NeuroTalk Support Groups - quality of prescription meds

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quality of prescription meds

Do you find an obvious differences when getting generic drugs from various manufacturers? Meaning not working as effectively from generic to generic.

I first noticed when I went from brand Vicodin to generic. I had to hunt for a good generic that provided the same pain killing effect and not stomach upset from weird fillers.

I rarely take Ambien but have had a bad spell of health lately. Normally I buy 10 mg and just take 1/2 a pill And I was knocked out for hours. I just got a new generic and the 10 mg barely makes a dent in my sleep. I recently have been using CVS as my local private pharmacy sold out to them.

Do others experience this?

I did find a generic Norco 10/325mg made by Amneal was the best I could find.
thanks diandra

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diandra (Post 1068189)

Do you find an obvious differences when getting generic drugs from various manufacturers?

In general, no, but in some very few circumstances, possibly.

Unlike supplements which are not regulated at all, prescription medications—even generics—are heavily regulated.

Understanding Generic Drugs > Facts about Generic Drugs

Myths and Facts About Generic Drugs - WorstPills.org -

That said, placebo—and nocebo—effects can be very powerful and work in unexpected ways, and there are a LOT of factors, e.g. perception and doubt, just to name two.

Quote:

[T]he placebo effect is no small or insignificant statistical aberration. Estimates of the placebo cure rate range from a low of 15 percent to a high of 72 percent.
....
The placebo effect is not deception, fluke, experimenter bias, or statistical anomaly. It is, instead, a product of expectation. The human brain anticipates outcomes, and anticipation produces those outcomes. The placebo effect is self-fulfilling prophecy, and it follows the patterns you'd predict if the brain were, indeed, producing its own desired outcomes.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...t-how-it-works

nocebo effect and generic drugs

Is this what you're experiencing? Cuss if I know. It's only one possible explanation, but a very real possibility. No judgment involved or to be inferred. Please don't take it that way! :D

A few years ago, the formula of oxycontin was changed—allegedly to deter/reduce abuse/overdose—but it coincidentally extended the patent just as it was about to expire. (Hmmm... :rolleyes:) Chronic pain patients all over the internet were complaining that, despite insistance that the amount of oxycodone (the active ingredient) was the same, the new formulation's efficacy was not the same—it didn't work as well. Were these people ALL abusers complaining of sour grapes because their favorite drug couldn't be as readily abused anymore? Indubitably some were, but not all; statistically, only a small minority. Was/is the new formulation less efficacious, or is it a case of nocebo effect? I wouldn't know that either.

Doc

I'm unsure about the effectiveness of these new to me generics as compared to brand name. What I am sure of is that I got a recent rx which was filled with generic.
There was a quality problem with the med, which the pharmacist acknowledged.
He even told me it was manufactured in India, which is okay, but we have no regulatory control in India. I've lived overseas. Things go awry all the time.
If you think there's a problem, speak in person with your pharmacist. He'll work with you.