How to Save Money on Stroke Medications

This article contains suggestions regarding medications and diet.  Always check with your doctor before making changes.

If you or your loved one has had a stroke, you probably know what I’m talking about when I say that stroke medications can get expensive.

If you’re taking multiple medications, the cost can easily amount to more than $100 a month, sometimes several hundred!

Health insurance can cover some of the cost. But sometimes they don't.

Whether or not they do, it’s important you learn how to lower the cost of your stroke medications.  Not only will you save money, you’ll improve your health at the same time.

Here’s how:

1.     Go Generic

Where possible choose generic brands of the medication you’ve been prescribed. The effects and dosage are the same, only the brand is different. The cost savings here can be phenomenal.

Often with new medications this isn’t an option as the patent hasn’t run out on the formulation. Once the patent does run out another company with produce a generic version at a much lower cost to you.

2.     Stop Taking Unnecessary Meds

Sometimes you can end up buying medications you don’t need simply because no one has told you that you don’t need them any more.

For example, in the early recovery period you might be prescribed sleeping pills. These are useful in early recovery, but are soon unnecessary for many stroke survivors.

If you’re still taking them, ask your doctor if you still need them!

When you see your doctor, check if all of the medications you are taking are needed. This goes for prescription and non prescription, over the counter medications.

Just one less medication could make a difference to your wallet. It could also reduce any unnecessary side effects you don’t want.

3.      Reduce Your Dosage

Of all the ways to save money on drugs, not needing them anymore is definitely the best.

So ask your doctor if there are any lifestyle changes you can make to reduce the dosage and medications you need.

For example, eating oats can lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Having one bowl a day could mean you can get a lower dose of cholesterol lowering or blood pressure lowering drugs.  Or not need that medication any more at all.

Why would you want this?

Lower dose medications can cost less money. On top of that, over time you could stop needing a certain medication all together.

How good would that be?

One less pill to think about taking and less side effects to monitor.

There are many small changes you can make to reduce your dosage needs: going for a small walk each day, eating fish a few nights each week, eating more fruits and vegetables, eating oats once a day, reducing caffeine intake, reducing or stopping smoking.

These things help improve your health and reduce your need for medications in the first place.

So find out from your doctor what you can do.

Not only will you lower your risk of another stroke, reducing the amount of medications you take will reduce the side effects you get.

4.     Find a Low Cost Online Alternative

One way of saving money becoming more and more popular is to find an online pharmacy.

This is basically a pharmacy that doesn’t have a physical store but a website instead. Of course the pharmacists and medications are all there. They just don’t use a store to sell them.

Some pharmacies don’t give much discount, if any at all. Others, however, can give significant discounts on stroke medications.

It's important to also check whether the site you are using is certified with the appropriate governing body and whether you have to submit prescription information. 

Good sites will require that you mail or fax your prescription or that they speak to your doctor before they will send you a prescription medication.

So while you are lowering your dosage and reducing your need for drugs all together, you can definitely save some money by getting your meds at a lower cost.