Have you ever taken generic medication? If not, would you be comfortable doing so?

Yes, plenty of times. I've taken generic kinds of Nyquil, Aspirin, etc. It costs less and has the same effect as name brand.

Unless there's a big difference I always do.

I do, especially OTC stuff.

I learned something interesting recently about generic prescriptions. The amount of their active ingredient can vary by 20% either higher or lower than the original drug. So that means two different generics could be different than each other by 40% if one is on the low end of active ingredient and the other the high end. This can be problematic because pharmacists will regularly switch brands for generics to buy the lowest cost medication and do not have to notify customers.

RedBedroom wrote:

I do, especially OTC stuff.

I learned something interesting recently about generic prescriptions. The amount of their active ingredient can vary by 20% either higher or lower than the original drug. So that means two different generics could be different than each other by 40% if one is on the low end of active ingredient and the other the high end. This can be problematic because pharmacists will regularly switch brands for generics to buy the lowest cost medication and do not have to notify customers.

I go through that with my daughter's anti-epileptic meds. One of them has to be the brand name and not the generic substitute, and they try to slip me the crappy one all the time, so I have to get the doctor's note for the gold-standard drugs.

Cost--definitely higher! Keppra-XR costs me a $100 co-pay out of pocket, each month, and added to the $15 for the other drug she's on, Lamotrigine--it adds up!

If you're concerned about getting stuck with the generic, have your doctor write "No Substitutions" on the prescription before you fill it--I have that done for the Keppra and the pharmacy has to fill it with the brand name.

That's a large part of what we take: generic ibuprofen, generic Benadryl, generic Sudafed.

Unfortunately, only one of my meds come in generic form. But it works just fine. I do buy some over-the-counter stuff in generic form.

I have a bottle of generic Tylenol in my bag now.

Exactly. If it does the same thing why pay full price?