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Va Meds, Generic Or Name Brand?

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Welbutrin and Bupropion are the same drug. I don't know about the Buspar for I've no history with that drug.

I do, however, have a long history of taking Welbutrin, or the VA dispensed Bupropion (generic).

The VA purchases the drugs the same way that they buy toilet paper-----Bids.

It always made me feel really good.......knowing that the helicopter I flew in, the rifle and ammunition that I carried........all were made by the lowest bidder (my M14 was made by Singer Sewing Machine Company).

Edited by LarryJ
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I'm surprised that the drug interaction checker in the VA software didn't pop a drug interaction. There have been many times at that a doctor went to put a drug order in for me and the computer spit back out that they couldn't because of potential interaction....maybe they just used the override option.

Interesting article from the American Journal about the VAMC overrides of drug interraction checker:

http://www.ajmc.com/Article.cfm?ID=4380

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it probably did, but it was most likely ignored. i'm on another combo now (prescribed by my PCP) that is listed as a severe drug-drug interaction, with "death" being listed as a possibility. how nice.

my PCP claims to be monitoring me closely----he isn't. yet if i stop taking either one of these meds, i also become very, very ill.

stupid VA.

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I'm just glad after years of being a guinea pig to the VA's experiments that I'm down to one. I suffer less if I suffer more, is how its worked for me. The side effects were worse for me than just dealing with the pain, etc. I am fortunate that I have anxiety relating to pain and not other types of psychological issues, but I do have to keep my environment mellow and now that I don't have to force my body to go to work I can stay in when i'm freaking out and the world doesn't push my buttons. My dog helps me by signalling me to lay down~go to bed if I'm getting stressed. My pains are incurable and untreatable so the pain meds haven't worked for me and usually gave me migraines anyway. I feel like I will make it longer in life without all of the chemicals, but thats just what works for me. I hope they don't experiment with you too much and hopefully you will be able to convince them that isn't the best route. I've gone in with clinical trial research and they have gone along with that~One in particular worked great but unfortunately the pill was uncoated and my stomach couldn't handle it for long. (Parkinsons medication for fibromyalgia)

To stay in the tone of this thread ... I have had name brand pills that weren't generic from the VA, but mostly uncoated generic pills were prescribed. The "allowed" medication varies from VAMC to VAMC so what one hospital prescribes another may not. I do believe that they change where they get stuff from because one year I get one drug and a few years later that one you can only get after you go through a few similar ones without success first. That's just allergy meds. I have so many more examples, being a guinea pig for a while.

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Drug Interaction Checker at the VA made me laugh for a long time. Would that be the same as records checker at the VARO?

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Thanks Purple and all! When a nonVA dr. asked me, I didn't know, I'm concerned.

I thin I'm with Pete and the only way to confirm name brands are name brand bottles.

My meds are in standard white or amber bottle with a stock type number. The white bottles are foil sealed and the amber ones have those pesky 'infinity'' caps. No where on the bottle itself is the familiar name brand label; But the name brand is used on one medicine, so I will have to ask the pharmacy, is this medicine in fact a name brand? Probably is listed on the script handout in code.

As far as drug interactions, so far so good, I have double and triple checked; hoping between thier information and mine alls ok.

May sound paranoid, but dispensed meds should list generic or brand name, drug company and country of origin.

Good food for thought y'all,

Cg

What do you mean by "sealed"? There should still be the med name on the bottle. Type the name of the med into WebMD and see what comes up....that will tell you if it's the generic or brand name and also usually give all other possible names of that med.

Also.......and very important.....go to Google or your favorite search engine and type in "drug drug interactions"....go to one of those websites and follow the directions. List all the meds the VA gives you as well as everything else you take. The VA usually fails to tell you the potential interactions of medicaitons...I've had some bad experiences with medication interactions thanks to the VA.

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