[RANT]

So, I find myself running low on my celexa.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, it is an SSRI similar to Prozac and other antidepressants.

Yes, I take antidepressants…because my life is fucking depressing.  We’ll leave that right there.

I’ve been on these for quite some time (~1 yr), and they have assuredly made a positive difference in my day to day functioning.

No sweat, I say.  Made an appointment with the doc and left work an hour early.  Get to the office 30 minutes ahead of time, always a plus as it helps them organize and get ahead if they’re behind. 

I pay my copay, as well as a $5 left over from one of the Evil wife’s bills.  The receptionist takes my money and proceeds to tell me that I have an outstanding balance of about $150.  My response, of course, is "WTF?!".  I only see the doc about twice a year, always pay my copays, and really it’s just a consult to get my prescriptions renewed.  No way in hell I should owe this.  Being unable to clarify exactly what I owe this money for, they call in the ‘collections’ lady from next door.  She proceeds to pull out sheets going back to 2011 showing this and that…long story short, they fucked up the billing, the insurance are bitches, and I’m told I have no recourse because "oh, you only have 120 days to dispute".  Furthermore, I must pay half of this erroneous bill before I can be seen.  DIDN’T BOTHER TO TELL ME THIS WHEN I MADE THE APPOINTMENT, they waited until I was already there and were basically blackmailing me that if I didn’t pay it, the doctor would not see me.

By this point, I’m pissed.  One of my worst pet peeves is people trying to strongarm me, and this is a staggering case of just that.  Despite my seething anger, I realize that I’m fooked without my meds, and say "Fine, here’s my flex card, pay the damn thing".  No.  They don’t take fucking credit cards.

Really!?

Being about 2 microns away from letting the stupid bitches have it with both proverbial barrels, I get my money back and leave.  I’m in serious fucking trouble here.  Without renewed scripts, I’m facing going off my SSRI’s "cold turkey".  Despite the clear knowledge that I am gonna go bat shit crazy being dropped off my meds, they won’t budge.  Best I can do is to make *yet another* appointment on Friday, and agree to pay half of the totally bogus bill.

So, in the meantime, I’m going to be stuck with 2 days of ‘cold turkey’ SSRI withdrawls.  FYI, I’m not on a low dose, so that ain’t helping.

As the cherry on top…I’m out of blends.  The bong is squeaky clean – not even any worthy rez to take the edge off.  Crossing my fingers and hoping a retrospectively well-timed order of Fire shows up to help out, but of course the USPS is being sluggish this week.  Nooooooo!

EG is looking at a very interesting couple of days, brothers and sisters.  My only hope is that I have enough built up in my system that it might carry me through somewhat.  I have some Xanax as well, which I will likely lean pretty heavily on to help keep me lightly sedated in the meantime.  FTR, I don’t even *like* benzos, but it’s about the only tool left in the kit at this point.  ("When all you’ve got is a hammer…")

At this point, I plan to keep my appointment on Friday, get my scripts, and walk out with my records, never to return again.  What the fuck ever happened to the hippocratical oath?  DO NO HARM, motherfucker!!  I’m pretty sure dropping a patient off of SSRI’s due to a billing error qualifies as a whopping violation of that.  While I’ve been happy with the doc for several years, this really makes me question his ethics.  That sucks, as he’s a good doctor, and I’d really rather not deal with the hassle of switching docs, but WTF else can I do here?

It’s a rhetorical question…I don’t expect that anyone has the answers, or can even help, but I needed an outlet to vent this to, and you guys are about the only crowd that I feel comfortable doing so with.  (Please take this as a compliment!  You guys are great!)

With all things being considered, I hope to shame his ass into an apology at the very least.  Not so much for myself, but for the sake of the Evil Wife and Evil Mother-in-law, who are both in extremely poor health and very much dependent upon medical care for their continued survival.  Even my pride, anger, and fact that I’m totally in the right on this come secondary to this consideration.

If anyone does have any advice or insight however, I am totally willing to listen.  Thank you for reading my ravings and perhaps sending some good juju my way, if nothing more.

[/RANT]