Saturday, July 25, 2009

Brand Name Drugs vs. Generic Drugs (video)

I received an Epilepsy newsletter that I found pretty interesting. There was a segment on the Today Show (video) referring to Brand name drugs vs. Generic drugs and the consequences of using generic.

Awhile back our pharmacy/insurance gave us the generic brand anti-convulsant Tegretol for my daughter's seizures. I took notice of the change but didn't think anything of it. Until she started seizing. Thank God her seizures were petit mals and not grand mals. She just had the eye twitching, staring, etc. Course that scared the hell out of me anyway, so we immediately got her back on the brand name. Even to this day, our pharmacy/insurance will still try to pull that generic stuff on us every so often so I have to call and make a fuss. Even with doctors orders that it has to be Brand name, the pharmacy will find a way to sneak in the generics.

I knew it was the generic brand that was the culprit that caused her seizures but no one (professional) ever confirmed my suspicions. No one ever questioned it either. So what I once believed to be true but no pharmacist or doctor would confirm it, is now validated! I suppose we would have never known either, unless we tried it. It's just unfortunate that no one ever warned us of the possibilities of such side effects. Just as they don't educate parents on the dangers of vaccines. But that's another story for another time. Oh well, trial and error, eh? It's just ashame our children have to be the guinea pigs in all this.

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