Generic Medicines

[chris_gerrib]

Apparently not all generic medicines are the exact equivalents of the regular stuff. For example, I take Prilosec for acid reflux. Now, I migrated to that from Prevacid, and during the migration I noted that, whenever I switched, I had a day of stomach cramps during the cutover.

On Monday, I had another bout of stomach cramps, serious enough that I went home from work early. It wasn't until I got home that I realized the problem - I had switched from brand-name Prilosec to generic! I decided that if the differences were obvious enough to create cramping, the generic might not work as well. "Working" is more important than saving three bucks, so I'm back on the brand-name stuff and feeling better.

Comments

[daveon.livejournal.com]

As I understand this, as we've had this with M's allergy medication, the generics may use slightly different, but cheaper to manufacturer versions of the molecules which are clinically the same for a huge percentage of the users but may not work for others. i.e. the old OTC Alegra didn't do anything for her but the script only Alegra-D did, now they've made the D OTC too and we get that.

It has something to do with how the molecules bind to receptors in the individuals cells.

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

Generics can have from 80 - 120% of the active ingredient of the pioneer. For some people on some drugs, that swing can result in unintended side effects.

Frex, my doctor keeps me on name-brand synthetic thyroid hormone, because the generics (especially changing from generic to generic, as my pharmacy does to save money), leave me incapacitating leg cramps.

Glad you found a solution that works for you!