Tulsa, OK

Saturday we took Maegan to see a psychiatrist, Dr C. After he reviewed the records from Dr A., he talked with us and with Maegan. We agreed that Straterra would probably be best for her.

However, since Straterra is fairly new with no generic option, we may not be able to get it for her. He wrote the prescription for Straterra, but warned us that there was a good chance the insurance would deny it. Apparently, medicaid will pay for Straterra, but usually only after the other, stimulant, medications have been tried first.
That’s bullshit. Everything I’ve read says that the stimulants are not the best option for people with certain psychological profiles. Such as; people with insomnia, anxiety, or family histories of certain psych disorders. Since her paternal grandfather was schizophrenic, both of her parents are bipolar, and Maegan herself has anxiety and insomnia; I don’t think she is a good candidate for taking the stimulants.

I’ll admit I’m not a doctor, but, you know what? I can read. There is a ton of information online from the National Institute of Mental Health to various ADHD organizations. The pros and cons on ADHD meds are fairly easy to find. Start with the name of a medication on google. The search will not only give you the website for the medication (pretty standard practice for the pharmaceutical companies to create webpages for individual medications), it will give you pages where people are discussing the medication’s affects on them and/or their children.

Anyway, I took the prescription for Straterra that Dr C. gave us to Raley’s Pharmacy here in Catoosa Monday. Sure enough, the pharmacist told me the medication had to be pre-approved by Soonercare first. I have to call back tomorrow (Wednesday) morning to find out if Maegan can get it or if we have to call Dr C for something else. I am SO frustrated.