Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Am I blowing this totally out of proportion?


I know this issue isn't specific to women or feminism, but I felt the need to share as it concerned my most recent purchase of birth control pills...

I'd like to give a big Fuck You to Kelly P., my local Walgreens pharmacist, for failing to alert me she'd changed my birth control prescription to the generic brand.

A week ago, I went in to Walgreens to get my prescription for Yaz filled, and the amount due was only $15. I was elated thinking my Yaz prescription would only cost me $15 since I've been paying a whopping $60 at my university health center. Puh. How foolish was I?

My bag felt weird, so I sneaked a peek before I exited the store. To my surprise I didn't see my usual box of Yaz sitting on the bottom of my bag. I panicked. I thought she'd gotten the wrong prescription from my university health center which would result in not being able to receive my actual prescription for another three days (and I absolutely needed the prescription in two).

The pills in the bag did appear to be birth control pills. Something called Gianvi, which I'd not heard of at the time. So, I wondered if the pharmacist mixed my prescription up with another customer's.

I darted back to the counter to question Ms. P. about my prescription. A line had already built up at the counter in the minute I was away. But, the pharmacist did see me, and she coolly said, "It's a generic," like this was no big deal, and she waved me on.

Perhaps I'm blowing this all out of proportion. Although, the look on my mother's face after I told her this story said otherwise. What really gets to me is this individual is making assumptions about my body and my health. Contrary to popular belief, name brand drugs and generic drugs are not exactly the same. Some people do have adverse reactions to binders in generic drugs that may not appear in the name brand drug, of which I'm sure the pharmacist was fully aware. So, I'm baffled as to why she wouldn't give me even the slightest heads up about the new pills. Adverse reactions aside, this is a powerful, little pill; it alters my body and my hormones. It keeps me from getting pregnant! And this pharmacist had the audacity to let me leave under false pretenses.
-J

1 comment:

  1. Reading this also made me think about lower-income women who might *have* to buy the generic brand over the regular one and what the repercussions of that might be. Hopefully you won't have any negative side effects, but please update us with whatever happens!

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