I have been on clonazepam .5 dosage for the past 2 years now. I had been taking the generic brand Teva, which worked amazing for me! However, for my past two prescription refills, I had been getting orange pills instead of my usual yellow ones. The bottle says that the manufacturer of these orange pills is “Accord”? And since taking this brand, I have felt horrible. My short term memory is messed up, and I have this weird feeling that my body is on autopilot. It’s so hard to explain. My anxiety has been at an increased level. Overall, I feel like I just might be going insane! Is it even possible for a change in the manufacturer of the same brand to cause different side effects? As stated previously, Teva brand worked outstandingly well for me. Does anyone else feel this way with the Accord brand of clonazepam? What do I do? I’m open to any and all advice!
Is Accord generic clonazepam awful for anyone else?
Question posted by Anonymous on 13 June 2018
Last updated on 27 April 2024
82 Answers
I know I’m in the minority here. I was takingTeva clonazepam for 18 years when they discontinued it. It worked perfectly! Then I was given accord. It wasn’t perfect but it has been working great for 5 years. Last year they recalled it and gave me solco then advagen. The last year has been pretty bad. Especially the advagen. I just called accord manufacturer and the woman there said accord has been back since last September! She said no one was buying it in my city. I called several smaller pharmacies than my Kroger. I found one that ordered accord and I get my prescription next week!!! The only problem I have is returning to a brand after not being on it. This is what happened with teva. I hope I can return to accord without any problem!! It works for me!
I've been on this stuff since 2010. I'm very sensitive / allergic to pharma meds. My body just don't like them. I did a deep dive into Teva as well as Accord.
Currently Accord is not available because the FDA has shut the production down in China.
As for Teva, it's not the original formula. It used to work great for me then the FDA shut them down as well.
Instead of fixing issues they bought a manufacture in China and since then I've had issues with them.
I was on Mylan and it worked great but they also stopped making it.
Now I'm back on Teva and I have bad history there and since I can't get Accord (third switch from Mylan) I'm stuck with the zombie state Teva puts me in. In last 9 months I've almost had two occurrences of Panic Attacks.
Still waiting to see if Accord will ever be available again. In the meantime I suffer daily from all my side affects.
I have the exact same story except I’ve been on it since 2000. I called accord and the Woman said it has been back on shelves since September! I found a small pharmacy to order it for me. The big name pharmacies are not carrying it I don’t think. Give it a try! Good luck.
I have been taking Clonazepam since 2006. I wasn't aware there were different manufacturers. Right now, I have a script from Teva. It works great for me. Unfortunately, my doctor doesn't like it due to possible cognitive issues. Gabapentin was a total bust. Venlafaxine has horrible side effects. Cotton mouth so bad, I choked on a small piece of break 2 weeks ago. Now we're trying other meds. I don't understand the medical community. If a drug works and I am willing to take the risk, give me a waiver and I'll gladly sign it. All these drugs have side effects. Today, I was given a script for Clonidine. Side effects, sudden drop in blood pressure. I guess it's ok if I literally hit the floor, but Clonazepam is dangerous. I'd like these 'professionals to live one day in our shoes'. Then let's see their actions.
Plain and simply not all generics work for all people. What works or doesn't work for me may work or not work for anyone else.
Most pharmacies will do a special order for the product you prefer or you can ask your doctor to specify a particular product on a script.
Usually the culprit is not the drug itself but the inert ingredients that different manufacturers use. You can compare the formulations of different products to find the ones that are the same as your preferred product or the brand name.
Just type in "inert ingredients Accord clonazepam" for example in your search engine.
Accord -Tablets contain anhydrous lactose, lactose monohydrate, magnesium
stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, starch (corn) and FD&C Yellow No. 6
Lake.
You might also consider using an antidepressant/anxiolytic or buspirone which are far less dangerous if you're concerned with short or long term side effects. Combine this with CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and you may find that you don't have to be dependent on benzodiazepines.
Wildcat
ACCORD: anhydrous lactose, lactose monohydrate, magnesium
stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, starch (corn)
TEVA: Lactose Monohydrate, Croscarmellose Sodium, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Polysorbate, Glycerin, Colloidal Silicon Dioxide, Magnesium Stearate
The only difference is in the inert ingredients.
I have been on the accord brand for the last five years and just had to switch to teva due to shortages and I feel like it does nothing for me. It also makes my stomach upset. I feel like I’m constantly experiencing withdrawal symptoms. I only take a fraction of my prescribed amount a day and I had to up the amount of teva brand that I take to try and compensate for the change in brands but it doesn’t seem to help. I assume that I will adjust to the new teva brand after a period of time but it has been over a month and I’m still not adjusted.
I searched for this topic because of trouble with the Accord brand. I had two different brands of generic in a bottle from a year or so ago: Some of the pills are the Accord brand and some are the Teva brand. With the Teva, I can tell I've taken clonazepam. With the Accord, nothing.
That accord clonazepam seem like it was a placebo pill, I called my doctor to transfer a prescription to another pharmacy that could order from the teva manufacture. I don’t know why any pharmacy would purchase from that awful manufacturer accord for clonazepam. Anyone, who needs the medication can tell the difference in the pills from different manufacturers.
Teva is the best hands down accord does not work and is garbage and same thing with actavis which I hope teva never stops making there formula again like a few years back it was horrible glad they brought it back thank you Teva
Actually I had the exact opposite thing happen to me. I always took Accord and was switched to Teva which I found helped me very little and also irritated my stomach. My pharmacy, an Osco will order any generic you want as long as they have your choice on their supplier's inventory.
I recently heard that a number of insurance providers have stopped covering certain generics and are covering brands.
I didn't believe it so I called my provider and they confirmed what I heard but didn't believe at first. They did indeed cover the brand Klonopin K cuts and told me yes, a lot of providers are doing the same thing with various drugs.
I don't know why or which brands are covered but if like most people you probably haven't tried Klonopin K cuts because until recently they wouldn't cover brands if a generic was available and cost for 90 1mg pills of the brand is about $300.00.
If you're interested check with your provider. At the very least they look cool like Brand V cut Valium and 2mg Xanax bars.
I personally found the brand to work more quickly and if this makes any sense, to me they felt like the effects were cleaner and worked almost the same but only held me for about six hours. Accord can hold me for twelve hours and actually seem a bit stronger. I talked to my psychiatrist about it and he said that fillers are different from brand to brand. He also told me that generics can contain as much as 10% stronger or weaker.
I went back to the Accord.
I hope you get this answer. I've been on Clonazepam since the 1990's. I always stick to the same brand. The reason is that the Inactive Pharmaceutical Ingredients (IPI's) are different with different manufacturing companies (they are different for Accord and different for Teva). That could be why you are feeling this way. I personally think it's dangerous to change manufacturers/brands with drugs. I learned this years ago. I would go back to Teva if you haven't already.
I finally was able to get the Teva brand for Clonazepam from my local pharmacy
(one time I got Solco brand!) late last year! Was so happy. This was after even telling them, at their request, 1-2 weeks ahead of time so they could get in touch with the manufacturer. I couldn’t go to another pharmacy because they wouldn’t even speak to me, even though I’m in the system, because it’s a C4 drug classification. I understand this is a strict NYS law. I feel that Accord does help, it’s better than nothing, but is not as good as the Actavis or Teva manufacturers. The pills are harder than the Accord brand, so they don’t break up/disintegrate as easily; but they aren’t scored,(like years ago) which I prefer.
I’m thankful that my pharmacy worked it out for me to get the Teva brand since late last year. I cannot stop Clonazepam abruptly, because of the dangers as many of you know. I’ve been on it been on it daily since the early 2000’s. My original pharmacy closed, so I had to go to another one. That’s why I had no choice but to take the Accord brand before late last year. (I’ve tried other pharmacies, too!) I was told by the pharmacies that Teva & Actavis went out of business but then things changed late last year, where I started getting the Teva brand! Thank God! I have to take another medication in conjunction with Clonazepam & have being doing this for many years, as per my Neurologist, so I don’t go up in my dosage of Clonazepam. This has been conducive for me. There’s a cap on how many pills per day a person can take, as many of you know. I prefer the Teva brand because the pill is harder; the Accord pills aren’t.
However, the Teva brand isn’t scored anymore... maybe that’s why I couldn’t get them before late last year. I couldn’t get the brand name Klonopin, because it is VERY costly, $350+ for 30 pills every month; I need 60!!) which doesn’t help when you have a fixed income. So I’m thankful to be back on the Teva brand!
I’m thankful that my pharmacy worked it out for me to get the Teva brand since late last year. I cannot stop clonazepam abruptly, because of the dangers as many of you know. I’ve been on it been on it daily since the early 2000’s. My original pharmacy closed, so I had to go to another one. That’s why I had no choice but to take the Accord brand before late last year. (I’ve tried other pharmacies, too!) I was told by the pharmacies that Teva & Actavis went out of business but then things changed late last year, where I started getting the Teva brand! Thank God! I have to take another medication in conjunction with clonazepam & have being doing this for many years, as per my Neurologist, so I don’t go up in my dosage of clonazepam. This has been conducive for me. There’s a cap on how many pills per day a person can take, as many of you know. I prefer the Teva brand because the pill is harder; the Accord pills aren’t.
However, the Teva brand isn’t scored anymore... maybe that’s why I couldn’t get them before late last year. I couldn’t get the brand name Klonopin, because it is VERY costly, $350+ for 30 pills every month; I need 60!!) which doesn’t help when you have a fixed income. So I’m thankful to be back on the Teva brand!
Accord is the WORST!
First I want to thank everyone on this forum for bringing this problem to light.
I have been on the same medication for years, .5mg twice per day.
In the previous year my pharmacy keep switching from Accord (orange) to Teva (yellow).
Personally I been having problems (withdrawal) from both brands!
I told my doctor about the problems folks here are having with generic clonazepam, and he order a blood test to check levels.
Just got a call today, and he told me my levels were 0% in my system.
I suggest everyone here having issues to get checked out, we should not have go thru this in this country.
Not sure what the law is for bad batches or selling placebos, but no one here should go thru this. We take this medicine for a reason, people life’s depend on this medication to work as prescribed.
Any lawyers that sees this posting, let us know what we should do?
Good luck to all of you, I know exactly what you are going thru.
I knew that accord version of clonazepam was a placebo, because anyone who have taken clonazepam for a while and who actually need the drug for anxiety can tell the difference in the medications and how the accord version don’t work at all for anxiety.
Interesting, the different experiences people have felt between Teva and Accord. I've been using Accord .5 for years and couldn't have asked for anything better. Gently, it took the sharp edge off my anxiety and stress when things in my life would become too extreme making my life totally miserable and unable to do much of anything. Also, I have tremors caused by a mild form of epilepsy and noticed that within approx 40 minutes of taking the Accord Clonazepam, the tremors would be radically cut back, which was wonderful -- I didn't know that was going to happen also. Previously I couldn't even fill out a check, but after taking a small amount (3/4 of a tab) of the Accord Clonazepam, it was a cinch. Recently I opened a new bottle and saw that they were TEVA instead of the usual Accord. I used Teva Lamotrigine for years with excellent results, so I had no concerns about the change.
Last night I took one half of a .5 tab of the Teva .5 Clonazepam and within about 30-40 minutes began to feel heavily drugged and nauseous. That was what I felt more than anything else and that was only one half of a .5 mg tablet. When I woke up this morning, physically I felt like I was coming down from having been heavily drugged the day before and my morning tremors also felt worse. I noticed the bad more than the good. Still, I'll try it again during the day with a very small amount to see if it had anything to do with the brand change. Who can be certain what else if anything that experience might have been. Trying again is the only way I'll find out. If the system allows me to, I'll update my answer in a few days with my results.
Update to my answer: I've tried Teva again a couple times. Different strokes for different folks I guess. I thought maybe I was just imagining the difference, but to me, after several times, there's no denying the difference. I won't even use the Teva anymore. One half of a .5 tablet and I feel totally drugged out, no improvement to the tremors at all and still pretty tense. Most notable is just that I feel very heavily drugged. So for me it's very obvious the Accord suits my needs far better than Teva. But that's just me. For other people it works the other way around.
So bizarre that I have seen so many people say this when I have had the exact opposite experience. I have been on Accord for years (clonazepam for 12 years) 1 mg for sleep. I was fine on the Accord, but when they switched to TEVA I had all the same side effects people are describing--increased fogginess, memory issues, extreme fatigue, increased anxiety. It DOES feel like acute withdrawal (I have cut it down before so I know what it feels like). I don't know why or what is going on, but there is definitely a difference, It feels like I might as well just get off clonazepam (I honestly want to) if I am going to experience withdrawal anyway while on it.
I do think that there can be diff ways in which our bodies handle these changes in generics, esp. since clonazepam is such a powerful drug. It is underestimated how these small changes can impact us.
Although the drug in all brands and generics is the same different manufacturers may use different fillers, binding and colouring agents which can affect how your metabolism responds to the medication.
I guess I'm lucky... I take 7 medications which are all generics and the manufacturers differ from time to time. I've never noticed any difference at all.
Wildcat
I should add though that all my medications are made in the U.S. which is regulated by the FDA. I wouldn't trust foreign products because who knows what might be in them and they could certainly cause adverse reactions.
I am having the same issues Berry! Having all sorts of problems since being switched to TEVA after years of taking Accord.
Me too. The orange pills by Accord did nothing for me. I like the yellow TEVA manufacturer. I think I could take a whole bottle of the orange ones and nothing would happen. I just picked up some and when I got home and opened the bottle I drove back to the pharmacy and got them to return the pills. I will look for the Yellow TEVA brand. Before the yellow ones from TEVA the best ones were a pink or redish color. They were the best but I don't know the manufacturer or if they still make them.
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