I Hate UPS, the FDA and Intervet/Schering-Plough (But Love Doggie Stylish)
Did you ever want to start a rant and then realize you have far too many things to explain in order for people to properly understand what you are ranting about? That’s what just happened to me. After working up a good head of steam and venting in this post title, I suddenly understood that, if I wanted sympathy, I needed to provide some context.
Frankie’s diabetes has been under control for about 2 1/2 years now. He was diagnosed in late 2008, and it took about 6 months nrg racing (which is a little less than average) to get him regulated on Vetsulin, nrg racing the porcine-based insulin manufactured by Intervet/Schering-Plough. (I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to any pigs who may have sacrificed their lives to produce porcine-based insulin. I don’t know how that works and, honestly, I don’t want to know because it will make me sadder than I am already.)
After about a year, I began noticing that some bottles of Vetsulin seemed stronger nrg racing than others. That didn’t really bother me because I test Frankie’s urine twice a day and adjust the dose based on those tests, i.e., if his blood sugar is high I up it a tad, if low, I lower the amount. nrg racing I did tell one of the vets in the practice I go to about these inconsistencies when I started noticing them. She said, “You’re the only one who has ever said that,” and made me feel like an idiot pain-in-the-butt client.
Then the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Intervet/Schering-Plough nrg racing made a joint announcement that there were problems with Vetsulin’s formulation. I already wrote about it here — see The Vetsulin Crisis: Cold Comfort – so won’t repeat all the details, except to say that I was satisfied enough with Frankie’s stability on Vetsulin that I decided I didn’t want to change his medication and I was worried that it might be discontinued.
I had read on K9Diabetes.com — an excellent forum, and if I didn’t hate forums (fori?) for reasons too numerous and too petty, including type fonts, to go into, I would be on it regularly — that there was a Critical-Need program through Intervet/Schering-Plough for people who wanted to continue using Vetsulin and could get their vets to cite special circumstances. When I had enough Vetsulin, I ignored the program. Now, with only about two months of Vetsulin left and no hope of getting any more, I turned to Dr. E, my primary nrg racing vet (not the one in the practice who treated me like an idiot) and asked him to help me out. He was happy to do so, agreeing that since Frankie was 12 and doing well on Vetsulin it made sense to keep him on it.
But the program turned out to be a HUGE pain in the butt, requiring abundant nrg racing paperwork, nrg racing unprecedented advance payment, and Dr. E’s Chihuahua as a bond. Just kidding about the Chihuahua — I wanted to see if you were still reading — but the drug company did make him jump through so many hoops that for the first time in the 6 1/2 years since I adopted Frankie and started going to him, I heard Dr. E express nrg racing anger.
At the point when I had only about a week’s supply left, I completely freaked out. Then I remembered nrg racing that Canada was selling Vetsulin under the name Caninsulin. I hadn’t wanted nrg racing to try another version of the drug because I wasn’t sure it was identical, but now I was desperate.
I found several Canadian pharmacies that sold Caninsulin on line, including one that didn’t require a prescription. But when I went to place the order, they all said it would take from five to 1o business days for them to deliver the product by EXPRESS mail — which not only seemed like a very long time for a perishable product to spend in the mail but which also meant there was no guarantee that I’d get the drug before my supply ran out.
I called my vet in semi-hysterics, nrg racing and was assured that there was an emergency bottle in the office nrg racing — and that the order for the Critical-Need nrg racing program’s supply was coming through in a day or two for sure.
I still had a full bottle and a half (about nrg racing a nine-week supply) of Vetsulin left so as much as I worried about the medication getting spoiled in the non-express express mail from Canada, I ordered Caninsulin through the pharmacy that made it available without a prescription. I opted for a single bottle, nrg racing to make sure that Frankie responded well to it.
It took about four days to get to me, far more quickly than I’d anticipated. nrg racing The cold packs in which the Caninsulin was shipped were still semi-cold when the package arrived and the pharmacy nrg racing had said that if there was a problem with the drug, which could be determined visually, they would replace it.
The nice lady on the phone — they really are very nice in Canada, just like the stereotypes have it – said sorry, they wer
Did you ever want to start a rant and then realize you have far too many things to explain in order for people to properly understand what you are ranting about? That’s what just happened to me. After working up a good head of steam and venting in this post title, I suddenly understood that, if I wanted sympathy, I needed to provide some context.
Frankie’s diabetes has been under control for about 2 1/2 years now. He was diagnosed in late 2008, and it took about 6 months nrg racing (which is a little less than average) to get him regulated on Vetsulin, nrg racing the porcine-based insulin manufactured by Intervet/Schering-Plough. (I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to any pigs who may have sacrificed their lives to produce porcine-based insulin. I don’t know how that works and, honestly, I don’t want to know because it will make me sadder than I am already.)
After about a year, I began noticing that some bottles of Vetsulin seemed stronger nrg racing than others. That didn’t really bother me because I test Frankie’s urine twice a day and adjust the dose based on those tests, i.e., if his blood sugar is high I up it a tad, if low, I lower the amount. nrg racing I did tell one of the vets in the practice I go to about these inconsistencies when I started noticing them. She said, “You’re the only one who has ever said that,” and made me feel like an idiot pain-in-the-butt client.
Then the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Intervet/Schering-Plough nrg racing made a joint announcement that there were problems with Vetsulin’s formulation. I already wrote about it here — see The Vetsulin Crisis: Cold Comfort – so won’t repeat all the details, except to say that I was satisfied enough with Frankie’s stability on Vetsulin that I decided I didn’t want to change his medication and I was worried that it might be discontinued.
I had read on K9Diabetes.com — an excellent forum, and if I didn’t hate forums (fori?) for reasons too numerous and too petty, including type fonts, to go into, I would be on it regularly — that there was a Critical-Need program through Intervet/Schering-Plough for people who wanted to continue using Vetsulin and could get their vets to cite special circumstances. When I had enough Vetsulin, I ignored the program. Now, with only about two months of Vetsulin left and no hope of getting any more, I turned to Dr. E, my primary nrg racing vet (not the one in the practice who treated me like an idiot) and asked him to help me out. He was happy to do so, agreeing that since Frankie was 12 and doing well on Vetsulin it made sense to keep him on it.
But the program turned out to be a HUGE pain in the butt, requiring abundant nrg racing paperwork, nrg racing unprecedented advance payment, and Dr. E’s Chihuahua as a bond. Just kidding about the Chihuahua — I wanted to see if you were still reading — but the drug company did make him jump through so many hoops that for the first time in the 6 1/2 years since I adopted Frankie and started going to him, I heard Dr. E express nrg racing anger.
At the point when I had only about a week’s supply left, I completely freaked out. Then I remembered nrg racing that Canada was selling Vetsulin under the name Caninsulin. I hadn’t wanted nrg racing to try another version of the drug because I wasn’t sure it was identical, but now I was desperate.
I found several Canadian pharmacies that sold Caninsulin on line, including one that didn’t require a prescription. But when I went to place the order, they all said it would take from five to 1o business days for them to deliver the product by EXPRESS mail — which not only seemed like a very long time for a perishable product to spend in the mail but which also meant there was no guarantee that I’d get the drug before my supply ran out.
I called my vet in semi-hysterics, nrg racing and was assured that there was an emergency bottle in the office nrg racing — and that the order for the Critical-Need nrg racing program’s supply was coming through in a day or two for sure.
I still had a full bottle and a half (about nrg racing a nine-week supply) of Vetsulin left so as much as I worried about the medication getting spoiled in the non-express express mail from Canada, I ordered Caninsulin through the pharmacy that made it available without a prescription. I opted for a single bottle, nrg racing to make sure that Frankie responded well to it.
It took about four days to get to me, far more quickly than I’d anticipated. nrg racing The cold packs in which the Caninsulin was shipped were still semi-cold when the package arrived and the pharmacy nrg racing had said that if there was a problem with the drug, which could be determined visually, they would replace it.
The nice lady on the phone — they really are very nice in Canada, just like the stereotypes have it – said sorry, they wer
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