Sandoz Ativan (Top voted first)

I switched pharmacies and was given Sandoz Ativan, I have been having a terrible time- it is like it is creating more anxiety. I switched back to my old pharmacy and am counting the days until I get back to the Milan manufacturer. It has been a horrid 2 weeks. Melatonin helps a great deal with sleep. I started off with Milan and had been on that for 2 years with no problems, I wonder if your body resists another generic brand and you have to adjust. All I know if Milan is what I need and I always get the same manufacturers for all my meds since 12 years ago from CVS- they are very consistent. Be very careful if you switch pharmacies, I learned that all generics are NOT THE SAME.

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REPORT

Please allow me to explain something about generic medications, it may help you to better understand what's going on.

When a medication becomes available for generic manufacture, the criteria for it is slightly different, it is allowed to differ in the amount of the active ingredient by as much as plus or minus 20%. The FDA considers this an acceptable therapeutic window and, for most people the fluctuation isn't significant enough to make a difference and most manufacturers are very careful and keep the fluctuation to a far lower percentage.

However, some problems may arise with some, because they are not required to measure against each other, only against the original name brand.

And what that means is that you have been taking one that worked great for you and it might have had a slightly higher dose due to this allowable difference, but when you got the medication manufactured by a different company, it may be slightly low in the active ingredient and, if you happen to be one of the people that are sensitive to such changes, then you can experience problems.

Learn more Ativan details here.

So no, Frenchhorn, it doesn't mean that all of the generics on the market are crap and that you'll have a problem with all of them, but what it does mean is that you need to proceed with caution and, if you can, yes you should go back to getting the ones that worked better for you.

Are there any other questions?

If you don't understand what I'm explaining, please feel free to say so and I'll try to be more clear. I don't want to confuse anyone.

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I just spoke with Actavis (Watson) re: Lorazepam. They told me that they did hand off Lorazepam to Actavis, but they also kept their own formula and will still make their own Watson Lorazepam and will continue to make it. It is on backorder right now and should be shipped to the distributors in the next couple weeks. So if you have been happy with Watson as I have been, it should be available soon. It is a matter of leaning on your pharmacy to get it.

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haven't found a soul on either this site or any other site that says this stuff sandoz is putting out works, its just a watered down version of what it use to be, i can only tell you it kept me up all night on most days, does nothing for anxiety, an aspirin would work better

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I have been taking Lorazepam 1 mg by Watson with code 241 on it. My insurance forced me to switch to Walgreens. They have only what I believe is Sandoz.brand .with a crescent moon shape and code 59 on it. It is terrible. I couldn't find the exact match online.. It had a negative effect immediately...felt very jittery. Woke up with my mouth so dry it felt like cotton and I am producing much less urine. Please everyone send a complaint to the FDA. The form for contacting them is quite involved, but there is an address for mailing a letter or just emailing them something. They will have to be flooded with complaints for us to get any action.

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I have just the opposite problem, I have been on Sandoz for about two years and now switched to Watson. I am really feeling bad on these and also have to wait and see if I can return to Sandoz,if I can find a pharmacy that carries it

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I was taking the qualitest generic brand of lorazepam and now I am taking the Sandoz lorazepam.

I find the Sandoz to be more efficacious and strong and prefer it much more over any other generic Lorazepam I have taken.

Of course, this simply represents my opinion.

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Just found this out: Purepac/Activis was bought out by Watson in 2012. In October the FTC made Watson/Purepac/Activis sell off certain drugs to other companies because, essentially, they were getting too big. Sandoz and Par took over 18 drugs from Watson/Purepac/Activis. Sandoz got Lorazepam! My husband and I have been getting Purepac from Walgreens. As soon as the logo switched to the "D" or "half moon" as some people are calling it, it ceased to work for either of us. My husband just picked up a new RX for Lorazepam yesterday, and it is now marked "SANDOZ" with the same exact logo of the 57 on one side, "D" on the other!

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The 'D' or 1/2 moon embossed on the pill is actually the Actavis logo. Makes sense because they probably had to give the remaining supply to Sandoz, which were already embossed with the logo. Right now I have Watson (marked 'watson' 240/0.5) which have the unwanted adverse affect of keeping me awake and edgy! I hate them. Purepac worked for me as well. Too bad I can't seem to get them anymore.

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So perkins, are you saying that the new sandoz d 57 from walgreens are working for you and your husband??? Because I'm trying to find a brand that works well for me...

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frenchhorn
welcome to the club, please take the time to file a complaint with the FDA, you can do this online, haven't found a single person who can say that this sandoz, formally activus lorazepam works, after taking this for over 15 years, this product by sandoz doesn't work, what sandoz won't tell you is what they changed in making this stuff, activus is actually still making the product foe sandoz but either both decided to cange one of the ingrediants or activus did it on their own, either way its like taking a sugar pill

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I have been on the Sandoz 1 mg lorazepam ( crescent shaped logo on pill with 59 imprint ) and it has worked fine. My pharmacy just switched to another generic lorazepam made my Excellium or Major Pharm.) I don't like it, doesn't soothe the anxiety. The pill is twice the size but feels like half the strength so there are lots of fillers in it. Most likely the switch was to save money..duh. This new pill is imprinted EP 905. I talked with Sandoz, they said no changes to active and unactive ingrediants have been made. They also said the imprinting on the pill will change in a month or two. I called my pharm., they are switching me back to the Sandoz brand. It pays to ask a lot of questions and don't hesitate to ask your Dr. and or pharmacist. You are paying and you are the one being taken care of so get what you need. I'm very sensitive to meds also and have panic attacks so am surprised at how many here don't like Sandoz. It's probably one of the better generics.

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BTW, the new Sandoz lorazepam that will be coming out soon will be imprinted SZ\198. Have a strong hunch that they have tweaked the formula back to their original. They've had too many run ins with the FDA to make an inferior drug at this point. Hope you all find peace.

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The FDA makes thousands of inspections yearly. A generic drug must have the same amount of the key ingredient, the delivery of the drug is also closely monitored as well as how long it stays in the body. In that respect generic drugs in the benzo categories are pretty much equal. It would make no sense for a company to make an inferior drug especially when they are competing with so many other companies. They want their drug to work because they want to make money. There are about 10 companies making generic lorazepam. They all supply a drug that is up to standard. You can research them, then make a choice. Take the lowest dose possible and don't increase it.

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Greetings Mr Joe,
Unfortunately things are far more complicated than wat they seem to be. As a pharmacist, I get all kind of stories at my work place. People that prefer the brands over generics, people that don´t mind at all because they don´t feel a difference, and guess what people that PREFER generic over brand because they felt better with the generics. And I deal with an average of 330 customers 6 days a week. After 10 years of work, those are alot of customers :)
But unfortunately the "generic over brand" issue cannot be settle over my, yours or the testimonies of 2, 20 or even 200 people we might know because millions are taking both right now and 200 people don´t even account for 0,5% .
It´s like going to Beverly Hills and ask the folks there who they are going to vote for and then assume that all of the US will vote the same way.
Going to the "80% issue" Remember that FDA accepts somewhere between "80-120" which in theory means that generic can be either stronger or weaker. But there is a reason why it´s 80-120% or do we think the nunbers just popped in someone´s head? BTW, those are the same numbers accepted here in Europe, and Japan. By default they are also accepted world wide because US/Europe/Japan set the pharmaceutical standard all over the world.
The reason why it´s 80-120 is that you CANNOT feel any medical difference between taking a dosage anywhere from 80 to 120%
Just let me know if I´m getting too boring :D

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Hello Mary,
Sorry but I am absolutely right. My whole life I have worked with pharmaceuticals. Going from drug discovery, to quality control and now to dispensing. I´ve been around in prettymuch all stages of drug devellopement and dispensing. So unless you have undeniable proof that generic drug have lower quality....
I am not biased because I am a pharmacist. On the contrary actually because I dispense both generic and brand. To me and to any pharmacist it doesn´t matter if a patient takes generic or brand because we get payed the same (If a pharmacists salary depends on whether he gives out generic over brands then I take it back :)) )

I sometimes have to use medication and I take the generic. I got no problems with it. On the other hand, like I said, I dela with hundreds of costumers a day and most of them dont have a problem. So if I have to value ones opinion that "they are low quality" then I also have to value other people´s opinion that "they are as good as".

Speaking of your particular situation Mary, there are a number of reasons why you experience that problem and none is related to the quality of your medication. I believe that, just like you say, the "glue" could be a problem for you. Maybe you are intolerant/allergic to one of those components, or maybe they are chemically incompatible with some other medication that you take. Sometimes it can be a food too what causes the incompatibility.
I don´t know how my colleagues work over there but over here we advise to try others and if things work out, then fine, if not well go back to the brand.

I hope with all this talk it helped in some way :)

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Tried the Watson one today..... Very disappointed ... Was like taking an empty pill ... No help at all. I'll go back to pharmacy and see what they can do. Fortunately I have some of the sandoz left.

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Thank you - I understand exactly what you are saying. My psychiatrist says that I am very sensitive to medication, so I will wait it out - it has been about 18 days so I guess I have about 10 more days to go then I can get my Mylan refill ativan from CVS. BtW, I take Lamictal generic and Walgreens gave me TEVA and that really messed me up for a week until I figured out what was going on. There are numerous complaints about that brand and I issued a complaint with the FDA- it is a BAD BATCH. I can't believe it is not recalled. CVS actually helped me get their Lamictal and refund the TEVA from my insurance. Walgreens said there was nothing they could do. My dr wants me to have a lawyer draft a letter to Walgreens. All in all, it will be okay. Thanks for the response !

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the half moon goes back almost a year, i have kept a couple of tablets from each order i have received, i have the half moon going back at least one year and before that it was a R or a ribbon logo.by the way, those of us who swore by purpac and have now found out that the sandoz is pure garbage, have gone on to other lorazapams, could some of the writer or new writer share what they are using, this would help many of us who need to find something to take the place of the purepac lorazapam
thanks in advance

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some very good comments but it should be pointed out that these bad reactions need to be reported to the FDA (888 463 6332),if they don't get complaints, they don't investigate, whats truely amazing is how many problems exist with this product once one has to change brands, don't know of another product that has this kind of issue

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one last item that may give you an idea as to why the garbage that sandoz is putting out doesn't work, 5 months ago, there was no sandoz lorazapm here in hawaii, but now that they have bought the item from activus, they control 80% of the oahu market, this is no accident, once they bought the lorazepam from activus, they used the cheapest material to put this product on the market, common sense would tell that if activus couldn't sell to the distributors at the prices that sandoz is selling the same product, them cheaper material are being used, this was well planned when sandoz bought out activus, but as usual, profit came first for sandoz, will never buy any product they sell ever, they're nothing more than a money grabing company whose has no concern for their consumers

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