Generic vs Name Brand Medicine

[Lamb]

I have bad allergies at certain times of the year and even though I don't like taking medicine, I find that I need to in order to function. Some of the allergy medicines I have found I'm allergic to and I'm very careful now about what I take.

Do you find any difference in any type of name brand medications you take versus the generic?

I had been taking the WalMart Equate allergy medicine which is similar to Flonase and I thought I would splurge and pay the extra money for Flonase but ended up paying less because I had coupons. Anyway, I have tried Flonase for 6 days now and it makes me feel very weird, sleepy and dizzy. The Equate never did that. I thought the ingredients were supposed to be the same?

 

[tango]

When I've seen generic equivalents the marketing guff has always been about comparing the ingredients and typically it seems the active ingredients are all but identical, if not absolutely identical. But the active ingredients are only a small part of what's in a product - the inactive ingredients that carry it, bulk it up to the point you can use it etc, may not be the same.

I haven't struggled with allergies for some time now but used to take Clarityn, then found generic loratadine was a small fraction of the price so switched. I can only imagine what 10mg of loratadine would look like, absent some other stuff to fill out a pill to make it big enough that I could see it, let alone handle it and swallow it.

 

[Lamb]

When I've seen generic equivalents the marketing guff has always been about comparing the ingredients and typically it seems the active ingredients are all but identical, if not absolutely identical. But the active ingredients are only a small part of what's in a product - the inactive ingredients that carry it, bulk it up to the point you can use it etc, may not be the same.

I haven't struggled with allergies for some time now but used to take Clarityn, then found generic loratadine was a small fraction of the price so switched. I can only imagine what 10mg of loratadine would look like, absent some other stuff to fill out a pill to make it big enough that I could see it, let alone handle it and swallow it.

Claritin is one of the allergy meds I'm allergic to! Crazy, huh?

I went to WalMart and bought their brand and I can breathe again. The Flonase brand didn't even clear up my stuffed up nose! It's bizarre.

 

[tango]

Claritin is one of the allergy meds I'm allergic to! Crazy, huh?

I went to WalMart and bought their brand and I can breathe again. The Flonase brand didn't even clear up my stuffed up nose! It's bizarre.

That's a bit weird

Years ago when I had really bad rhinitis the doctor prescribed me a nasal spray. The first time I used it I squirted it up my nose, sneezed continuously for 20 minutes as a result, and threw the rest of it in the trash. I use generic loratadine rather than branded Clarityn because it's a small fraction of the price, but can't remember the last time I actually used one.

 

[Stravinsk]

I think the last time I filled a script was somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 or so years ago, to fight an ear infection. The medicine worked, but it only temporarily relieved symptoms, the problem kept coming back. I remember confronting my doctor at the time with info/alternatives to it...and being scorned for not auto-trusting his Authority and being told that "you're getting older now" (I was in my 30's) and that because of that I would just have to deal with these kinds of things (meaning the meds they prescribed). Of course in this statement is the presumption there would be no cure and more medicine for ever increasing ailments were inevitable to follow as I got older.

One of the great discoveries I made at that time was how diet actually influenced my ear infection. I managed to rid myself of it largely through diet and an alternative method (to the medicine), and it lessened considerably (but didn't go completely away) - meaning I had to deal with it every so often...a few weeks to a few months. I was still eating animal products during this time, but cut down on them (and eliminated certain types) and pretty much eliminated the heavy reliance on fast food in general. The problem has not resurfaced at all since going completely vegan.

I expect not to rely on any pharma medicine into whatever life I have left, so I'm sorry if reading this may be considered a waste of your time, as it doesn't help with your direct question.

 

[tango]

On a related note I've often found it remarkable the way people seem to expect to end up on ever-more medication as they get older, with each one bringing its own side effects that then need further medication to manage.