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@dclenio
Thanks for your post. I live in Nova Scotia, Canada where the generic is not the same. Glad to hear you don’t have that challenge in the US. I have nothing against generic drugs, I have taken the brand and generic equivalent of other drugs (strattera, etc) and have found no difference in effect. However, the difference for my son and me with the generic Concerta was drastic.
REPORT ABUSEYes, the medication contained within each pill is exactly the same for the Concerta and the Generic. The DIFFERENCE is the time release coating/structure of the pill. This is the part of the medication that is under patent and cannot be copied by the Generic. This is what causes the drastic differences in the effects of the Concerta and it’s Generic. Both my son and I have ADHD and we both had extremely positive results on the Concerta. However, in the summer (here in Canada), the generic form of Concerta was approved and pharmacists were permitted to provide the generic when Concerta was prescribed – as dictated by the Medical Insurance Providers.
The differences in the effects of the Generic from the Concerta were immediately evident for both of us. We found a dramatic decrease in our ability to focus, the “ticks” came out in full force and the feelings of anxiety and anger were unreal. Just in case anyone is thinking that the results were compromised by the knowledge of taking a generic – my son had no idea – he didn’t even notice the difference in the shape of the pill. My husband was also unaware of the change in medication and it did not take long for him to comment on the change in our behavior.
When we reported the changes to our doctor, she confirmed that although the Generic Concerta does work for some – the majority do not have a positive experience. She has written “No substitutions” on our prescriptions since and we have had no problems with the pharmacy and the Concerta is back to being a positive influence in our lives.
Generic is not always better – sometimes it is, but in this case we found that it was not.
REPORT ABUSEAugust 28, 2011 at 9:13 pm in reply to: So we have a generic strattera in Canada now (as of the last month or two?) #107876I have found that when I am not on medication, or on medication that is not working for me (like now), I have this driving need to eat foods to feel better. I constantly crave sweets, like chocolate. Even though I know that eating these foods will result in weight gain – I can’t stop myself. I need to feel better and that seems to be the only thing that works.
However, when I was on Dexedrine Spansules 30mg per day, I found that that driving need was gone. I know that one of the side effects of Dexedrine is weight loss from appetitie supression, however I was still hungry – but without that manic need to feel good through food, I was choosing healthier foods to eat and was not snacking between meals nor was I getting stressed and frustrated with how long it would take to prepare the healthier foods.
Unfortunately, I was having pretty strong crashes (strong motion sickness that would last from about 4 to 7:30 every night) with the Dexedrine. My Doctor and I decided to try another med – Concerta 27mg – but it is not working for me at all at this point, feel like I am not on meds at all – ADD at full strength. Hopefully we will find something that works soon.
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