The Hunt for Suprax

When the Physician’s Assistant, Suzanne, prescribed Suprax to Annabelle, I asked her if she could make sure she prescribed something that came in generic as well. She said, “I don’t know if this one comes in generic, but if they don’t have it, just have the pharmacist call us.”

So, after we leave the doctor’s office around 11:30 a.m., we head straight home to get Annabelle settled and more comfortable. She was feeling much better at this point (or so she seemed). Of course, that is pretty typical of this child. Every time I’ve taken her to the doctor for an illness, she perks up again to her happy little self. As soon as we walked into that doctor’s office, she was smiling and laughing again. Of course, she had just had a dose of Tylenol.

She comes by that quite honestly too. The same day I was hospitalized for a bladder infection gone bad into a kidney infection back in 2000, I had visited the doctor only a few hours before. He told my mom when he spoke to her later that day that she needed to take me to the hospital immediately, and the only reason he had not hospitalized me earlier in the day was because I looked happy, and I looked like I wasn’t feeling too bad.

Anyhow, I got Annabelle settled with Grandmama, and I ran to Publix to fill her prescription and purchase some popsicles, Jell-O, Gatorade and fruit. When I dropped the prescription off with the pharmacist, she told me that they didn’t have any of the Suprax on hand, and also that she has called around to other pharmacists before and it was very rare for anyone to carry it. Of course, she said that she was happy to call around. I asked her to call around if she didn’t mind, and I told her that if she could not find it to please just call the doctor’s office and see if there was something else they could prescribe instead. However, I did explain to her that this was Annabelle’s first bladder infection, and the results of the culture were not back yet to identify the bacteria that had caused the infection. Therefore, the Physician’s Assistant was prescribing an antibiotic that would fight most of the bacteria causing bladder infections. So, I thought it probably made sense to find the Suprax (or its generic) if it could be found.

After I finished grocery shopping (and before I checked out), I went back by the pharmacist to pick up the prescription. She told me that she had found it at Walgreen’s at Oak Grove. I asked her if the generic prescription was available, and she said that particular antibiotic did not come in generic.

So, since I had popsicles to purchase and Publix subs for lunch for Grandmama and Granddaddy (and me), I decided to head home first to get the cold stuff in the fridge. But, first, I decided to stop by CVS on the way home because this is normally where I fill my prescriptions, and I thought it would be easier to just have CVS fill the prescription while I went home to get everyone fed. I knew it would probably take longer at Walgreen’s because I’ve never filled a prescription with them before, so they don’t have all of our insurance information on hand. And, I thought they could easily contact the doctor’s office to see if there was another generic prescription that would do the job as well. The pharmacist seemed to think that there was probably another prescription that would work too, but she first needed to contact the doctor’s office.

She told me she would try to contact them, but they may be out to lunch since it was close to 12:59 p.m. when she called them. She was able to contact the doctor’s office, but apparently, the doctor had already left for lunch (naturally). She asked me if I wanted to wait until the doctor returned to see if he would recommend something else, but I told her that I would just go ahead and have the Suprax filled with Walgreen’s since I knew they had it on hand.

On the way home, I tried to contact the insurance company to make sure that Suprax was not a non-preferred drug. I definitely did not want to end up spending $60 - $75 on an antibiotic when a generic drug could be prescribed instead.

Well, that was a fun phone call. I could have sworn the last time I called the insurance company that pressing “0 0 0 0 0 0 0” connected me with the operator. But, that wasn’t the case this time! Instead, I had to listen to them tell me to enter some number that I only assumed was my insurance ID # only to then hear them repeat back the wrong number! Not to mention, I had to listen to “Did you say benefits and eligibility?” “YES!” I said. “Okay, we are connecting you with benefits and eligibility. Please state your [something] number.” Finally, I was connected with the operator, and I’m not sure what I did wrong to finally be connected to a human voice, but I was!

Then, apparently, I was connected with the wrong department, so they had to reconnect me. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait as long as I did the first time around. Dave with the insurance company helped me, and he was able to find that this particular drug fell under the $20 copay for name brand drugs.

So, granted, at this point, I am very, very frustrated. Why couldn’t the Physician’s Assistant prescribe something that was commonly carried? It really irritates me more to think that she possibly prescribed Suprax because someone in pharmaceutical sales is pushing this drug. I tried to search online before I left to fill the prescription to find out if the drug was a new drug, but I couldn’t find anything, so I finally left the house around 2:15 p.m. to head to Walgreen’s to get the prescription filled. I really would have preferred a generic prescription, but I didn’t want to spend any more time waiting on the doctor to prescribe yet another drug that may or may not come in generic.

When I arrived at Walgreen’s, there was a wait as they seemed very busy and everyone was either filling prescriptions or talking on the phone with insurance companies. After she gathered all of Annabelle’s information, she asked what time I would like to pick up the prescription. I told her I was planning to wait, and she told me that it would probably take 30 minutes. So, that would mean the prescription would not be ready until 3:00 p.m. I decided to leave and come back because I needed to run one other errand, and I figured I could finish that errand in 30-45 minutes.

I arrived back to pick up the prescription around 3:30 p.m. The pharmacist asked the girl I was dealing with whether or not the prescription was covered. She told him it was, and he told her to look at the price. So, she contacted the insurance company, and she asked me a few more questions such as who is the primary on the card and is Annabelle the child. Then, she asked for Annabelle’s social security number. Naturally, I don’t have Annabelle’s social security number memorized. I guess she could tell I was discouraged because she then asked for hubby’s social security number. I do have that number memorized, so she was able to process everything using hubby’s social security number.

I started to pay my $20 copay, but I then asked her if Walgreen’s still did the deal with getting a free gift card if you had a new or transferred prescription. It never hurts to ask! She walked away for a minute, and then she came back with a coupon. She found a coupon to get me a $25 gift card with a new prescription! Finally, something went right! Of course, I don’t normally shop at Walgreen’s, but I am sure I can find some groceries to spend it on.

So, I left Walgreen’s, and I got home around 3:45 p.m., shortly before Annabelle woke up from her two hour nap. When she did wake up, she was so miserable she could not even stand up in the crib. She just cried for me. When I picked her up, she felt very, very hot. Grandmama held her while I measured out the medicine. I gave her a dose of Suprax (1 teaspoonful) at 3:51 p.m., and I followed the Suprax with a dose of Motrin at 4:00 p.m. I took her temperature before I gave her the Motrin, and it registered 104 degrees Fahrenheit orally! Poor baby! I really hope this medicine does the trick.

And, would you believe that the retail price for Suprax is $199.99! I saved $179.99 because we had insurance on Annabelle. It seems like the insurance companies would offer an even bigger discount (besides a $10 copay versus $20 copay) for generic prescriptions. I would not think that generic prescriptions would be that costly, but maybe they are.

And, one last note of mention. The pharmacist asked if I wanted to add flavor to the medicine for an additional $2.99. I passed on it just hoping that Annabelle would not spit the medicine back out. I think it must actually taste good (without the flavor) because she took the medicine without a problem. And, the medicine smells fruity.