Friday, March 31, 2017

Mexican Drugs ... Do They Work?

As you know, I went to the Doctor back in January for suspected high blood pressure.  Turns out my blood pressure was just fine, but they didn't like my cholesterol numbers.  I'm sorry I can't demystify all that.  There's good and bad, along with a whole bunch of numbers that are just that ... NUMBERS ... to me.  
So the good Doctor gave me a prescription for atorvastatin (generic for Lipitor) to get my numbers down.  That's the one I had filled at Walgreens for a ridiculous $175.00 for 90 pills.   Never EVER go to Walgreens.  What do you think they do with all that money??  I found out later, Costco had the same thing for $32.00.

As soon as I hit Yuma mid January, the Chance family and I made a beeline for Los Algodones.  I think I reported the cost to be $13.99 for 100 pills.  I've been taking only those ever since, knowing I would return to the Doctor for blood tests to see if they were working.

Yesterday was the day to hear the results.  Unfortunately, it didn't go as smooth as I expected.  My appointment was for 10:30 and I arrived right on time.  I was immediately taken to the back parking lot ... a row of chairs down the hallway ... where I was parked with two other people.

I watched the Doctor come and go from the rooms.  An hour went by and no one moved.  Finally, one room opened up for the guy sitting next to me.  I tried to be patient as I then saw TWO empty rooms and I was still sitting in the hallway.  FINALLY I got to Room 5, where I waited ......... and waited some more.

You know me ... after an hour and forty five minutes, I was getting pretty hot under the collar.  This is ridiculous.  I can actually hear all the Doctor's conversations through the paper thin walls and they were NOT all business.

At the two hour mark, I opened the door and yelled for a Nurse.  I've been sitting here TWO hours.  She checks the rooms ... you have three people ahead of you.  NO I DON'T!!!  I SHOULD HAVE BEEN SEEN TWO ROOMS AGO!!!  She checks again .... OH she says.  The good Doctor had skipped my room for whatever reason, and was already going around to see people who had come in an hour AFTER me.

I stood in the doorway with arms folded ..... waiting.  He finally came out of a room and I accosted him.  "How are you?" he asked.  I'M PISSED ... I'M MAD ... I've been sitting here for TWO HOURS.  Well we do have emergencies ... NO YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANY EMERGENCIES because I can hear every conversation!!

Don't put up with this people ... get in their face.  There's absolutely NO excuse unless the Doctor himself had a heart attack.  He apologized several times.  My response was lets just get this blood test thing over with so I can go apologize for missing MY next appointment.

Really, I don't go off on people very often, but this office needed to hear it!!  He did a quick exam, NOT including my blood pressure at my suggestion because it was through the roof, then gave me the test results.

SO .... here it is!!  There's good and bad cholesterol.  All my GOOD numbers were quite a bit ABOVE normal.  YAY!!!  My BAD numbers went from 294 down to 220 in 75 days of taking the meds from Mexico.  I never did take the drugs from my pharmacy because I wanted to see if the Mexican drugs worked.

I'm here to tell you they DO work and very well according to the Doctor.  Here's the thing though, you really must go to a legitimate pharmacy ... like the Purple Pharmacy in Algodones.  Don't go buying them off some guy on the street corner because they are cheaper.  I imagine you will get sugar pills.   Always check the expiration date.  Since I buy one year's worth, I want to be sure they will last that long.  Write the purchase date on the bottle like I did above so you know exactly when you purchased them.

You do not need a prescription unless you are trying to get heavy duty stuff like Valium, Codeine, Hydrocodone, Demerol, Vicodin ... those kinds of drugs.   For the difference in price, it was well worth the trip for me.

For the record, I know Doctors need to talk to some people much longer than others ... and I don't mind waiting up to an hour ... but when I hear talk of golf games with a total disregard for the clock when ten more patients are waiting, I get pretty irritated.  I'm guessing next time I won't be left in the hallway OR the room ... I don't think they want that loud unruly patient spouting off for everyone to hear.   Sometimes you just have to stand up and be heard.





12 comments:

  1. I am lucky in that the doctor I use in Arkansas is at the University of Arkansas Medical Science (UAMS). He also teaches there. I think the longest we have ever waited was 20 minutes beyond our scheduled time, we always get there at least 30 minutes early, and many times we are out the door, finished, shortly after the scheduled time. Also, all test (blood, heart, etc) are given right there in the same building, and I get results via computer within a day or two. As for drugs, only have high blood pressure....you don't want to know how low my cholesterol is. Marcia is more like you, but won't take pills. She has read that high cholesterol is actually good for people with MS, and that the drugs only mask the problem.

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    1. That's very interesting about cholesterol and MS. I've read up a little more, but still haven't decided if I'll keep taking it.

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  2. Sometimes you just have to be heard. The new approach to medicine is being more personable with your patients but it should be limited. It should not be extended to causing delays of other patients appointments especially when you might have other appointments to deal with as well.
    As far as the Medication, as long as it is working go for it. Why should you put money in Corporate pockets when it is coming out of your's.
    Another way of fighting high Cholesterol is Exercising which is another way of loosing weight and fitting into that new dress.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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    1. The old exercise solution ... that's probably why my numbers are higher than ever before. From the time I was 30 until I turned 64, I ran almost every day with several marathons thrown in for good measure. Now i'm not running, I'm feeling the downside.

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  3. First off I agree with you 100% you make an appointment for a specified time ,honor it
    I'll give you an hour and I'm walking OUT, Trust me I've done it
    The average doctors time to patient is 5 to 7 minutes
    Compute that times 60
    An you think the airlines over books, they do, The ratio of no-show is 5 to 8%
    Your time and sanity is worth imaginary money, nobody pays for Office scheduling stupidity
    Next time you make a scheduled tell them you have a very busy schedule and when is the best time to come in is, the scheduler will know when the slow times are for that doctor that's when you want to try to get him
    Old folks like early schedules professionals like late schedules
    But it all boils down to how many patients he gets out in that give hour and the dollar that he makes The hint is go latter part of the day but before people get out of work

    And as for Mexican control narcotics ( SOME ) they will take them out of the blister package
    An Put in a baggie you're on your own after you walk out of the pharmacy
    An :-) at immigrations

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    1. I always try to get the first appt in the morning, but that doesn't always work out. Honestly, I don't know if he's not aware of the time or he just doesn't care.

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  4. Isn't Lipitor the one that gives women heart attacks? If so, they are worse than having high cholesterol.

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    1. I've read up on it a little ... not nearly enough probably ... and if you have diabetes, it's a game changer. I think it can be detrimental if you don't keep testing.

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  5. I like to go for the 1:00 appointment. That's the first one after lunch so they have caught up by then.

    I used to have a boss that would call her doctor's office when it was time for her to leave and ask them how far behind he was running. Then she'd work that much longer.

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    1. I always try to get the first appointment of the morning, but in this case I would have had to wait 30 days. I thought 10:30 wouldn't be bad, but I was wrong.

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  6. First appointment in the morning, works best for us.

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    1. Me too Jan ... if it was just a checkup, I would have waited the 30 days. I really didn't want to keep taking these pills without knowing what they were doing.

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