Do you buy generic brands?

[Early Kids]

Just curious as to how many stick to the branded medications and how many opt for the cheaper generic branded products.

Are there some things you will only buy the name brand and other you aren't fussed on?

I will only buy panadol when looking for paracetamol as I find their mini caps the easiest to swallow, but when it comes to prescriptions I buy the generic branded products.

[PumpkinZulu]

I mostly buy generic. The only time I've really stuck to what the doctor put on the script is if I ever need a thrush cream, as I'm allergic to many of the preservatives and non-active ingredients in every other cream except this particular one.

[Mak]

The generics when available for like products. I can't beleive how much the branded stuff is!!!

[Early Kids]

It's insane the price difference isn't it? I'm on medication which last a month, the generic costs me just less than $18 and the branded is just over $40 for the same amount!!

[Maruschke]

All generic here

[Enchanted]

I usually always buy generic brands. I don't see the point in spending the big $$ when you can buy something for less that works exactly the same.

[Mak]

I know! Even down to panadol vs panamax. I feel for people like my IL's who don't speak ENglish and always just get what the Dr says.

[Purple Penguin]

I usually buy the generic.

[PumpkinZulu]

I know! Even down to panadol vs panamax. I feel for people like my IL's who don't speak ENglish and always just get what the Dr says.

And old people my pharmacist was telling me when I was pregnant (and getting some vitamin d supps) that he sees the dame scripts come in all the time, for a really expensive vit d, and all the old people refuse to get anything other than what their doctor wrote down, so they end up spending half their pension on brand name medications.

[HotI]

Sometimes the active ingredient is the same, but the fillers or 'chaperone' ingredients are different. Some of my meds i only get one brand because the other brand doesn't work, evn though they are meant to do the same thing.

[~me~]

If I have a GP script, I won't get generic brands. If it's over the counter stuff like Panadol or Zyrtec, I have started to purchase the chemist brands.

[Astrid]

Generic here. DH was a bit dubious at first, but since he is the one who needs the most meds and sometimes he has gone without due to money, he has finally seen the light.

[Cranky Kitten]

Depends on what it is for me - I have all the docs at my GP clinic trained to give me the shortest possible course with the least number of tablets for any medications they have to give me as I loathe tablets at the best of times. So a lot of the time it does result in being given more expensive antibiotics etc but I don't need them all that often so it balances out as far as I'm concerned.

[AnyDream]

And old people my pharmacist was telling me when I was pregnant (and getting some vitamin d supps) that he sees the dame scripts come in all the time, for a really expensive vit d, and all the old people refuse to get anything other than what their doctor wrote down, so they end up spending half their pension on brand name medications.

Vitamin D formulations vary widely, and the form that it's in determines how well it's absorbed and used. Could be the more expensive is actually a better product.

I make the decision on a case by case basis. There are real problems with some generics. Best example of this is the horrendous side effects of on many of the generic tamoxifens. Women have suffered awfully without realizing it was the interaction with the fillers and not the drug itself.

[RhiChiChi]

Mostly generic - I can't find a difference

[emc2]

I used to get generic up until about 6 years ago, I had a bad reaction to a brand of antidepressant, and then a chemist gave me a generic version of the one I was then prescribed. It was too confusing for me at the time, and I'm on a concession card anyway so there's not a big difference in price.

I saw one GP once and he was totally against Alphapharm! He was a locum and ranted and raved all about it.

Some products just aren't quite as effective TBH.

Also I bought Panamax syrup and discovered it has "Brilliant Scarlet" colouring in it, I think Jim was becoming quite agitated from it.

You really have to way it up if it works for you or not imho.

[Trillian]

I'm with MD - I decide on a case by case basis too. I take a particular medication that is itself a generic, even though the cost of that and the other are less than a dollar difference in price, but I can't mix it with a lot of other meds so I always have to check first. But most over the counter stuff I will buy generics. My MIL though had a severe reaction to something in a generic med and now she wont even consider them.

[wysiwyg]

As I have spent most of my working life working for a big pharma company, that has skewed my view a little but choose on case by case basis here. In UK where generally a set prescription price for generic or brand, would always go for brand in support of pharma co as seeing the years of work that go into discovering drug in first place made me think twice about generic
(not biting hand that feeds and all that). Here in OZ don't have the money to always go brand, I try to go Australian made if possible. Luckily have not needed many medicines, if I needed something fairly specialised then would research and then decide. Two people can have same ingredients and follow identical instructions and get differing results - same is true with drugs and often they don't have the exact same instructions IYKWIM.