are in the hospital are covered, but if you are not hospitalized, and you get prescriptions from your GP or whoever, then you pay for them yourself. Yes, there are "Extended Healthcare" insurance programs that you can pay for (or an employer pays for as part of an employee benefit) and those really do help depending on how much they cover... but not everyone has them. So, you are saying that your 3-pack Emend is $150/pill. That is $450 for the 3-day pack. Now, up here we have the same 3-day pack of Emend, made by the exact same company/manufacturer... the only difference is our packaging has to be in both English and French.... and I have my receipt right here in front of me. Here is the breakdown of cost:

Emend Tri-Pack:

Cost: $102.68
Pharmacy Fee: $10.60
Total: $113.28
BC Pharmacare: $0.00 (provincial pharmacy program where once I reach my deductible, they will kick in and pay a
portion of any prescription meds, which will bring my patient portion down more)
Pacific Blue Cross: $78.60
Patient Pays: $34.68

So, ignore the BC Pharmacare and Pacific Blue Cross portions... look at the cost of the same 3-pack that we get 1/4 the cost it cost Americans. That is criminal that the pharmaceutical industry can get away with that! Right now, the Canadian dollar is pretty much on par with the American dollar, so those costs are pretty much dollar for dollar.

Have you tried looking into ordering your meds from an online Canadian Pharmacy? I know, that sounds weird, but it is very popular with a lot of Americans and for those who live closer to the border, they even have organized bus trips across the border for seniors to bring their legitimate prescriptions (must be prescriptions written by a legitimate doctor) to be filled at a Canadian pharmacy.

Here's one of the bigger ones that a lot of Americans use and it is based out of Manitoba:

CanadaDrugs.com

A couple years back, when the Bush administration was still in power, they tried their darndest to convince the American public that it was dangerous to order drugs online from third-world countries and that American citizens should only buy safe drugs from American companies who make these drugs. That was quite the joke back then because since when was Canada considered a third-world country creating dangerous drugs to be sold online?? I'd say a good 80% or more of the drug manufacturing companies in Canada ARE American companies that have set up shop in Canada because for years our dollar was quite a bit lower than the US dollar, hence it was cheaper for these companies to make their products but still charge the higher prices in the US. And yes, we have Canadian companies that make drugs that other companies don't make... and they are bought by the US and still sold at the higher prices. The Pharmaceutical industry is a powerful player and as we all know, billions of dollars are made through this industry.

I have not, personally, ordered any prescriptions online... it doesn't make sense for me to do that when there are at least a dozen pharmacies within walking distance from my home, and most of them even have delivery service (IE: my local Safeway pharmacy has free delivery service for any prescription that is filled at their store). I also notice, the cost online is a bit higher than what I pay in person... so I'm not sure if that is because of extra costs for having an online service, or because the shipping is free... but suffice it to say, you can look up the meds you have to buy and see what the savings would be to order them online from Canada. I checked the emend and for a 3-day pack, you'd be saving over $200 per pack.

Something to think about... and look into. Still not cheap, but cheaper than what they are trying to sell them for at your local pharmacy.

Cheryl

tootsie1 said:

Sorry
I don't have any great ideas for you, but I just want to wish you well. Hopefully something that others have suggested will work out for you.

*hugs*
Gail