All About Bipolar

Posted By atorturedsoul on June 24, 2009

Do you know that changing the brand of medication that you are taking can affect its effectiveness? It’s true. If you are taking a brand name and change to a generic medication or vice versa, it can be less effective.

I remember reading somewhere online that an individual noticed a difference when moving from a brand name to a generic and others noted differences when changing manufacturers. I was never one hundred percent sure, since this was someone’s personal experience with a medication. My pharmacist confirmed it.

My husband went to the pharmacy yesterday to pick up a refill of my medication. I take lamotrigine, which is generic lamictal. He took one look at the pills and said, “Hers doesn’t look like this. Are you sure it’s right?” The pills were much smaller and that would have been a huge plus. ( Lamotrigine is a large round pill that I have to choke down every single night.) They were the same milligram but it was a different manufacturer. The pharmacist looked back at what I had been getting and told him that he was right. It was indeed a different brand and they would have to give me the same brand because changing them could affect how well they worked.

Ok then. I’m still choking down the pill every night but at least it will keep working like it has. I don’t want to risk a setback so I’ll stick to the lamotrigine, even though they could be shaped differently so they would be easier to swallow. (Hint, hint, manufacturer.)

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Categories: About Bipolar Disorder, My Personal Experiences
Tags: about, affect, all, bipolar, brand, effectiveness, lamictal, lamotrigine, medication