#pharmacy tech programs in a

[boltedfruit]

me: does ten minutes of a level 491 class work

also me: good god I am exhausted

[punksonic]

i don't think it's appropriate for me to really speak much as to the current shortages of adderall and other medications associated with treating adhd but i feel like i should.

yes these medications are abused, but no one wants to look into why someone who doesn't have adhd would take it. why do you think some supposedly neurotypical college student elbows another who has adderall and asks for some to study for an exam worth half their grade?

the DEA is out of touch with american society to the point it still thinks marijuana is a C1 drug but doesn't want to declassify it to C2 so that the process can be overseen so people don't get their marijuana accidentally laced with something else. you'd sooner prescribe someone a blood thinner than a medication that would actually help them focus, but i guess that's not up to me.

it's ridiculous. maintenance medications shouldn't be held to this degree of scrutiny.

[hurkules]

I’m going to have to get my Master’s in English. I think I’ll always regret it if I don’t. I’ve been trying to be “practical,” but that’s literally my heart

[napsaps-archive]

what degree are you planing to get??

pharmacy! i want to get a bachelor's initially (and there's a couple different ways i can do that, i can go to the community college and get my A.A. degree and then transfer to a 4yr university, which would probably be UCF or UF but i really want to go to FA&MU, or i could just go to a 4yr from the start. obviously the first option is cheaper but i've heard transferring can sometimes add an extra year to your total time in school because of missing credits and i don't want that to happen) and then shoot for a PharmD degree to be a licensed pharmacist :)

[orphicdreamers-wp]

Something In The Orange — Luke Hughes

Summary: In which while cleaning out his bedroom at the lake house, Luke convinces himself that your relationship isn’t over.

Content Warning; Angst with a happy ending, Luke kinda being a dick in flashbacks, mentions of a breakup, sad luke & reader, flashbacks in pink, Quinn & Jack plotting.

Pairing; Luke Hughes & Reader

Coming back to the lake house had been hard for Luke. Especially coming back without you by his side. You two had been together since freshman year of high school. The first summer that Quinn and Jack had the lake house was the first time you went with Luke. You two spent that summer in bliss, which led to you practically living there with them during the summers. Quinn had set ground rules that you were the only girl allowed to spend the night at the lake house.

But you and Luke had broken up in February, on Valentine’s Day as your luck would have it. You had been stressed with your clinical exam for your pharmacy tech program and had expected that night to be a time to relax. You and Luke had never done anything extreme for Valentine’s Day. You usually ordered take out and watched a cheesy romance movie. You entered your shared apartment and began to remove your shoes and socks and made your way to the bathroom and began to peel your scrubs off and tossed them on the floor.

You let the hot water rake over your body and wash the stress off of your shoulders. You stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around your body as you made your way into the bedroom. You dried off and pulled one of Luke’s UMich hoodies over your head, slipped into a pair of sweatpants and fuzzy socks before climbing into the bed and opening your laptop and turned on the most recent episode of Gilmore Girls as you reached on the beside table for your glasses. You had nearly fallen asleep when the living room door slammed.

You jolted upwards as your boyfriend entered the bedroom. He was dressed in a freshly pressed suit with his curls framing his face perfectly, “Hi baby, you look nice.” Luke scoffed as he undid his tie, “I looked nice an hour ago when our reservations were. Why are you home? You were supposed to meet me there, I left you a voicemail.” You frowned as you reached for your phone, checking it and finding no voicemails or texts from him, “I don’t have any message from you Luke, I didn’t know.” Luke scoffed, “Bullshit. You could have sent me a simple text saying you weren’t feeling dinner.”

You rolled your eyes, “I wouldn’t have said that, I didn’t get your message. Don’t turn me into some evil person because your upset!” Luke ran a hand through his hair, “I’m not doing this with you. I can’t, you’ve been somewhere else all year since school started. I can’t be with someone who doesn’t prioritize me.” You felt your throat tighten, “So what? Your breaking up with me because of a miscommunication? That’s what I get from you after 5 and a half years? Seriously Luke?” Luke shook his head, “I just can’t be another one of your things Y/N. I can’t.” You sniffled as you stood up and reached for a duffel bag in the closet and began cramming clothes into the bag along with your school stuff. You shook your head as you walked into the living room and put your shoes on. You walked out of the apartment without another word

Luke sighed as he entered his bedroom at the lake house. He hadn’t been back since the previous summer, so he knew your touch would be lingering over him. He was proven correct as he entered the room. On the dresser beside the door he was met with a small star shaped ceramic dish with a few rings and a necklace inside. A travel size bottle of perfume sat beside it and a soft pink lip liner nearby. As he furthered into the room he was met with more of your stuff. A swimsuit hung on the desk chair in his room. A Polaroid photo of you and Luke at some carnival the summer earlier was taped to the wall. Luke found a small box and began to put your items in the box.

You sighed as you discharged a needle into the biohazard box. You and your friend, Beth had volunteered to run the health clinic at UMich during the summer. You needed the cash and you had no summer plans since your breakup. The past 3 and a half months had been lonely for you. You found yourself wanting to call Luke nearly every day. Whether you were drunk at a bar and thought of something funny, or you had a good day at work and wanted to tell him, or you were rewatching Gilmore Girls and Luke and Lorelai had their first kiss and it made you think of him. But you held your pride.

You furrowed an eyebrow as your phone vibrated, you felt a sense of panic consume you when you saw the caller was Quinn. You excused yourself from the area you sat at and pressed the phone to your ear, “Quinn, what’s up?” Normally Quinn would have felt bad about lying to you, but he was tired of his baby brother moping around the house. He bit his lip, “It’s Luke, he’s hurt. Can you come?” You felt the blood rush from your face, “Yeah, I’m on my way. I’ll meet you at the house.” You turned to Beth, “I gotta go, bye. I’ll text you later.” You grabbed your bag and got in your card and drove to the lake house.

You slammed the car door and hurried inside, using your key to unlock the door. The house was eerily quiet, “Quinn? Jack?” Your heart was beating into your throat and ears when you saw him. Luke emerged from his bedroom shirtless rubbing his face in his hands, “Y/N? What are you doing here?” You felt like you couldn’t breathe, “Quinn called me. He said you were hurt.” You and Luke let out simultaneous sighs. Luke nodded, “I’m fine. You shouldn’t have come.” You shook your head in agreement, “Yep. I’ll let myself out. Oh here.” You peeled your key to the lake house off the key ring and handed it to him, “I don’t need it anymore.”

Luke hummed as he held up a finger, “I actually have something for you too.” He returned to his room for a brief second and returned carrying a box, “Figured you’d want this back.” You nodded as you blinked harshly keeping tears at bay, “Thanks Lu. I should get going, don’t wanna leave Beth at the health center alone for too long.” You walked out of the house and got into your car and made your way down the street.

You got to the end of the street when your phone rang with a call from Quinn. You sighed as you set it to speaker phone, “So any other lies I should be expecting dumbass?” Jack scoffed lowly, “Stop the car Y/N.” You looked into your rear view mirror, “You two are seriously following me now?” Quinn spoke, “Pull the car over now.” You pulled onto the side of the road and got out, “What could you boneheads want from me? If the plan was for him to stomp all over my heart then goal achieved.”

Quinn scoffed, “He isn’t over you Y/N, I swear I heard him talking to Ethan or Rutger about you last night.” Jack nodded, “Yeah then he made me and Z get trashed with him and he ended up crying about you.” You shook your head, “This isn’t fair to me. Not when I’m finally picking the pieces of my life up. Especially not after he insinuated that I chose everything over him. I can’t do that again.”

Jack shook his head, “He’s changed and he didn’t mean it. Just go back and talk to him. Tell him all that you just told us.” You shook your head as tears spilled down your cheeks, “What if he doesn’t want me?” Jack pulled you into a brotherly embrace, “Then he’s an idiot. But I know he isn’t. Go.” You wiped your face as you got back into your car and returned to the lake house. Quinn and Jack watched from the street as you stood on the porch.

You pounded on the door and felt a small breath of air as Luke opened the door. You felt your voice waver, “I am mad as hell at you. You are the most infuriating person I have ever met. I have never met someone so annoyingly perfect. You Luke Hughes, I have never ever loved someone as much as I love you. I don’t care about any of that stuff anymore. I just want to be with you.” Luke’s eyes softened, “You are the most infuriatingly stubborn person I’ve ever met. I’ve known from the first day I met you that you were the most special person in the world. I don’t want to be anywhere with anyone without you.”

You pulled him into a soft passionate kiss, your hands threading through his hair. A soft groan left Luke’s lips and hit yours. You pulled away as you breathed heavily. Luke looked down at you with lidded eyes fluttering, “I knew you’d come back to me.” You kissed him, “Shut up and kiss me. We have a lot of time to make up for.” Luke grinned as he pulled you in the door, “Thank god for my brothers.” You grinned, “Thank god for your brothers.”

[endreal]

One of my Rx has a retail cost of 130. With insurance, I've been paying 60 for it. Well since I got laid off and my coverage ended I was dreading this trip to the pharmacy bc that's a big bite, esp since I'm also between incomes. The tech at the register ran it thru their retail discount program tho since I didn't have coverage, and it ended up less than half the insurance price ($26 and some change). I have plenty of other reasons to already despise the US health"care" "insurance" system, but if I hadn't already been this would have been a radicalising moment

[little-grey-dowitcher]

“I never got a thing from the government/charities/others and I turned out just fine!”

You’ve also never suffered from a disability or a chronic illness. You’ve never been in a situation where you were completely and totally unable to work or run errands or even get out of bed. You’ve never had to purchase mobility aids or pay out of pocket for expensive medications or fight your insurance company to cover a treatment you would’ve died without.

I’d be homeless without the support of my community. I’d be starving without the wonderful pharmacy techs who help me get discounts on my prescriptions so I don’t have to choose between my medications and groceries. I’d be dead without the charity that paid for my emergency transfusion when insurance refused to cover it.

Yea, you never got help from the government or a charity or your community, because you didn’t need it. But I do. So stop telling me to “pull myself up by my bootstraps” or “work for the things I want” because I’ve already done that. I worked myself directly into the hospital multiple times, and I can’t do that anymore, and there’s no shame in that. There’s no shame in needing help.

(Oh and btw, notice how in all of my examples, the government wasn’t the one providing me aid. Your precious tax dollars aren’t being used to help people like me, so you can stop complaining about how they’re “wasted” on welfare programs for disabled people. Don’t worry, it’s not going towards my hospital bills, it’s going directly into your senator’s pocket so they can buy a third yacht.)

[zebulontheplanet]

Hello. Hope you dont mind me asking. What do you mean by aac. After searching it seems to be a broad term. My friends and I often communicate via sign language or typing on our phones and showing the screen. Is this what you do? (I'm referring to the post about going to the doctors.)

I hope this ask is friendly. I'm enjoying learning about different non verbal and disabled communities and finding how I can be a part of them.

Plain text: “Hello. Hope you dont mind me asking. What do you mean by aac.

After searching it seems to be a broad term. My friends and I often communicate via sign language or typing on our phones and showing the screen. Is this what you do? (I'm referring to the post about going to the doctors.)

I hope this ask is friendly. I'm enjoying learning about different non verbal and disabled communities and finding how I can be a part of them.”

Hey there! It’s good that you’re learning! So, AAC is supposed to be a broad term. AAC means any communicative way besides speaking. So sign language (although this is a debated topic and not everyone sees it as AAC and I can’t speak on this issue because I’m not Deaf, but someone is free to correct me!), gestures, communication cards, boards with pictures, texting, text to speech programs on a high tech device like an iPad, symbol based programs on a high tech device like an iPad, etc are all AAC.

Personally when I talk about AAC, I usually (unless stated otherwise) mean a high tech AAC device. I currently use an iPad with a few apps on it. The most common app I use is proloquo4text.

When I was at the doctors, I used my text to speech app, proloquo4text on an iPad. I simply type what I want, and then click the play button, and it says out loud what I typed.

It’s a pretty neat app and is the most common one I use! Sometimes I just use my phone and show people what I type, especially when I’m at the pharmacy because it’s just easiest and leads to less mistakes. But yeah! I mostly use a High tech device, which is an iPad with a text to speech program.

I hope this helps! If you have anymore questions then feel free to ask! Have a lovely day!

[bibliophilicwitch]

Time for a Life Update

Long-time followers may remember my time struggling in retail which led to retail pharmacy. I worked for a Shopko pharmacy until Shopko went out of business and then a Kroger pharmacy that had purchased our profiles but was a brand new location. Opening a brand new pharmacy with existing profiles and staff that does not know the system is a heckin nightmare fyi. Right when our pharmacy was finding its stride the pandemic started and by the time we had reached our first vaccine season that would include the COVID vaccine as well, I was Over It. Our manager left about late spring and as we were heading into that dreaded vaccine season one of our techs got a job elsewhere and it was at that point that I opened up the internet to job hunt.

Y'all may also remember that I had worked for my public library since 2008, first as a page shelving materials, then at the circulation desk, and finally, as the adult program and volunteer coordinator which morphed into marketing and volunteer coordinator. I had spent about 10 years begging the library director for full-time hours so I could have more on-the-clock time to dedicate to my duties as well as to have benefits and not have to constantly juggle two jobs both physically and mentally, but the timing was never right. Around 2021 our City realized they had really messed up the budget and we still haven't recovered, so when I opened up the internet to hunt for an alternative to working in pharmacy (or general retail) and saw a full-time job as a marketing assistant and office manager for my City's destination management organization (convention and visitors bureau), I bit the bullet and applied.

When offered the position I chose to leave not only the retail pharmacy job that I was miserable at but also the library position that I was passionate about. Upon leaving I was told my position at the library was going to be frozen because of the budget, but shortly after, they ended up giving my hours to another part-time person making them full-time and requiring giving them benefits as well. This person had been working for the library a couple years longer than me and could also use the full-time hours, but it still hurt that it had essentially been a game of who will leave first so the hours can be juggled. (I continue to be bitter that the work I put into branding was thrown out the window by this person as well and the fact that their marketing material style does not fit the voice we had been building.)

I've been at my new job for almost two years. We have a board of directors in addition to myself and my executive director. He is a very chill person and we work very well together. It's wild to be encouraged to take an hour lunch after a working lunch or to go home and enjoy the rest of my birthday instead of working the whole day. We work very well together imo and, though the office building we lease with our local chamber has plenty of drama, we are very stress-free. I am not constantly stressed trying to herd cats to reach deadlines and I am financially stable with 9-5 work weeks leaving me with personal time.

That said, my landlord of 15 years sold our building so I have a new landlord. Currently, my new landlord has been pretty chill, but he did issue tenants a letter letting us know that we would likely see a rent increase in the new year and I happen to know my rent is about $100 less than the others and very low for the area. I have to pay for a yearly parking pass for a City lot. We have a single washer and dryer for four apartments and no change machine and I have lived over 15 years without HVAC or a dishwasher. If the rent goes up enough I will be looking into alternatives including the possibility of buying a house. This likely change will likely make me feel much less financially secure which sucks, but that's definitely life.

[loveblackculture]

Ultrasound tech make just as much money as RNs too and can move up to do heartbeats of the babies etc making bank

PLEASE stop limiting yourself to thinking the only healthcare field career is Nursing. There are a PLETHORA of programs that are not only easier but also less stressful than nursing:

SOME OF THESE PROGRAMS ARE NOT INCLUDING PRE REQS BTW ‼️

Respiratory Therapist: 24 month program (AA)

MRI TECH: 18-24month program (AA)

Surgical Tech: 12 month program (AA/Certified)

Sterile Tech: 6-12 months (certified)

CT TECH: 18-24 month program (AA)

Sonography: 18-24 month program (AA)

Medical assistant 6-12 month program

Phlebotomist: 6 month program

Dental assistant 6-12 months

Lab Tech:6-12 month program

Billing and Coding: 3-6 months

Med Tech: 3-6 months

Dental Hygienist: 24 months

Physical therapist aid: 24+ months

Behavioral Therapist: 24+ months

Case management: 12 months/ AA degree

Hemodialysis tech: 6-12 months

Pharmacy technician: 6-12 months

& Sooooo Much More, we need so many more black people and black faces in these spaces more often all these fields have less than 20% of our people in it

[kodoandsangha]

Project 2025 and how they're going to strip healthcare from everyone

I know everyone is focused on Gaza. The genocide happening there is unconscionable.

But, back here, in the States, where most of us live, there's this. This is the plan starting January 1. This is just ONE section - Health and Human Services.

I'm currently involved in a grassroots project to present the entirety of the 923 pages in this form to get the information out. Their plan is literally Gilead.

I want to be clear that nowhere in their policies, goals and rhetoric does it account for what happens to all of us when these things happen.

Summary

Scary vague thing:

Investigate, expose, and remediate any instances in which HHS violated people’s rights by:

Colluding with Big Tech to censor dissenting opinions during COVID

Colluding with abortion advocates and LGBT advocates to violate conscience-protection laws and the Hyde Amendment

P. 488

Public health entities (CDC, NIH, ACL, OASH)

Can’t prescribe any behavior (meaning masking/quarantine would never have happened) (454)

Can’t use fetal cells for research (454, 461)

No mask/vaccine mandates in hospitals (475)

LGBTQ

CDC - No data collection on gender identity (456)

Medicare - No national coverage determination for Gender Reassignment Surgery (474)

Allow discrimination

in healthcare

Reverse ACA’s prohibition on discrimination against gender identity and sexual orientation in health programs/activities (475)

Withdraw Ryan White guidance (aims at reducing barriers to HIV care, medication, and support for transgender people living with HIV) (485)

OASH will withdraw support for gender-affirming care (490)

Allow LGBTQ folks to be discriminated against in healthcare (remove Biden protections - 495) and intend to have the DOJ bring the discrimination protections to the supreme court (496) which could potentially set a precedent.

In adoption (477)

Possibly take children away from LGBTQ couples if they didn’t conceive them? “married men and women are the ideal, natural family structure because all children have a right to be raised by the men and women who conceived them” (489)

Prioritize faith-based education programs & grants (that don’t acknowledge LGBTQ folks’ existence) (480, 481)

Reproductive rights

Programs/education

CDC - Implies the Division of Reproductive Health and the 6|18 initiative will be cut (454)

Fewer doctors trained in abortions - Make abortion training opt-in rather than opt-out in all medical schools (485)

No “approved curriculum” or “evidence-based lists” in Teen Pregnancy Prevention or Personal Responsibility Education Programs (477)

Deal with STDs and unwanted pregnancy by focusing on abstinence and strengthening marriage (490)

Remove the experts - Install pro-life advocates in the Health Resources & Services Administration advisory committee (who makes the mandates around abortion) and cut ties with American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (484)

eliminate the HHS Reproductive Healthcare Access Task Force and install a pro-life task force (489)

Foreign aid - Require foreign non-government orgs to certify that they wouldn’t perform/promote abortion as a condition of receiving funding. (493)

Protections

Remove protections from the woman and enforce protections for born-alive infants (including criminal consequences) (474)

Make it harder for people to understand how/where their protected health information is protected (rescind guidance - 497)

Drug/contraception access

FDA - Reverse approval of chemical abortion drugs (458)

Limit pills to 49 days gestation, in-person dispensing, report all adverse events (459)

Reduce access to contraception - Allow insurance providers to morally object to providing contraception on nonreligious grounds (it’s already allowed for religious grounds) (483)

Male condoms will no longer be mandated coverage (485)

No more Ella (week-after-pill) in the contraceptive mandate (485)

Make access harder - Withdraw OCR’s pharmacy abortion mandate guidance which prohibits discrimination when providing abortion meds (496)

Travel

Prohibit abortion travel funding (eliminate the section 1115 waivers that allow funds to help cross state lines) (471)

No abortions for refugees (478)

Government funds

No funds for Planned Parenthood (471) 

prohibit family planning grants from going to entities that perform abortions or provide funding to other entities that perform abortions (491)

Cut up to 10% of medicaid funds from states that require abortion insurance coverage (CA, IL, Maine, MD, NY, OR, WA, Vermont, Hawaii, Connecticut) (472)

Oversight

Track every abortion in every state (455)

New mission statement “furthering the health and well-being of all Americans ‘from conception to natural death.’” (489)

Require health care workers to report abortion pill complications (459)

Medicare

Use AI to detect fraud (463)

Lots of regulations impacting healthcare system reporting/fund-access/insurance pool etc.

Would be good to get someone in healthcare to analyze, I’m betting these gut the ACA

“Separate the subsidized ACA exchange market from the nonsubsidized insurance market” (469)

Eliminated programs

Medicare Shared Savings Program (465)

Inflation Reduction Act (465)

Medicaid

Add work requirements and lifetime caps (468)

Eliminate benefit requirements/mandates and middle/upper income recipients (468)

Cut up to 10% of medicaid funds from states that require abortion insurance coverage (CA, IL, Maine, MD, NY, OR, WA, Vermont, Hawaii, Connecticut) (472)

Child/family welfare (some overlap with lgbtq, copied in here)

Combine child support with visitation support court (implied via example, 479)

Prioritize faith-based HMRE (healthy marriage & relationship education) programs & grants and don’t pressure them to conform to “nonreligious definitions of marriage” (480, 481)

“in cases where the father or mother does not make a sincere or serious effort to be involved in the child’s upbringing, termination of parental rights for children in foster care should be swift” (482)

Eliminate the Head Start program (482)

Potentially (implied) cut programs related to bullying prevention, children’s safety, health disparities, early childhood support, poisoning and SUID prevention. (486)

Take children away from LGBTQ couples if they didn’t conceive them? “married men and women are the ideal, natural family structure because all children have a right to be raised by the men and women who conceived them” (489)

Housing

“Rescind legal analysis that authorized HHS to impose a moratorium on rental evictions during COVID” (492)

[yanderemommabean]

https://www.healthy.arkansas.gov/programs-services/topics/asbp-licensee-information#PharmacyFormsandInstructions

The tech license form should be on this page.^ It's a PDF that you fill out and send to Little Rock (instructions are on the form) with a specific amount of money and they email you instructions from there. The license lasts two years.

The pharmacists at my job have been trying to convince me to be a tech for a while lol.

Oh thank you so much! Would I need prior training or anything? Again I have no idea what to even do or try, and the only thing I know about pharmacy stuff is what i pick up from the window

It shouldnt be too hard i suppose, but again thank you so much! im going to look into this and show my family, see if we can gather what money we need even if we have to wait a bit

This was very kind of you!

-Mommabean

[faterunes]

so i applied to community college and if all goes well then ill be attending a pharmacy tech program this fall. im excited! but really nervous, i havent been in school since 2018 and a lot has changed

[meret118]

Under federal law, plans are required to cover COVID-19 vaccines at no cost to you through providers within your insurer's network.If there are no vaccinators in your network who can offer the shots, insurers are required to cover the service out-of-network without cost sharing.

-----

I spent over an hour on the phone with my insurance company trying to get Walmart's system to accept my insurance for the COVID booster. It ended up being a waste of time since contrary to what the pharmacy tech said when I first asked, they didn't even have Pfizer there. I suggest calling where you want to get the shot, and talking to your insurance company ahead of time.

My insurance said I have to get the shot in a doctor's office which makes no sense since they then have to pay more. That's moot though since doctor's offices don't have the updated booster.

The insurance company said to send the bill in to them after I pay the $199 for the shot, and I'll be reimbursed. I'm afraid they'll just claim it was out of network, regardless of what the law says.

ETA: I'm currently on hold with my insurance trying to hash this out.

ETA: They said the conversations are recorded, so I wrote down her name, the date and time of when she said they would reimburse me. I should have recorded it too, but I never think of that at the time.

The federal government's Bridge Access Program will also cover the cost of shots for the 25 million to 30 million uninsured adults in the U.S., according to KFF Health News. The program will pay for pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS to provide the shots for free, while Pfizer and Moderna will also donate a certain number of doses, according to the CDC.

Visit Vaccines.gov to identify pharmacies with available doses, as well as those participating in the Bridge Access Program.

[lucysweatslove]

Updates regarding ADHD diagnosis and treatment!

The neuropsychologist finally billed me. By this, I mean I guess I was technically billed over a week ago, but I never received an email or any communication about said bill. I decided to log in to the portal yesterday to check, and I saw the invoice was just sitting there. It’s still ridiculous that the whole thing cost me $360, more ridiculous that thousands was billed to insurance, and also annoying that I could’ve had my report this last week if I had received communication that I was invoiced and had a balance to pay. But, at least it’s done, and I should hopefully have the full report sometime this upcoming week.

My insurance apparently did have an issue with the Strattera and did require a PA. I thought it needed that, then they filled it but my Wellbutrin was delayed which took another week… I ended up picking them both up at the start of June, and the pharmacy tech was all “oh it looks like insurance still needs a prior authorization for the atomoxetine.” She pressed some buttons and then it went through, only a $10 copay which is fine, but I got a mail letter for insurance recently basically stating that my medication had required a preauth and oh yeah a 30 day supply retails for over $1000?? But then it’s on the formulary and the “discount price” is only $68.30. It’s just weird to me that the pharmacy / pharmaceutical companies can say it’s basically $34.50/day (that’s $17.25 for ONE single capsule) if you don’t have insurance. Random rant- while I think insurance is great in general I wish routine healthcare was much more affordable without it and insurance could be used for the “oh shit” moments. Like car insurance- it doesn’t pay for gas or routine maintenance or new tires or whatever but will if you get into an accident (although I will say, gas is expensive but at least it’s not $34.50/day expensive). Yeah programs like goodrx exist and are great, but if anybody can use those, why the exorbitant pricing up front? Why not just… make things accessible? The people who need the lower prices the most are those who can’t afford insurance, may not have access to goodrx / maybe wouldn’t even know about it… idk.

Anyway I started the Strattera last week- maybe Wednesday? I can’t remember the exact day now. I’m only taking 18mg which is a pretty low dose but I am getting annoying side effects already. Hypersomnulence during the daytime (literally like 2hr long naps that I can’t fight off midday), but then sleep maintenance insomnia at night where I wake up at like 4AM, still tired, but I can’t fall back asleep easily. Also an increase in general aches (ironic to me as duloxetine, which also has norepi function, is often used for some chronic pain), headaches, and horrible tummy troubles (feels like the food poisoning all over again). Those could be related to my period though- it’s just worse than what I normally experience in my cycle. Thankfully I haven’t noticed any real effect on my heart- I don’t feel weird or fluttery which was a concern I had. But alsoX I don’t notice any effect yet on my executive functioning, which makes sense since it isn’t an instant medication and the normal starting dose for adults is 40mg (so I’m taking literally less than half of that). I am still trying it out, holding out hope that side effects will stop enough that I can increase the dose and try 36mg for a week or so before I see the psych NP next, but I’m not optimistic it’s going to be a good, effective medication for me.

[nsk96]

Personal rant

This morning the conversation came up how I’m unhappy about pharmacy school and I said “it’s too late to drop out of pharmacy school but that’s okay because I can use my pharmacist money for therapy”. And my mom was like “you don’t need therapy, all you need is god.”

I said, “I have god and I’m still going insane.” And said “I might as well keep going even if I lose my mind.”

My mom was like “well, at year one of pharmacy school I told you that you can do something else”…..so after manipulating me into going into pharmacy since 2011 back when I got to high school, you think after spending my whole time in high school (+pharmacy tech vocational program) and college working up to getting into pharmacy school, that I’ll suddenly change my mind in 2021? And she wants to say that I’m trying to blame it all on her, as if she didn’t play any part in it (after admitting not too long ago, that she chose this career path for me)

Years of blood sweat and emotional breakdowns, working towards a goal that she made me believe was the only career choice for me, that I would just suddenly change my mind? I had no other option at this point in time except to be a pharmacy tech all my life and spend my free time working a second job. Neck deep in student debt at this point, going back to college to try for a different career would have buried me. I have a bachelor’s in biology but not a useful degree for high earning unless you go to grad school.

She was like “what else did you want to do then?” I’ve told her so many times what I wanted to do. She just didn’t listen because she wanted me to do what she wanted. She didn’t listen then so I don’t know why she thinks she’ll listen now.

Sure she’ll let me talk, but then say I’m wrong and say that she knows better, but also admitted today that she knows nothing about how college works. I told her that I didn’t deserve to pass my classes in undergrad because of grade curves and homework/attendance grades literally saving me in some classes.

And she was like “you haven’t been telling me anything, all you told me is that you passed these classes.” 💀 I always told her every excruciating detail from the exams I failed, classes I had to retake, lecturers I didn’t understand, classes I was about to fail and literally told her back then whenever a homework grade or grade curve saved my overall grade. I even told her how I had difficulty focusing on studying, difficulty getting assignments done, having to pull all nighters three days straight (never went to bed), the emotional breakdowns I’ve had because the goal she had me working towards seemed so far away when ever I came close to failing a class. I told her all of this back then and continue communicating these things to her about my current experience in pharmacy school.

It’s clear that all she hears is “I passed” and everything else just goes out the window. Then she’s surprised when I talk about wanting to drop out or how my mental health has deteriorated so much because of this program and everything around me.

All she sees is that I’m getting through it but refuses to see the damage. Of course, because she doesn’t have to live through it. Doesn’t matter how much I talk about it, but yet she has the audacity to say I don’t communicate.

She has a problem when I walk away from our current conversations about these things. I only walk away now because I realize that talking no longer works.

I’m 27 now and it took the hell of pharmacy school (or at least this specific pharmacy school) for me to break free of her conditioning. Or at least some of it. I still can’t be myself around her and can’t be open about the things I know because she’s so willfully ignorant.

My mom is so bad at listening that I bet if I was to take my own life tomorrow (which I don’t want to) she would be surprised and be one of those people to say they never saw it coming and then advocate for mental health…despite the fact that I’ve been telling her for the past two years, that I wanted to see a therapist and her convincing me that I didn’t need to or that I shouldn’t see one until I get a pharmacist job. But alas, her sense of time is really bad and she’ll think it was only a few months ago. I’ve been bringing this up to her since the beginning of P2 year.