I did fill it yesterday and my pharmacy said Barr generic is wonderful,I said I was afraid of having a bad reaction to generic,he looked at me like a druggy and said,you will if you take too many!,I was so mad,well I just did my blood pressure and my heart rate is 152,yikes what do I do now?Thanks

This whole generic thing is way overdone. There is no difference in the composition of the pills that will make any functional difference whatsoever - the pharmacist is correct - flippant and insulting, but correct (I suspect that pharmacists get very sick of answering questions about the difference between brand name and generic meds). The difference comes from what you expect or perceive to be different about a generic. If you believe there is a difference then you will likely perceive a difference - it's a self fullfilling prophecy and an example of how powerful the placebo effect is.
That said, Life is too short to get mad at rude pharmacists, so I'd find one that has better customer service skills, it'll be better for your blood pressure. If you feel it's worth the hassle, you can find a pharmacy that stocks a different brand of generic or ask your doctor for the brand name stuff - if you find it works better for you, who am I to argue? But from the standpoint of chemistry, there will be no decernable difference between brand name stimulants and generics.

Dam It There Is A Differance Between Real And Generic!!!!!!!!!!

whats the difference other than branding vs. non branding jennyjay?
is it a difference that would be worthy of noting regardnig performance of said drug?

I went on the generic adderall about 2 years ago. Im still on it, but I DEFINITELY noticed a differance between the two. Hard to explain but it just felt "crappy" compared to normal adderall. I told my doctor about it and he looked at me strange and said "they should be the exact same" I told him that there was a differance but that I had gotten used to it...Stayed on it and no real problems untill last week :(

I have never noticed a difference between generic vs. brand name. I believe the perceived difference could be a placebo effect. To avoid this, have a family member give you the med without you knowing which med you're getting (maybe dissolve it in juice so you can't "see" whether you're getting generic or brand name). After tracking how you feel each week, then have family member reveal which type you got when ...this way you can avoid the placebo affect.

I don't know how you'd get a supply of both types of meds though ...maybe your doctor could give you a "free same" of Adderall or maybe the pharmacist could give you half the prescription as brand name and half as generic.

Hey guys, I don't want to **** of those of you who say there is no difference between Brand and Generic, but THERE IS. Ask any knowlegable psychiatrist or a GOOD pharmacist and they will tell you the same. Keep in mind, your pharmacist's first job is to sell the medications. S/He is a sort of spokesman for the pharamaceutical companies. Don't fool yourself.

This is not to say they won't dispense good information, or what they believe to be good information. But they will also tell you what they've been told, such as, "Generics are just as good as brand names." Of course they're going to say that. What, should they say the truth?

"No, generics are not always as good as there is much less oversight in their manufacture, they use different filler ingredients (that some may react poorly to), and Barr has one of the WORST track records in the industry! Check out the FDA's web site for more information... No, sorry, I know you cannot afford to pay for the brand version, and your doctor and HMO said that the generic would be fine, but, really, that's too bad. With generics you don't really know what you're going to get..."
People, please stop buying this long running lie. Just because you've heard it a lot, that does not in any way mean it's true. This sort of belief preseverance is EXACTLY why we can't get decent healthcare without spending a forutune. RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH! Especially before coming in here and making potentially damaging assertions.

If you believe that the SUBSTANTIAL price difference between brand name pills and generics is SOLEY due to patent issues, then you are getting way too caught up in the spin surrounding meds.

Common sense tells us that if this medication costs 1/10th as much in generic form than in brand form, there MUST be differences in quality. And simply using our senses, feel and taste, we know there is a difference in the ingredients the moment we stick the pills in our mouths.

DIFFERENT INGREDIENTS + DRASTICALLY LOWER PRICE = LOWER QUALITY


:oSorry for my little rant, but I just got off a 2 month "experiment" on Barr Phramapseudocal's Amphetamine Salts, and I know for a fact that there are different ingredients in their pills ("inactive" ingredients don't count as far as the FDA is concerned, but "inactive" does not mean those ingredients wil not had adverse effects on some individuals).

I have had many medications in my mental health experiences, and some generics were as good as the brands, but not all. Barr's were the worst, and if you'll check the FDA's site you'll find a bunch of cases where Barr was not even putting enough active ingredient in their meds.

And, by the way, the term is "psychosomatic" not "placebo effect", and while some people may have bad reactions to any med due to negative preconceptions, again, use common sense and evaluate the differences between brands and generics. IF you can feel and taste, distict differences in flavor or texture, etc., then something is, indeed, different. And if you find the generics ALSO don't work as well, or have fun new side effects popping up that your brand version didn't have, then there must be a difference.

Happy weekend!! :D

My pharmacy just switched from the generic Adderall made by Abrika to the generic from Barr with my last fill, I have no experience with the "real deal” from Shire; but I have found a significant difference between these two generics. I started with the Abrika about 4 months ago and all seemed fine. When I switched to the Barr, about 10 days ago I notice that after about 1.5 -2 hours I get a big swoosh of effectiveness which lasts about 45 min and then nothing. And while the “swoosh” is fun, it is no fun when it is over,

I was made to understand that the ACTIVE ingredients are supposed to be the same, but the inactive ones are up to the manufacturer. To my understanding, it is these ingredients that can greatly effect how the active part is absorbed and metabolized. And I believe that is where all the issues lie. I also noticed a lot more food and chemical interactions listed with the Barr.
I also believe that there is something to the patent issues and the price of the drugs. I think the drug companies try to make as much money, as long as they can to (until the patent runs out) to recoup the cost of developing the drug, I don’t believe their competitors are making a technically inferior product, they just tweaked it a little and the results are felt in how our individual bodies process the different formulas. Thumbs down on the Barr for me.

I also have never tried the brand but have found significant differences between generics. The Barr had many more side effects for me than the mallincrodt. When I talked to a pharmacist about it he said that it is common for people to say they react differently to one drug or the other. One way to try a different generic is call up different pharmacies and ask what brand they carry in your dose and then try that pharmacy. Or if you want to try the brand ask your doctor to make a notation that substitution with a generic is not allowed when writing your script.

It's not only the inactive ingredients that can make a difference but also the rate of absorption/dissolution of the pill. There have been studies with other drugs, although none that I know of with adderall. I finally decided to look up what studies have been done at it since this is the third or fourth time this type of thread has come up and there are some studies that do find a difference between generics and brand names.

for example Fosamax (note the effects of absorbtion/dissolution are different for adderall, but the point is that they do exist between brands.)

Epstein et. al. Disintegration/dissolution profiles of copies of Fosamax (alendronate) Current Medical Research & Opinion. 19(8):781-9, 2003 <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

RESULTS: Nine copies (Osteomax, Defixal, Fosmin, Endronax, Osteomix, Genalmen, Fixopan, Osteoplus, and Fosval) disintegrated two- to ten-fold faster than FOSAMAX. Three other copies (Neobon, Regenesis, and Ostenan) disintegrated at least five-fold slower than FOSAMAX. Neobon is a softgel capsule, so special consideration was given to this different dosage form. One copy (Arendal) did not fall into either category but exhibited potentially large inter- and intra-lot variability. Dissolution of alendronate from Regenesis lagged behind that from FOSAMAX.

CONCLUSION: Slower disintegration may reduce efficacy because bisphosphonates must be taken in the fasting state and contact with food or even certain beverages severely reduces bioavailability. Faster disintegration (or the use of gel-caps or other alterations to the drug formulation) could increase the risk of esophagitis, an adverse event associated with prolonged contact of the esophagus with bisphosphonates. These disintegration and dissolution results suggest that important differences may exist between FOSAMAX and its copies with regard to bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, and clinical efficacy and safety profiles. Additional testing is warranted to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and clinical safety of these copies.
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Even studies that found no overall differences in the study population, sometimes find that a percentage of individuals have a large variablity between the generic and brand (up to 40%.) One of the issues that I discovered is that a lot of bioequivalency testing is done on healthy volunteers and not on actual patients with the disease which can make a difference. And then one really has to look closely at at what measures they are looking at to say that there is no difference between the drugs. For example one article found no difference in a generic versus brand blood thinner just looking at a measure of how thin the blood is but did not report doses required to achieve that level. The study that did find a difference for those in a lose dose group, looked at doses increases. Or like with a drug for schizophrenia, clozapine, one study, finding no difference and a saving for the pharmacy of 90,000 dollars, looked at white blood cell counts and reports of an eye movement finding, whereas another study looked at clinical outcome and found a fair number of patients worsened or relapsed.

My own personal philosophy is that if one is just starting out trying a generic is reasonable and then dose adjusting to the efficacy of that generic. It doesn't bother me if I have to take 20mg of generic A to have the same effect as 15mg of name brand B if A is much cheaper and there are no additional side effects. What matters is the effectiveness not the dose. (It's like lexapro and celexa - same treatment: 10mg lexapro = 40mg celexa...it's not that lexapro is "low dose" it is just the way it's formulated in a more concentrated form.) On the other hand if I had been started out on a brand and it was working fine, depending on what it was treating and how disabling an increase in symptoms would be, or how hard it had taken me to find a treatment that worked, I might be reluctant to switch as long as I could afford the brand. (It's not always cheaper to switch to a generic if you have to pay more in health care costs because of a relapse/increase in symptoms.)

In my case generic B ( Barr) doesn't work as well for me (can't speak for others) and has lots more side effects compared to generic A (mallincrodt). If I were unable to get generic A any more and generic C (Abrika) wasn't available/or effective for me/etc. I'd try the brand and pay more if it was effective. But if I can get a generic that is cheap, effective and no increase in side effects, then the cost savings are worth it to me. I do think using a generic for those of us who do notice a difference between them (and not everyone does) requires more vigilance to avoid inadvertant switching by the pharmacy.

It's not a placebo/psychosomatic effect. It's not in our head. Clearly inert ingredients and absorbtion rates can make a difference. And there's medical literature out there documenting clinical differences with other medications. (check it out in pub med for yourself if you don't believe me.)

How can you tell which generic you are getting? Mine changes every couple of months ...the pills used to be orange, then pink, now white. Is it written on the label which manufacturer made the pills?

It has been always on the label of my prescription bottles in small print. Or when filling the prescription you can ask the pharmacist what generic brand it is.

Personally if I didn't notice a difference for myself between brands of generic adderall, I wouldn't care what they gave me as long as it worked. I don't think one brand is inherently better or worse than the other, it really depends on the individual. And since with some (?most) drugs the majority don't notice a difference for those people I don't think it matters.

This whole generic thing is way overdone. There is no difference in the composition of the pills that will make any functional difference whatsoever - the pharmacist is correct - flippant and insulting, but correct (I suspect that pharmacists get very sick of answering questions about the difference between brand name and generic meds). The difference comes from what you expect or perceive to be different about a generic. If you believe there is a difference then you will likely perceive a difference - it's a self fullfilling prophecy and an example of how powerful the placebo effect is.
That said, Life is too short to get mad at rude pharmacists, so I'd find one that has better customer service skills, it'll be better for your blood pressure. If you feel it's worth the hassle, you can find a pharmacy that stocks a different brand of generic or ask your doctor for the brand name stuff - if you find it works better for you, who am I to argue? But from the standpoint of chemistry, there will be no decernable difference between brand name stimulants and generics.

I'm sorry but i disagree... i noticed the difference before I even knew I had a different med. I felt terrible, my meds weren't working, i was moody... I then looked online to see if Adderall had maybe changed their composition (as they did around 2004) and that's when I found out there was a generic. I looked at my bottle and sure enough they had given me the generic. In addition to it not helping my ADD at all, I have a rash with the generic version. I know it's hard to believe but the pharmacist did not tell me it was generic... i knew only because of my symptoms. Now I'm in a terrible situation and feel lost and on an emotional rollar coaster. So anyway, to respectfully disagree. I noticed a big difference and I noticed BEFORE I even knew I was taking the generic.

I have never noticed a difference between generic vs. brand name. I believe the perceived difference could be a placebo effect. To avoid this, have a family member give you the med without you knowing which med you're getting (maybe dissolve it in juice so you can't "see" whether you're getting generic or brand name). After tracking how you feel each week, then have family member reveal which type you got when ...this way you can avoid the placebo affect.

I don't know how you'd get a supply of both types of meds though ...maybe your doctor could give you a "free same" of Adderall or maybe the pharmacist could give you half the prescription as brand name and half as generic.


This would be a terrible thing to do to someone who is really experiencing a difference.... trust me... they will know and it will make them feel as if they are having a psychotic break down. The generic sucks. See my other post. I had this experience and I seriously thought I was losing my mind until I realized that my meds had been changed.

I would have told that Pharmacist to go f+ck himself for being that ignorant and gone to a competant pharmacist.
It is beyond me how anyone could say something as ignorant as there is no difference between generic and name brand. Have you seen the hundreds of posts with people suffering from the differences??
I have had to fight with insurance companies way too many times to get name brand drugs.

The difference comes from what you expect or perceive to be different about a generic. If you believe there is a difference then you will likely perceive a difference - it's a self fullfilling prophecy and an example of how powerful the placebo effect is.

What do you say to someone who expected it to work great, but found it to be terrible???

I used to think exactly like you...it's all in your head, if you expect it to work bad it will, blah blah blah. That was until last month, when I started my generic XR.

When I first heard they were going generic I thought "great! fantastic!" $50 is a lot to fork out every month (although still much better than cash paying people! :eek:) so going down to $10 was awesome news. I've always responded perfectly to generics, so all the talk about there being a difference was new to me. I had never noticed any differences with generics, until now. I'm having a terrible time with Barr XR and I can't wait to go back to Shire.

It's so easy for a person who has never experienced something before to just write it off as nonesense. Just because you've never personally had problems with generics doesn't mean that others don't.

After being diagnosed ADD and dealing with all the ppl telling me there's no such thing as ADD, I now am much more open. Be careful, because you might just eat those words some day.

THank you- I happen to agree with you- Trust me I don't want to spend 160 a month on a script that I could be spend 10.00 dollars for- but since my insurance only covers generics- guess what- I have to spend 160 a month in order to feel normal. I hate to argue- but some people just do not do as well with the fillers/binders as others do. My doc even states that psychosis drugs shouldn't be made in generic form- too many people have reactions to them. To the OP in this quote- LUCKY YOU

What do you say to someone who expected it to work great, but found it to be terrible???

I used to think exactly like you...it's all in your head, if you expect it to work bad it will, blah blah blah. That was until last month, when I started my generic XR.

When I first heard they were going generic I thought "great! fantastic!" $50 is a lot to fork out every month (although still much better than cash paying people! :eek:) so going down to $10 was awesome news. I've always responded perfectly to generics, so all the talk about there being a difference was new to me. I had never noticed any differences with generics, until now. I'm having a terrible time with Barr XR and I can't wait to go back to Shire.

It's so easy for a person who has never experienced something before to just write it off as nonesense. Just because you've never personally had problems with generics doesn't mean that others don't.

After being diagnosed ADD and dealing with all the ppl telling me there's no such thing as ADD, I now am much more open. Be careful, because you might just eat those words some day.

There absolutely is a difference.

I have taken brand Adderall XR for 18 months. For the 1st 6 months, I had extreme dry mouth, which isn't unusual. I hadn't even noticed that it had stopped for the last year, as I always have a bottle of water nearby.

When they switched me to generic last month, I was fine with the idea of trying it.

The dry mouth returned immediately, and completely surprised me, as I had forgotten all about it. It was only then that I realized I hadn't had dry mouth for over a year. I totally forgot how extreme it could be - there is no way I placeboed on that - I didn't even recall it being a symptom!

I mentioned it to my pdoc, and he said generics can use cheaper filler ingredients, which can cause things like this.

I'm waiting to see if it eventually goes away, as my body gets used to the generic, or if it will stay.

I used to go through 4 water bottles a day - now I understand why I've only been drinking 1 bottle/day for the last year, and why most days it was still half full at 5pm - no dry mouth. Now I'm back to extreme thirst and several bottles daily.

I haven't noticed any dramatic change in effectiveness - better or worse, so I'm still undecided on whether the generic will end up being the same, worse or better. After a few months, I'll see if I think anything is different in terms of concentration and focusing. I'm not preconceived to the generic being a bad thing, so I'm keeping an open mind.

****************

20 years ago, I took an antibiotic for acne. No issues for months and months. One month, they subbed generic, which I didn't realize or notice. Two days into it, I had strong nausea. I never connected it to the antibiotic. The nausea continued daily with no explanation, until the next month, when they gave me brand, which again, I didn't notice, or even realize the switch back. The nausea disappeared.

Until a few months later, when they gave me generic, again, me not having any idea. Nausea immediately returned. I never connected it to the antibiotics, as I had taken them for over a year with no issue. I started wondering if I was pregnant!

Finally, I happened to notice the slight wording change on the pill bottle (the pills had looked identical to me). That's when it all became clear, and I realized that the two random months that I was nauseous every day were the two months they had subbed a generic without telling me.

Since I never knew or suspected I was even taking a generic, I don't think I was conjuring up the symptoms!

I take the 15mg IR's...have been taking the BRAND name ones, even when they switched from AD to dp. YES i have noticed the difference...but let me tell you. Even though Barr/Teva makes the BRAND AND GENERIC, there IS a difference in the two. The Brand Barr/Teva formulation with the dp instead of the AD imprint are about 80% effective as the Shire formulation with the AD imprint.

Now, just for ****s and giggles, I tried the generic 15mg IR's this month. I figured hey, if its the same company making both, it should be the same. WRONG. the Barr/Teva generic 15mg IR's dont do **** for me. I don't feel any improvement for my symptoms...so what are we going to do? I already wrote the FDA...

The Brand Barr/Teva formulation with the dp instead of the AD imprint are about 80% effective as the Shire formulation with the AD imprint.

And, of course, the Shire formulation with the AD imprint is no longer available.:mad:

The only brand name Adderall IR is now made by Barr, a division of Teva Pharmaceuticals. It has a "d/p" imprint, as mentioned above.
(d/p stands for DuraMed Pharmaceuticals, another division of Teva.)

I already wrote the FDA...

I'm going to write as well.

By changing the formula for brand name Adderall IR, Teva has simply created a new generic drug.

What's up with that? Colossal corporate irresponsibility IMO.

It's my understanding that even though Barr distributes the new generic Adderall XR it is actually made by Shire. I just called my pharmacy to verify that and they said it's true!