[Indianna1]

I have a question concerning generic medications, I currently take Hydrocodone for a chronic pain condition, 10/500..

When my pharmacy fills my prescription they use Watson lab, the pills are blue and although they do take away the pain, they make me very ill, my stomach get extremly upset to the piont I actually vomit, I take only what's prescribed and nothing more, but sometimes I will take less to try to ease the side effects, I get very fatiged [|)]and just feel terrible , it's pretty bad.

My pharmacy was a mail order pharmacy,through a place that my workers comp insurance company suggested I get my medication.

I decided to switch pharmacies to my local grocery store when it was time for a re fill, they use Mallinkrt pharmasuticals for thier lab, the pills are white, those ones do not make me feel sick at all but just take away the pain, My question;

[?]

Do different labs use different ingredients in there generic medications, different buffers or something that made such a differance in how I was feeling, or is it all in my head.

Thanks

[Jessika]

The blue Lortabs are not generic the White ones are. I am the oppisite the white one make my stomach Hurt.

Jessi
Dmbfan32@verizon.net

[Rscprincess1]

I think they use differnt fillers.

I Do not Guarentee Any Information Provided But I Will Be As Accurate As I Can.

[zippysgoddess]

Actually, the fillers/binders in generic meds do not have to be the same as the name brand, or any other generic on the market at all.

If you do a search for my post on here, with info about the law on generic meds from the FDA, you will see that even the active ingredient can differ in generics by as much as plus or minus 20%, which for some drugs can be a very significant difference. The main ingredient in generics also DOES NOT have to be identical, they only have to prove it is bioequivelent to what was in the name brand, so it works the same way in the body and does the same stuff.

So yes, generics can be significantly different from the name brands, and one generic can differ significantly from the other.

Many people are under the mistaken assumption that these differences only apply to the inactive ingredients, but that is just not true.

The FDA has allowed this to occur in an effort to get generic meds on the market faster and to keep them cheaper. They do not make this public knowledge, and your doctor and pharmacist are NOT allowed to tell you this, because they reason that they do not want to scare people away from taking needed meds. If they tell you anything other than generics are exactly the same, they can, legally under the law, lose their license to practice.

I hunted up my other post for you, that includes the information and the link to the law that permits this to happen, I will just paste it in here for you all to read, I am most definitely not making this up!

"Some people have disagreed with me when I explained about the 20% plus or minus difference that the FDA allows for generic drugs, some have insisted this was only for the inactive ingredients. So I have done some more research on this subject, and NO! the 20% difference IS NOTjust limited to the inactive ingredients.

Here's an article with some information, and the name of the law that allows this:

http://counsellingresource.com/medic.../generics.html

***"Are There Any Differences Between Generics and Brand-Name Drugs?

...it should be noted that current regulations permit a variation of up to 20% either way in the bioavailability of the active ingredient. (See this Food and Drug Law Institute overview of the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1999.) In one study (Borgheini 2003), a 31% variation was found in the blood plasma levels of a particular medication after a patient switched from a branded to a generic product. (Why does this happen? It may be accounted for by differences in the manufacturing process yielding different particle sizes that are absorbed at different rates, as well as other factors.) "***

So yes, this gives them a leeway of 40% on manufacturing these drugs, they can be significantly different than their name brand counterparts, and in some cases the effect can mean a drug doesn't work at all, or may have too much of the active ingredient, resulting in serious effects or even fatalities!
<hr>

Here's the overview of the law in question that allows these differences:

http://www.fdli.org/pubs/Journal%20Online/54_2/art2.pdf

<hr>

For some of you, I know this will be a relief as you can now know for sure that if a generic seems to work different, it is not all in your head. Simply said, poor quality control and poor testing, means poorly made drugs from some companies."


verwon@gmail.com

My information is not guaranteed correct. I do not get them right all the time, but I do enjoy the hunt~

[Cats Meow]

<snip>
If they tell you anything other than generics are exactly the same, they can, legally under the law, lose their license to practice.
<snip>

How insane! The law allows a [u]LIE</u> to be perpetrated, this makes me want to SCREAM! This is wrong on so many different levels. The AMA needs to stand up to the corporate state this country has become. I just found a new rant, thank you Zip, very informative.

^..^ ~~ ,
=´`= ___ )-~

[Ann Kingsbury]

I, too, had your experience when I changed drugstores. I called the manufacturers (Watson and Mallinkrt) and asked for the additives. There was one chemical difference and it was making me ill. These "inactive" ingredients are also listed on the detailed printout that you should be able to get from the drugstore and/or the manufacturer. If you can identify what is causing your trouble, you should call the FDA so they can note it. Of course, you probably also realize that there is a possibility of counterfeiting, too. PS I think the filler which made me sick was magnesium sulfate. Hope you are all set now.