Moderator Emeritus Skyler Posted October 12, 2014 Moderator Emeritus Share Posted October 12, 2014 http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/generic-drugs-can-be-cheap-medical-godsend-there-are-some-real-risks As always, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! A proud supporter of the 10% (or slower) rule. Requip - 3/16 ZERO Total time on 25 years. Lyrica: 8/15 ZERO Total time on 7 or 8 yrs.BENZO FREE 10/13 (started tapering 7/10) Total time on 25 years. Read my intro thread here, and check the about me section. "No matter how cynical you get, it's almost impossible to keep up." Lily Tomlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Emeritus Skyler Posted October 12, 2014 Author Moderator Emeritus Share Posted October 12, 2014 Once you get by the mind numbing and incorrect reasons given for the soaring prices of brand name drugs... the info on generics is decent. As always, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! A proud supporter of the 10% (or slower) rule. Requip - 3/16 ZERO Total time on 25 years. Lyrica: 8/15 ZERO Total time on 7 or 8 yrs.BENZO FREE 10/13 (started tapering 7/10) Total time on 25 years. Read my intro thread here, and check the about me section. "No matter how cynical you get, it's almost impossible to keep up." Lily Tomlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbarannamated Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Good article. Glad to see this addressed. Pristiq tapered over 8 months ending Spring 2011 after 18 years of polydrugging that began w/Zoloft for fatigue/general malaise (not mood). CURRENT: 1mg Klonopin qhs (SSRI bruxism), 75mg trazodone qhs, various hormonesLitigation for 11 years for Work-related injury, settled 2004. Involuntary medical retirement in 2001 (age 39). 2012 - brain MRI showing diffuse, chronic cerebrovascular damage/demyelination possibly vasculitis/cerebritis. Dx w/autoimmune polyendocrine failure.<p>2013 - Dx w/CNS Sjogren's Lupus (FANA antibodies first appeared in 1997 but missed by doc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btdt Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 There are so many things wrong with this article I don't know where to start with the criticism. This bit however should be looked on as fact we should all keep in mind. There are other safety issues with generics: Since the original drug has already been tested for safety, the FDA only requires that the generic produce the same level of medicine in the bloodstream (within the 80-125% range), i.e. bioequivalence, as the brand name. The testing for this is done not on actual patients, but on a small number of healthy volunteers (between 24 and 36 people). Many critics point out the need to test the generics on actual patients in order to determine efficacy. 80% of active ingredients and 40% of finished product comes from overseas. Given this volume, it is impossible for the FDA to closely inspect the quality of product coming in. In 2012, for instance, 480,000 bottles of a generic brand of Lipitor, a cholesterol medicine, were recalled due to glass shards being discovered inside the pills. Labels on generics give the consumer information based on the brand-name drug, misleading the consumer since the tests were never conducted on the generic itself. The other point is this:A case in point is Wellbutrin, a popular brand-name antidepressant with an expired patent protection. A generic equivalent, Budeprion XL 300 went to market and complaints quickly arose. In 2007, one user told ABC News, "I would have a lot of energy, but by middle of the day I would have no energy, I would crash, and it wasn't really controlling my depression symptoms either. My outlook on life was different in a matter of hours." Nausea, dizziness, insomnia, and suicidal thoughts were among the other complaints. A pharmacologist, Joe Graedon, host of an NPR radio program, began hearing these complaints and decided to investigate. In 2008, Graedon had an independent laboratory, ConsumerLab, test Budeprion. What it found was that the generic drug dissolved into the bloodstream four times faster in the first two hours than the brand-name Wellbutrin. "What we found was shocking," Tod Cooperman, the president of ConsumerLab, told ABC. "The generic released its ingredient very quickly. In fact after just two hours, 34 percent of the ingredient had come out into solution. The original product had only released 8 percent at that time.... so you're getting a burst of medication coming out very early on with the generic that you shouldn't be getting." Despite the test findings and complaints, it took the FDA five years, until 2012, to remove the generic from the market." the question I have is How many people dead by suicide or who committed crimes such as murder lived now destroyed were taking this drug? The things we know that nobody else ever asks. Tip of the iceberg WARNING THIS WILL BE LONG Had a car accident in 85 Codeine was the pain med when I was release from hosp continuous use till 89 Given PROZAC by a specialist to help with nerve pain in my leg 89-90 not sure which year Was not told a thing about it being a psych med thought it was a pain killer no info about psych side effects I went nuts had hallucinations. As I had a head injury and was diagnosed with a concussion in 85 I was sent to a head injury clinic in 1990 five years after the accident. I don't think they knew I had been on prozac I did not think it a big deal and never did finish the bottle of pills. I had tests of course lots of them. Was put into a pain clinic and given amitriptyline which stopped the withdrawal but had many side effects. But I could sleep something I had not done in a very long time the pain lessened. My mother got cancer in 94 they switched my meds to Zoloft to help deal with this pressure as I was her main care giver she died in 96. I stopped zoloft in 96 had withdrawal was put on paxil went nutty quit it ct put on resperidol quit it ct had withdrawal was put on Effexor... 2years later celexa was added 20mg then increased to 40mg huge personality change went wild. Did too fast taper off Celexa 05 as I felt unwell for a long time prior... quit Effexor 150mg ct 07 found ****** 8 months into withdrawal learned some things was banned from there in 08 have kept learning since. there is really not enough room here to put my history but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things especially any of the drugs mentioned above. One thing I would like to add here is this tidbit ALL OPIATES INCREASE SEROTONIN it is not a huge jump to being in chronic pain to being put on an ssri/snri and opiates will affect your antidepressants and your thinking. As I do not update much I will put my quit date Nov. 17 2007 I quit Effexor cold turkey. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1096-introducing-myself-btdt/ There is a crack in everything ..That's how the light gets in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compsports Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Great points btdt, particular about the suicide and murder issues. Fortunately, I never had problems with generic Wellbutrin and thank my lucky stars. But I do wonder if my problems with hypnotics not working for sleep are due to the generic form? Unfortunately, the cost for the band name is very expensive and I just really don't want to pay that much money to find out if it work or not. Also, since other sleep remedies haven't work, it may have nothing to do with the gerneric form of the hypnotics. Anyway, it is scary how the patient continues to be royally screwed healthcare wise. Drug cocktail 1995 - 2010 Started taper of Adderall, Wellbutrin XL, Remeron, and Doxepin in 2006 Finished taper on June 10, 2010 Temazepam on a PRN basis approximately twice a month - 2014 to 2016 Beginning in 2017 - Consumption increased to about two times per week April 2017 - Increased to taking it full time for insomnia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compsports Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Once you get by the mind numbing and incorrect reasons given for the soaring prices of brand name drugs... the info on generics is decent. Well, I only had to pay $4 for ambien CR. Still worthless in helping me get back to sleep on the pap machine. But if I combine it with celery, I should get enough for my sleep study which is all I care about. Drug cocktail 1995 - 2010 Started taper of Adderall, Wellbutrin XL, Remeron, and Doxepin in 2006 Finished taper on June 10, 2010 Temazepam on a PRN basis approximately twice a month - 2014 to 2016 Beginning in 2017 - Consumption increased to about two times per week April 2017 - Increased to taking it full time for insomnia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btdt Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Generic Effexor was part of my melt down at one point the drug store had change me to generic without telling me... I recall having an outburst breaking a jug of juice on the kitchen floor and having to crawl up the stairs to get away in 2006... shortly after I noticed the drug change it had been about 3 wks I had taken it.. so I went to the store and told them never do that again and I paid the full price for Effexor brand name ... yes I was in trouble before then but this put me over the top for a good while. I could certainly see how having too much of this drug hit the symstem all at once could cause a murderous rampage or suicides. Lord only knows what else it would cause meanwhile i wonder how many phych health care pratitioners are aware of the information in this article and whos responsible for the damage and for the regulating since it seems to slip thru the cracks right up to our brains. WARNING THIS WILL BE LONG Had a car accident in 85 Codeine was the pain med when I was release from hosp continuous use till 89 Given PROZAC by a specialist to help with nerve pain in my leg 89-90 not sure which year Was not told a thing about it being a psych med thought it was a pain killer no info about psych side effects I went nuts had hallucinations. As I had a head injury and was diagnosed with a concussion in 85 I was sent to a head injury clinic in 1990 five years after the accident. I don't think they knew I had been on prozac I did not think it a big deal and never did finish the bottle of pills. I had tests of course lots of them. Was put into a pain clinic and given amitriptyline which stopped the withdrawal but had many side effects. But I could sleep something I had not done in a very long time the pain lessened. My mother got cancer in 94 they switched my meds to Zoloft to help deal with this pressure as I was her main care giver she died in 96. I stopped zoloft in 96 had withdrawal was put on paxil went nutty quit it ct put on resperidol quit it ct had withdrawal was put on Effexor... 2years later celexa was added 20mg then increased to 40mg huge personality change went wild. Did too fast taper off Celexa 05 as I felt unwell for a long time prior... quit Effexor 150mg ct 07 found ****** 8 months into withdrawal learned some things was banned from there in 08 have kept learning since. there is really not enough room here to put my history but I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things especially any of the drugs mentioned above. One thing I would like to add here is this tidbit ALL OPIATES INCREASE SEROTONIN it is not a huge jump to being in chronic pain to being put on an ssri/snri and opiates will affect your antidepressants and your thinking. As I do not update much I will put my quit date Nov. 17 2007 I quit Effexor cold turkey. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1096-introducing-myself-btdt/ There is a crack in everything ..That's how the light gets in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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