I showed up at Galen dermatology, before work this morning, to make sure they could see my kid without me there. He's 17rs old, and usually cannot go places without an adult. (Completely understandable). They said could see him, but we had a bill that needed to be taken care of beforehand. After letting them know I wasn't able to pay today, I texted my son to let him know he didn't need to come. I then explained to the receptionist that, them not seeing kid today was a major concern because of the length of time he'd been on the drug. In fact, every time we get his prescription filled, we first have to log onto his iPledge account and agree to all the terms and conditions, because of all the risks involved with this medication. (For example, people on the drug for too long could develop problems with blood sugar and blood fat levels).
The receptionist called her manager, Becky, who told her that even though we had a balance due, my son needed to be seen, (due to the dangers with inconsistency of the drug). I texted my son back and told him to come on in. By that time though, he had already gone to class, so it took awhile for me to get him released. When he finally arrived at the dermatologist, he was too late and had to be rescheduled. He called me at work to tell me what had happened.
At this point, I'm still very understanding and just needed to be sure he was seen as soon as possible, so I called back. The nurse refused to even listen to me and just kept saying there was nothing she could do. Eventually, she put me on with the nurse, Kate. As soon as Kate picked up the phone, she too, would not even let me explain my concerns. She simply said, there's nothing we can do. Your son will have to come back in two weeks. After about 5 times of pleading with her to let me speak, she finally listened to what I was trying to say.
My son started taking the medicine in November 2021. After a month of being on the medicine, iPledge started having issues within their organization, and so Isotretinoin wasn't able to be dispersed. Galen told us that that was okay though, because the meds would last 30 days. After 2 or 3 months, iPledge figured their stuff out, and we were able to start getting the meds again. At his next appointment, my son, and I, were told that it was a good thing we were able to get going again, but because of the 2-month delay, he needed to start his 6-month time frame over again. (Depending on the severity, it can take 6-9 months of being on Isotretinoin). We were told that going every other day was okay, but not any longer than that.. which meant that it didn't stay in your system for 30 days??
Here's where it gets tricky. When iPledge started having issues, and we were told it was okay because the meds last 30 days, my son started taking one pill every 3 weeks. Once the fiasco with iPledge resolved, my kid didn't quite understand that he could take his meds regularly, and he kept taking one pill every 3 weeks. Because of that, even though we were getting new boxes of Isotretinoin every month, my son was still on his first box.
It wasn't until August 2022 that I realized what was going on. By this point, we had 4 full months of Isotretinoin . We stopped going to the dermatologist until we could finish all the meds that he had.
He took the last pill today and this is why we had made the appointment for today. I explained to Kate that I was concerned because of the length of time my child was on such a dangerous medicine, (which is how it's described to us every month before signing iPledge).
When explaining this to Kate, she stopped me after the 30-day thing and said, 'no - we would NEVER say the drugs are in your system for 30 days. You have to be consistently taking the meds, or there can be major defects. I then said, if that's the case, why is it okay for him to wait 2 weeks before getting back on the medication. And (IF) something goes wrong, and that 2-week period is too long, won't we have to start the 6-month period all over again?
Kate stumbled to gather her thoughts, then said, 'he will be fine because the meds stay in the body for a long time'. I then said, if that's the case, why did Becky want to have him seen, regardless of the money we owe? Kate told me that was because it's recommended to be more consistent, but not needed. So I responded by saying, if that's true, can I get you to put that in writing? Because my worry is that my kid is going to have to have ANOTHER 6-months on this crazy stuff, because you guys can't just see him sooner than 2 weeks.
Kate said that Dr. Lowe could write something, but he's out sick. I then asked Kate to hold on for a moment. A few seconds later I came back and said I've turned my recorder on - can you just repeat what you just said to me. Kate then hung up. When I called back, the receptionist said she refused to talk to me anymore. read more
