Plaidophile

I finally got the Zegerid today. Of course the pharmacist was really really worried about giving it to me because of the recent Nexium prescription. At the same time, he thought I should be aware that Nexium is "the same stuff," which it almost is (it's esomeprazole which is a kissing cousin of omeprazole), but it's in a time-release formulation and doesn't have the antacid, and that doesn't actually, you know, help for what I need it for. And of course I'm not going to take them both at the same time.

He also said that it is normally taken in the morning, except well my doctor said to take Zegerid in the evening (since it's basically instant-release and is there to help me heal while I sleep), and when I was forcefully switched to Nexium I kept that dosing schedule.

I know that pharmacists are just doing their job and they're required to make sure of this stuff, but their view of the situation comes from 20,000 feet and from not understanding the underlying causes that led me to get on Zegerid, then Nexium, then back on Zegerid. I really hate how my insurance company decided that Nexium was more appropriate beacuse it is not in any way.

Although I still wonder why my doctor felt it necessary that I be on a brand-name acid reducer when in theory I could just take generic instant-release omeprazole overnight as well as an OTC antacid, and save a lot of money and trouble. Or maybe there's something dumb about how now omeprazole is available as OTC which somehow changes how it gets prescribed? One of my coworkers was saying that's what has happened to a lot of medications.

Oddly enough, the prescription version of Prilosec (which is also instant-release omeprazole) comes in 10, 20, and 40mg dosages, but apparently its 20mg "prescription" version is much more expensive than the 20mg OTC version. What the hell?

Basically I'm annoyed at everyone involved in pharmaceuticals right now. Especially these assholes.