So I told my Doctor to prescribe Bromfed to reduce the effects of my summer allergies and rushed off to Wal-Mart to fill the prescription. A close friend of mine had suggested Bromfed some time ago and I finally decided to request it since my allergies often ruin entire days during the long summer months. Now Bromfed contains pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient that became famous for crystal methamphetamine manufacturing. The federal government and pharmaceutical giants are strapped at the hip to each other. Therefore any drug which conjures up a serious black market economy must be dealt with. The utmost intimidation is now applied to all products containing pseudoephedrine. It’s getting regulated like crack cocaine; causing all of us allergy sufferers to wait in long lines and run all over town trying to fill a script.
I was pleased to discover that my health insurance covered Bromfed so that I only had to pay a whopping four dollars for a months supply. Besides the long lines at the Wal-Mart pharmacy things were going great. My allergies were largely under control and I was able to make it through the day like a normal person.
Now Bromfed comes in two different mixtures. It can come with 60mg pseudoephedrine or 120mg pseudoephedrine much like Claritin-D, which is now kept behind the counter at Wal-Mart. To obtain Claritin D you must stand in line, hand over your driver’s license, wait while the cashier types your information into their computer, and then sign your name. And that’s just for getting Claritin D! Well by God I hope some kids were kept off crystal meth and ole billy bob didn’t lose ALL of his teeth before they started regulating it Bill O’Reilly style.
Claritin-D 12 hour extended release tablets contain 5 mg loratadine in the tablet coating for immediate release and 120 mg pseudoephedrine sulfate equally distributed between the tablet coating for immediate release…
Pseudoephedrine sulfate is the synthetic salt of one of the naturally occurring dextrorotatory diastereomers of ephedrine and is classified as an indirect sympathomimetic amine. The empirical formula for pseudoephedrine sulfate is (C10H15NO)2H2SO4; the chemical name is a-[1-(methyl-amino) ethyl]-[S-(R*,R*)]-benzenemethanol sulfate (2:1)(salt).
Well surprise, surprise Wal-Mart stopped carrying the 120mg version (I suppose they are afraid I will make too much crystal meth with it and sell it)! Thinking that Walgreens might carry the stronger version, which works the best, I drove over to discuss the matter with them. They said they couldn’t fill the prescription because they too just stopped carrying the 120mg formula. I asked if they could call my Doctor on the phone and request he change it to a similar drug. As luck would have it my Doctor’s office closes at 2:00 on Fridays and it was already thirty minutes past closing. So I couldn’t fill the prescription.
The following Friday I went to my Doctor’s office in person to ask him to change the script. They handed me the bottle back and said to take it to Walgreens and have them call their office. I went to Walgreens, gave them the bottle and instructions, and waited while they called my Doctor. Within minutes she came back and stated that they had spoken with my Doctor and the script would be filled in thirty minutes. I needed to leave town so I informed them I would come back the next day (Saturday).
Saturday morning I showed up to pick up the medication and guess what? They don’t have the prescription in stock and said that it would be in Monday! I asked her the name of the prescription and she said Bromfed. I wanted to beat my head on the counter….. the script had not been changed.
Due to a funeral the following Wednesday I was off work and went back to Walgreens again to give it a shot one more time. I was very lucky in that the manager was on duty and just happened to be the aunt of a close friend. She said that they didn’t carry Bromfed. Naturally I’m standing there wondering what the hell is going on in this country. If it’s this hard to get some quality allergy medicine, what if I was really sick, dying and desperately needed the drugs to survive?
I explained to her that they were supposed to call my Doctor and change the prescription. She called while I was standing there and successfully changed the script to ‘another mixture’. I then asked her how much it would be because I wasn’t going to spend much (I could always opt for the Claritin D). She states $58.00. Then I handed her my insurance card and got the price down to $4.00. But it ain’t over till it’s over…
The new drug they switched me over to is Hista-Vent DA. Turns out the drug they have given me doesn’t have the pseudoephedrine! It’s been replaced by the mystery substance called phenylephrine hydrochloride. So I’ve gone from requesting and acquiring a great allergy medicine which contains pseudoephedrine (which has a history of superb results), to a mystery formula of which I’ve never tried.
And all of this……. for the children
America….. you are literally going to regulate yourselves to death!
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