Mallinckrodt Cheap Hydrocodone Returns! (Page 3)

I'm sure they're more than a few of you out there that might be returning to look into basically the same problems with Mallinckrodt Pharm"s Hydrocodone/APAP 7.5/325, commonly referred to as Norco. About 4 years ago, Mallinckrodt dumped a bunch of this product on the US market. I have been taking Norco for about 12 years & have always been at about the same dose and never had any problems until I ran into this brand. I've had Actavis, Watson, & Qualtest brands with relatively no noticeable difference. Then four years ago, I filled my usual prescription and came home to find a different shaped tablet with M366 on the side. Almost immediately after my first dose, first came the stomach ache, then the headache, and eventually the feeling of withdrawal. I went to the web and found thousands of people with the exact same story. I had disagreements with both Pharmacists on-line and at local pharmacies because they insist the difference is "in my head". With one, I finally told him I would be willing to bet anything I could take doses blindfolded and within 30 minutes tell him over and over again what brand I had consumed. I understand this is not what pharmacists are taught in school, but my line of work is telecommunications and I can truly say, I have seen things in that field that text books say cannot happen. Anyway, I felt somewhat relieved when finally a recall of all Mallinckrodt's hydrocodone along with several other drugs came from the government. What I was told by one pharmacist was that Mallinckrodt had been caught light-dosing their medicines so many times, finally they suspended all sales in the US because they had been warned "multiple" times that they had quality control issues. I was just relieved I wouldn't be blindsided with their cheap medicines ever again. Asking a pharmacy, "Have you changed brands" does little good as I twice got this trash after being told they had not. Explanation given was that they fill generic drugs and I had been getting generic drugs all along? Of course, that was the reason for not allowing me to return the unused pills and getting my prescription returned to me. And so, today arrives after over 3 years of never seeing any Mallinckrodt products. I obtained my usual script and went to the pharmacy, got home and looked at these pills and couldn't believe this was happening again. But I thought, they had such problems a couple years back, surely this has been corrected. So I took 2 tablets and within ten minutes got the stomach ache and began to feel like I have a fever. Same as I did 4 years ago along with the countless people who posted their stories and the thousands more who suffered the same but never bothered to write about it. I will tell you, I am quite angry this time. I called the pharmacy and told them the story. They said the usual, all brands are the same and that they would not replace what I have, even if I was willing to pay for it again. So I called the Doctor. He was worried that, no matter the reason, legally it's like I received two prescriptions in one day and "you know what the government looks at", finally telling me to try to get by until next time. So now angry doesn't quite describe what I'm feeling as now getting into the evening of day 1 with these cheap pills, the withdrawal is setting in pretty heavy now. I'm so frustrated, I finally called Mallinckrodt's US Headquarters in St.Louis, MO. Eventually they had me speak to one of their "pharmacy staff" and I got the same tune I heard 4 years ago from every pharmacist. So, I asked a couple questions I never had before. Was your company's version of this product not recalled 4 years ago and finally suspended from the marketplace? Wasn't the reason for the suspension that your product was under-dosed? Have you received other complaints about this product from distributors or end users? To all answers, I was told Mallinckrodt had no comment. Folks, this has been going on for too long. I realize many people out there feel that anyone who takes a medication in this or any similar drug class is automatically considered to be a "junkie" and deserves all the pain and inconvenience one gets. I have seen both sides of this and I will say the people who have never had an injury, been shot or fragged fighting for your country, or had to endure a disease that eats away at your body everyday really should just stay out of the conversation. At least don't condemn the person who had every evaluation and treatment done by a medical doctor, usually many medical doctors, and has arrived at a point where you can't eat or sleep without taking something stronger than a OTC NSAID like Ibuprofen or Naproxen. We all aren't out selling it or driving around in a compromised mental condition. In any case, I know if I'm going through this as I did just 3 or 4 years ago, thousands others are suffering through the same thing and the frustrating thing is the bottom line cause of this is just plain money. The sad part is, in a couple of days I won't feel well enough to do anything. And it will get worse until my 30 days is up. Are there any politicians or members of state pharmaceutical boards reading this that wonder why illegal opiate use has more than tripled in the US in just 5 years? What I'd like to do is try to get enough people who are or have dealt with this issue to start talking and start telling this company we won't use their medications any longer. Surely the group of affected individuals includes some lawyers. Has there been enough history and enough people and enough suffering to talk about a legal suit? If anyone out there questions the validity of this argument, call your local walgreens and ask for a price for say 50 tablets of this medication. After you get your answer ask if they have a "brand" name available in the same. When the second price is almost 10 times the price of the first, ask what brand name they carry. It the same as the generic. I did this less than 6 months ago, $30 for generic, $300 for name brand. Same manufacturer. Bio-equivalent? Really? I invite you to check this out for yourself, and since almost all insurances force you to accept whatever is cheapest with any medication, it ought to upset just about everybody. If anyone is as fed up with this issue and the company.

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Re: Bill (# 11)

I think your post is over one year old but here is the challenge NOW. It depends on which insurance company you have (and in which State) whether they will cover the extra cost of the name brand medication. It doesn't matter what the Doctor writes on the script. If the medication is not on their approved list then you must get a pre-approval FIRST before the prescription is written. If it is not pre-approved first they will not cover the cost even if they pre-approve it a few days later. I KNOW this is true with Humana where I live (each State can have different guidelines).

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Re: Curious80 (# 12)

This is EXACTLY what I have posted on many occasions. The generics are NOT the same as the name brands. As patients we are fed this line of baloney constantly but it is just NOT true.

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Re: Karen (# 2)

Walgreens where my wife and I get ours has been giving us the mallinckrodt m266 I think 7.5 and it’s like taking five. I switched to a locally owned pharmacy and will get mine tomorrow. So we will see. I am done with Walgreens. They have made to many mistakes gave me tens instead of my 7.5s and called four hours later wanting them back. Said the employee put the wrong meds in the machine. Another time shorted me 20 pills. I finally got them the next day.

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I want to take a little longer tomorrow to reply to this post but I will reply briefly tonight. FIRST, this is the world we live in. Believe me there are no advocates for those of us who have chronic pain. Normally, those legal firms that specialize in class action lawsuits would be all over this problem but not in today’s political climate. I DO NOT BLAME ANY ONE POLITICAL PARTY. This is a problem that started back as far as 2010 and has gotten worse from there. I need people to understand that it is the PEOPLE in this Country that are hammering their political representatives wherever they may be because their children are stealing pain meds from their relatives, robbing pharmacies and friends, and getting addicted to pain meds and then turning to street heroin laced with cheap fentanyl and OD’ing on it. After they OD from their own choices the family blames the chronic pain patients causing the politicians of every party and stripe to attack the manufacturers of these meds. The manufacturers then try to “reformulate” their pain meds to have no addictive qualities. The problem is that when they “reformulate” these pain meds to take out the properties that make people have the “high” effect they, at the same time, make a so called prescription pain med that is no more effective than a Naproxen or Tylenol. Also, are you aware that you can get a prescription for 7.5 mg of hydrocodone and LEGALLY the pill can contain only 6.0 mg of medicine and that is considered okay? With the effective ingredient being reduced in BOTH size and quality you are now receiving pure junk when your Doctor checks off the generic box which he has to do because no normal insurance will pay for the name brand. This means that if you want the name brand YOU have to pay for it. Finally, for tonight I AM suing my insurance company to make them have to pay for the name brand. This is still working it’s way through the Court system. This is all I can post for tonight. I am paying all of my legal expenses out of my own pocket to try and get this approved because it will set a precedent and will give some relief to all people similarly situated. I will post more about this later.

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Who do I contact about this? I can take 2 Tylenol and get more results than the 7.5s I have taken for years. It's the one's Mfc. by Mallinck. I get no pain relief. I thought it was in my head. I only get 2 a day because of the new laws and was just barely making it on them. Now that the generic has been changed I am in constant pain.

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Same thing here.

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I complained to the FDA about their adderall last year or the year before. I am super sensitive to meds & I have to take 15 mg of their adderall to get 5 mg of relief. I stopped going to rite aid as they seem to buy the worst of all generics.

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