The Diovan Valsartan Debacle and Express Scripts

I have been taking medicine for high blood pressure for as long as I can remember. And what I recall the  most is that it took months to get me on a regimen that had the least amount of side effects. One pill landed me in the hospital for a cardiac cath I was so short of breath. So it was of great concern when the generic form of diovan - valsartan - made the news a few months ago. Apparently there was a carcinogenic issue with some manufacturing plants that necessitated taking it off the market. Luckily, my prescription was not from one of them, but it was recommended that an alternative drug be named. All I know for the past three months it has been exceedingly difficult to have my prescription filled. I received notices from Express Scripts that the generic valsartan would not be available. So I asked my doctor to write a prescription for diovan, the official drug. Then I was notified that the diovan would cost $600+ for a three month supply! I have spent so much time sending messages and making phone calls to get this straightened out it is so aggravating to even think about! Luckily I had a three month supply so I had time to fool around with this. After talking to a pharmacist, he said the supply of valsartan is unpredictable right now due to the recall, but it was never discontinued. But since my new drug order was for diovan only with no substitute I had to ask my doctor - again - to write another script for valsartan. Then we had to cancel the diovan order to make way for the generic order, but the last conversation was about being charged the generic price for the original due to medical necessity. In the end I finally received the first batch of the new valsartan prescription last week. I didn’t believe it until I saw it. Who could honestly afford to pay $600+ every three months for medicine? There’s something very wrong. And being health professionals doesn’t make one bit of difference. 

Blood Screens, Horse Pills, and MORE Exercise

We had a bit of a scare when my glomerular filtration rate was askew. I could see a kidney transplant in my future. So last week we went for a repeat blood screen to see if it was really what the last report showed. Aside from that, I stopped taking thyroid pills in November because of side affects, and started simvastatin in February, but has to decrease the amount because of more side affects. Since cardiac surgery and high blood pressure runs in my family, I've been taking pills for that for over thirty years. My doctor called yesterday to give us the good news about the kidney function. That turned out to be okay - BUT! I need to start taking thyroid again, increase the amount of Vitamin D capsules, and exercise more - oh, and watch the sugar intake. Even though the cholesterol was ok, the triglycerides are not. I'm the kid who always had to take pills with orange juice and barely could get them down without choking. I used to marvel at the amount of pill bottles my mom had to bring with her when she visited us in Milwaukee. Now my medicine chest is beginning to look more like hers. We already walk every morning at an average of 2.4 miles per day, I do 50 sit ups every evening, and use our little exercise bike in the afternoon. Since I had a frozen shoulder diagnosed in March I've been doing shoulder exercises daily. Our diet already is very Mediterranean. A lot of this is hereditary I know. We are just thrilled the results are as good as they are, but the horse pills are hard to take. Things could be a lot worse and I am so thankful for what we have. I just wish the pills came in smaller sizes!