different brands-different effects

[pete69]

an interesting point i disscused with my shrink earlier.
8 years ago i was on seroxat smithkline beecham brand,i had hardly any side effects and to be honest i didnt know i was on them.

i was on them for 3.5 years and just stopped taking them as i thought i didnt need them.

since then my symptoms of anxiety worsened so i went back to shrink-we disscused seroxat as it had been good ,but i took 1 tablet and felt awful shaking and tightness of muscles.

another drug im on rivotril-roche brand..work fine no probs.
but i went to a different chemist to fill my script and was given a generic brand-they gave me headaches and feelings of anxiety.

so my shrink was interested to hear this as he has long beleived certain brand names are reliable and minimal side effects. and sometimes when you switch to generic meds you can have negative effects.

pity i cant go back on seroxat as the patent ran out for smithkline and i will only end up getting generics :blush:

be interested if you have had similar effects.

pete

[joy]

if you ask the doc they will write up the precription for the real thing if you insist well my gp does anyway

Joy

[Cathy V]

Thats really interesting to hear, i didnt realise this could happen. Might explain why my experience with propranalol (inderal) this time around is more positive. I was given it last september for the first time by my doc in uk, and had no problems with it until after xmas, by which time i was living in germany and had a new 3 month pescription for it from my new doc here, but i started to feel really bad on it.

After me moaning about the side effects he swopped to another betablocker called bisoprolol but side effects never really improved. But last week during my visit to uk i went to see my uk doc again and he said he preferred me to go back onto propranolol again and so far all the side effects have gone.

So could it be that the uk propranolol is the 'real thing' but the german one is this other 'generic' stuff? But how do we know which companies produce the real ones and which dont?

[decca]

Yea, my doc's insist I always have the same brand for my heart meds, I always go to the same pharmacy (Boots) it's all on the computer then.

Decca.

[Cathy V]

Y'know what...its made me a bit angry this really, i mean how can they mess around with ppls health like that? If they know the difference themselves, then why dont the doctors make sure you get the 'real' drug every time...does it all come down to cost as with everything else then?

[decca]

Hi Cath,
In short - yes I think it does , or a backhander from the pharma. sales rep.

Decca.

[Cathy V]

Thanks decca, thats awful tho dont ya think? I mean how can some docs sit and listen to ppl talking about how they feel knowing they're sometimes giving out inferior meds just to save money.

The more i think about it the more my experience slots into place...how sad when you put your trust in someone to make you feel better, but end up feeling worse :weep:

But then, whats makes us mentally ill people so important? we're always reading about the postcode meds for serious illnessess arent we...depending on where they live determins whether some ppl live or die...very sad. xxx

[Cathy V]

....and, just to add insult to injury i was reading the other day how some wine growers are doctoring our red wine.

Apparently they are getting away with using inferior grapes by adding all sorts of chemicals to enhance the flavour so that we think its of a certain quality. The brands they mentioned include Blossom hill, Julian Gallo and even include some champagnes. They are also throwing in a few wood chips in the brewing process so that some of the wine that claims to be stored for a long time in wooden barrells will have the smell of the wood in it.

I know this is going off the subject of meds but is nothing sacred anymore :shrug:

[pete69]

interesting to read your propanalol story cathy.
i would say most def that its the generics that caused you the side effects last time.frraid like decca said it is all down to money and unless you ask your pharmacy for a specific brand -then again if they dont stock it your no better off anyway.

[Cathy V]

Hi pete, yes well armed with this info i might be better off sticking with the uk propranolol in future, since the side effects only seemed to begin after i started taking the german brand. I usually get a 3 month supply and thats about when i come back to uk to visit family, so hopefully it will work out ok.

But thanks so much for this info, i never knew it before and so now i'll be more wary of what brand im taking.

Take care
Cathy xxx

[bab]

I think you def get side effects from different brands - you see how it often says film coated tablets.. the coating can be different - the main ingredient is the same though

[JaneC]

Old thread I know, but a couple of weeks after taking a particular manufacturer's generic fluoxetine I'm experiencing a significant downturn in mood, can't concentrate as well, not sleeping as well. This is the second time this has happened with this manufacturer. I've tried to avoid them but guess what I got last time I went to my "safe" pharmacy?

Spoke to a secretary ay my GPs yest and said I wanted to ask doc if she could prescribe Prozac instead to avoid the lottery. Never got the promised return phone call.

What now? Do I make an appt with the doc ( who I think thinks I'm a nutter now) and try to press my case. I don't think I can face it, being told I'm just being silly, but neither do I want to feel like this. Advice, anybody?

[JaneC]

Well, I got Prozac - and now I seem to be getting side effects, which kinda proves my theory but all the same isn't nice. Feeling sedated, a bit nauseous and a bit dizzy. Going to drop to 20mg and take evening instead of morning.

I understand there might not be anybody out there who can relate to my current position but would be nice to get a few replies anyway. I've come to rely on NMP a lot when I'm having probs (which isn't that often these days) and am feeling very isolated at the mo.