On introducing the change of tablets from Aricept to Donepezil initated by our health service to cut down on expences as the Donepezil does not suit her so I have purchased a supply of Huperzine A 200mcg whichis more suited to her, do you think I have done right introducing them every other day?
moggie13, You are doing the best you can. I can understand why you have done what you have had to do. These flippin' medicines have so many side effects not to mention the cost. You may want to check with the pharmacy you frequent. I get a lot of my information from a very reliable local pharmacist. Best of luck, Lullie
hi moggie13, I have brought to the top an older topic about huperzine tablets you may find helpful. glad to see you are here among the spouses who know and share a lot of info on caregiving. there are a lot of topics with valuable info if you do a search. divvi
Hi moggie13, my DW is also feeling the burden of the establishment trying to change her from Aricept to other drugs. I am fighting this as much as I can. The dr. office gave me a month supply of Aricept for the present time. I am sure I will lose this battle. It sure is a helpless feeling. My main concern was that they want to go from 23mg Aricept to 5mg of donepezil. Please let me know how this works for you. Best of luck
moggie Donepezil. is the generic version of Aricept. it should be the exact same drug, the only difference is the price. You may have received a rare batch where the tablets compressed too tightly to dissolve or coated too heavily as to effect the bio availability. I would discuss this with both my supplier and MD. Your's is the first mention of difficulty with the Aricept generic I've seen on this site. Aricept/ Donepezil should have equal bioavailability. If you go to the fDA's website you can file a report.
After open heart surgery, Claude was on Coumadin for years. To save money, the insurance company switched him to warfarin which is a generic. This was supposed to be the same as the brand name, but it didn't work for him. His PT/INR was all over the place. I was having to take him to the Lab sometimes weekly to get the dosage adjusted and as the alzheimers got worse, it got to be more and of a hassle.
The doctor finally wrote the script as "brand specific" and the insurance company had to honor it as written. Grudgingly I admit, but they did do it!!
My understanding is generic is the same medicine, but they can very often be put together differently including ingredients which can affect dissolving and absorption. So even if the same amount of medicine, how they get absorb can be hugely different
I've been reading about generics. While most are fine there are reasons they can differ from the original. The patent might cover the molecule and some other stuff, it won't include manufacturing, the company making the generic drug needs to figure out how to make it. So they are close but not the same. FDA does not test generics as carefully as the original drugs because they should be similar. And the non-active ingredients can differ. I know of one case where someone had an adverse reaction to a generic because the inert part of the pill was based on egg yolk and she was allergic to eggs.
So generics are similar and work most of the time, but some times you do need the brand name.
My wife had problems with stability and warfarin, but why her. She had more problems with INR than all of her doctor's other patients, and was eventually moved to Xarelto, so I don't think I can blame the Warfarin. Keep in mind that coumadin IS warfarin, warfarin is simply the generic name and made by a number of companies. Coumadin is simply the brand name of warfarin by the original manufacturer.