Drug out

There is something very weird going on. A few months ago, I was told by my pharmacy I couldn't get my metered dose inhaler -- Maxair, because they couldn't find any. They offered Albuterol, which gives me headaches and heart palpitations, as my only alternative. I eventually found out that the FDA had approved Xopenex, the r-isomer of Albuterol that doesn't have the side effects and all was well. Now I have found out that there is a shortage of Albuterol inhalers, too. This is apparently due to the forced conversion from ozone-depleting CFCs to other propellants. They have known about this for decades. Why are they short? The new, environmentally friendly inhalers are all proprietary. The old ones were generic.

I went to the pharmacy to get my monthly meds last week and could not get a full bottle of Avandia, a common diabetes drug. There is a shortage of this drug, too. After following many internet bunny trails, I found out that the shortage is due to the fact that the FDA ordered a change in the package insert of a related drug Avandmet, which is made up of Avandia and metformin. Supplies of this drug were pulled, so patients were switched to Avandia and metformin separately, causing shortages of Avandia, but not metformin. Metformin is generic. My doctor had to give me a bunch of samples to see me through the month!

My dose of Xolair, the magical medicine that has allowed me to breathe freely like a normal human being for the first time in my life, was delayed this week because the pharmacy had trouble getting it!. It, too, is a proprietary drug.

I am a working person with full health coverage, the type that the system was designed for. If I can't make it work, then something is terribly wrong. If I can't make it work, a person trying to navigate through Medicare has ever fewer chances. And a person without health care has no chance at all.

They keep saying that Universal Health Care doesn't work. I see people in Canada getting health care. I see people in the US getting turned away and going to Canada!
Seems to work for them...

Tagged!

Name ten of life's simple pleasures that you like most, then pick ten people to do the same.

(in no particular order)
1. Guacamole. Smooth, creamy avocadoey with crispy chips.
2. Cranking my tunes in my car and singing loudly.
3. Reading.
4. Satsang.
5. A good film.
6. Lunch with altrus
7. freshly laundered cotton sheets
8. Kona coffee with cream
9. anything with Joss Whedon's name on it
10. Being with trees.

I tag:
1. fiona_fawkes
2.merle_
3.be4u
4.altrus
5.yaycoffee
6.thysanotus
7.kunde_yidang
8.oddnari
9.miladycarol