No free Meds?

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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Forgive me if I spit and sputter while posting

BUT
just had a visit from my lovely avocado seller lady about her schizophrenic son.complete with the perscription that the psych doc gave her

for what is probably about $5000 worth of meds!!!!

Am now going to start interceding with this psych.. who prescribed Haldol, thorazine, carbazabine and one other.... all at once... to control this kid who when not medicated is violent and hits her.

now.. she did say that there was a pharmacy at the psych hospital where he goes every month.. at san cristobal

but they do not have the meds for sale there..


so

i wonder why there are all these MDs who really can only write scripts .. and then the people cannot afford the meds

since that is all allopathic docs can do, right? meds and surgery...

wowoowow

I am going to have to intercede here since the poor lady cannot read or write.. and since I cannot pay for these meds..

since the Doc needs to understand that she simply cannot afford these

the poor cannot fight for themselves...

makes me want to cry

(time for my meds!)
 
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dv8

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MA, do not get upset... take your avocado seller to the pharmacy and have the worker find her cheaper medicine with the same or similar compound.
people often do not understand that medicine can be replaced with a cheaper alternative. haldol is very expensive because it comes for an expensive lab but there is a dominican lab making what i call "happy pills" for all all sory of psychological conditions, schizophrenia included. their pills sell at 10-20 pesos each.
she should also ask for a discount, most farmacias will offer 10% off for any purchase above 100-200 pesos.
 

sweetdbt

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Haldol and Thorazine are 2 of the very first antipsychotic medications developed, and should indeed be available in cheap generic forms. I suspect the 3rd med is Carbamazepine, which is generic for Tegratol, a mood stabilizer and anti-convulsant.

Generic names:
Haloperidol (Haldol)
Clopromazine (Thorazine)


While effective in treating the symptoms of schizophrenia, they have some really nasty side effects. Unfortunately Newer meds which are as effective or more with minimal side effects would be many many times more expensive, if they are even available.
 

Floridaborn

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You can also try Centro Sanitario in POP - the farmacia sells Carbamazepine sometimes .. and cheaper !
 

dv8

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carbamazepina from laboratorio inmenol is only 3 pesos a pill when tegretol (from novartis) is 15 pesos a pill...
"happy pill" lab (rama, actually :) ) has haloperidol. i cannot remember the price but i will post later from the farmacia with all info...
 

mountainannie

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Thanks all

I found this site

:::...:::: Remedios para Todos..!!!

and am going to help her get over to the ONLY psych hospital... Padre Bellini if I can figure out where KM 8 is on Autopista Duarte

Think that is better than trying to negotiate with the pharmacies...

spent a lot of time on this today

but feel much relieved to see that the GOV actually does supply low cost drugs,,.

although how a person who does not read and write is going to access their web page.....

dunno
 

dv8

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don't get your hopes up. farmacias del pueblo only sell basic medicine. and none of the things she wants is on the list, save for carbamazepina which is actually for epilepsy, not schizophrenia. i think you must have meant either clorpromazina or clozapina here...
here are the meds normally given for schizophrenia:
clobazam, sold as FRISIUM or URBADAN, frisium is about 90 pesos but it is made by sanofi aventis so expensive lab.
ziprasidona, sold as GEODON, i do not have it on my price list thou
risperidona, sold as PERIDONA (not on my price list) or RISDON (25 pesos).
quetapina, sold under different names: SEROQUEL (100 pesos), QUETAZIC (33), QUETIAP (26), SERENIL (29).
olanzapina zold as ZELTA, again, not on my price list.

other meds that are tranquilizantes:
LITIO (carbonato de lition, 9 pesos)
HALOPEDIDOL, same as haldol, 11 pesos
TIFLUN (fluoxetina, 550 for a box of 25 pill)
PERFEN (perfanazina, 26 pesos)
ZUCLO-P (clozapina, 26 pesos)
CLORPROMAZINA, 13 pesos, also sold as PROZYL at 10 pesos
AMITRIPTILINA at 9 pesos, or as SICOBIL at 10 pesos

plenty to chose from. take her to another doctor and ask him what meds from this list would be most suitable.
you will not find anything cheaper.
again, do not bother with farmacias del pueblo, i saw their medicine list and they do not have psychotic drugs.
 

dv8

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oh, here in POP, just opposite from metro there is a charity pharmacy, so to speak. in a big building, casa de oracion. they sell medicine very cheap. i am sure there must be something like this in SD...
 

mountainannie

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don't get your hopes up. farmacias del pueblo only sell basic medicine. and none of the things she wants is on the list, save for carbamazepina which is actually for epilepsy, not schizophrenia. i think you must have meant either clorpromazina or clozapina here...
here are the meds normally given for schizophrenia:
clobazam, sold as FRISIUM or URBADAN, frisium is about 90 pesos but it is made by sanofi aventis so expensive lab.
ziprasidona, sold as GEODON, i do not have it on my price list thou
risperidona, sold as PERIDONA (not on my price list) or RISDON (25 pesos).
quetapina, sold under different names: SEROQUEL (100 pesos), QUETAZIC (33), QUETIAP (26), SERENIL (29).
olanzapina zold as ZELTA, again, not on my price list.

other meds that are tranquilizantes:
LITIO (carbonato de lition, 9 pesos)
HALOPEDIDOL, same as haldol, 11 pesos
TIFLUN (fluoxetina, 550 for a box of 25 pill)
PERFEN (perfanazina, 26 pesos)
ZUCLO-P (clozapina, 26 pesos)
CLORPROMAZINA, 13 pesos, also sold as PROZYL at 10 pesos
AMITRIPTILINA at 9 pesos, or as SICOBIL at 10 pesos

plenty to chose from. take her to another doctor and ask him what meds from this list would be most suitable.
you will not find anything cheaper.
again, do not bother with farmacias del pueblo, i saw their medicine list and they do not have psychotic drugs.

thanks so much DV8!

Here is the list that the Pharmacias del Pueblo supposedly sell

Carbamacepina 200 mg comp.
Decanoato de Flufenazina 25 mg/ml amp. 2ml
Haloperidol 10 mg comp.
Risperidona 2mg comp.
Fluoxetina 20 mg comp..
Imipramina 25 mg comp.
Carbonato de Litio 300 mg comp.

I am going to check the prices on the list and post them

and then go to psych hospital and see if they are Really available..

Are the prices that you posted actually the prices at which you sell them?

What gets me is that this woman WENT to a psych hospital /./ supposedly... in San Cristobal,, at least that what was on the script even though officially there is only one psych hospital here in SD..

and the doc KNOWS that she does not have any money

And yet the public doc did not direct her to where she could find the meds cheaply...

ok.. maybe it is not possible

but she sold her cooking gas tank... and is a month behind in her rent because of having to buy meds....


no it was carpazabine.. which I know is used for bipolar.. so perhaps there is not a firm diagnosis.. as there often is not
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Annie: the Padre Bellini Hospital Siquiatrico is on the left at the second light after the toll booths! It is in Pedro Brand...Just turn left at that second light.

Good luck...it is a good thing you are doing.

HB
 

dv8

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the prices listed by me are from our pharmacy or as appear in our system. lowest price for lowest dosis.
i looked at a price list on the link you posted, to be more precise here:
:::...:::: Remedios para Todos..!!!
indeed the medicine for psychological disorders are among those sold in farmacias de pueblo hospitalarias, at the bottom of the page. i did not look there :(
halopedirol at 1 peso, fluoxetina at 2 and risperidona at 5.
 

mountainannie

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Annie: the Padre Bellini Hospital Siquiatrico is on the left at the second light after the toll booths! It is in Pedro Brand...Just turn left at that second light.

Good luck...it is a good thing you are doing.

HB

Thanks.. but I do not drive. Could you tell me how far away from Gazcue this is? Anyone know of public transport? I can take her in a cab the first time but the object is for her to be able to get there alone.

well, perhaps.. it started off as a good thing... although I have told her more than once that I CANNOT be the source of these meds forever... I did pay to have the boy evaluated at the local acupuncture clinic .. but they said that it was neurological and beyond them.

The Mom is really quite amazing.. appears that she comes in all the way from San Cristobal to sell her avocados.. and sits right opposite La Cadena all day.. I always buy from here, even if it is more expensive since she can give me the one that is ripe for today and the one for tomorrow. She is one month behind in her rent.. and has had to sell the gas tank for cooking in order to buy these medicines.. BUT she is amazingly cheerful and appears to talk about this with no sense of stigma or shame.. which is certainly a good thing.

AND last night I pitched the story to my editor in NY and she gave me the go ahead to do a story... since it might indeed have implications for other countries. So I will at least make back the money that I am putting out.


*will contact DV8 via PM to interview

But the mystery for me remains WHY a doc would NOT inform this woman of where to get the cheaper drugs? Where is the glitch in the system? Do not quite know how I am going to get that part of the story.

Plus why would he prescribe drugs that are NOT sold by the People's pharmacy?

Is there publicity around these pharmacies? I mean, do all the poor people KNOW to go there?

On the face of it.. ie first look.. there is a HUGE difference in pricing

as in

Riperidona 2 mg

People;s-- 8 pesos .. 13 cents US
Pharm (per DV8) 25 pesos 67cents
On line 99 cents

These are quite preliminary .. and I am not even sure that I am comparing the same dosages....

Plus there does seem to be controversy over whether the generics even work as well as the brand names.. Lots of internet chat about this vis a vis Tegretol. Carpazabine...

I do sorta feel bad about using some one's distress as a press story.. but I think that perhaps the information will be useful. And I will not feel drained by the time and money that I am putting into this.
 

sweetdbt

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Sep 17, 2004
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I am sure we are talking about the same medication annie. Language issue, no doubt. Generic Tegratol. A medication first developed to treat seizure disorders and later found to be effective as a mood stabilizer to control the manic phase of bi-polar disorders.

Carbamacepina 200 mg comp.
Decanoato de Flufenazina 25 mg/ml amp. 2ml
Haloperidol 10 mg comp.
Risperidona 2mg comp.
Fluoxetina 20 mg comp..
Imipramina 25 mg comp.
Carbonato de Litio 300 mg comp.

A few things about this list of meds based on my 25 years of experience working with people with schizophrenia.

Imipramina and Flouxatina (Prozac) are antidepressants and would likely make things worse for a schizophrenic.

Surprised to see Risperadona on the list. It is a newer med and should have fewer side effects.

Decoanaoto de Flufenazina is an antipsychotic medication which is injected into the muscle tissue (usually buttocks). It is dissolved slowly into the blood stream and only needs to be given every 2-4 weeks. Great option if compliance is an issue, and might be cost effective. Requires a nurse to administer in the states, but I'm sure mom could do it with some training. Sterile needle a must, of course.

Carbanato de Lithio would be a possible option to the carbazapine. Both are used to control manic mood.
 
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dv8

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omg, an interview? :)
i shall respond today, MA, as i am home now and to give you any details i'd need to access our pharma system.

to answer your general questions:
it is known that doctors are "paid" to prescribe certain medicine, at least in europe. the lab does not give money, but they can invite doctors to a seminar in the caribbean paying all the costs. the seminar would be, of course, on new drugs from XYZ lab. even here, in DR we are sometimes invited to take a tour in one of the labs: lab picks you up, takes to the location and then for dinner, horse riding or whatnot.

another thing is that there is a limited number of active compounds but unlimited number of drugs. and new drugs come out every single day. doctors may not be up to date with new generic names. dominican pharma industry is very active, there are several companies making drugs and they introduce new products all the time, trying to compete with the likes of merc, bayer, novartis, glaxo.

then there is an issue of people themselves. who know nothing about medicine. and who do not understand that prescription says diclofenac and you offer them diclo-k. or, worse even, oxa. or acteric. all the same basic compound but all sold at different prices, by different labs, under different names. gets worse when you have a prescription with a compound, like, say misoprostol (for ulcers, used here to abort pregnancies). because there is no medicine under this name. we only sell cytotec (by pfizer, 92 pesos) or citek (by dominican lab ethical, at 50 pesos). doctors know that people get confused and they want to make it easy...

fourth thing is, of course, the effectiveness. i will not get into that because i am not a doctor not chemist. i will only say that any pill contains expicientes or, in other words some stuff that holds the pill together, covers it, dissolves it and so on. can be gelatin, sugar and millions of other things. this may or may not make a difference because of allergies and the metabolism of the individual. some may have stomach problems and others will digest the same medicine with no problem. you can see a simple article on that in wiki and you will see that with every single pill you take a dollop of other chemicals and they are not on the compound list.

what else... doctors also prescribe what they believe is the best. i went to a dermatologo some time ago with skin allergy. she told me to use elomet, which basically is mometasona. one small tube sells at over 900 pesos. i looked at the box and went directly the shelf with dominican labs to get a cream that is 3 times cheaper. did i get better? i did. within two days. would there be the same result if i used elomet? i have no doubt. but i am stingy. i believe in dominican labs, well, some of them :) this really is good stuff.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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There is public transportation to the hospital. Just tell her Pedro Brand..she will find her way...A taxi will cost you 2000 at least and not necessary.

You can give her maybe RD$200 for the buses and the pills...and that should be enough for a month.

HB
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
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There is public transportation to the hospital. Just tell her Pedro Brand..she will find her way...A taxi will cost you 2000 at least and not necessary.

You can give her maybe RD$200 for the buses and the pills...and that should be enough for a month.

HB

cabs here cost 300 pesos an hour... but I can rent a car if needed... am first going to check if these meds can be found here in center... at one of the People's pharmacies... then set up an interview with Promese and then perhaps with the hospital.

is this the right one?
Pedro Brand Map | Dominican Republic Google Satellite Maps