Morphine 100mg Er Vs Lower Cost Alternative
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I am a cronic pain patient. I have been taking Morphine ER 100mg for about 2 years. The price on my pills just doubles at my local pharmacy, My Dr is very open to recommendations, Can anyone recommend an alternative drug with the same pain killing potency with a lower cost. He had prescribed my Oxycontin, but the price at the pharmave was going to be about $700 per month out of pocket for me. The Morphine ER 100MG (qty 90, 3 per day) had been costing me $97 with my drug discount card, today when my wife refilled, they charged $190. When I called about it they said that the retail price of the pills had gone up.

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39

With this post being so old, you likely have the answers needed. However, just in case..... I've been on Methadone for many years. While most people (doctors included if you can believe that) think Methadone is only to get "junkies" off of drugs, it's also been widely used to treat pain for at least 15 years.

The good:
1) It's dirt cheap. Even without insurance, I pay about twenty dollars for 40 or so 10mg pills.
2) You can function on it because it doesn't make you "loopy".
3) It doesn't come up in drug panels unless they specifically check for Methadone (most don't). This allows you to manage your pain while you work without fear of being fired.
4) For me, it's one narcotic that I don't seem to build up a tolerance to. And I'll been on them all. Believe me!

The bad:
1) There is no "brand name" maker. Current laws state that generic drugs can have as little as 70% (or so) of the actual drug in the pill. I've found that of the two major makers (Mallinckrodt & Roxanne), the Mallinckrodt (oblong rather than round in shape) are much stronger. Obviously Mallinckrodt doses at the higher end of active ingredient while Roxanne at the low end. Price is the same for both at most stores.
2) Methadone has a long "half life", and can build up to the point of being dangerous. The deaths you hear about related to Methadone is because of this. Simply put, every 12 hours is the dosage. Don't exceed it.

I know I got off track here from pricing, but I thought it was important information. Good luck!

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38

That's a great price. We lost our insurance and were quoted 360$ for 60 count 100 mg ms contin. My insurance information shows the pharmacy excepts 160$ total for copay plus insurance pay. Equaling approx. $2.63 per pill.

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37

I'm with you I feel the same. I thought that I would get relief from paying the high costs of being in the donut hole since March last year. I was floored when my pharmacist priced my copays for my MS Contin generic and Percocet generic. MS was 101.05 and Percocet 111.00. I cried and felt like giving up on everything. I have severe spine pain, failed back fusions times six since 2009, just dx'd with Sjogrens disease, RSD since 2006, fibramyalgia, ect... We need help.

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36

It's the same exact story that I would've told. I found that by going to the local hospital which also has a pharmacy that they were able to get me the Mallinkrodt's but their cost has been going up and up, 27% in just the last year. That's ridiculous for a medication that's probably been around since WWI and only changed in that it's now Extended Release.

The other brand, Rhodes is pretty much all that's available at any drug store simply does not work. In fact I reported them to the FDA stating that I suspected they're not selling what they say they are...but all that and bucket of dimes didn't get anything done and I too was stuck with pills that wouldn't work that I ended up throwing away that cost just as much. During my investigation into another durg and alternatives I saw that the two different companies manufacturing the same medication are now being reimbursed at different rates. I guess you know that Rhodes was cheaper which is why it's all you can find in local drug stores. How sad for unsuspecting consumers that will pay thousands of dollars for something that's not working as it should and they won't even have anything to compare against.

Once again in the US we're all but stuck with a monopoly operation that can name their price. What the hell happened to US? I seem to recall that monopolies were to either be regulated to the extreme or eliminated and now we do neither. In fact we don't even insure they sell what they claim everything is now caveat emptor in America.

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35

I would recommend First to talk to your physician about this situation. If your physician is not a pain management physician I would recommend you're going to Dr. William Conard in Sacramento as he is the bet best pain management physician in the state, not just the area. You can find him under Asclepious Pain Management. Also, I would recommend you consider Oxycodone 30 mg tabs or Oxycontin because both of them are effective and cheaper, regardless of dose and quantity. Dr Conard is the best. He will help you with alternatives to narcotics too WHICH IS GOOD!!! Trust me on this! I have incurable cancer pain & I still am working on lowering my narcotic doses. Pain meds can lead to more pain so be open to new ideas and new help. I know from experience. Tell Dr Conard that Linda advised you to call and show him this note. He won't disclose my identity, but he will HELP YOU & he will also know I really get it now & that I believe in what he is doing. He is a Mn doc; unlike CA docs. They actually care! Get well. God bless you.

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34

The problem I got into with swapping meds is that they aren't all created equal. Even among the few manufacturers of morphine sulfate ER some work and others don't. I've found Mallinkrodt to be some of the best but hard to find. I have to go to a pharmacy that's able to order by manufacturer. CVS and others can only order generic morphine and only dispense what their supplier sends. And magically if it doesn't work you still own it and pay for it. I tried to get CVS to take it back but they wouldn't. So I had to suffer for a couple weeks with a less than desirable medication.

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33

You can always try methadone but they no longer give out 40mg pills. You will get them in 10mg & they work pretty well. Is what I've been told. And they are inexpensive.

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32

Shouldn't the doctors be on top of this? The patients don't have the authority to change medications and can o ly guess at what their doctor is thinking so they should be on alert that some meds are In short demand while others are not the same quality, etc. Consumers shouldn't have to take or waste their time each on their own going through all tjhedr gyrations. It should be handled by the prescribrer and staff.

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31

You have to watch and see if your present prescription medication is now "generic". When they make the generic brand the "name brand" often doubles or triples in price as it did with Kadian. I could not find anyone to sell me the "generic" so I call the company who made the drug and explained my problem. I then asked for the name of a drug store they sent generic Kadian to. It has worked out for me the Drug Store they gave me orders my generic Kadian when I need my prescription filled. Yes, I drive past 10 CVS's, 5 Walgreen's, 2 Rite Aide's and numerous supermermarkets and Targets but they would not get my medication only this small mom and pop Drug store would.

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30

If you sign up for the Obama Care now after the first of the year they can't hold pre-existing conditions against you. Which I'm in the same boat you are with my pain meds and several needed surgeries. I'm trying now to sign up for insurance.

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29

I tried getting a quote over the phone for morphine 100mg er and they refused to give the price. When I asked why they said it was because they didn't want the possibility of a robbery. Telling the wrong person what they have in stock. They wouldn't even tell me if they had it in stock which makes it hard to find the best prices. I had found online info on discounts specially for ms contain 100 er and morphine sulfate 30 IR. I just have to find it again, since someone deleted it.

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28

I'm a chronic pain patient and I take 100mg er morphine and 4mg diluadid and have been on the dose I'm at for several years. Today I went to get my prescriptions filled and the cost has more than doubled from $300.00 to $700.00 so I asked the pharmacist why and was told that because Obamacare will limit the generic drug companies from raising their prices they are raising them now while they still can. I have no insurance and Obamacare will not help me get affordable coverage for pre existing conditions that covers medication costs. My mother is now helping me afford my meds.The neurologist wanted to put me on a seizure med too but it has gone from $800.00 to over $1100.00 so I will just keep Having seizures instead I suppose.

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27

The same happened to me . My morphine 30 Mg er doubled in price. To $103. I am considering methadone. Its about $15 for 90.

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26

Yes, Jerry; they are currently going up everywhere...checked at Sam's Club, where they wanted 149 for my 90 count 100 mg morphine er....but 6 days later when I went to get them the price had raised to 300 dollars...I paid it this month so I would not go into withdrawal, but now have no money for food for the rest of the month....and have no idea what I will do next month as I have no more money...and actually owe 2 friends who loaned me the 300 this month....I have never been a depressed person. but at this point I am considering just giving up this life, as I have no where else to turn....maybe it's just my time to go....I am mostly scared to leave my pets homeless, but what good am I to them if I can no longer feed them or myself?....I didn't see all this coming when I rescued them all years ago...I know I am failing them....but I can't see a way out........

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25

Has the price for extended release morphine 100mg. more than doubled in the last month? I am taking 2 100mg ER a day (1 every 12 hours) which is 60 pills per month and was told that my prescription which had been about $220.00 (no insurance or discount card) would now be $900.00. Certainly can't afford that. Is anyone else seeing this insane price increase?

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24

Well, Costco just went up from 68 dollars to 315 dollars!!!!....don't know what I am going to do now...I need my morphine to have any quality of life at all...and no way can afford that much each month being disabled and living on a tiny fixed income. 68 dollars was hard to spare, but THIS.....??? Heartless, greedy big pharma again...I could just cry....

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23

I just had the same exact problem and am so mad right now !!! I have been on 50 - 100MG MS Contin for 1.5 years now. 2 weeks ago after paying $ 80 per script my new price is $ 185 I'm like your kidding me right ? This is a small independant pharmacy so i know she is not lying. She just told me this morning that the same thing happend to oxycontin. If it's not Obamacare then why did my pills just go up 460% ?????? To all of you that voted for Obama thanks a lot my Shoulder, knee and back thank you so very much. Oh yeah and my now empty wallet and checking account also would like to say thank you.

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22

When I was between my old job and Social Security Disability, I had no health or medication insurance. It was very tough but I used all the resources that I could find over the internet. I am type 1 diabetic so I went to various Diabetic Educators and the ADA and they gave me insulin samples that the reps gave to them for people like me. My epilepsy medication is an old one so it was less than $6 a month. I called the Patient Assistance Plan, my doctor completed their paperwork and Purdue put me on their program for oxycontin. This was 8 years ago but at that time, you paid $25 for overnight shipping. They faxed their form to the doctor, the doctor filled it out with the prescription, sent it back to them and I can't remember but I think I had to call them to confirm my shipment. It was always 29 or 30 days since the last prescription. I have a Part D now so my prescriptions are manageable. There are other places which provide coupons that you can either email to the pharmacy or print out and take to the pharmacy. For my MS Contin ER prescription, at WalMart or Sam's would be $111 with the coupon. You have to make sure they accept coupons because of the classification of these meds. HelpRx says it can save you 89% off of MS Contin ER with their coupon. I have a dog that is on 5 medications and I went to GoodRx and saved myself $100 a month by moving his prescriptions to WalMart and using their coupons. Worth a try and I hope you all find a way to cut your costs! It's difficult enough living with the conditions that forced you onto pain meds but to make them so expensive that for most, they are becoming out of reach is just inhumane.

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21

I just came from my pharm, and my co pay went from $10. To $895. Per month. Pharmacist told me it was due to obamacare.
I cannot afford this. Have been on 200 mg sr 3 times a day for a long time. Managed to cut myself down to 2 times a day mostly.
Used to use fentanol patch, but when they changed to "dry" patches it was so weak it took twice as much to have the same relief.
I also am serching for an alternative.
Pissed in wi.

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20

obamacare is already changing the rules of anything in the US that we are a custom to in the past. Doctors are dropping insurance companies left and right because its no longer worth them getting the little bit they are getting from them. They have million dollar educations to pay for until they are 50 years old. So a lot of doctors are only taking cash right now. Kind of like what happened to dentistry industry back in the 90's. But before they did, to compensate, they have made sure they get as many kick backs by writing scripts for a particular team (basically pharmaceutical comp.). Eliminating your competition, creating a demand by having doctors increase writing pain scripts, which they know will create a bunch of people hooked well beyond what they need the medicine for. Hence, keeping them happy little customers, bringing the revenue right back to their pockets. Making it all about "supply and demand". Clever little scheme if you ask me. But this is just my opinion. And if you should literally "accidentally" kill yourself with them, your just an innocent casualty or a happy little check mark for them by reducing the population since we need to reduce our population anyhow. All brought to you courtesy of a little program that they proudly put on display called "Eugenics". Now not sure since this post is dated, but if your still looking for a possible reduced cost medication that there IS a generic for that is as powerful as what you were taking, it is the Fentynal patches. There not great for wound pain like what I have. But I have heard they work great for isolated pain areas like the back. Its suppose to be with the same theory of pain relief like when you go in the hospital and they give you a shot of the powerful stuff. You can place it right where the bulk of the pain is and hopefully it will work well for you. Now they are considered to be one of the most powerful (which would also make them the most addicting and dangerous) medications you can get at a pharmacy. So be careful. You only change them every 3 days. Some doctors will write for every 2 days if its not enough pain relief. Now if you have "all over" pain from extended areas of wounds, this may not work for you. You have to keep them well protected and dry with large bandages that are used to cover IV's or burns to prevent water from breaking down the adhesive causing less medicine to get in or for them to loosen and fall off. They also supposedly come in lollipops, but I don't know of any doctor that writes lollipop pain medicine. That method just seems laughable to me. Lollipops are candy, when you make candy that can legally give you a high, your asking for trouble. Which only proves my earlier point. I wish you luck. I found this post trying to find discount copay cards because even my copays are ridiculous even after paying $1800 a month for "the best" insurance because of my health. Granted its for the entire family, but still. Any super strong medications out there are going to cost you right now the closer we get to the end of the year. Even little ole' 5mg perc's are double and triple what they use to be. You use to be able to get those dime a dozen, just about literally, lol....But "they" know that once you have these strong medications running thru your bodies, your not going to just stop taking them because the price went up like people can with cigarettes or caffeine - eh-hem. Oh wait, they created a supply and demand market for that too. Silly me...They know they got you and your money, because your either in blinding pain (like myself) and can't function without it or you are too dope sick and can't function without it. Either way, win win for them. And the doctors get nice little cushy kick backs in the meantime to turn a blind eye and put their pen to the paper. And if you say enough is enough, well - Hey, they got a drug for that too that can take you down off of them, the life saver. But most people who have had pain management like this will most likely need the "subs" for the rest of their lives, and that is big bucks too. Again win win for the home team. Lose lose for us suckers and pain exist'ers. Sorry for my bold outlook. My body may be broken, but there is nothing wrong with my brain and if this isn't what is going on, then they need to re-evaluate their system because that is what it sure as hell looks like. These are the same people that use to put pure cocaine in everything including coke the soft drink to get you hooked and allowed subliminal messaging to get you to buy it, then went "woops, no more cocaine for you, but how about some caffeine instead?" Times may change, products may change, but history always repeats itself. Just some food for thought.

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