For those of you who have completed an injectable IUI (or even IVF), where was the best place to buy meds and how did you decide how much to buy? I still need to get the information from the nurse regarding my dosage, etc., but want to make sure that I'm not buying too much.
I'm going to look at Freedom Fertility and Winfertility. I'm also noticing that at least at Freedom, that Gonal-F is significantly cheaper there. Do you know of any other pharmacies that would be worth checking into?
grapefruit / 4045 posts
@NorthStar: My doctor's office arranged for me to purchase them through Integrity RX. Its a place out of Arizona, I think.
ETA: A lot of girls on here seem to like WinFertility.
nectarine / 2705 posts
I highly recommend Freedom Fertility. GREAT customer service. They understand the stresses of medicated cycles. And I never overpurchased because you can get overnighted meds from them. So follow your doctor's orders, and it should work out. Best of luck to you! I have 2 sons from injectibles/IUI cycles.
pear / 1510 posts
My doc sent me to a local pharmacy that does its own compounding, etc. They enrolled me in a coupon program without even asking - it was awesome. I checked Freedom Fertility's prices, and it was only a few dollars cheaper. It was nice having the convenience of going to my appt and then being able to call the pharmacy and get what I needed until the next appt. My doc upped my dose and I stimmed for 12 days (we were expecting 10). Flexibility turned out to be important for me. Might be worth asking if they have a local, independent pharmacy that they work with.
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
Highly recommend WinFertility. They gave me the best prices out of all the other pharmacies I called. They do have a two medicine minimum, so if you needed to get only one type of med, you could ask your RE to prescribe you baby aspirin which is cheap. They also are a discount fertility distributor and not really a pharmacy, so everytime you place an order, you have to have your RE send a new prescription. They cant do prescriptions with refills. The money I saved was worth the little quirks they had.
grapefruit / 4045 posts
@bluestriped bee: how did you approach your RE about using a discount fertility distributor? My RE basically just tells me where I am going to be getting my meds. They say I'm getting them for half off and whatever. But did you just tell your RE that you wanted to shop around?
pomegranate / 3809 posts
If you are using Gonal (I'm not sure if others are like this too since I've only used Gonal) check the pricing of 300iu and 900iu pens. If they 300 iu pen is 1/3 of the price of the 900iu, ask your doctor to write you prescriptions for the 300 pens. Their pens are overfilled by about 100iu, so if you get the 300 you get 3 pens worth overfill, vs just 1 overfill worth for a 900.
pear / 1881 posts
@PurplePumps: Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely ask if they will let me with with Gonal. I'm waiting to hear back, but if I go with Freedom, the GonalF is 1/2 the price as Follistim!
pear / 1881 posts
Thank you to everyone who responded! I'm still waiting to hear from the doctor regarding the plan for this cycle. I left another message..
I don't know about you, but it's so hard to do all the calling around when I don't have an office! And, every time that I get a call, I need to run from my desk to find a private place to talk.
persimmon / 1345 posts
Also ask your insurance if they are partnered with any specialty pharmacies. Infertility treatment was not covered under my insurance but the medication part was ONLY if I brought it with their preferred specialty pharmacy. I had to call the insurance and ask and the. Made them list all the specialty medication that was covered. Gave the list to the doctor and he decided to go with gonal f. I paid $75 for 900iu. I found out through the specialty pharmacy that it was $75 regardless of dosage. I needed 450iu + 900iu with possibility of more later. Each pen was $75 regardless of dosage so I opted to buy both 900iu and ended up using it all.
pomegranate / 3809 posts
@misolee: Oh yes, good point! Sorry Northstar...the extra overfill method only works out if you're cash pay, which I just assumed you were. I found the same to be true as misolee, if insurance covered it, it was the same copay despite which pen it was so then it'd be beneficial to get the 900iu. I also discovered that under my insurance, it was a single copay for a single prescription, whether the prescription had 1 pen or 4, so I always asked for a prescription with 4, even after i learned I only needed 2/cycle so I'd have 2 for the next without having to pay again.
pear / 1881 posts
@misolee: I am cash pay, but will look into the insurance thing for future reference. I need to call my RE, though, as I think that they prescribed me a 300iu pen for this IUI. However, they are having me do 75iu each day starting cd 3 through 8, with an ultrasound on that day. At that rate, I'll need more than 300iu, won't I?
clementine / 849 posts
I also go have to go through a specialty pharmacy (CVS CareMark) for all my prescriptions. I had to remind the nurse a few times not to send it through their regular pharmacy, and to send in pre-auth forms to get it to go through.
Also, I am with you on the constant calls from my office! My coworkers must know something's up because I jump up from my desk and run into the conference room on my personal cell constantly.
Good luck to you!
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