pissed off to high pissivity

Nicole (Bipolar Princess) just sent me an email not too long ago saying that Public Aid (or Medicaid) will not be covering Seroquel because they feel it's not "medically necessary."

are they insane? not medically necessary? WTF? Seroquel is prescribed to many many people with varying mental illnesses, from bipolar, depression w/psychotic features, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and to me, is an excellent drug. yes it has it's negatives, i.e., weight gain, sugar or carb cravings and sometimes a touch of CRS (cant remember shit) lol, but overall, it is an excellent mood stabilizer and antipsychotic.

i guess those idiots in Illinois government havent been around a person who is say, schizophrenic and have not taken their meds, or for whatever reason, quit taking their meds. now, i'm not picking on anyone who has schizophrenia, but unfortunately they are the ones who are always portrayed on TV as wild-eyed, dirty, disheveled and sometimes violent lunatics who go around mindlessly stabbing people or worse, babbling, drooling lunatics, which we know in real life, is not necessarily true, though unfortunately there are some mentally ill people who are like what is portrayed on TV, but more often than not they are in the minority.

for Medicaid to not cover this drug because THEY feel that it isnt "medically necessary" should perhaps pay a visit to the state-run psychiatric hospitals where some of the patients who STOPPED TAKING THEIR MEDS are, and observe how they interact; or pay a visit to a hospital psych unit and observe how those patients interact (or not) with each other when they, too, decided to NOT TAKE THEIR MEDS anymore and have to be put back on them because they relapsed into the psychotic behavior because of being either non-med compliant, or because they used street drugs in addition to the prescribed meds and now they are all out of order.

i'd like to know who the fuck it was that deemed Seroquel isnt "medically necessary". my God, this particular medication for those of us who take it, is the one thing that keeps us from the brink of insanity. sure there are other antipsychotic/mood stabilizers that probably are as good as Seroquel, but for those of us who take it and it helps us, this crap from Medicaid is pure BULLSHIT.

my suggestion to those of y'all who take Seroquel, and see a pdoc on the regular, perhaps you can ask him/her for samples of Seroquel- that's how i've been keeping up with it, bcuz my pdoc gives me enough samples to last until i see him again. most pdocs will give you samples, but in the event yours wont or dont, go to www.seroquel.com where the makers of Seroquel, AstraZeneca offers a program for people who have no insurance and who cant afford their meds, or, in this instance now, where Medicaid wont cover it.

i'm almost afraid to ask what other much needed meds wont be covered anymore thru Medicaid. for those of y'all who also have physical ailments, such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, etc, be forewarned. if Medicaid feels Seroquel is not "medically necessary" God only knows what they may say about certain meds for the aforementioned physical illnesses.

in the words of the late Marvin Gaye, all of this "makes me wanna holla and throw up both my hands."

Medicaid can kiss my ass. Fuckers.