But when I ran it by my pharmacy I found out that that my co-pay was $239.00 which wasn’t in my budget and my insurance wouldn’t allow me to accept the coupon that the pharmaceutical company who made the drug offered.

My advice for trying to get co-pay help is to call the pharmaceutical company directly. Through them I was able to network until I finally found an answer for me: Caring Voice Coalition.

“At CVC, we recognize the needs of patients with rare and chronic diseases. By providing assistance through the programs we have available we hope to meet not only the financial needs of patients but to also to provide them with important support and educational resources,” according to Jennifer Previtera, Director of Communications for Caring Voice Coalition.

CVC supports diseases that include Huntington’s Disease, Complex Partial Seizures, Severe Chronic Pain and Narcolepsy, and they were able to provide me with 100% of my co-pay. For a full list of supported diseases click here.

Some of the other services CVC provides are helping patients find new or improved insurance coverage, patient education and helping to navigate through the SSI/SSDI process.

What if you don’t see your disease listed here? Click here on the Caring Voice website, or
as I said, call the pharmaceutical company who manufactures your drug for help.

The post How to Get Co-Pay Assistance first appeared on Mama Sick.

It took the tech 45 minutes to hook me up to all those bells and whistles and then I simply went to sleep without much difficulty.

The daytime, multiple sleep latency test, was a lot more challenging. They woke me at 6:45 and I had to change into my regular clothes. Every two hours they let me nap for 15 minutes. It was hard to stay awake and one time I fell asleep. It was eerie as they yelled at me through the ceiling to wake up.

I saw my pulmonologist and he told me that I have excessive daytime sleepiness, or narcolepsy! It felt so good after all these months to have a real diagnosis and that it wasn’t just in my head!

The bad news about this scenario is that the number one choice to treat narcolepsy is Nuvigil, with the copay for my insurance being $239.00. I just can’t swing that. I’m going to call my doctor and see if there is anything cheaper that I could go on that works nearly as well.

Another cause for concern is that some of these drugs can affect my mental illness. I am also going to call my psychiatrist to see if she recommends these types of drugs.

My pulmonologist did say I will not feel better right away. I do feel worried that nothing will work for me and I will have to live like this forever. I want to get my life back, want to be in control and want more energy and awake time for Tyler. I slept much of the day away today.

But as I said, there is such a relief to know what is wrong with me. My worst nightmare would have been them saying that my tests were normal!

I will keep you posted as I continue this journey.

The post Finally An Answer first appeared on Mama Sick.