I can haz prescription?

July 3, 2013 4:53 PM

My new job doesnt give me health insurance until September 1st. My Celexa runs out in...two weeks. The pills are easy...they are one of the 4$ generic prescriptions at WalMart. But how on earth do I get a prescription to tide me over?!

I have a therapist, but she is a MFT. I asked her, but all she can do is recommend me to an actual doctor who will charge me at least 200$, which I'd really rather not do unless I absolutely have to. I'm not looking to establish a new relationship with a doctor now, just a bridge until I can do that while covered under insurance. I've called our local low cost state/city run health clinics, but I can't get any sort of appointment until early next month. I've been taking this medication for almost 10 years, and it isnt like...recreational in any way. There has to be some way to do this, but I am considering also going to Mexico. I feel like a total goober for letting it go this long.

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (15 answers total)

Who prescribed you the medication before? Can't you just get them to authorize another refill or two? It seems likely they would do this, especially as it is not a medication prone to abuse, you've been taking it for a long time, and need something to tide you over until your health insurance kicks in.
posted by zachlipton at 4:56 PM on July 3, 2013 [9 favorites]

If calling the original prescriber doesn't work, you could take the hit and pay cash at a GP or an urgent care clinic. Call around and explain your situation, it should cost less than $200.

My spouse had to do this once during a gap in our insurance too. It was like $90 bucks to do the urgent care thing, then the cost of the prescription.
posted by furnace.heart at 5:04 PM on July 3, 2013

Call the prescribing doc and explain the situation. When I moved My doc explained that it was his responsibility to continue the script until I got in with a new doc, which could have taken several months. I wound up with a 3 month refill, which Target filled as a 90 day supply for $10. Generally docs don't want you stopping Celexa cold turkey (and if its an established script for you and its working they wont need to change it) so don't be afraid to call and explain the problem.

If the off chance that doesn't work, a walk in clinic doc may be willing to help. Most walk in clinic visits around here are $65, and Celexa isn't something that's sold on the street or abused so most docs won't mind continuing it if you've been taking it a while. Additionally, call the local community mental health clinic in your area for low income/no insurance patients. They will probably charge less than $200.
posted by MultiFaceted at 5:06 PM on July 3, 2013

A doctor can also give you a couple week's worth of samples. Before you head to Mexico, call the one who prescribed you the meds and explain the situation.
posted by something something at 5:20 PM on July 3, 2013 [1 favorite]

FWIW, if you can't get the celexa in time, St. John's Wort helps with the SSRI withdrawals. Just don't take them at the same time!
posted by luckynerd at 5:33 PM on July 3, 2013

If you have been on it for that long a period of time, get a Primary Care Physician or go to an MD of any kind and see if they can't prescribe for you. Even a Nurse practitioner or urgent care appointment may be worth the investment. Throw the appointment payment on a credit card, then once the insurance kicks in you can submit a claim for the visit. You are going to have some serious discontinuation symptoms if you have beeb on Celexa for a while. That is your case, plain and simple, when speaking with whomever you consult with to obtain more meds.
posted by Jewel98 at 5:39 PM on July 3, 2013

Your first call should absolutely be to the doctor who prescribed the medication last. The office can likely request refills without your even having to go in.
posted by jaguar at 6:10 PM on July 3, 2013

Who wrote the original script? Ask them to extend a few more refills. Schedule an appt for September, explain you don't have insurance until then, and they should be able to extend it for another month.
posted by radioamy at 7:05 PM on July 3, 2013

Another approach is to have the pharmacist fax new prescription request to prescribing MD, my MD writes scrips this way.
posted by crazycanuck at 8:08 PM on July 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

Throw the appointment payment on a credit card, then once the insurance kicks in you can submit a claim for the visit. Most insurance plans will not pay for an appointment that took place before you were covered. My clinic will also take requests from the pharmacy to renew a prescription. They have done it without a word to me and other times they will call and check on me. Either way, no visit.
posted by soelo at 8:51 PM on July 3, 2013

My partner was recently in the same situation. After multiple phone calls, I found out that the walk-in clinic at Walgreen's (Take Care) will now prescribe antidepressants, as will the Minute Clinic (freestanding and at CVS) and the (non-chain) walk-in at my local WalMart. All three places places were sure to point out that they'll only prescribe if the NP thinks that it's necessary, but we had good luck taking in the prescription, explaining that there was a doctor's appointment for a refill in six weeks, but no one could see him before that, and we were new to the area/in insurance limbo and were hoping that they could see us through until then. The price for walk-ins varies by chain, but even without insurance, it's under a hundred bucks--not ideal, but less than the alternatives, probably.

If you're able to take some sort of documentation (from your therapist, maybe?) that you've been on a maintenance dose of this medication forever, the chances that they'll prescribe it for you seem to go up dramatically. (Anecdotal, from a NP at one of the local clinics.)

Also, if you can, find out who your new insurance company will be, and then call and make a new-patient appointment with a doctor (GP or psychiatrist) for when your insurance kicks in. This will help minimize the time you have to get stopgap prescriptions--being able to say "Yes, we have an appointment to see [local doctor] on [date], but can't see him before that" got us a long way.

Good luck!
posted by MeghanC at 9:08 PM on July 3, 2013

Your pharmacist should know how to solve this problem. That's their job - to make sure you get the prescriptions you need. My experience is if you tell a pharmacist this problem they don't just say "I'm sorry" they try to help you find solutions. And they would know the easiest, cheapest route in your location.
posted by cda at 6:02 AM on July 4, 2013

Call your Doctor's office and speak to his nurse. Explain that you need an exetnsion on your presciptions, you shouldn't have any issues.

Or, just have the pharmacy call for refills. They do that.

If either one of those things won't work, urgent care will write an Rx.

But really, your doctor's office will probably help you out with this.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:50 AM on July 4, 2013

If you have to go to Urgent Care or someone else for a new script, take your nearly empty bottle with you - it shows that your request is genuine, since your name and address, expiration date, etc. are all right there on the bottle. Most likely, though, your previous doctor will give you another month's prescription.
posted by aryma at 9:21 PM on July 4, 2013

Memail me if you haven't found a solution
posted by luckynerd at 6:02 PM on July 25, 2013