Fiending

I got a phone call from my insurance company the other day... I'll back up:

My doctors have been fighting to get me on a drug called Provigil for nearly 1 1/2 years now... and to no avail.  It's too expensive a drug for the insurance company to willingly pay for, and it has not been "approved" for use for MS patients to manage fatigue.  So for the past year and a half, I have been in the drug trade-- seeking people who have the drug and don't like it so they'll give it to me! (More on why it's fabulous later...) So, in all my recent tests and excitement, one good thing occurred:  I was diagnosed with narcolepsy!  Initially you might wonder, Why is that a good thing?? Well, it's not, per se. BUT-- ultimately it does mean that I have a paved route to that drug, since it's commonly used to treat those with narcolepsy.  So after 1 1/2 years of fighting it, I have a new roundabout way to my drug.

Back to the phone call.  The doctor told me he would call in a prescription for me the day that he called to tell me the news.  So you can imagine my shock when I got a phone call from the insurance company later that afternoon telling me they had denied the drug.  Upon further questioning, ends up she was calling to deny my other doctor's request for it-- not the sleep doctor.  But it did put me in the preset mind frame that perhaps this new diagnosis was not a nice and straight paved path... it might just mean no machetes were needed to navigate it.

So then yesterday, the insurance company calls to inform me that the medication was denied until I try a different (cheaper) one first. "Like what?" I asked.  The answer:  I don't know-- something amphetamine-ish. Basically, they want to give me speed.  I laughed.  The poor girl on the other end. "Unless your doctor can give us a good reason why you shouldn't do those ones first, then you will need to try one of those medications first." 

I can think of 10 good reasons-- and I'll talk really really fast while I tell you!  Isn't that good enough?

I am a Provigil-fiend, apparently. 

Just give me my drug.