Has Anyone Tried The Generic Version Of Wellbutrin Sr Made By Sun Pharma Bupropion Hcl (Page 2) (Top voted first)

Hi - I just got a perscription for the Sun Pharma generic version of Wellbutrin SR (Bupropion HCL SR). Has anyone had success with this one? If not which generic version have you had success with?

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The next day I checked back with CVS to see if they were able to get my prescription from Walgreens they told me yes! So, I went to Walgreens to ask for the co pay I had given them back and offered to give back the Sun Pharma. At first she said that part would be harder and also, did I make sure CVS would be able to fill the script switched over to them since insurance may see it as a new fill too close to the one just done. So Walgreens called CVS and asked if they ran it though insurance and if it went though, it did. To be done with this and me I think Walgreens Pharmacist decide she would just refund my co-pay as if a return. So CVS filled it with the Mylan lab ones and everything was fine. I felt perfectly nor normal after taking the Mylan again. Something is different with between the ones from the Mylan manufacturer and the Sun Pharma. Now I know to always ask what manufacture they will be filling my prescription with before I hand over my prescription so if they don't have Mylan I can try someplace else. So, I don't know if the bad reaction from the Sun Pharma would have went away after a few days of using them or not, I'm glad I didn't have to find out. I think I would have stopped taking them.

Hope they are getting better for you or see if you can be switched to whatever manufacturer your past fills were from, or try the Mylan if you can't get your usual manufacture anywhere they work OK for me. You can find a pharmacy who has the manufacture you tolerated better then ask them to ask the Pharmacy who gave you the Sun Pharma to switch your Prescription to that place because you are reacting badly to the Sun Pharma ones.

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The link below will take you directly to the page on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) web site where you can download a report form to mail in or submit on line to report any serious health problems you have in reaction to a medication. My reaction to the San Pharma bupropion was different than yours and I filed my one and only report about this formula. I took 8th for 4 weeks and sank deeper and deeper into depression. I am very grateful that I realized that there was a problem with my pill and was proactive in changing to a new pharmacy as well as reporting it to the FDA. One or two reports won't get a product reviewed and recalled - it will take several. So, I hope you will consider filing one - but only if it is having or definitely has had a bad effect on you.

fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm354560.htm#Submit

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So, as mentioned I was on the Mylan brand generic Wellbutrin and for the most part had no negative effects.... at first. It didn't seem to do anything for me though I was on 2 per day 150 SR. A couple months in I developed a bad eye stutter. I don't feel it was exactly a twitch. It seemed as if I blinked or closed my eye my lid on my one eye did not come up right away. It was annoying and troubling, I was becoming scared as it started to get worse and constant. It was getting worse and worse. I went off the Generic Wellbutrin since it wasn't doing anything and I suspected the eye thing maybe from them. The eye stutter remained for about 3 weeks after stopping the Generic Wellbutrin then it went away. Anyone have a bad eye twitching/sticking lid troubles on Generic Wellbutrin?

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Mine had nothing on one side and 738 on the other and was a strangely small sized pill - a good 3rd smaller than normal sized wellbutrin brand or generics. The Sandoz works fine for me....Here's the link for filing a report with the FDA. I am still hoping that they with seize these Sun Pharma pseudo generic Wellbutrins so that people like us who are battling depression can't be derailed by it any longer! I took it for 4 very miserable weeks! Please let us know how you are doing, Nicole!

fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm354560.htm#Submit

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I agree 200% Lori! It upsets me terribly to think that some people might have taken the Sun Pharma and sunk more deeply into depression as you and I and many others did. At least we realized it was the ineffective pill... What about others who plummeted into deeper depression...and may never have come back from that, or worse.

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Realize each new generic or new supplier is there, because they are charging CVS or Walmart less money. And lets talk about Biosimilars, which most of these are. basically you take a good drug, and then copy the molecule structure, you don't have to do clinical trials, you don't have to prove your drug works, you just say, "hey fda, these molecules look the same, let me start selling it" and the fda says YES! weak ass fda. So here's my bad analogy, your neighbor has a nice well built house, you build a replica, but use sticks instead of 2x4's and fake materials to make it look like your neighbors house. They look the same, but when the wind blows, your's falls over.

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I will check out that article you referred to, Warren. The Sandoz I am taking is reliable - been satisfied with it for 1-1/2 years now.

I take other generic meds as well and often wonder if they are really doing what they're supposed to be doing. If I had enough $$$'s, I would pay for the brand of each med and then I would be better prepared to go to battle to have the drug companies produce generics that work and to get the bogus generics recalled!

Regi, I didn't do well with the Mylan generic - but, 2 things-1) some people report that it works for them and I've heard that different generics really do work differently from one person to the next and 2) it usually can take a few weeks to feel the real benefit from anti-depressants, so maybe you need to give it more of a chance to kick in...

Wishing you and all here good luck in finding the best generic to treat your depression.

Janie

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I actually have to request Sandoz specifically each month! Some pharmacies will not order it for me, but most are cooperative...

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Good plan - same for me. They try to slip me the brown Dr. Reddy or whatever stuff unless I tell them ahead of time that I won't accept anything but Sandoz blue pills... can cause a great hysterical reaction at some pharmacies - especially the big chain outfits. 'Oh, my profits are being reduced by your irrational demands!' Tough s***, I say.

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My understanding of bupropion is that the therapeutic range is rather narrow - 200 - 450 mg/day with most patients settling into the 300 mg/day range (as I am). I say this only as a patient, not as a qualified medical provider, but this information was communicated to me by my psychiatrist, an MD of more than 40 years of experience in treating patients with depression and other related conditions.

Given this, 75 mg/day seems a bit low - unless your provider is planning on working you up to a higher dose after making sure you don't have any unpleasant things happening at a lower dose (see side effects in the FDA mandated bupropion packing insert).

I don't want to second-guess your provider - they should know your condition and be able to develop an appropriate plan to deal with it.

The only concrete data I have to offer is my experience with non-Sandoz formulations of bupropion - my experience with all of them has been negative in that they were not effective in treating my depression. Why this has been the case is open to all kinds of guesswork and I will not speculate.

It is the responsibility of our US Government agencies charged with ensuring the efficacy and purity of medications to do the work necessary to ensure that the medication labeled 'buproprion' is, indeed, buproprion and does not degrade into something else before the designated shelf life - or before they reach the shelf of the dispensing pharmacy.

This is their charge, and until the agencies we support with our tax dollars do their work rather than shuffle (possibly fraudulent) papers while listening to whoever comes in the door with a suitcase full of something more valuable than a pile of printer paper NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. And, in addition, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN if they listen to a call from someone whose political affiliations coincide with the predominant breed of animal in what is called, for any more polite word, our US Congress.

There is a lot of money to be made - and is being made - in peddling medications that are ineffective or do not correspond to the specifications of their chemical formulations. And some of this money goes to the people who write the rules -or influence the rules.

France, in 1789, had a similar situation. So, too, did Imperial Russia in 1917. I hope and pray that our Republic, founded on the principle that each person's voice is equal to any other person's voice (except the slaves, who counted as 4/5ths of a person and, as a result, had no voice) can survive this flood of paper - but as time goes by, and I have to examine each pill I consume, I wonder....

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Hello Brooklyn Mama:

In my experience the blue version of bupropion is manufactured (or distributed) by Sandoz and it works - at least for me, and, I believe, a number of others who have posted here.. I have seen (and, unfortunately, used) a brown tablet labeled as coming from a manufacturer/distributor on the Indian subcontinent: Dr. Reddy and others. These have a questionable reputation - search this site/thread for my posts ('sixscrews').

Your son might do better on the blue/Sandoz version of bupropion - I'm not qualified to suggest any therapies but my personal experience has lead me to believe this manufacturer is trustworthy.

You might have to do some shopping around among pharmacies - I managed to get a local Walgreens to stock the Sandoz version and, eventually, got my HMO to re-stock it as well (I had some help there from many other HMO clients).

All the best,

ss/wb

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My personal experience with non-Sandoz bupropion has been negative - see my many posts in this thread.

If you are starting out on this medication for depression you should be careful with respect to clinical effectiveness - it's possible the medication you have is ineffective as the manufacturer (NOT Sandoz) has been known to supply medication that has a short shelf life and/or poor clinical effectiveness. The US FDA has been asleep at the wheel on this subject - many complaints have been ignored or blown off. Beware. In my experience Dr Reddy, Cadista, other Indian sub-continent manufacturers of bupropion have all been ineffective in dealing with my clinical depression. Your results may be different but it's best to be aware that many of the non-Sandoz vendors provide bupropion that does not seem to work for many patients.

On the other hand, it's possible that bupropion is not appropriate for your condition - I can't throw the baby out with the bath water.

However, if you don't get positive results in a reasonable period of time (4 weeks? 8 weeks?) you might want to try the Sandoz version of bupropion - or ask your provider what they think.

I'm not a medical provider and have no experience or training in treating clinical depression. My only experience has been in the results of treatment with different manufacturers versions of bupropion. All I can say is that Sandoz branded bupropion has worked for me; all others have NOT worked.

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Hello all, let me tell my tale of Wellbutrin and bupropion generics. A little background first. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2012. I have struggled with depression most of my life and come from a family with a deep history of mental illness. I have taken SSRI's in the past with more problems than success. I usually tolerate generics...the only time I can think of an issue is years ago when they switched my BC generic and I had more side effects. But on to this story...over a year ago I was given a script for Wellbutrin to help me with depression, focus and fatigue...all issues that are standard parts of MS. It took me a while to actually fill the script... I was wary. I know that some anti-depressants can actually cause people to commit suicide.

I finally filled it and my first bottle were the purple ones from Eon Labs (which is now Sandoz). My fatigue grew worse...to be honest I had no desire or inclination to get out of bed. I didn't realize how bad things were until I got my refill and it was a different generic. This time it was Watson and it was like night and day. I started being a pain at the pharmacy and insisted on Watson and not Eon/Sandoz. It got to the point where they had my name written on bottles in the back. So almost a year that way and then I am told they can't get the Watson anymore. That is when I was given some from Sun Pharmaceuticals.
Those were horrible. I could tell within two doses that they were a problem. In less than a week my anxiety and mood swings increased dramatically and I was hit with full on suicidal ideation. I stopped taking them.

After some calls to my doctor and the insurance company I was put on the straight form of Wellbutrin (no sr or xl). More pills a day didn't bother me, I already take pills all day long, what is a few more? I can't even begin to describe the difference. I suddenly realized what the drug was *supposed* to be doing. My 5 and 7 year old noticed a difference. I became more focused, my anxiety and panic attacks gone, mood swings diminished. No more angry outbursts. I was getting up on time in the morning and being productive. It was the best month of my life. Then when I went for my refill I was told they aren't making that form of it anymore. The only form of name-brand my insurance doesn't exclude. I wrote GSK and yes indeed they stopped production of it.

The pharmacist handed me all her bottles of the generics to see if there were any I could take. The two they can get are the ones I can't have. She had one bottle of Actavis (which merged with Watson) so I tried that. It was tolerable, but after knowing what the drug should do, it wasn't up to par. Not that it matters...my pharmacy can't get that one anyway. So here I am...off my meds documenting my slide back into mental illness while I wait on my appeal with the insurance company to get on some form of name-brand.

For reference I live in Connecticut and have been getting my prescriptions from Stop and Shop. I work full time and have two young children and a chronic illness... I don't have time to chase down generics from pharmacy to pharmacy every month. I have had serious problems with the insurance's mail order pharmacy in the past and don't trust them to work with me on this. Their formulary still lists the drug no longer being made. I have filled out the FDA forms on all generics I have taken. So here I sit waiting...poster child for what is wrong with this system. Honestly, on my darker days I think they are doing this on purpose hoping I will kill myself so they don't have to cover me and my chronic illness anymore.

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Edited from speech to text lol: Hi MS chick, you may have heard by now, but you can get Brand Wellbutrin through a web-based company called direct success Pharmacy. However they only distribute the xl form, so your doctor would have to write a prescription for that. It is either zero or $50 a month depending on your insurance. That's what I've been doing for the past 2 months. Just wanted to help!

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I've been taking Wellbutrin on and off for quite sometime because I often suffer from situational depression and it gets pretty bad. For some reason recently my insurance company decided they're not going to carry the name brand anymore but they will pay for generic I tried it as I have tried generics over the past years and it didn't work. I just felt more depressed than ever the only thing the generic medication has to have is the main ingredient nobody knows what other chemicals they put in the pill I guess unless you research it I have to pay out-of-pocket a lot of money every month for my Wellbutrin because my insurance won't cover it I'm in the middle of fighting them to cover it to this day because it is a previous condition and I've been taking this medicine for years namebrand only as prescribed by my doctor I feel like a brand-new person when I take it I only take it for six months at a time but it helps me get out of the hole that I have sunk into none of the generics help do that they make me feel worse. I have been going around in circles with my insurance company to cover this medication because my doctor writes medically necessary for the name brand on the prescription yet I still have to pay out-of-pocket the generic drugs are chemically altered I'm not a doctor or a pharmacist or a chemist but I know that they are because my body feels it even when I don't know I'm taking a generic I just don't feel right that happened to me with one of my medications I didn't look at the bottle to see if it was the brand name and when I get home I took it a little while later I didn't feel right and I looked at the bottle and it was generic I don't trust the generics anymore and I will never trust them not after what I went through. If you have insurance you have a legal right if you were condition is a previous existing condition to fight your insurance company there are all kinds of people who will help you legally to get The stubborn insurance to pay for the brand-name I'm currently working on it and it looks like it's going to turn out in my favor good luck I hope this helps.

I have to say that I am not a doctor I am not I am not any of the above I'm not a chemist i'm not a pharmacist I'm just a person Who has taken a generic medication and had a very bad experience several times with different ones and I saw your question and decided to share my opinion and experience

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Re: Regi (# 40)

This is the only version of the generic that does not make me grind my teeth; I take 150 mg/3xs a day. It works well for me. CVS just switched Mylan for Dr. Reddy's which has a weird grape flavor and gvies me a headache. I'm going to try to get them to keep getting the Mylan generic for me.

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Unfortunately, I have and am suffering because of it. I know the pharmacy and Dr will say it's the same but for me, a distinct difference and not a positive one.

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Whatever generic worked for someone else may not work for you and vice versa.

Learn more Wellbutrin SR details here.

The only way to find out what works for you is to actually try it and see. If one generic doesn't work for you, then you can consult your pharmacist to see what else is available.

Have you started them yet? Have you had any problems with them?

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Hi fellow effective generic Wellbutrin seekers! I have been trying (with absolutely no success) to get Brand Name Wellbutrin 200 SR filled at a pharmacy for something less than $485 for 60 pills. I even called Smith Glaxo to see if their "bridges" prescription service could help and then, at their suggestion, tried Partnership for Prescription Assistance. No go.

Potentially good news, though... knowing of my quest, my local pharmacy just filled my script with the Sandoz Pharmaceutical version of generic. It is a uniform shape, color, (pale pink) with an imprint of 1111 on it. It looks like a high quality generic.

I will keep ya'll posted about it's effectiveness but I think that the pharmacy went out if it's way to find something "real" for me to try.

Best to you all...

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Lori, I'm so sorry you've had a problem with headaches! But, I am so glad to hear that you filed a report! I really worry about the people who don't realize they are having bad reactions from the substandard generic Wellbutrin. I don't understand how the FDA can allow people who rely on this (and other medications) to take pills that can harm them, not help as they should!

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