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The following article on MSN caught my attention and I thought I'd share it with you.
I hope anyone that has to purchase a prescription will try to purchase the original brand name or the holder of the patent what have you prior to making a judgment on the usefulness of brand vs generics.
I have found some many differences myself as have friends of mine that I am even skeptical when it is the same generic but marketed by two different Companies.
I'm sure most of you already know this and know the cost but the bottom-line is your health and quality of life and if most people find a difference then there must be a difference. If you go name brand first you then know one way or another when you have to use the generic if you notice a difference and in some cases well you make the decision, I'm no doctor just a patient that has seen differences.
Being ADHD I can definitely attest to the difference in the generics that are supossed to replace short-acting Adderall. They just are different.
Unfortunately I've never had the money myself to purchase name brand short-acting Adderall and when combined with the Shire XR both generics have a genuine differing effect on how you feel and how your symptoms are controlled bottom-line.
So if it were my heart- I'd mortgage the house to start with the NAME brand and if necessary to insure my life or that of a family member take the generic! At least you'll know. If you are Diabetic or have hyper-tension you have equipment but I've seen such differences or heard of them medicine vs medicine and company vs company I'd stick to some kind of plan with anything new!
One makes you over-energetic(wrong)and is short lived(wrong)while the other is more of a doped feeling that is more of a sedative(wrong) and my friends that was when taken at different occasions with NO XR by Shire utilized enough said!
The whole idea is to bring your mind and energy into focus so you can concentrate, pay attention and accomplish your goals without feeling ill!
Same issue with generic sleep meds. I quit taking anything but Tylenol (I know)PM to sleep and who knows what a real nerve pill would be like! LOL! I haven't seen one since the 80's! LOL!
So just be careful on the stuff you may not notice early on or as with some medications in a few hours or days because who knows the result if you don't have some basis to make a judgment because the next one prescribed might be worse not better.
The article is in it's entirety and from a trusted University but as a democrat and supporter of health Care for all I do worry about quality otherwise you never know your full potential or you know and that unknown is not an option.
WebMD will scare you to death on the new medications when tou look at the chart style side-effects I always figure 1 page vs 10 equals a much greater chance of one of those side-effects being an issue and who needs that? Now sometimes it's just up to you that's all there is too it.
Research will save you thanks to our God given mind!
Sincerely,
Floyd C. Wooley
love, Peace and knowledge!
Generics As Good As Costly Blood Pressure Meds, Study Finds
Plus, fewer deaths seen in group taking no-brand-name diuretics after 8 to 13 years
-- Robert Preidt
Plus, fewer deaths seen in group taking no-brand-name diuretics after 8 to 13 years.
FRIDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Costly, brand-name blood pressure-lowering drugs are no better at preventing cardiovascular disease than older, generic diuretics, reveals long-term data from a large study.
It included more than 33,000 patients with high blood pressure who were randomly selected to take either a diuretic (chlorthalidone) or one of two newer drugs -- a calcium blocker (amlodipine) or an ACE inhibitor (lisinopril).
Data from the Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT) released in 2002 showed that after four to eight years of follow-up, the diuretic was better than the calcium blocker in preventing heart failure and better than the ACE inhibitor in preventing stroke, heart failure and overall cardiovascular disease.
Differences between the drugs narrowed after eight to 13 years of follow-up, the findings show. However, the diuretic was still better in two areas. Compared with patients taking the diuretic, those in the ACE inhibitor group had a 20 percent higher death rate from stroke, and those in the calcium channel blocker group had a 12 percent higher rate of hospitalization and death because of heart failure.
The results were to be presented Friday at the China Heart Congress and International Heart Forum in Beijing.
"We are continuing to mine data that we collected during the trial," Dr. Paul Whelton, president and CEO of Loyola University Health System and chairman of ALLHAT, said in a university news release.
ALLHAT is sponsored by the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about blood pressure medicines.
SOURCE: Loyola University Health System, Aug. 12, 2010, news release.
Copyright @2010 HealthDay. All Rights Reserved.
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