Hi,

I've been taking 240 Verapamil SA.
When I picked up my new script the bottle said 240 Verapamil ER.
The pharmacist told me on the phone a few minutes ago that they were the same thing.

They are not the same thing!
Otherwise they would have the same name!

She said that I can bring in my bottle of ER in the morning and trade it for the SA -- the one that the computer shows I have been taking.


The pdoc messed this up by not specifiying -- just wrote 240.
Next time I will check the script in his office.

A little anxious here.
. . . have not slept in a week or two it seems.

The store is open 24 hrs and only 2 1/2 miles from here. Maybe I should go out in the car now while I am in the mood to deal with this.
I would have to leave hubby a note because he is sleeping.

M.

There are two kinds of verapamil dosage forms.

One is the immediate release. Has no abbreviations after it.

The other is extended release. Some drug companies use various abbreviations for it... ER, XL, SA, etc.

One drug Cardizem has a very confusing set of abbreviations after it, for example.

Cardizem immediate release (no letters after the name)
Cardizem SR-- to be used twice a day --sustained release
Cardizem CD-- Once a day dose..generics use ER also for this
Cardizem LA-- a special dosage form to only be taken at night

Verapamil does come in the special night time release form, for hypertensive patients who do not have "dipping" --which is a lowering of blood pressure during sleep. The makers of Calan have a verapamil for night time only called Covera HS.
It is available as Verelan PM as brand and generic, in CAPSULE form. Both are to be given at night.

It appears that the tablets only, for verapamil, are the older form of extended release. If your RX is tablets, it is listed at the Orange Book as extended release. ER and SA are commonly interchanged.

If no SA or ER appears after the name, then the verapamil is immediate release and this can be a serious error, because they are not interchangeable. However, there is no immediate release made in 240mg size. Only in 120mg.

Here is a list of all the generics and brands available for verapamil. See if your brand (manufacturer) is on this FDA list.
I'd put up a link, but FDA does not have internal links, only generic addys. www.fda.gov
It has been my experience that the abbreviations after drug names for extended release are confusing. My Cardizem CD generic is now caller ER.

Calan SR does not appear on the FDA list. The other brand of long acting verapamil was Isoptin SR. They both shared the patent at one time. Neither was originally called SA.

So the bottom line? SA (sustained action),SR (sustained release) ER (extended release), XL (extended length), LA (long acting) are sometimes used interchangeably with drugs that are long acting. It can be very confusing.
For Verapamil... tablets are not generically interchangeable with capsules as a rule. The HS or PM form is not interchangeable with the regular extended release type (but these have no generic).
The immediate release type does not come in 240mg size so this does not affect you.

If you had extended release verapamil tablets, then you should continue with tablet form of 240mg.

My generic Cardizem CD does not have CD after it...it has ER.
I think they are trying to unify the abbreviations now, so that there will not be so many that are confusing to both doctors, pharmacists and patients.

You can look up your tablets for verification at www.rxlist.com
That website has an ID checker...you type in the letters/numbers off the tablets and it identifies the drug.

Thanks Mrs D

I have taken it for a few years now. The ones I get from mail order
always have a different set of initials after them than the ones
I get from a local Pharmacy.

I asked once my primary, and was told that the mail orders try
to use the cheapest of a form, so this was the same.

Donna

Hi,
I went to CVS around 10:00 pm tonight and asked for the same pharmacist. She took care of me.

I was sooo confused.
I nearly started to cry.

Somethings are hard now.
I need to be doing something different to fix things.

M.

Being sleep deprived is terrible, maybe you could ask your pdoc to prescribe a big med to use in these cases to knock you out. Something like zyprexa?
I am sorry for the upset...sounds like they are the same med from what mrs. D posted...but I understand your concern...when my lamictal went generic, it changed form a couple of times and the pharmacy would tell me such.
I am hoping that you get some much needed sleep ASAP.
((((HUGS))))
bizi

I hope you get some sleep soon. I'm also very glad that CVS took care of
things.

Donna