BOSTON (WHDH) - Struggling to breathe can be a really scary feeling but for asthma patients, the thought of going without an inhaler is even more frightening.
A popular inhaler was discontinued this year, leaving people scrambling to find an alternative.
“It’s probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen, ” Olivia said of seeing her 2-year-old daughter, Gianna, hospitalized after a severe asthma attack, an oxygen mask strapped to her face.
“Seeing your child, being only 2, being in the hospital, she’s been in the hospital probably about four times.”
Taking the popular asthma medication Flovent helped keep Gianna out of the hospital. But now the manufacturer has stopped making it.
“She wasn’t on it very long, so I feel like the doctors or the pharmacy could have warned me,” she added.
Gianna went two weeks without the critical inhaler as her mom tried to get a different prescription.
“I actually called multiple times, I didn’t wait for an appointment,” she recalled.
GSK the manufacturer of Flovent is producing a generic version of the drug — the generic is the same medicine as Flovent but some patients are having trouble getting their insurance to pay for it.
If the generic is covered, some insurance plans are charging a higher co-pay.
Medical staff at Boston Medical Center say they’re working with patients to help them find the medication they need.
“When a parent comes to us and says I can’t find this medication, then I would send am message to the pharmacy liaison person at BMC and tell them this is what is going on and how can we help this family,” said Nurse Practitioner Giovanni Bejin, who added about 75 percent of the hospital’s asthma patients were using Flovent.
“There was a lot of concern,” she said.
Fortunately, Olivia and her daughter found a comparable drug that they can afford.
“Finally, I got the answer that I need to, so just don’t give up on it,” she said “You have to do what you have to do for your children.”
If your insurance doesn’t cover the generic inhaler, it’s within your rights to ask for an exemption.
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