Current Events > Patient: "I'm allergic to generic drugs"

(+) Yeah! (+)

Like, the entire concept of them

Crazy how her body knows when a drug doesn't have a brand name on it!

There's two types of people "allergic" to generic drugs: Hypochondriacs and xenophobes/racists.

Threaten to call her doc to confirm lol.

My dad is on blood pressure meds and one of the side effects is he occasionally coughs. He coughs a lot more when he switched to generic.

hockeybub89 posted...

Hypochondriacs and xenophobes/racists.

And sellers that know they can get more for the brand.

hockeybub89 posted...

racists.

probably one of the MAGA's.

terrible views on life itself.

genuinely curious/uneducated, are generics more likely to be foreign or something? why racists?

JumpstyIe posted...

genuinely curious/uneducated, are generics more likely to be foreign or something? why racists?

Can't speak much but I do recall my economics teacher saying the eyecare company he used to work for would offload their old formula of contact solution at a premium when they got the new formula cleared and just told the suppliers they could generic label it and sell at their generic price.

So I would figure similar for most.

Tbf, generics might have different fillers, which could potentially trigger an allergic reaction. But it would not be universal to all generics.

Are the people in these instances showing up at the pharmacy with a prescription for a generic and trying to get name brands? Or are they showing up with the prescription for a name brand and then complaining when they're being given a generic?

Most people who pull that card are trying to get the name-brand medication for abuse and/or reselling purposes don't they? At least, that's what I always heard from family members lol.

Listen I don't want to rub no isotretinoin all on my face. That sounds disgusting. Give me something I can understand from commercials, like Accutane.

What a leap

COVxy posted...

Threaten to call her doc to confirm lol.

Some of them don't even exist on the market anymore, at least not through any of our vendors. And we're not taking a big loss because of a made-up allergy.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Generics wouldn't even be considered therapeutically equivalent in those cases.

JumpstyIe posted...

genuinely curious/uneducated, are generics more likely to be foreign or something? why racists?

A lot of it is made in China or India and I've literally had patients when I was at CVS that would say "I can't take that Chinese crap".

s0nicfan posted...

Are the people in these instances showing up at the pharmacy with a prescription for a generic and trying to get name brands? Or are they showing up with the prescription for a name brand and then complaining when they're being given a generic?

The former. We'll sometimes substitute brand if insurance won't cover the generic or there's a backorder, but we don't load up on pricy or obscure brand names just for the hell of it. We'd give brand if a doctor said to dispense brand and it was available and covered

Sariana21 posted...

Tbf, generics might have different fillers, which could potentially trigger an allergic reaction. But it would not be universal to all generics.

Correct.

Hospy posted...

My dad is on blood pressure meds and one of the side effects is he occasionally coughs. He coughs a lot more when he switched to generic.

It's definitely something that can possibly happen, but not just for "generics". We've had patients that tell us only certain generic manufacturers of a certain drug work for them. Thyroid meds in particular can be difficult for people to switch.

Kimberly posted...

Most people who pull that card are trying to get the name-brand medication for abuse and/or reselling purposes don't they?

good chance of it... making money off the pharmacists in an illegal way.

generic drugs aren't exactly the same and the brand drugs or even exactly the same as each other both, the main component might be the same but the other stuff isn't

Jiek_Fafn posted...

Listen I don't want to rub no isotretinoin all on my face. That sounds disgusting. Give me something I can understand from commercials, like Accutane.

Is Accutane even around anymore?

"Pregnant Woman Cannot Touch Me With Their Bare Hands" Accurane?

majin_nemesis posted...

generic drugs aren't exactly the same and the brand drugs or even exactly the same as each other both, the main component might be the same but the other stuff isn't

But allergic to every generic drug?

hockeybub89 posted...

But allergic to every generic drug?

it's probably people that had a bad experiment with one or two generic and now think that all of them are problematic

My sister can't take generics of a certain med for some reason. Not because of an allergy, but because for whatever reason, they just don't work like the brand name does.

majin_nemesis posted...

generic drugs aren't exactly the same and the brand drugs or even exactly the same as each other both, the main component might be the same but the other stuff isn't

Wouldn't you just as likely be allergic to a name-brand filler in cases like that? Or just what the actual filler you're allergic to is?

Serious_Cat posted...

Wouldn't you just as likely be allergic to a name-brand filler in cases like that? Or just what the actual filler you're allergic to is?

no, because the name-brand and the generic don't use the same fillers so people might be allergic to some of those fillers

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

It happens pretty consistently as he's shifted manufacturers multiple times depending on what the pharmacy has in stock. My dad doesn't complain or anything about it, it's just an observation. The coughing isn't debilitating or anything.

Hospy posted...

My dad is on blood pressure meds and one of the side effects is he occasionally coughs. He coughs a lot more when he switched to generic.

Not an allergy issue, but my capstone supply chain professor was working on a study showing that drugs manufactured in some countries show statistically lower effectiveness than those made in say the US, the likely reason being that the FDA is a more powerful enforcer than what is available in some other countries. It could be your dad's generic was manufactured in a place with more lax enforcement of regulations and so he's getting a slightly higher dose.

The study may sound potentially obvious but it's apparently official FDA guidelines that drugs manufactured anywhere allowed by the US to be sold here are consistent in their effectiveness, and the study would challenge that. This was late 2021 when he was telling us about it.

I'm guessing they think certain countries have better quality assurance.

My mom insists her insulin from europe is superior.

who said this nonsense

AceMos posted...

who said this nonsense

Some older lady