[Katie]

I have been using generic sinemet manufactured by Teva for the past 10 years. I have often had dyskinesia - in fact I only take 1/2 of a 25/100 carbidopa/levodopa pill every 3 hrs. My mail order pharmacy gave me generic sinemet made by Activa- Elizabeth which doesn't seem to work for me at all!
I relayed this info to the nurse at my neurologists office & she insists that all generics have the same ingredients. I've tried the Activa manufacture sinemet several times - they never kick in for me.
I've searched this forum & could only find a few conversations in 2011. What generics are you using? Any one else with a similar experience?
Is non generic sinemet better? Your input is greatly appreciated.

[soccertese]

i've never used the Actavis Inc. Elizabeth LLC. 25/100 product so i can't comment on it's affect. i get my meds at an independent pharmacy and specify the teva brand just because i don't want to worry about the difference in potency between generics.

i guess the first thing i'd say is make sure you are getting what you think your're getting, here's a picture of the drug - sorry if this is insulting.

Actavis Inc. Elizabeth LLC.
http://www.goodrx.com/carbidopa-levodopa/images

generics potency can vary between generics and batch to batch and still meet FDA guidelines. you can also have differerence in effectiveness based on colors, fillers, etc.
i don't know how big a mfg this company is of l-dopa, it is a large company

http://www.actavis.com/about/global-locations

was it a pricing issue that made your mail order pharmacy switch generics? i assume TEVA wasn't willing to drop their price? hope you contacted the pharmacy.

there are lots of articles discussing the allowable differences in generics. and that to get FDA approval, the new generic isn't tested in people with pd, they give it to healthy volunteers and just measure drug blood levels.

if you can't get TEVA i'd try increasing the dose of the ACTAVIS, if that works then i assume your dr. will change your RX to a higher dose. if you switch back to TEVA, then you can either keep the higher dosing or change back to the lower dose.

as far as name brand sinemet, even if you could get it it's likely to be incredibly expensive.

you might give your nurse this link. dr. okun is a highly respected MDS
http://forum.parkinson.org/index.php...et/?hl=generic

[kiwi33]

Originally Posted by soccertese

you might give your nurse this link. dr. okun is a highly respected MDS http://forum.parkinson.org/index.php...et/?hl=generic

I agree with this suggestion.

Dr Okun has 374 peer-reviewed papers in PubMed, many of which relate to PD - that is a very impressive track record.