new comapany is making my meds.

[wife and mother]

In three days I will start taking meds made from a new company, atleast new to me. I take carbamazepine 200mgs once daily made by CARACO. They are small pink pills. I will soon start taking the same name same mgs but now made by APOTEX. The pills look exactly like asprin. Carpbamazepine is generic for Tegretol. I sure hope they work the same. The other does pretty well at controling everything. I guess we will see in about a week.

[RobinN]

Wish you luck with the change.

[Crystal11]

I am dealing with a similar issue myself- Found out that my Keppra is now generic so I am taking the Keppra brand name i have left, then after that if i run out, i will start taking the generic or Levetiracetam. I am nervous about the change myself but hopfully I will be able to get an neurologist by then. i am in the process of moving from one state to anoter and finding/locating doctors who accept Medicaid which is NOT easy..

I used to take Carbamazepine too but they were chewable/cherry. NASTYNESS LOL
But now of cource I take Tegretol XR 600mg a day and Keppra 3000mg a day. Tegretol XR doesn't have a generic at all right now which is good! I don't do well on generic Tegretol/Carbamazepine at all.

Take care and let us know how you're doing on the new change.

[wife and mother]

my doctor said he typically puts people on two meds for ep. One of them is tegretol, and the other has a side effect of hair growth on the face in women I just can't remember the name.

[Junebug]

If you are getting good seizure control with the brand you are taking I think that you should ask the pharmacist.

A lot of times the pharmacy will change the companies that make generics because they are cheaper or easier to get.
If someone is taking and has been taking the generics from one company for awhile then they should stick with the company that makes the generics you are taking now. My dr told me that pharmacies can take generics from any company that makes them but the formulations are not always the same formulation as another company.

If the pharmacy told you that they're changing the company that makes the carbamazipine I think you should tell them that you need them to get the generics from that the company that you are taking the meds for right now.
If they won't then have your Dr call and tell them that you need to get them from the same company. Epilepsy drugs shouldn't be tossed back and forth like any other drug, it's dangerous and could be life threatening.

[Maryann]

I am seeing my doc on tuesday due to generic drugs, He said NEVER take generic drugs for szr control. We all know that it is suppose to be the same amount of everything but I believe the way it breaks down, the half life (I think thats how they put it) My PA in the small town I live in said that sure I can buy the 'real' thing but insurance will not cover it without a doctor knowing how to write it up. I have had more 'problems' have felt out of my body. wish me luck

[flinnigan]

Maryann's right. My Doc is very much against generics. He gave me an article about a man who died from a seizure 48 hrs after switching to generic. My Dr just testified in front of Congress to try to force medicaid and medicare to have to pay for brand names as well as Docs not having to mark the script brand name only to prevent pharmacies from switching. As he explained it generics do carry the same ingredients but how they are released can be up to 4 % different (+ or -) So if your on one generic that's 4% higher and next time switch to a generic that is 4% lower you could have a sudden drop of 8%. At first my pharmacist said it was no big deal but when we explained it that way he agreed. The only way to prevent that is to make sure the generic your on is the same every time, not just its name but where it's manufactured. As he put it he may by the generic from ABC manufacturer this month byt XYZ next.