Bleeding wouldn't stop - New prescription (or so I thought!)

The double dose (1 in the morning, 1 at night) did stop the break-through bleeding. However, within 5 days after going back to 1 pill a night, the break-through bleeding started again. I again doubled up the dosage for a few days and it stopped again.

Hmmmm...looks like this low dosage wonder drug is too low for me.

Since LoEsterin24FE is $56/pak, which is only 21 days for me as I am attempting continuous BCPs for my endometriosis, I checked around for which other BCPs have a slightly higher dosage and are cost reasonable. Boy, did I find prices all over the board! YAZ is like $78/pak whereas Alesse generic is $21/pak.

I contacted my OB/GYN and discussed the continual break-through bleeding and that doubling the dose is the only way to stop it. Clearly that is not cost-effective nor reasonable. He agreed to try me on a different BCP but didn't have any samples other than LoEsterin24FE so I would have to get a prescription filled. Fine. I have no insurance and had already checked Costco's pricing on various BCPs.

He suggested several brand name BCPs that have no generic and I knew they were cost-prohibitive for my budget. I suggested generic Junel FE as it's the generic equivalent for LoEsterin 1.5/30 and since he seemed so keen on LoEsterin....he agreed and said he would call in the prescription for me so I could pick it up this afternoon. Good. Finally.

Oh, he also suggested that I take two BCPs per day for two more days to stop the current break-through bleeding.

I stopped by the Costco pharmacy and they had me fill out a quick form to get their additional discount for people without drug coverage. My two paks were $35.72, and THAT pricing I can live with. I get in the car and arrive at my next errand and peeked into the pharmacy bag. I don't know why. Curiosity, I suppose.

I see two paks of AVIANE. Aviane? I asked for Junel and he told me Junel. WTF?! I pull out my notes from my internet research and Aviane is the EXACT same formula as LoEsterin24FE!!!!! WTF?!

So I call my OB/GYN's office immediately. It's 4pm, and I get the machine. Fortunately, since he delivers babies, his cell phone number is announced on the message. I call his cell number. I first apologize for calling him on his cell, but I just picked up my prescription and it is wrong and I have no pill to take for tonight. (After all the pain I have experienced with endo, and the amazing relief I have had with taking a BCP, not taking a pill is frightening.) He says to me that he knows they filled my prescription with Aviane because he and the pharmacist discussed the most cost-effective drug to give me and they deduced that Aviane was less expensive.

BUT IT'S THE SAME DOSAGE AS WHAT I'VE BEEN TAKING AND I'M ALWAYS BLEEDING!!! He explains to me in a very calm and fatherly way that with this new drug it may work just fine because it's a different manufacturer and they have a different formulary and he has found that even though the medication may state the same dosage, the formulary is different and therefore may work. He also brought up again that the lowest dose is the best for effectively treating endometriosis and that if I take too high of a dose then the benefits may be less.

BULLSHIT I say.

So, I thanked him as graciously as I could and hung up the phone and then spewed all sorts of profanity at this asshole.

So, I will try this new drug with the same dosage as before and cross my fingers.