Brand to generic medicines.

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irvkay312

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I am presently confronted with the need to change from my brand Lamictal to a less expensive generic with the coming year of 2011.

I've heard that changing can sometimes be aggravating to ones stability that has been attained. I'm in my 70's, retired and don't drive. My seizures are simple and complex partial; will this be dangerous to change back to Dilantin or Carbamazepine, both of which I've been on?

Irv
 
Ive heard the same thing too. Ive always taken the name brand, but a couple of times the pharmacy has accidently filled my prescription with the generic, and once I told them I had always taken brand name, and my dr never did say to go generic, they said they better change it then, They didnt want any seizures to occur since my body was use to the name brand.

If anything, ask your dr about it. :)
 
I am on Keppra, but when the generic came out, the pharmacy switched it without telling me. My dr always fills out the RX with the ability to go to generic...so once genetic came out, I got switched. Doc told me it would be ok to try, but to call if I had any problems. I started having seizures in my sleep and having migraines. I called him and he got me switched back and now fills all my rx with brand name only. This occurred when I was still in process of getting my med levels adjusted and the swing with generics were bad timing. My insurance has to allow me to have the brand name since Dr requires it. My co pay for generic was $5, brand name is $40...but it is worth it to me.
Generics can be a good thing, but with seizure meds the amount of med and buffers can vary greatly. He explained to me with seizure meds, getting a steady stream of your med is very important.
Some people on here can tolerate generics...just like our E, so much varies from person to person.
 
I had MORE trouble on brand name lamictal than I have on generic. Different manufacturers use different binders in their tablets. I'm wondering if I had a sensitivity to something in the brand name tablets.

My pharmacy is pretty steady - gets their meds from the same generic suppl.ier for long periods of time. And they tell me if they are going to switch.
 
I switched from the brand Lamictal to the generic version (Lamotrigine) (save me $35.00 per month). I was wary because of problems others have reported, but it's worked out for me so far (4 months and counting). I noticed a little dizziness when I first made the switch. I know it's a sensation I get when ever my Lamictal dose is changing up or down, so I didn't get too worried, and eventually it went away.
 
Generic versus brand

I was put on Lamictal in 2002 after a generalized t/c seizure and it worked great through July 2009 when they switched me to generic. On Halloween I had a tonic clonic, though my doctor swears there is no difference between branded and generic. He doubled my dose to 300 x 2, and everything was fine until last week when I had another t-c. When they checked my blood level it had fallen by about half from 6 months ago - says that's really unusual. The ER added Keppra 2 x 500 I think, and after my appt Thurs the doc is upping the lamotragine to 375x2 and doubling the keppra in a few weeks. Don't seem to have much in the way of side effects though my eyes don't always want to focus. Has anyone experienced this problem (levels dropping unexpectedly, keppra (generic - I'm with Kaiser, they don't do branded when generic is available) added? He's checking me every 6 months (blood levels) going forward, hopefully that'll give me more confidence, but he's got no clue if it's hormones, drugs, or whatever.
 
Except for Topamax, I have always taken the generic version of meds. When Topamax got a generic I switched to that with no problems, and saved 76 dollars a month. But of course everybody is different. And not everyone's body can tolerate medications the same, or else we would only have one seizure medicine.
 
I do not take AED's but I can attest to generic medications varying potency and varying blood levels. The medication I take comes in a 3 - 3.5 month supply. 2 bottles from last year (2010) were not up to snuff.

My average blood levels for good seizure control need to be around 900, with the bottle from June 2010 after each injection I would feel a little sick for about 3-4 days and my blood levels dropped into the low 700's. The next bottle from Oct 2010 caused my blood levels to drop into the low 500's and I basically spent Oct 2010 - Jan 2011 in a mental fog, lots of headaches and exhaustion, twitches, 5 hour naps etc.

I started a new bottle (different brand) in Jan 2011 and my blood levels came back up into the 900's and all my symptoms faded away again.

I was using the same brand, same dose, same schedule, there should not have been a 45% drop in blood levels, the only thing that changed when my blood levels came down was the lot #'s on the bottles.

No one can explain the shortage or why the varying potency.

Peace,
Frink
 
Generic medication

can vary in potency--anywhere from 80% to 120% of the branded medication. So, if you get one generic made by a specific manufacturer one month, then your pharmacy switches the next month, you may have an increase/decrease in the medication in your system........
 
Up until Jan 2011 I had been using the same brand since 2009. Early 2010 a nation wide shortage of medication began and continues today. The company I was using "cannot explain their reasons for a shortage" and the last 2 bottles I received were not as potent.

The 20% +or- could explain the drop from 900's to 700's but not the drop to the 500's. There must have been some other reason for the 45% drop and maybe that reason is why there is a shortage of supply.

Unfortunately I do not trust big pharma to tell us the truth and the FDA has not been doing their job to protect us from dangerous foods and drugs.

http://www.ashp.org/Import/PRACTICE...s/GettingStarted/CurrentShortages.aspx?sort=2
 
I got more information on my meds. The generic they have given me since switching off brand is Torrent lamotrigine - made in India. I've been researching as many forums and such on the web, and it appears Teva's generic has a much better reputation, so I'm going to ask Kaiser to switch me over, don't know if they will yet, but wish me luck.
 
A lot of pharmaceuticals are in short supply, due to either a company no longer making a non-profitable drug, scacity of raw materials, wars in the countries of origin, the manufacturer's inability to meet standards and requirements, etc.

That means that there are shortages of many drugs, including chemotherapy, pain killers, anesthesia, anti-seizure meds, etc.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/drug-shortages-a-deadly-problem-with-no-cure-in-sight/19783927/

Not great for us, or for other people whose drugs are not optional and there are very few exact substitutions (with the same results) that exist.
 
I am going to switch from Keppra to generic levitracetam this weekend because it's half the price of the 'original' ( $85 vs $37 for 60 tablets). I hope it will work well for me but if not I can always go back to taking Keppra.
 
Hi, Carolyn,

Generic made a huge difference for me cost-wise, too. It took me awhile to adjust to generic lamictal. My pharmacy gets it mostly from the same source, but they switched once. They have a note in my file to tell me when the source changes, so I can be extra careful for a week or so (no driving on cross country car trips, lol...)

Believe it or not, I think I get along on generic better than brand name lamictal. Brand name and generics all have different inactive ingredients. I have no idea why I had a problem with brand name lamictal, but I did. The amount of binders, food coloring, etc. is so tiny.

Good luck. Will you let us know how it goes?
 
I switched from the brand Lamictal to generic last fall (saves me a chunk o' change), with no problems, so hope that's the case for you too.
 
Hi Endless and Nakamova! Thank you for your posts :). Of course I will let you know how it goes :) It makes me feel more optimistic to read that some people actually have had better experiences with generic meds than with the actual brand names.
 
Ok.. so I have taken 3 doses of the generic levitracetam so far. The biggest change I have noticed is the terrible headache at the top of my head (behind forehead). Yesterday was a nightmare. I am seriously thinking of decreasing the dose by 500mg/day for a few days to adjust because I just can't function like that. But I will see, maybe today will be better so I will stay on the dose I am at now.

Seizure-wise I haven't noticed any difference from Keppra. No generalised ones but quite a few complex partials, especially near the evening.
 
Think the headaches are from the seizures (postictal?) or from the generic Keppra???
 
That's a good question. I am not sure because the headache seems to begin about 2 hours after my morning dose and the seizures I know of I am getting mostly towards the evening. However, I was alone during the day for the past few days so I might have been getting complex partials I don't know about. I am actually feeling overly tired too and that's how I feel when I have many complex partials so maybe it's not generic Keppra at all. I will see if I have any today because I won't be alone so I will know if something happens.
 
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