I have a small white circular pill with a diagonal line on one side and with the other side blank The pharmacist advises that it is a 50 mg Atenolol tablets. Is this correct?
Identifying unmarked pill?
Question posted by dforrest on 10 Jan 2022
Last updated on 11 January 2022
Answers
Masso certainly seems to have located the only thing that this pill "could" be: metoprolol tartrate - 25 mg. I have NEVER seen any pharmaceutical marked so mysteriously as this; there's always a letter and number on it and an indication on the bottle label of what the markings are so that you can be sure the markings on the pills inside correspond.
This would scare the **** out of me. First, metoprolol is similar but not the same as atenolol. Second, it's apparently for only 25mg, not 50mg. And third I personally have never heard of this pharmaceutical company in my two decades of using atenolol and other generics. When you see on the website the pharmaceutical company name followed by "USA" that usually means the address on the site is probably just an import office and the pill could come from anywhere - New Guinea, Afghanistan, Mongolia... Usually, the location of the production factory is indicated in the website, but I can't find one on their site (maybe I missed it).
I would show this to my doctor and have him/her contact the pharmacist and ask for a better-known generic ATENOLOL 50mg. I have taken Zydus, Teva, and Aurobindo - Zydus seems to work the best for me, but the others are quite popular. My pharmacist keeps a record of my preferred generic of each medication I take, because even some well-known generics of certain drugs may have bad side effects - the various generics of one drug are not the same. They can have very different excipients, inactive ingredients that bind the pill together, and artificial colors (some of which I'm very allergic to). If your pharmacist will not order another more standardly marked, better-known generic for you, I would definitely change pharmacies if I were you.
The pharmacist has provided me with a photo of the contain in which they received this from their supplier. It appears legitimate. Is there any way I can post a copy of this?
From the container "Manufactured by Medopharm, India"
Show your photo and your pills to your doctor. I have been dispensed the wrong medication and dosage at least 5 times in the past 20 years by rookie pharmacists (I guess) at both small pharmacies and large chain ones. One of the meds that should be odorless even smelled just like insecticide (which alarmed both the doctor and his nurse assistant). Fortunately, I was able to have the meds re-prescribed at another pharmacy recommended by the doctor. One could do oneself a lot of harm taking a questionable, illegally imprinted (re-read Masso's quote from the FDA above) medication like you're describing.
Could this be your pill?: https://www.drugs.com/imprints/1-6964.html
Atenolol pill images: https://www.drugs.com/imprints.php?drugname=Atenolol
The first of these is similar but the single line is across all of the pill. It is being sold to me as Atenolol 50 mg.
From Drugs.com:
"All prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs in the U.S. are required by the FDA to have an imprint code. If your pill has no imprint it could be a vitamin, diet, herbal, or energy pill, or an illicit or foreign drug. It is not possible to accurately identify a pill online without an imprint code."
So the pill´s marking is a score line in order to be able to split it in half, so as Drugs.com information provided, it could be anything!!!
I believe I have left you speechless!!! Just kidding my friend... lol
The pharmacist has sent me a photo of the container it was supplied to them in and it certainly appears to be ATENOLOL. They assure me that it is atenolol. Can I post that photo anywhere for you to see?
Sure thing, but did they tell you where they are made?
Related topics
Further information
- Atenolol uses and safety info
- Atenolol prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Atenolol (detailed)
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