CVS screwin me over

[BeefxCake]

I can't seem to get in a rhythm with CVS as far as my testosterone perscription goes. first couple times i could get 10mls and that worked out nicely. then they were like oh we can only give you 1 ml at a time. which was a pain but they gave me enough.

problem is you can't draw 100% of a bottle, so what should last me 4 doses only lasts me 3.

so now they're saying i can't get my refill until next month, when i need it tomorrow. it's been nothing but hurdles with them since i started.

anyway im getting fed up and wondering where else i can get the stuff. if there's an online pharmacy you guys recommend that'll just send it to me or better service with walgreens or someplace else. lemme know. i can't have my hormones jerked around like this.

[wheat thins are delicious]

Try walgreens.  I've never had a problem with them. 

[ridleysw]

Online ordering through Strohecker's Pharmacy seems to be the cheapest option.  I actually live where Strohecker's is based, so I just go in to get my prescription, but I've heard a lot of guys around the country order online from them.  They can no longer ship to a few states, though (federal regulation changes), but all the details are on their site *(link emoved).

Mod Edit: So sorry link removed; links to other sites not allowed ToS 1.

[FTMax]

I live in a no-Strohecker's zone. I get mine from my clinic's pharmacy. They subsidize all of their maintenance medications (primarily for HIV, but also hormones for transfolks), so it's typically cheaper than retail with GoodRx. Might be worth looking into to see if there are similar facilities in your area.

Out of all the big box pharmacies, the only one I've had no trouble with is Target.

[Cynobyte]

do some research, but i second the Strohecker's:)  out of all the options legally, they cut all the competition down by over half!    im not their spokesperson, but nobody even tries to compete!

[V M]

I thought my local pharmacy was goofin' me around because they changed the amount of tabs they would issue per refill on my script and so I was thinking to take my business elsewhere

But then I decided to go in and calmly talk to them about it and it turned out that they had found a way to save me some $ based on how my insurance is structured

Learning that they were actually doing me a solid and saving me money made me feel much better, even pretty happy about it - So I have to go in every month rather than every few months, I can do that

Possibly go in and talk to them before making any hasty changes and decide what would be your best option from there

[BeefxCake]

see thing is i always go in in person to discuss this and everytime i go in its something new. example last time they wouldn't fill it because a quantity error. or they no longer carry 10 ml bottles and need a new perscription to get a smaller size or the concentration i need is so much more rediculously expensive than another concentration that i need a new perscription.

I gotta be on this stuff for the rest of my life i'd rather not have to heckle people every two weeks if there's an easier option. im almost tempted to walk in there and make them try to fill 4 doses with the amount they give because you can't.

I'll look into that strohecker place to see if i can get some through them. maybe try walgreens next time.

[Magnus]

Walgreens, Rite Aid, Target, Walmart, Sam's Club or Costco (and you shouldn't need to have a 'membership' with the last two for Pharmacy use – just tell the greeters. You just won't be able to buy anything other than your prescriptions). But really, any Pharmacy SHOULD be able to order your T (syringes as well) for you if they do not generally otherwise keep a stock of it on-hand (call and ask; note pricing estimates as well).

To avoid script confusion, you really need to be sure before you leave your doc's that they have written your script to the letter... used the controlled substances RX pad/fax form (yes apparently that's a special requirement; mine wasn't twice), the concentration [xxmg/1mL OR xxmg/1mL] (three times mine didn't specify), not just your dosage (but that also needs to be included obviously) and also the vial size [1mL OR 10mL] (several times mine wasn't specified). Any vagueness, and legally, the Pharmacy CANNOT fill that script until or unless they can get a hold of your doctor to make 'authorized' changes/corrections (and good luck with that if your clinic can't seem to manage their phones or faxes).

Heck, it's best if you can also manage to get them to squeeze in your T's NDC# somewhere on the script (that's practically foolproof).

Also, if your doctor specifically specifies 10mL, your Pharmacy HAS to dispense 10mL - whether that is a single 10mL vial, or ten 1mL vials. It's not legal for them to shortchange your RX amount. On the other hand, your doctor MAY have authorized them to dispense less to you... so talk to your doctor about it to hopefully resolve any issue from that quarter.




No Dosages Please

To Moderator: That wasn't a dosage, it was a concentration per volume...

[wheat thins are delicious]

I forgot to mention, I use the GoodRX coupon at Walgreens.  Makes my 10mL vial about 43 dollars. 

[Greeneyedrebel]

I'm in one of those states where mail-order for T won't happen, and I was on the CVS rollercoaster at first too. I took my business to Walgreens and have had NO trouble since.

Changing my name on the account? Just show the new ID. The staff in the pharmacy has been amazing too. The first day I dropped it off, the Pharmacist was the one who was at the window and he looked at the RX and then asked "What name would you like us to use?"

So about the filling part. Is your T being paid for in any way by your insurance? If so, then the insurance can dictate part of the filling. My RX is written for the 10ml too, but for the insurance to pay it (about 97% of the cost) they dispense 1 month at a time in 1ml vials. So the amount of vials I get each month depends on the dose. This is because the insurance won't pay for 60 or 90 or 120 day prescriptions for T. But they will gladly pay for 1 month at a time.

It's always ready on time too.

[BeefxCake]

@ green eyed rebel

I'll likely just try walgreens next time. theoretically i should be on 1 ml a month but i can never draw 100% of the T, so while theoretically i should have enough for one month i never do. a few times before i was able to get 10 mls that would last me several months and that was nice.

also the cvs service i've gotten is always all over the place. like one time i came in with my perscription and it said 10 mls but they said those were on back order so what they did was give me a bunnch of 1 mls. next time i went in they said they could only give me 1 1ml bottle and that i was out of refills even though i had only received 4 of the 10 mls. even after explaining that they wouldn't give me my full amount.

its just troublesome, thanks for all the responses. i think i got what i needed.

[Jenna Marie]

I've had very good luck with Target, including them finding ways to bill me so that it would be as cheap as possible - like if the copay is $25 and their "uninsured" price is $15, I get their price. They have special-ordered my HRT from another pharmacy in town when they didn't have enough in stock, too. They've also been nothing  but professional and kind even when my name and gender marker didn't match my presentation.

[Tysilio]

CVS can be a pain to deal with. I've never had trouble over the T prescription, but getting syringes out of them is like pulling teeth. My doc wrote me an Rx for them (not required in MN), because she wanted to be sure I got the right size. But my insurance won't pay for them, and if I get them via the Rx, they still won't sell me more than a month's worth, and they want to charge me the amount they would have billed the insurance company: $1.00 each. They're also allowed to sell them over the counter to anyone with an Rx for something injectable, and then they'll sell me 10 at $0.25 each -- IF I can convince whoever I'm dealing with that it does actually work that way.

The last time I bought them, the woman first told me she could only sell me four at $1.00 apiece... so she looked it up and found she could sell them to me OTC, but she then refused to sell me any because there were no refills on the testosterone.  I had to explain to her in words of one syllable that the vial held 10 ml, and my dosage was [a teeny-tiny fraction of that], so that one vial lasted many months... and since they refused to sell me more than ten at a time, I really did have to keep buying more. Oy.

Then she brought a handful of 3 ml syringes to the counter and told me they were 1 ml. I pointed out the place where the label said 3 ml, and I tried to explain that because the dose was so small, I couldn't draw it up accurately in a larger syringe. She interrupted me and literally screamed: "I'm trying to help you here!"     

Then she flounced back to the shelf, eventually found the right ones, and just... acted like nothing out of the way had happened.

I was absolutely polite the whole time -- other than having to pause and mentally count to 5 once before replying to her.

The kicker: she was a pharmacist, and the pharmacy manager that day.  Beyond belief.

[Arch]

Tysilio, you really should count to fifty.

I'm patient as hell with my students, but I've been known to occasionally bark at people who are clearly being obstructive in my personal life. Fortunately, my pharmacy is pretty cool.

However, my insurance covers only one month's supply at a time, I have to pay extra for using outside pharmacies (the list of participating pharmacies is tiny--about six in the entire city), and I cannot buy more than a month's supply at once. I was horrified to hear that in a six-month period, I would have to make FIVE extra trips to the pharmacy, and I never did find out what the ultimate cost would be because my pharmacy is out of network and the pharmacist had no way of knowing unless he simply ran the scrip through insurance.

I figured that even if I was lucky enough to spend as little as $5 a month in copayments, I would still need to make those five extra trips and waste a few hours of my free time, all for the privilege of saving maybe twenty bucks--some of which I would lose in gasoline--in a six-month period. So I paid out of pocket. I might qualify for their ninety-day-supply mail-order special, but I would have to go through a network pharmacy, and I would either not save much or not save anything at all. Plus, I would have to deal with all of those tiny little 1-ml vials; what a pain. I don't think it's worth the hassle of even calling up to ask.

When I went to Rite-Aid a few years ago, I was quoted something like two hundred dollars for a 10-ml vial. I didn't bother asking CVS. But I had consistently good prices at Costco, although the nearest one was a little out of my way.