Sunday, August 14, 2011
Can I pursue legal action against a pharmacy that changed manufacturers of a particular medication?
I live with epilepsy. A couple of years ago, I had 4 grand mal seizures, which I have had in the past but they have been thankfully very few. I have myclonic epilepsy called JME for short. At the time I had these 4 grand mal seizures I noticed a change in the shape of the pill that I take as an anticonvulsant. I was taking the generic version of klonopin made by a particular mfg. I was doing okay with this one(still had small breakthroughs but nothing major). When I noticed opened the bottle and saw the pill was shaped different the first thing I did was call the pharmacy to make sure it was the same medication. They reured me that indeed it was. I still wasn't feeling right. I started having some small breakthroughs. I called again just to make sure because I was just not feeling "right". I then spiraled into a deep depression because little did I know my body was going through withdrawals because evidently I was not metabolizing this mfg drug fillers or what ever was in it. To cut the story short, I ended up having 4 grand mal seizures..2 my husband was present and caught me before I injured myself severely and the other 2 I had in the bathroom while getting ready for bed and no one was aware until after the fact. I had shoulder pain after one of them. I ended up with a partial rotator cuff tear in my right shoulder. There was also found 2 herniated disc in my cervical spine. I had a 2 level acdf (fusion) on my spine in Sept. 10. I'm 7 months out but am suffering from chronic pain which I hope will eventually stop but I'm very concerned. I have to hire or get help for many physical services I am unable to perform to meet the day to day demands. My big question is can I hold the pharmacy responsible for not informing me in more detail about changing mfg and what could happen. It's not commonly talked about it but I later found out that many medicines in generic forms do not perform as well as generics in certain arenas, especially anything that effects the central nervous system and transplant anti-rejection meds. It ended up the other mfg stopped making that drug. I tried using several different generics without relief. Finally my husbands insurance approved the brand name Klonopin at a reasonable charge that we can afford and I have been doing well with the seizures but my neurologist added another anticonvulsant anyway (which causes significant side effects). Looking at the long term complications from the unfortunate events do to the generic change I'm concerned about my ability to function well enough to care for myself and family (we have a 6 yr. old daughter) I don't know that I can continue to afford the services long term. I have limitations with the shoulder already and the neck pain I'm waiting and hoping for improvement but there is no guarantee. I really hated that all this happened. I'm angry some but mostly I miss just being able to be as active, to enjoy life and be able to participate more fully in life...especially with my daughter. I'd appreciate any advice. I have no idea that I have any recourse but if I do I'd like to leverage it for the help I need.
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