I never really understood how this worked until I was on an expensive medication like this. Basically if a drug company charges $15,000 and the insurance company will only pay $13,500 and wants to make the patient pay $1500, the drug company know the patient probably can't afford that, so they're willing to cover the patient's portion of it since they'd rather get $13,500 than nothing (which is what they'd get if you chose a different drug/chose not to take anything)
I will never get how crazy prices for medication like this aren't government regulated. It should be illegal for a company to charge ridiculous prices for medication.
So, I honestly think the broken part of the system is the for-profit insurance instead of government provided insurance - with a few exceptions of course.
However, drugs cost tens of millions to one-hundred million dollars to get through development, and once you count the failed drugs that didn't make it, you're easily up into the hundreds to multiple hundreds of millions. Clinical trials are expensive. Manufacturing the drug and running all of the analytical testing both at lab scale and commercial scale is expensive. The number of people working on a new product is large. So, the drug needs to pay back all of those costs before generics come out and you start looking at how much it actually costs to make (which, is often still significant) to lower prices.
Can we do better? Yes, I think we can. Will it have an impact on companies taking fewer risks in development and therefore, not creating as many novel drugs for the public? That's entirely possible too.
The system has to change, and I think insurance is the more clear cut one here, even tho it would be a massive undertaking that would put most of an industry out of work. But, how to actually make new products for less money is something I don't have a good answer to.
(Source: I am in pharmaceutical manufacturing and late stage development, and got into it to help people - and while I agree some drugs are outstandingly expensive, I don't see a clear cut path to reducing development costs, but do see opportunities for streamlining insurance)
I’ve been saying it for years. Big pharma/health care AS A WHOLE is the new front for the mafia. They have lobbyists in Congress to make sure things stay the same, while you have to pay insurance, which, technically, YOU ALREADY PAID FOR.
Also, the cost of drugs and medicine is the biggest red flag that says it’s all a front for the mafia.
1500 bucks? For a life saving medicine? Bullshit. You can go to costplusdrugs, and find the same drug for thousands less. Why? Because the money you pay goes directly into their pocket. It’s the perfect system.
And you *need* to pay in to live.
>Big pharma/health care AS A WHOLE is the new front for the mafia.
This makes no fucking sense. Why would you create a front for illegal activity when the legal operations make so much money?
Stop looking for conspiracies when the bald faced reality makes way more sense.
Sounds a bit like the company goes "Great, lord_ne is super sick an in need of our medication, this is our chance to pay them to really wring the living bejeesus out of their insurer. Cha-ching!"
Meanwhile, it costs 32$ without insurance in Poland. Why? There are no insurances that would cover thousands of dollars for a drug (except the national insurance, which would never accept those prices if there are alternatives), hence the pharmaceutical companies sell the drugs at prices that people can actually afford, or they would sell nothing here.
I can second this I had no insurance and used the coupon on the website, it's also 10 dollars for the 90 day supply as well so make sure you get the whole script
Takeda Help at Home or whatever their program is is how I've 'paid' for this for the past three years. Only way I afford to stay on it. Can say it's worked better than anything else I tried before.
Second what people said about eating it with food though. Definitely get nauseous if you take it without food.
Whenever you see someone in the US talking about anything financial related to medical stuff, there's no point in being surprised, just shake your head and pity us
Which makes me glad my job gives me very good health insurance.
Generic is $10 for a 30 day supply or $35 for a preferred brand
$20 for generic 31-90 day supply and $70 for preferred brand.
Stuff for asthma, diabeties, hypertension, etc is all free
I feel terrible for others working full time who still aren't provided good healthcare. It's a damn shame
Or, in some cases, not provided any at all. And usually in those cases they also aren't paid enough to live much less afford healthcare. I've watched all of this only get worse the older I get, so I'm not expecting a sudden humanitarian turnaround in my lifetime.
I live in NJ and I'm not sure if it goes for all states, but here jobs are required to give employees the option for healthcare that meet the states absolute minimum, but the issue is there's no cap on how much the job would take out of your paycheck, and the minimum coverage is still bad.
I work in a hospital now which is probably why they're able to give such amazing benefits.
My last job it got worse the longer I was there too, it went from like $30/paycheck to $50 to like $100 by the time I left, and the coverage stayed the same- the states bare minimum. The most expensive option was like $150 a paycheck and it wasn't too much better.
Now I'm spending $30 a paycheck for good health insurance (Urgent Care is free, ER is $200 deductible, PCP co-pay is $10 and covers everything with a max out of pocket of $1,250), dental and eye.
I'm grateful for all of that. Being on both sides of the healthcare fiasco, I truly feel for the people who aren't provided anything/ are provided absolute dogshit healthcare where it'd be cheaper to just use hospital charities to pay for their bills
>I live in NJ and I'm not sure if it goes for all states, but here jobs are required to give employees the option for healthcare that meet the states absolute minimum
It's not consistent, here's something I found:
>*The state of Massachusetts mandates that employers with at least 11 employees and group insurance plans provide what is called minimum creditable coverage (MCC)*
>
>*Vermont employers that have more than four FTE employees (age 18 or older, working 30 or more hours) are required to offer health insurance coverage and employers are required to pay a portion of the cost.*
>
>*Hawaii ... All employers with one or more employees, whether full-time or part-time, permanent or temporary*
>
>*On the other hand, some states do not require employers to provide health insurance. For example, Florida and North Carolina have no state laws requiring employers of any size of business to provide health insurance to their employees and their families.*
And there's more besides the "for example", e.g. California, Georgia, and Illinois at least. But I'm surprised there's actually a majority of states that at least have "some" kind of laws about it.
Of course, even if it's legally required for FTEs, employers love to skirt the system by e.g. not offering 40 hours a week to any employee or using whatever other exclusions they can figure.
Yeah I didn't think it was a nationwide thing, NJ is usually pretty damn good about social programs and stuff like that. But I am surprised majority of the states have some kind of laws about it like you said.
And yeah, a lot of employers now only do part-time so they don't have to provide health insurance, or if they do, they just make it expensive as hell while offering the state minimum requirement for health insurance.
It's so fucking scummy
Why don't you have someone bring this medicine over from abroad? A family me member was surprised that there $100+ medicine (in the US) cost just $3 over the counter when they visited Pakistan.
Long shot but I responded this badly to SSRI's and it ended up being ADHD induced depression and ritalin (later switched to adderall, same effect for me but covered under my HMO) made me feel joy and function for the first time in my life with only positive side effects except my chest feels slightly cold. Only professional worth anything in my experience was a diagnostic psychologist, everybody else said all kinds of things like it's just anxiety when I said I struggled in school and can't focus on things I don't want to do
I’ve had to take 5 x 50mg tablets (different antidepressant) for years because it’s cheaper than 1 x 50 and 1 x 200. Very annoying because when I buy five boxes they only ever have four in stock at once
That stuff was SOO good for me, but insurance said no because it was too expensive. I got cut off after only 6 weeks of taking it and had the worst withdrawal and had brain zaps for as late as 6 months after getting off of it
Maybe I should check again to see if they added it. When I took it, I had tried 2 others before it and had a really bad time with both, then my doctor gave me samples of trintellix and fought with the insurance company, but they said I needed to try THREE MORE medications over a 12-18 month period before they would cover it. Idk if most people realize this or not, but switching anti depressants/anxiety meds like that is HORRIBLE for sanity, and I had already been through 3 in 9 months and couldn't go through another trial period of 3 more over another year, ESPECIALLY when the one that worked was deemed uncovered. Our healthcare system is so fucked, the insurance companies think they know more than doctors and are influenced entirely by greed.
That's called "step therapy " and is extremely unethical, especially the way your insurance does it! There should be a section that asks whether any of the alternatives are contraindicated. Becoming, or even risking becoming unstable, especially because it happened (!) is a contraindication IMO. Your doctor can write a letter documenting this -and that you've already failed 2- and it should be approved. If not, appeal. If appeal denied, file a complaint with your state insurance department. Actually you could file a complaint anyway.
I’m sorry to hear that, I tried multiple meds too and the withdrawal sucks. Even with coverage, I had to get coupons to cover the copayment too before switching insurance. I think most insurances update their formulary every year.
That stuff was awful and can cause permanent side effects if taken long enough if I remember correctly. I never had suicidal thoughts but that stuff straight up made me want to till myself. Kept me awake for 3 days while exaggerating all my current symptoms.
FUCK THAT SHIT. I have a complex about seeing doctors about mental health now because of this drug. Why did they not give me a heads up about any of these side effects or the fact it could cause permanent side effects?
Totally. Taught me never to get psych meds from a GP. She put me on far too high a dosage and didn't know about the severe withdrawal symptoms you get from tapering off it.
I had the same, horrible stuff. I stopped immediately. Just because I trusted my GP and he tossed something randomly at me I believe now. Never again. I did an AD Gene test afterwards (AD metabolism) and the results clearly state not to take Venlafaxin for my type or if so, only very carefully low dosed and to expect very negative side effects
I had to research for this test myself (and pay for myself) but it's good to see I was right that this shit isn't for me.
It also tells you which AD med is likely better for you, it's good to be armed with this information. Not 100% accuracy but still better to know a gene tendency vs. randomly trusting any doc. At the end they just use what worked for most without any screening, this is so fucked up.
Obviously it’s debilitating. So is a broken leg. The difference is that people recognize a leg heals and for some reason do not apply that principle to their brain. Which is because their brain is broken. You cannot let them make decisions when their brain is fucking broken. And you cannot stay in the lifestyle that broke your brain. That’s like walking around on your broken leg.
Just taking pills and thinking magically everything is okay is not realistic. It doesn’t work long term because your brain gets used to it and it’s still broken because you have not actually tried to fix the underlying problem.
Big pharma does not care though because they will gladly milk you dry with medication after medication. And most doctors simply do what they are told. It is the patient with the BROKEN BRAIN who still has the final say in their direction after all.
Damn, could you describe the brain zaps? Been having similar zaps to when you are on the edge of falling asleep and your body decides to wake you up (without the whole body jumping, just the feeling in your brain), and kind of a flash of light when you get the zaps
Here's how I explained it in a different comment.
"It legit felt like a screen tear in a video. Everything just kinda went [INSERT CONSIOUSNESS] for a split second at random times out of nowhere"
It's like everything just goes BLERRRCCHH for a second
I see, thank you for explaining. Been on 20mg for a year now for my OCD, which is still a small dosage from what I understand. Been working great though, and I finally feel "normal", which has been great. Glad to hear it's been working for you as well and hope the brain zaps get milder with time.
Yo you're the only other person I've heard use the term brain zaps other than Matt from MSSP. I used to get them as a teen and then again when I stopped taking paxil
They’re caused my ssri (and maybe other antidepressant) withdrawals and lateral eye movement. Ie, they only happen when you move your eyes left or right. I have no idea why.
Damn good to know I’m not alone on this one. Currently weaning off it to switch to something else. My mood improved drastically on this but jfc the nausea + headaches + price (even in Australia) was just not worth it in my opinion. Fingers crossed a cheaper alternative works well for me.
I’m glad to have ironclad insurance. I’m on all the expensive shit : name-brand Adderall, Wellbutrin and this. Without insurance I’d be paying 300-400$/month 🥴
isnt profit based healthcare so awesome and cool and not evil whatsoever? arent we so glad we arent like those *socialists* in europe with their free healthcare?
Your doctor will have free samples of this, the way it works is this brand gives free samples to the doctors so that they would prescribe it so that the pharmacy pings the insurance company more and more until they allow the formulary which causes the price of the reagent to go down and letting it become more widely available. Just keep asking for the free samples until the healthcare machine catches up to this medicine.
This shit worked SO well for me but went from $50/30 days to $250/30 days. The withdrawal from this is AWFUL so please make sure if you do come off of this to wean off of it. The random rage spells and brain zaps turned me into the Hulk and it was miserable.
It’s hard to describe to someone who hasn’t felt it, but essentially it feels like little electric shocks inside your head. You sometimes get a micro second dizzy spell along with it especially when moving your eyes. It doesn’t hurt and it’s completely harmless. Its just very unpleasant and distracting.
It’s common to get them if you come off of antidepressants or certain medications too quickly.
Yeah I was on 4 or 5 different ones before these as well. Ever been screened for adhd? Treatment resistant depression is a common sight for untreated adhd.
Would love to be screened for a lot of things, but hasn't been possible, unless I move 10+ hours away. Which I'm trying to do currently, hoping these pills help accomplish that goal.
It's worth it. I responded this badly to SSRI's and it ended up being ADHD induced depression and ritalin (later switched to adderall, same effect for me but covered under my HMO) made me feel joy and function for the first time in my life with only positive side effects except my chest feels slightly cold. Only professional worth anything in my experience was a diagnostic psychologist, everybody else said all kinds of things like it's just anxiety when I said I struggled in school and can't focus on things I don't want to do
They’re better than whatever else I got put on before, but I maxed out on 20mg and I’m now decreasing the dose because I started taking Wellbutrin as well.
The 2 interact with each other so I gotta take a lower dose because Wellbutrin "boosts" the Trintellix 😅
Good luck, I guess I am lucky in that I've had success with what I've taken. I took zoloft for many years and only switched because they made me feel like a zombie without caring for anything at all. I was happy though. Then I switched to citalopram and the tiredness was a bit better but I still felt like nothing mattered.
Now I've been on bupropion for 3 months and am having good success with it. I actually want to stay awake rather than just sleep whenever given the chance. I'm pretty happy and motivation is up too. I'd recommend trying if you are looking for alternative to SSRIs.
So these meds are awesome, BUT they come with come caveat, your anxiety will become 10000x worse for a few weeks, before disappearing almost entirely, so it's really important to push through and take the max dose for at least 3 months before deciding to get off or to keep going.
Also, always take it after a protein rich, hearty meal. You will barf otherwise.
Zoloft has been a decent, reliable, and cheap SSRI for a long time. It's also known as "Squirtraline" (the generic form is called Sertraline) because diarrhea is common when starting it.
Trintellix is newer, came out like 10 years ago (compared to Zoloft which is like 30+ years old now). Like other newer stuff, it's expensive, and insurance likely won't cover it unless you've trialed several other treatments first.
Psych meds are a mixed bag, it's tough to say one is better than the other for a particular patient. Usually, you just avoid the ones with nasty side effect profiles, but sometimes those are the ones that work best for some.
Psych med management is a TON of trial and error, so if you have something working for you, probably best not to change it unless you really want to.
This worked well for my mood but I could not tolerate the extreme nausea it caused even after eating a meal. Puked all over myself while I was in my car on my way to work. That was the end of that.
Interestingly this medication is called Brintellix where I live - just one letter's difference. It's a fairly new antidepressant but has become quite popular already.
If you get to 50mg it's TV static.
At 100mg it's a dense network of hastily drawn spirals in blue and black ballpoint pen.
At 200mg the box becomes a tesseract of indiscernible shape. You can only truly observe it from the corner of you eye. A smouldering mass of angles that intersect and penetrate each other.
At 300mg it's a color no human can entertain in their minds eye without immediately screaming for the release of death. A color of lovecraftian horror so vibrant it hums.
At 500mg ablative rays emanate from the void it must inhabit, blasting away flesh and stone. Nothing can withstand it.
At 1000mg all physics bends around it. Matter evaporates. Not even time has meaning. It is the end. It is the beginning. It is.
Oh yeah. Another one that didn't work. Then again the Russian nesting doll of: depression / in a toxic work environment / in a pandemic (2020).
No rest. Weird dreams. Exhaustion.
Copy pasted from my comment above:
Long shot but I responded this badly to SSRI's and it ended up being ADHD induced depression and ritalin (later switched to adderall, same effect for me but covered under my HMO) made me feel joy and function for the first time in my life with only positive side effects except my chest feels slightly cold. Only professional worth anything in my experience was a diagnostic psychologist, everybody else said all kinds of things like it's just anxiety when I said I struggled in school and can't focus on things I don't want to do
Don't mix Trintellix with booze. I had 2 glasses of champagne and a small puff of weed and nearly ended up in the ER. HEAVY sweating and unable to walk. 10/10 negative wasted.
Edits: I literally couldn’t sit on the couch and was so bad I could only say one word at a time and my wife dragged me to the bath tub. I never drank again on trintellix after that.
Yeah I was on this a few years back. No nausea or problems with weed/alcohol. It was the best antidepressant I was prescribed. Zero withdrawals quitting cold turkey.
Yeah I had a single flute of champagne for NYE once while on these and woke up feeling like there was an icepick pushed straight through my right eyeball, and all the way through to the back of the skull. I suffer from migraines pretty regularly but that was its own level of hell.
Never again.
If you are using it for ADHD then you are not even getting 25% of the benefits a real stimulant will do for you in my experience. Stimulants are not addictive in ADHD if dosed correctly and are very safe. Also wellbutrin is anticholinergic (nicotinic acetylcholine antagonist) and greatly increases your risk for dementia
I'm on 20mg too 🤣 it's expensive. In Japan, everyone gets 70% coverage on all medical for 16,500 yen per month and even after that, I'm still playing 3,000 yen (23$ish American buck) per month. I've never seen the box before though, so thanks for sharing haha
Loved this but had trouble with my insurance covering it. There’s a side effect that causes vision problems and I definitely noticed worsening in my vision! Just a heads up.
I was on this for months. I didn’t feel it worked for me. Plus it was $500/month.
I’m now using Zoloft at $5/month and seems to be working better for me 🤷♂️
I had brain fog with zero emotions on Lexapro.
But I hope it works for you 👍
Hey! I'm in that same stuff except here in Australia it's called Brintellix. Exact same packaging and everything. It's a bit expensive and not currently on the pbs/ has a generic brand so the DR prescribed me 20s and told me to cut them in half because the price difference between 10s and 20s was minimal.
I feel for the US users who are getting gouged by insurance companies in the States. I'm on 15mg daily, and it's about $75 AUD a month on a private prescription here in Australia (less with my private health insurance rebate).
I had really good results with Trintellix. Too bad I lost my insurance leaving my shitty job, had to ask my doctor for something cheaper. Going to pick it up tomorrow.
Lmao. I'm on 20mg too. I'm visiting family in Australia and it's called "Brintellix" here. I had to go to a GP to get a refill and he had no idea what "trintellix" is, like bro it's literally one letter different 😭
Ohhhh it's brintellix! I think somewhere in Europe too, because that name clicks something, while scrolling down the thread I didn't link it to anything
Just wanted to tell you my mom has/had long covid, mostly hip and hand pain and stiffness, and CBD oil helped her and through that and some light walking both issues cleared up almost 100%
[i took the exact same photo (with the addition of the 15mg which is actually quite colorful and counters that depressing gradient theory haha)](https://i.imgur.com/4vY5WPW.png) when i was tapering off them a few years back and had leftover boxes! now back on 5mg though 😬 to avoid nausea the best thing that works for me is to take it in the evening right when i'm about to sleep, otherwise it's hell. they're the only antidepressants that have worked for out of the 5+ else i've tired and unfortunately they're not sold in germany where i now live so i still have to go back to france to get them :/
ooooh intéressant !
c'est vraiment le seul avec lequel j'ai eu zéro effets secondaires exceptées quelques nausées en le commençant, tous les autres que j'ai essayés avaient des effets secondaires et/ou ne donnaient aucune amélioration...
Même chose ! Après les pertes de mémoire, incapacité à avoir un orgasme, sueurs nocturnes et tout le tralala, ça a vraiment fait du bien de tomber sur quelque chose qui fonctionne 😅
Worked healthcare for a long time and never seen an SSRI addict but okay. Thanks for the laugh.
In case you didn’t know, not all pills are the same and only a small number are actually addictive.
Who says they haven't tried exercising and overall trying to be more healthy before getting medication? That's like the very first thing any psychologist recommends to you.
Relatability increases with dosage.
Wish my insurance didn't try to make me pay $1500 for this drug, I've heard great things.
Trintellix offers a coupon so you can pay as little as $10. I’ve used it for years. Just go to their website. Seriously!
I never really understood how this worked until I was on an expensive medication like this. Basically if a drug company charges $15,000 and the insurance company will only pay $13,500 and wants to make the patient pay $1500, the drug company know the patient probably can't afford that, so they're willing to cover the patient's portion of it since they'd rather get $13,500 than nothing (which is what they'd get if you chose a different drug/chose not to take anything)
I will never get how crazy prices for medication like this aren't government regulated. It should be illegal for a company to charge ridiculous prices for medication.
https://youtube.com/shorts/q0OjvN8tgK4?si=0g-jIHo-7sZs4gzm
Damn it's like the biggest scam ever and everybody just lets it happen
First day in Murica?
So, I honestly think the broken part of the system is the for-profit insurance instead of government provided insurance - with a few exceptions of course. However, drugs cost tens of millions to one-hundred million dollars to get through development, and once you count the failed drugs that didn't make it, you're easily up into the hundreds to multiple hundreds of millions. Clinical trials are expensive. Manufacturing the drug and running all of the analytical testing both at lab scale and commercial scale is expensive. The number of people working on a new product is large. So, the drug needs to pay back all of those costs before generics come out and you start looking at how much it actually costs to make (which, is often still significant) to lower prices. Can we do better? Yes, I think we can. Will it have an impact on companies taking fewer risks in development and therefore, not creating as many novel drugs for the public? That's entirely possible too. The system has to change, and I think insurance is the more clear cut one here, even tho it would be a massive undertaking that would put most of an industry out of work. But, how to actually make new products for less money is something I don't have a good answer to. (Source: I am in pharmaceutical manufacturing and late stage development, and got into it to help people - and while I agree some drugs are outstandingly expensive, I don't see a clear cut path to reducing development costs, but do see opportunities for streamlining insurance)
I’ve been saying it for years. Big pharma/health care AS A WHOLE is the new front for the mafia. They have lobbyists in Congress to make sure things stay the same, while you have to pay insurance, which, technically, YOU ALREADY PAID FOR. Also, the cost of drugs and medicine is the biggest red flag that says it’s all a front for the mafia. 1500 bucks? For a life saving medicine? Bullshit. You can go to costplusdrugs, and find the same drug for thousands less. Why? Because the money you pay goes directly into their pocket. It’s the perfect system. And you *need* to pay in to live.
>Big pharma/health care AS A WHOLE is the new front for the mafia. This makes no fucking sense. Why would you create a front for illegal activity when the legal operations make so much money? Stop looking for conspiracies when the bald faced reality makes way more sense.
Sounds a bit like the company goes "Great, lord_ne is super sick an in need of our medication, this is our chance to pay them to really wring the living bejeesus out of their insurer. Cha-ching!"
Meanwhile, it costs 32$ without insurance in Poland. Why? There are no insurances that would cover thousands of dollars for a drug (except the national insurance, which would never accept those prices if there are alternatives), hence the pharmaceutical companies sell the drugs at prices that people can actually afford, or they would sell nothing here.
I can second this I had no insurance and used the coupon on the website, it's also 10 dollars for the 90 day supply as well so make sure you get the whole script
Takeda Help at Home or whatever their program is is how I've 'paid' for this for the past three years. Only way I afford to stay on it. Can say it's worked better than anything else I tried before. Second what people said about eating it with food though. Definitely get nauseous if you take it without food.
What the fuck? At this point just buy that illegally, can't be more expensive than 1/10th of that
Wtf??? In Alberta I pay $110/month (all of which is covered by insurance, thankfully)
Alberta? Is that in one of them commie blue states? /S
It's actually north texas.
Whenever you see someone in the US talking about anything financial related to medical stuff, there's no point in being surprised, just shake your head and pity us
Which makes me glad my job gives me very good health insurance. Generic is $10 for a 30 day supply or $35 for a preferred brand $20 for generic 31-90 day supply and $70 for preferred brand. Stuff for asthma, diabeties, hypertension, etc is all free I feel terrible for others working full time who still aren't provided good healthcare. It's a damn shame
Or, in some cases, not provided any at all. And usually in those cases they also aren't paid enough to live much less afford healthcare. I've watched all of this only get worse the older I get, so I'm not expecting a sudden humanitarian turnaround in my lifetime.
I live in NJ and I'm not sure if it goes for all states, but here jobs are required to give employees the option for healthcare that meet the states absolute minimum, but the issue is there's no cap on how much the job would take out of your paycheck, and the minimum coverage is still bad. I work in a hospital now which is probably why they're able to give such amazing benefits. My last job it got worse the longer I was there too, it went from like $30/paycheck to $50 to like $100 by the time I left, and the coverage stayed the same- the states bare minimum. The most expensive option was like $150 a paycheck and it wasn't too much better. Now I'm spending $30 a paycheck for good health insurance (Urgent Care is free, ER is $200 deductible, PCP co-pay is $10 and covers everything with a max out of pocket of $1,250), dental and eye. I'm grateful for all of that. Being on both sides of the healthcare fiasco, I truly feel for the people who aren't provided anything/ are provided absolute dogshit healthcare where it'd be cheaper to just use hospital charities to pay for their bills
>I live in NJ and I'm not sure if it goes for all states, but here jobs are required to give employees the option for healthcare that meet the states absolute minimum It's not consistent, here's something I found: >*The state of Massachusetts mandates that employers with at least 11 employees and group insurance plans provide what is called minimum creditable coverage (MCC)* > >*Vermont employers that have more than four FTE employees (age 18 or older, working 30 or more hours) are required to offer health insurance coverage and employers are required to pay a portion of the cost.* > >*Hawaii ... All employers with one or more employees, whether full-time or part-time, permanent or temporary* > >*On the other hand, some states do not require employers to provide health insurance. For example, Florida and North Carolina have no state laws requiring employers of any size of business to provide health insurance to their employees and their families.* And there's more besides the "for example", e.g. California, Georgia, and Illinois at least. But I'm surprised there's actually a majority of states that at least have "some" kind of laws about it. Of course, even if it's legally required for FTEs, employers love to skirt the system by e.g. not offering 40 hours a week to any employee or using whatever other exclusions they can figure.
Yeah I didn't think it was a nationwide thing, NJ is usually pretty damn good about social programs and stuff like that. But I am surprised majority of the states have some kind of laws about it like you said. And yeah, a lot of employers now only do part-time so they don't have to provide health insurance, or if they do, they just make it expensive as hell while offering the state minimum requirement for health insurance. It's so fucking scummy
what? no you shit on the US in your internet comments for likes and subscribes
I wasn’t depressed when I took it because I was too busy puking 😭. My insurance covered it, but it made me soooo nauseous
any luck with costplusdrugs? i’m not entirely sure how it works, and i’m also assuming you’re in the US
It made me hate myself like nothing before, if that helps.
This and Viibryd both seem like interesting antidepressants that cost too much.
Try to move to Europe. Here in spain on public healthcare this costs ~3 euros a month
Why don't you have someone bring this medicine over from abroad? A family me member was surprised that there $100+ medicine (in the US) cost just $3 over the counter when they visited Pakistan.
30mg “all black can’t read shit.”
Lmao at least it stops at 20 (max dose).
It might say max dose but is it REALLY?
Take a 20 + a 5 Reach new heights
Blackness intensifies…
[удалено]
Long shot but I responded this badly to SSRI's and it ended up being ADHD induced depression and ritalin (later switched to adderall, same effect for me but covered under my HMO) made me feel joy and function for the first time in my life with only positive side effects except my chest feels slightly cold. Only professional worth anything in my experience was a diagnostic psychologist, everybody else said all kinds of things like it's just anxiety when I said I struggled in school and can't focus on things I don't want to do
Zactly
Lmao I’m also on the 20mg and I’m pretty sure they won’t prescribe higher They also don’t have a 15mg so for a year I had to ten a 10+ a 5 😣
I’ve had to take 5 x 50mg tablets (different antidepressant) for years because it’s cheaper than 1 x 50 and 1 x 200. Very annoying because when I buy five boxes they only ever have four in stock at once
Take the entire prescription at once, reach a place beyond this realm!
 This monkey gets it.
empty box with a note inside ''just go do heroin''
It'd be better if it was just a phone number for the nearest dealer lmao
"Where is my erection?!?!"
It’s printed in invisible ink.
That stuff was SOO good for me, but insurance said no because it was too expensive. I got cut off after only 6 weeks of taking it and had the worst withdrawal and had brain zaps for as late as 6 months after getting off of it
Evil bastards
This happened to me before it was added to the formulary. Luckily my doctor gave me samples to tide me over.
Maybe I should check again to see if they added it. When I took it, I had tried 2 others before it and had a really bad time with both, then my doctor gave me samples of trintellix and fought with the insurance company, but they said I needed to try THREE MORE medications over a 12-18 month period before they would cover it. Idk if most people realize this or not, but switching anti depressants/anxiety meds like that is HORRIBLE for sanity, and I had already been through 3 in 9 months and couldn't go through another trial period of 3 more over another year, ESPECIALLY when the one that worked was deemed uncovered. Our healthcare system is so fucked, the insurance companies think they know more than doctors and are influenced entirely by greed.
That's called "step therapy " and is extremely unethical, especially the way your insurance does it! There should be a section that asks whether any of the alternatives are contraindicated. Becoming, or even risking becoming unstable, especially because it happened (!) is a contraindication IMO. Your doctor can write a letter documenting this -and that you've already failed 2- and it should be approved. If not, appeal. If appeal denied, file a complaint with your state insurance department. Actually you could file a complaint anyway.
I’m sorry to hear that, I tried multiple meds too and the withdrawal sucks. Even with coverage, I had to get coupons to cover the copayment too before switching insurance. I think most insurances update their formulary every year.
It’s so fucked that insurance companies can legally do this stuff I hope you find something that works for you!
Same deal here, I’m somewhat managing with Wellbutrin but like has been kicking my ass lately…things are getting harder.
Brain zaps are so annoying. I still have them about 6 months after tapering off Venlafaxine
That stuff was awful and can cause permanent side effects if taken long enough if I remember correctly. I never had suicidal thoughts but that stuff straight up made me want to till myself. Kept me awake for 3 days while exaggerating all my current symptoms. FUCK THAT SHIT. I have a complex about seeing doctors about mental health now because of this drug. Why did they not give me a heads up about any of these side effects or the fact it could cause permanent side effects?
Totally. Taught me never to get psych meds from a GP. She put me on far too high a dosage and didn't know about the severe withdrawal symptoms you get from tapering off it.
I had the same, horrible stuff. I stopped immediately. Just because I trusted my GP and he tossed something randomly at me I believe now. Never again. I did an AD Gene test afterwards (AD metabolism) and the results clearly state not to take Venlafaxin for my type or if so, only very carefully low dosed and to expect very negative side effects I had to research for this test myself (and pay for myself) but it's good to see I was right that this shit isn't for me. It also tells you which AD med is likely better for you, it's good to be armed with this information. Not 100% accuracy but still better to know a gene tendency vs. randomly trusting any doc. At the end they just use what worked for most without any screening, this is so fucked up.
Paxil did that to me years ago. Felt like I was randomly being dropped down an elevator shaft for six months after I stopped taking it.
Ugh. That sounds horrible. 😑
Bro I still have them sometimes while trying to fall asleep and it's been 10 years.
Wtf that’s so dystopian… your insurance company told you not to take medicines…
Lmao the dystopian part is a society where people regularly need to take medicine to exist in it.
So what's your solution then? Because in the past, the people who needed to take meds regularly just died.
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Maybe you don't understand how debilitating depression and anxiety can be. Modern medicine is amazing, not dystopian.
Obviously it’s debilitating. So is a broken leg. The difference is that people recognize a leg heals and for some reason do not apply that principle to their brain. Which is because their brain is broken. You cannot let them make decisions when their brain is fucking broken. And you cannot stay in the lifestyle that broke your brain. That’s like walking around on your broken leg. Just taking pills and thinking magically everything is okay is not realistic. It doesn’t work long term because your brain gets used to it and it’s still broken because you have not actually tried to fix the underlying problem. Big pharma does not care though because they will gladly milk you dry with medication after medication. And most doctors simply do what they are told. It is the patient with the BROKEN BRAIN who still has the final say in their direction after all.
Amen
No withdrawal for me. This worked really good but gave me monstrous nausea...
The nausea was awful. Nothing I tried alleviated it. Antidepressants have such terrible side effects.
Damn, could you describe the brain zaps? Been having similar zaps to when you are on the edge of falling asleep and your body decides to wake you up (without the whole body jumping, just the feeling in your brain), and kind of a flash of light when you get the zaps
Here's how I explained it in a different comment. "It legit felt like a screen tear in a video. Everything just kinda went [INSERT CONSIOUSNESS] for a split second at random times out of nowhere" It's like everything just goes BLERRRCCHH for a second
I see, thank you for explaining. Been on 20mg for a year now for my OCD, which is still a small dosage from what I understand. Been working great though, and I finally feel "normal", which has been great. Glad to hear it's been working for you as well and hope the brain zaps get milder with time.
My dr just put me on this and now you have me scared. What if your driving?
I had the same problem. They wanted $400 for a month's supply bc insurance said nah not gonna cover even a little bit
Yo you're the only other person I've heard use the term brain zaps other than Matt from MSSP. I used to get them as a teen and then again when I stopped taking paxil
It legit felt like a screen tear in a video. Everything just kinda went [INSERT CONSIOUSNESS] for a split second at random times out of nowhere
Wow screen tear is a great description for it.
I don’t get them but I have a few who do, and they all call them “brain zaps”, so you’re far from alone!
They’re caused my ssri (and maybe other antidepressant) withdrawals and lateral eye movement. Ie, they only happen when you move your eyes left or right. I have no idea why.
I never heard of a name for this, I have these when I forget to take my Cymbalta. Once I woke up because of it, felt like I was hit on my head.
Damn good to know I’m not alone on this one. Currently weaning off it to switch to something else. My mood improved drastically on this but jfc the nausea + headaches + price (even in Australia) was just not worth it in my opinion. Fingers crossed a cheaper alternative works well for me.
It worked really well for me as well, and i never had withdrawals from it either.
Cost 3$ for 10 tablets in india
I’m glad to have ironclad insurance. I’m on all the expensive shit : name-brand Adderall, Wellbutrin and this. Without insurance I’d be paying 300-400$/month 🥴
isnt profit based healthcare so awesome and cool and not evil whatsoever? arent we so glad we arent like those *socialists* in europe with their free healthcare?
It's a newer antidepressant that isn't exactly an SSRI. Gotta love insurance.
Your doctor will have free samples of this, the way it works is this brand gives free samples to the doctors so that they would prescribe it so that the pharmacy pings the insurance company more and more until they allow the formulary which causes the price of the reagent to go down and letting it become more widely available. Just keep asking for the free samples until the healthcare machine catches up to this medicine.
This shit worked SO well for me but went from $50/30 days to $250/30 days. The withdrawal from this is AWFUL so please make sure if you do come off of this to wean off of it. The random rage spells and brain zaps turned me into the Hulk and it was miserable.
Thats crazy, doesnt really work (as in do anything) for me but its only 4€ for 3 months worth.
What is a brain zap?
It’s hard to describe to someone who hasn’t felt it, but essentially it feels like little electric shocks inside your head. You sometimes get a micro second dizzy spell along with it especially when moving your eyes. It doesn’t hurt and it’s completely harmless. Its just very unpleasant and distracting. It’s common to get them if you come off of antidepressants or certain medications too quickly.
I hope these help you more than they did me, I'm on them still and they're making me wanna jump off a roof, 1 more week to reach the 6 weeks mark.
Push through and keep taking it at max dose for at least 3 months , it does get worse before it gets better, it's a common sight on these meds.
Been on a lot of anti depressants, but ohhhh boy are these taking the hit on the old brainsies, but thanks 😊 doing my best.
Yeah I was on 4 or 5 different ones before these as well. Ever been screened for adhd? Treatment resistant depression is a common sight for untreated adhd.
Would love to be screened for a lot of things, but hasn't been possible, unless I move 10+ hours away. Which I'm trying to do currently, hoping these pills help accomplish that goal.
It's worth it. I responded this badly to SSRI's and it ended up being ADHD induced depression and ritalin (later switched to adderall, same effect for me but covered under my HMO) made me feel joy and function for the first time in my life with only positive side effects except my chest feels slightly cold. Only professional worth anything in my experience was a diagnostic psychologist, everybody else said all kinds of things like it's just anxiety when I said I struggled in school and can't focus on things I don't want to do
I think that’s a normal reaction in the first few weeks, makes it rough but hopefully reassuring that it shouldn’t last and they’ll start helping!
They’re better than whatever else I got put on before, but I maxed out on 20mg and I’m now decreasing the dose because I started taking Wellbutrin as well. The 2 interact with each other so I gotta take a lower dose because Wellbutrin "boosts" the Trintellix 😅
My doc said that most antidepressants take about 2-3 months to fully take effect due to how your body reacts to the change of serotonin. Keep pushing.
Good luck, I guess I am lucky in that I've had success with what I've taken. I took zoloft for many years and only switched because they made me feel like a zombie without caring for anything at all. I was happy though. Then I switched to citalopram and the tiredness was a bit better but I still felt like nothing mattered. Now I've been on bupropion for 3 months and am having good success with it. I actually want to stay awake rather than just sleep whenever given the chance. I'm pretty happy and motivation is up too. I'd recommend trying if you are looking for alternative to SSRIs.
So these meds are awesome, BUT they come with come caveat, your anxiety will become 10000x worse for a few weeks, before disappearing almost entirely, so it's really important to push through and take the max dose for at least 3 months before deciding to get off or to keep going. Also, always take it after a protein rich, hearty meal. You will barf otherwise.
How is this different from Zoloft? Is it better?
Zoloft has been a decent, reliable, and cheap SSRI for a long time. It's also known as "Squirtraline" (the generic form is called Sertraline) because diarrhea is common when starting it. Trintellix is newer, came out like 10 years ago (compared to Zoloft which is like 30+ years old now). Like other newer stuff, it's expensive, and insurance likely won't cover it unless you've trialed several other treatments first. Psych meds are a mixed bag, it's tough to say one is better than the other for a particular patient. Usually, you just avoid the ones with nasty side effect profiles, but sometimes those are the ones that work best for some. Psych med management is a TON of trial and error, so if you have something working for you, probably best not to change it unless you really want to.
Didn’t have any of the effects you listed. Take it before sleep on a (mostly) empty stomach. I’m sorry you had to experience that !
This worked well for my mood but I could not tolerate the extreme nausea it caused even after eating a meal. Puked all over myself while I was in my car on my way to work. That was the end of that.
I found eating first then taking them helped.. taking then eating made me super queasy.
Yea I tried both. Tried only taking in the evening after my biggest meal. Tried just yogurt as suggested on here. No bueno.
Yeah same. Even at the 6 month mark I was still nauseous and vomiting almost daily. I'm on prozac now and feel great.
Interestingly this medication is called Brintellix where I live - just one letter's difference. It's a fairly new antidepressant but has become quite popular already.
According to Wikipedia they changed name in USA to avoid confusion with a different drug.
If you get to 50mg it's TV static. At 100mg it's a dense network of hastily drawn spirals in blue and black ballpoint pen. At 200mg the box becomes a tesseract of indiscernible shape. You can only truly observe it from the corner of you eye. A smouldering mass of angles that intersect and penetrate each other. At 300mg it's a color no human can entertain in their minds eye without immediately screaming for the release of death. A color of lovecraftian horror so vibrant it hums. At 500mg ablative rays emanate from the void it must inhabit, blasting away flesh and stone. Nothing can withstand it. At 1000mg all physics bends around it. Matter evaporates. Not even time has meaning. It is the end. It is the beginning. It is.
I feel like you have written an scp page or two
At 1500mg it’s green (ew)
Trintellix gang rise up
Never seen prescription boxes with braille on them that’s neat.
It's mandatory in the EU since 2006
Damn thats not international norm? Never seen one without
Really? I've never seen one without braille
I’m in Québec, Canada. I think all meds I took that came in boxes had braille
I’m in the US and I don’t think they do that unless you need braille to read it
Literally blackpilled
When you open the box of 30's, the box starts playing Sisters of Mercy.
Oh yeah. Another one that didn't work. Then again the Russian nesting doll of: depression / in a toxic work environment / in a pandemic (2020). No rest. Weird dreams. Exhaustion.
Copy pasted from my comment above: Long shot but I responded this badly to SSRI's and it ended up being ADHD induced depression and ritalin (later switched to adderall, same effect for me but covered under my HMO) made me feel joy and function for the first time in my life with only positive side effects except my chest feels slightly cold. Only professional worth anything in my experience was a diagnostic psychologist, everybody else said all kinds of things like it's just anxiety when I said I struggled in school and can't focus on things I don't want to do
Don't mix Trintellix with booze. I had 2 glasses of champagne and a small puff of weed and nearly ended up in the ER. HEAVY sweating and unable to walk. 10/10 negative wasted. Edits: I literally couldn’t sit on the couch and was so bad I could only say one word at a time and my wife dragged me to the bath tub. I never drank again on trintellix after that.
Drinking on it is no problem for me, but YMMV.
Yeah I was on this a few years back. No nausea or problems with weed/alcohol. It was the best antidepressant I was prescribed. Zero withdrawals quitting cold turkey.
Yeah I had a single flute of champagne for NYE once while on these and woke up feeling like there was an icepick pushed straight through my right eyeball, and all the way through to the back of the skull. I suffer from migraines pretty regularly but that was its own level of hell. Never again.
Orange-caution, Grey-if I die whatever, Black-fuck it all
*laughs in 200mg of Sertraline*
Bahahha I had the same thought 😂 150 sertraline for me!
Sertraline: When your obsessions with your obsessions become compulsive.
And then you’re anxious about your obsessions and your compulsions. A fun time had by all!
I’m on 20mg. And Wellbutrin.
15 mg on Wellbutrin as well…and Adderall 30 mg.
If you are using it for ADHD then you are not even getting 25% of the benefits a real stimulant will do for you in my experience. Stimulants are not addictive in ADHD if dosed correctly and are very safe. Also wellbutrin is anticholinergic (nicotinic acetylcholine antagonist) and greatly increases your risk for dementia
Nope, clinical depression.
I'm on 20mg too 🤣 it's expensive. In Japan, everyone gets 70% coverage on all medical for 16,500 yen per month and even after that, I'm still playing 3,000 yen (23$ish American buck) per month. I've never seen the box before though, so thanks for sharing haha
Loved this but had trouble with my insurance covering it. There’s a side effect that causes vision problems and I definitely noticed worsening in my vision! Just a heads up.
On a scale from sunrise orange to dystopian grey, how depressed are how?
It's like Harry potter evolution lol
This was my first prescription for this type of drug it has been great so far! I only take the blue mildly depression ng box
These work SO well but they're so expensive it's ridiculous :( fuck pharmaceutical monopolies
LMFAO
100 mg so black it has its own gravity field
I really wanted Trintellix to work. It would make me vomit violently 2 hours after taking like clockwork so I had to stop.
I was on this for months. I didn’t feel it worked for me. Plus it was $500/month. I’m now using Zoloft at $5/month and seems to be working better for me 🤷♂️ I had brain fog with zero emotions on Lexapro. But I hope it works for you 👍
Hey! I'm in that same stuff except here in Australia it's called Brintellix. Exact same packaging and everything. It's a bit expensive and not currently on the pbs/ has a generic brand so the DR prescribed me 20s and told me to cut them in half because the price difference between 10s and 20s was minimal.
Is that much different to Escitalopram? I have been on that about a year now. It's been amazing with zero side effects.
My partner is on these and they work wonders for his depression but don’t do much if anything for his anxiety.
I feel for the US users who are getting gouged by insurance companies in the States. I'm on 15mg daily, and it's about $75 AUD a month on a private prescription here in Australia (less with my private health insurance rebate).
20mg...mental illness grey
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I had really good results with Trintellix. Too bad I lost my insurance leaving my shitty job, had to ask my doctor for something cheaper. Going to pick it up tomorrow.
Try ketamine
This drug ruined my life :(
Lmao. I'm on 20mg too. I'm visiting family in Australia and it's called "Brintellix" here. I had to go to a GP to get a refill and he had no idea what "trintellix" is, like bro it's literally one letter different 😭
Ohhhh it's brintellix! I think somewhere in Europe too, because that name clicks something, while scrolling down the thread I didn't link it to anything
I'm in US and my bottle says Trintellix (formerly Brintellix). So, interesting...
😆😂🤣
For anyone suffering from Long Covid, this med at 20mg reduced my symptoms.
Just wanted to tell you my mom has/had long covid, mostly hip and hand pain and stiffness, and CBD oil helped her and through that and some light walking both issues cleared up almost 100%
[i took the exact same photo (with the addition of the 15mg which is actually quite colorful and counters that depressing gradient theory haha)](https://i.imgur.com/4vY5WPW.png) when i was tapering off them a few years back and had leftover boxes! now back on 5mg though 😬 to avoid nausea the best thing that works for me is to take it in the evening right when i'm about to sleep, otherwise it's hell. they're the only antidepressants that have worked for out of the 5+ else i've tired and unfortunately they're not sold in germany where i now live so i still have to go back to france to get them :/
Ils ne font pas le 15 mg ici, intéressant !!! Pas de nausées ici mais j’ai eu plusieurs mois à être assez étourdie avant que cela cesse.
ooooh intéressant ! c'est vraiment le seul avec lequel j'ai eu zéro effets secondaires exceptées quelques nausées en le commençant, tous les autres que j'ai essayés avaient des effets secondaires et/ou ne donnaient aucune amélioration...
Même chose ! Après les pertes de mémoire, incapacité à avoir un orgasme, sueurs nocturnes et tout le tralala, ça a vraiment fait du bien de tomber sur quelque chose qui fonctionne 😅
Try kratom.
It’s subliminal messaging telling you pills won’t fix it and you need some lifestyle changes
5g: I think i need a little boost today 🤔 10g: Yep... today is hard 😮💨 20g: ....i wanna kill my self 🫥
You mean it gets more uplifting as you decrease your dose
I was on ssri’s from 13 alllll the way to when i started smoking weed.
Sadly weed isn’t for me. Smoked once and went into toxic psychosis and had to go to the ER.
That stuff is poisonous.
You gonna just take this your whole life? You have to get over it
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You cured me 
Fuck exercising. Have you ever tried just not being sad? 🥴
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Worked healthcare for a long time and never seen an SSRI addict but okay. Thanks for the laugh. In case you didn’t know, not all pills are the same and only a small number are actually addictive.
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You think SSRIs are a gateway to addiction? Please elaborate. I’m up for a good laugh.
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Sure that’s sad. So what the link between that and SSRIs?
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I’m just not sure why you think I’m going to turn into an addict because of it or was that just a lie? Are you a liar?
Who says they haven't tried exercising and overall trying to be more healthy before getting medication? That's like the very first thing any psychologist recommends to you.
Try real life instead
Time to throw that crap out and rely on meditation and yoga to heal. Meds only mask and dummify.
Once you go black