I haven't checked in recently (this site is not user friendly, is it?  yeesh) but wanted post a brief whining update just becaue you all will understand, and I want to share one really important tip for anyone who gets a scrip for Humira or another injectable.  

I was prescribed Humira on Dec 19.

I am still waiting for it.  

I have logged 10.5 hours on the phone since mid January. The specialty pharmacy blames my doctor's office, the doctor's office says it's the insurance company's fault, and the insurance company says they'd approve it in a heartbeat only no one's contacted them at all.  The prescription has been cancelled and restarted twice and there have been some twists to this that defy logic.  (At one point, 'my' Humira, which they now claim was never approved, was shipped to an address halfway across the US, to someone else in their database.)  The details would just make your head spin and aren't relevant right now anyway.  Maybe, maybe, today's 90 minutes on the phone was the breakthrough I've been waiting for.  I am very cynical at this point.

Here's what I have to share, in the hopes that it helps someone else:  if you're given a prescription for Humira or another of the drugs that you can't just pick up at your local pharmacy, get a notebook, and write down EVERYTHING.  Write down the time of every phone call.  Write down the name of the representative to whom you speak.  Let them know you're keeping records.  

The RN that Humira assigns to your case will be a good advocate for you, not necessarily out of actual concern, but because this drug is expensive as hell and they want to get that money.  In my case, this woman has been a real asset.  

The specialty pharmacy people also have a huge financial investment in this process, but when you call them, you get someone who is paid $13 an hour and who must follow a strict script.  They're closely monitored and they are actively discouraged from offering any personal comments (i.e. sympathy about the delays, etc) because that can be construed as an admission of incompetence on their part.  I happened to get someone on the phone last week who was tendering her resignation at the end of that work day because she was so fed up, and she told me that.  

You really have to be your own advocate.  You have to keep excellent records.  You have to accept that unless you're one of the people for whom this process goes smoothly (my RN advocate says in her experience, one out of eight) that you will spend a ridiculous amount of time on hold, or waiting for a call back.You need to assume that this will impact your employment in some way - I can't imagine having to do this while I was still teaching high school, it's not like I could have made these calls in the 18 minutes I had to eat lunch every day after supervising the cafeteria, or taken a call if it came during a class.)  I was naive enough to think that getting the actual prescription for the Humira, after a year of misdiagnoses and trials on other meds, was going to be the turning point, and it really threw me, mentally, to hit these roadblocks.   I wish I would have known that it was only the next hurdle.

So, if you get a prescription for Humira, find a notebook and keep it near your phone, keep your hopes at bay, and stay strong and keep at it.  And write down everything!