Drug overdose

Just when you think you have your drugs under reasonable control, your doctor may decide that it is time to change the dosage

I grew up in India during the age when a visit to the doctor ended with the requisite medication details being communicated verbally by the doctor to a person called a “compounder,” who in turn poured colourful liquids into odd-shaped glass bottles and handed them over to me.

Cut to the present day, when I am dealing with the nightmare of staying on top of my prescription drugs in the USA. As I age into my golden years, I have accumulated an impressive list of medications that I must consume in different quantities and frequencies on a daily basis.

To start with, there is the spreadsheet that I maintain to identify which medicine is prescribed by which doctor. The correct doctor must be contacted at the right time to request refill orders, without which my pharmacy will not provide supplies. But wait, there is more—as they say in those TV commercials. The insurance company, the powerful controller of the medical system in the country, stipulates how often a specific medicine may be replenished—monthly, quarterly, or at other random time intervals, depending on how long they think you will survive without the said medication.

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Just when you think you have your drugs (though not your ailment, of course) under reasonable control, your doctor may decide that it is time to change the dosage of one of your medications. This means you are back to square one: getting your new prescription to your pharmacy, convincing your medical insurance company that this is indeed a new prescription drug for all practical purposes, making sure you hide the old pill bottle from yourself in your medicine cabinet, and, yes, updating your spreadsheet!

The fun doubles when your existing insurance company is replaced with a new one, a process that happens frequently but over which you have no control.

You are down to your last pill while you are on the phone with various customer service personnel, desperately trying to remember your mother’s maiden name to establish your credentials. At the end of this ordeal, you are definitively informed that the new insurance does not cover the medication in question. This triggers another loop of calling your doctor’s office and pleading for a new prescription for an equivalent drug, which they promptly send to your old insurance company...

Feel free to write the rest of the acts in this drama yourself.

The scenario becomes even more entertaining, or treacherous, depending on your point of view, with the introduction of other factors such as a change of doctor, the addition of a specialist for a new ailment, and crossing the major milestone of 65 years of age when your medical care is handed over to a behemoth called Medicare, whose rules regarding prescription drugs will put the Encyclopaedia Britannica to shame.

In conclusion, I have two options for fellow sufferers like me. One, don’t fall sick; this may be a non-starter for many. Two, stick to home-made shunti jirige kashaya from your grandma’s era.