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Fiorinal non-availability

meadowlark

Senior Member
Messages
241
Location
Toronto, Canada
Hello -- I'm in Toronto, and have had an 8-hour migraine every day since 1982. The only prescription drug that helps is Fiorinal-C (I think it's called fiorinel or fiorinet in the States, but I'm not sure.) At any rate, I buy it in its generic form (called tecnal here), because it costs half as much.

Since late October, the generic form has been unavailable in Toronto, and my pharmacy still doesn't know when it might return to the market. Neither does my pharmacist's supplier. In fact, I've tried three other Ontario pharmacies, and they all are experiencing the same thing.

The problem for me is that I am on government disability, which allows me just under five hundred dollars living expenses after rent. Paying for the Fiorinal brand name costs me $460 a month. I have gone through my savings and will now go flat broke in May.(The generic is pricey, but many of us here are experts at living way below the poverty level. Still, paying for the brand name is beyond my skills--and I I have to believe that many, many patients share my inability to pay for the brand name. )

I can't find any mention on the net of Fiorinal discontinuing its generic brand. Is anyone here familiar with what is going on? I am fairly desperate.
 

IreneF

Senior Member
Messages
1,552
Location
San Francisco

meadowlark

Senior Member
Messages
241
Location
Toronto, Canada
It should be dirt cheap, but doctors regard it as a drug of last resort (barbituate and opiate in it), so maybe that's allowed manufacturers to price it high. (In other words, if you use it, it's likely because it's the only thing that works for you.) Thank you for the advice, Irene. So far no luck with online pharmacies, but I will keep trying. I DO find other people asking online if generic fiorinal is not being made any more (no one seems to know), so I assume this isn't happening just in Ontario.

I've had thirty years of daily migraines, and fiorinal is still the only drug that works for me. And it has destroyed my stomach. Thank God I don't drink coffee!