Narcolepsy Support Group

I'm not one who will ever vouch for brand names over generic for anything, but I will concede that there can certainly be differences in quality depending on manufacturers, batch to batch, and of course different fillers can affect people differently.

Hopefully you will be able to continue getting something that works for you and not compromise in your treatment because of finances. I know that is a huge problem for many people and one of my biggest fears.

Thanks for the heads up Dessertdude. I am a member and I will check it out!

Something interesting about California (and possibly other states) is that Costco/Sams Club *cannot* charge a membership fee to use their pharmacy. It's a state law. So non-members are eligible for the same benefits that members receive.

When it comes to generic adderall there can be as much as a 30mg differece either stronger or weaker this is how I got my inc to approve name brand only.Last year I was on a generic script that was weaker for 3mo I'm still trying to get my life back on track as a result of generic adderall......

sleepymom, can I ask where you got that info on the 30mg difference?

I find that to be an outrageous, if not impossible, claim.

A generic, by definition, is the exact same active ingredient without the brand name. Often, the first generic released is from the same manufacturer processing the original brand medication. From company to company, the additives may vary (such as coloring, coating, gelcap ingredients, flavoring, etc.), but the medication cannot.

I only took adderall for a very short time, so I can't reliably use it as an example, but I'll use parallel medications that I am familiar with: Concerta (which is long-acting) and Ritalin (short acting), which are different versions of the same active ingredient, methylphenidate. Concerta does not currently have a generic counterpart, but once the patent is up, we can assume methylphenidate xr will be a reasonable name for it, considering the active ingredient and the extended release method.

Ritalin starts with 5mg pills and 10mg pills. The dosage refers to the amount of the active ingredient, methylphenidate. Thus, methylphenidate, the generic, also comes in 5mg and 10mg pills.

Concerta comes in 18mg and 36mg. Presumably, methylphenidate xr will also come in 18 & 36mg.

Right now, I take 36mg of Concerta every morning and 5mg of methylphenidate (Ritalin) every 4-6 hours as needed during the day. So let's say on an average day, I take in a total of 41mg of methylphenidate (the active ingredient) in its various forms.

At one point, I was told to take the 36mg of Concerta with 10mg of methylphenidate in the morning, another 10mg at 11am, and 10mg at 3pm for a total of 56mg of methylphenidate (in various forms) throughout the day. I got serious headaches, palpitations, muscles twitches, anxiety, insomnia, and other severe side effects.

So if I were to take only generic methylphenidate, using the same assumed variable of 30mg more or less in any pill proposed above, there would be two MAJOR problems.

The first, and maybe even least problematic, would be that you would literally not be able to dispense that medication in the United States. A prescription for 5mg methylphenidate tablets would not be fillable if it were even remotely possible for tablets labeled 5mg to actually contain 0mg or 35mg. The lawsuits and federal fines would be astronomical.

That being said, other countries, and online pharmacies importing medications from other countries, do not have the same guidelines and cannot guarantee products.

Along those lines, the second problem arises of pure risk to the patient. A variation of that degree in a medication like Ritalin would be catastrophic. We're talking about going from an average of 41mg a day to possibly as little as 0mg or AS MUCH AS 101mg, when it only took 56mg to cause severe medical problems. That level of methylphenidate in a day would likely land me (and others) in the ER at the very least, and it would not be a stretch to imagine it killing myself and others.

I don't doubt Adderall caused you problems, perhaps longterm, and perhaps you were put on a dosage that was too high, but I'm finding it very difficult to believe it was a matter of variable strength in a generic that caused it. At least not one obtained at your local pharmacy that isn't involved in a class action lawsuit.

Now, I'll repeat that I personally have never come across a medication that worked any better for me than its generic counterpart. On the other hand, every medication, food, and chemical affects every person very differently and that applies to the additives in medications. As such, I concede that it is possible for certain people to obtain greater benefit from a brand name medication than a generic purely related to absorption based on inactive ingredients rather than the medication itself.

Phew. Can't believe I stayed awake to write that. I'm impressed if you stayed awake to read it!

I apologize, my math was a little off there. On the high end, I was taking 66mg, not 56, and the varied dosage would be 6mg to 101mg, not 0 to 101.

(On the flip side, if I were still taking 66mg, the maximum varied dosage would climb from 101 to 186mg)

Please remember this was a very basic interpretation, and because of the way short release and long release medications are calculated for dosage, the math is way off anyway, but I'm just trying to make a general point.

I agree with Kidlet. A 30mg difference in generic Adderall efficacy is impossible. Imagine if you were prescribed 10mg and received generics that were actually 40mg in strength. That's a 300 percent increase.

The FDA requires generics to be 80-125% bioequivalent.

My daughter(who has severe insomnia also) is unable to take the generic AdderallXR--she has jitteryness, rapid heart rate, anxiety on it. She is fine on name brand as am I and now am fine.

Generic meds by law can be 20% greater or lesser the potency of a name brand. It can actually make a difference if a person is sensitive and with meds like cardiac and psych meds.

As far as the % difference, I can tell you what my sleep doc said...and made a lot of sense, currently have two weeks left of a diiferent brand generic for Adderall. I have been a mess and knew it had something to do with the med I had gotten, I too could not believe this generic was that far off, made no sense. I was on generic before and had no issues...why now? Why so much? Ok I had an appt and asked my sleep doc why this "new" generic I had for 2 weeks affected me so bad. He basically said yes by law the active ingredients have to be the same BUT the fillers and such can have a 10-20% difference. Think of it this way...So if you were to say the brand name was the middle rung to a ladder--and that generic #1 is 15% difference from it-- and one rung up from brand on the ladder......OK now generic #2 15% difference and is one rung down below brand on the same ladder...So then NOW think of it as you get generic #1 for 6 months, used to it, function with it etc. 7th month you are given generic #2...technically you are off 15% from brand, and another 15% off from your original med you had taken for months....

It affects everyone different, maybe the fillers for some are ok, others cannot handle them as well...to drop "down" or "up" regardles of where you start at, you have different effects.

Sleep doc explained it like that and ding ding, sounded just like what I have dealt with for a couple weeks now. Horrible for me, and the reason why today I spent all day micro sleeping and in AB for 2 weeks, driving myself crazy lol!

Makes me mad too, I have to wait or pay for the med that worked better because drug compaines often make different variations then contract w/pharmacies to dispense these meds. I have to pharmacy shop to see who has the one I need. UGH.

I got that info from 2doc and my pharmacist and like I said thats the only reason my inc will cover name brand .