Has anyone been on a name brand seizure medicine then have to switch to the generic form? Well I have because of my insurance. And then I started to have partial seizures, without even realizing why. Of course its b/c the generic isn’t as good. Then I had a doctors appointment and was telling him about everything. He gave me the choice of either staying with the generic and also going on klonopin also the generic form. Or going back on the name brand Keppra. I called my insurance and it will cost me about $150 a month for the name brand b/c they won’t pay for it. I’m furious, even though my doctor said i need the name brand they refuse to help me pay. My real question i guess is anyone else having this kind of trouble? Any advice as to how I can get help to cover part of the name brand? I have looked up a few things and b/c we are only a family of 3 the cut off is so small we miss alot of the help out there. I have started the klonopin and it is helping but I’m more tired and that is a side effect and I have to call my Dr. every month to send in a scrip b/c its a controlled substance. Its really annoying. Its times like this I can’t handle the avm. Do i not provide for my family as well as i can b/c of the cost for meds or stick with the generic form and give my family the things they want/need. I cried over this for days. My husband said he would work another job to pay for it. But to me its not fair for him to work 2 jobs to cover my medicine. Why does the Dr leave this up to me? Everything is so hard to choose. I’m just lost over this 
Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!
Our DR said for us to stay with the name brand. I’m not sure it’s better, just maybe different. If you find one med that controls seizures, that is great news. Our son went through a laundry list of anti-S meds before he found a combo of 2 that worked. It worked for about 5 yrs, then the S’s started again.
Trying to find the right combo can be a long, slow process. The interaction of 2 meds often leads to fatigue. Add the fact that you have to ramp up/down each med, it can be a MESS trying to just function.
I wish you well.
Ron
Not sure what to tell you, but have a suggestion. There is some type of program that will assist you for one year on certain medications. Unfortunatly I cannot remember the name of the program. If I can remember to, I will ask my neighbor who had to do it for heart medication a few years back.
You might try going to google and typing in “prescription medication assistance” or just medication assistance". I found one, but it says if you don’t have prescritpion coverage. Maybe if you explain the generic is not working, and your doctor clearly states “Brand Name Only”…etc. Here is one I found…
Thank you so much for the advice. I will look into it tomorrow first thing lol. Again thank you!
Julie said:
You might try going to google and typing in “prescription medication assistance” or just medication assistance". I found one, but it says if you don’t have prescritpion coverage. Maybe if you explain the generic is not working, and your doctor clearly states “Brand Name Only”…etc. Here is one I found…
http://www.pparx.org/
Yes the fatigue is what i hate. And my family gets mad even though they understand. They just hate that i’m always wiped out. And now with this new medicine its worse. Thanks for the reply. This is the 3rd seizure med i’m on can’t wait till i can come off!!!
Ron, KS said:
Our DR said for us to stay with the name brand. I’m not sure it’s better, just maybe different. If you find one med that controls seizures, that is great news. Our son went through a laundry list of anti-S meds before he found a combo of 2 that worked. It worked for about 5 yrs, then the S’s started again.
Trying to find the right combo can be a long, slow process. The interaction of 2 meds often leads to fatigue. Add the fact that you have to ramp up/down each med, it can be a MESS trying to just function.
I wish you well.
Ron
Not to discourage you, but our son spent between one and 1.5 yrs trying to find the right combo on meds. His seizures showed up about every 3-4 wks, and he’d have a slew of them together. Then he’d be ok for another 3-4 wks. Really hard to tell what was working…
Ron, Ks