Long story short. I’ve been on Brand necessary Lexapro for 10 years. I’ve paid for the brand at the jnsurNce company’s highest cost tier which was fine. I needed it. Now the evil insurance company just decided on my renewal that I am responsible for the cost difference between brand and generic which is a lot of amount of money. $300ish. I told doc I’d give generic another shot. He’s very good psych doc and told me that generics can be up to 20% less effective than brand drugs. I’m on 20 mg Lexapro so he said it would be reasonable for me to go on 30 mg of escitalopram. I’m on day four of this in while the days are not terrible I am in a fog in by the end of the day I am absolutely exhausted. Has anybody successfully made the change from brand Lexapro to generic. Any tips on getting through it? I know that certain generic manufacturers are better than others but that seems like an awful lot of work to research every pharmacies generic manufacturer. Any tips support etc. would be greatly appreciated
Escitalopram - Switch from Lexapro brand to generic?
Question posted by darynmarchi on 28 April 2022
Last updated on 28 April 2022 by WildcatVet
Answers
Hi, darynmarchi!
I took Lexapro initially but quickly switched to generics on the advice of my psychiatrist.. because of the cost factor and her confidence that generics are, in fact, effective.. which I took for over seven years. No matter what manufacturer I always had good results.
Generics contain the same amount of the drug but the inert ingredients in some formulations may affect absorption of the medication. The trick is to find the generic that works best for you and most will. Ask your pharmacist to do the work for you... most are happy to oblige... but don't be afraid to simply try the product they have in stock.
Anytime you have a dosage increase you may experience new or increased side effects but these general resolve with a week or two so don't be alarmed.
Here's wishing you good luck in having generics work well for you too.
Related topics
lexapro, depression, anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, escitalopram, generic, insurance, brand
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