Which Do You Prefer: Accord Or Actavis Clonazepam?

I've been taking Accord .05mg which I split in half every 2 to 3 hours, for about a month and a half after they stopped making my Sandoz Clonazepam brand. It's okay. It's starting to work somewhat, but I have a problem. Two weeks ago I am not told that Accord is getting harder to keep in stock by my Pharmacy and my insurance plan wanted to switch me to Actavis. YUCK, that stuff is garbage. I took 7 pills, couldn't stand it anymore how it made me feel. I got jumpy, my body itched, it took almost 2 hours to start working, and it never felt quite right. I said no I need to get the Accord again. My question is, is anyone else having this problem with Actavis, or is it just me? And did the Actavis taper down on the itchiness and start to work for those who are new to taking it? I'm flustered cause I never had this problem with Sandoz in the 15 years I took that med. Thank you.

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Hello Veg21,

Clearly the Actavis brand does not work well for you, have you asked your pharmacies what other generics they plan on stocking? More often than not a pharmacy tries to stock at least 2 types of brands in case a patient has an allergic reaction to one of them.

Aside from that I can tell you that this is a question that gets asked very frequently and unfortunately the answer is always mixed. Some patients swear that Actavis is the worst brand on the planet while others claim that it's the only generic that works for them. Ultimately it comes down to your personal preference and how your body reacts to not just the active ingredient but the inactive ingredients and binders. There are so many factors that could change how you react, such as how fast the drug is absorbed into the blood stream, is it a slow or fast release tablet, how does your body react to the binders/inactive ingredients etc.

Since the pharmacy is a business they can choose to stock any brands they wish to, or not at all for that matter which means you're going to have to shop around if you want to ensure you are getting the brands you want. I've seen some users have to drive hours to get the brand that works for them, but more often than not they are able to work out a situation with their doctors which allows them to stock up in order to save time.

If you truly refuse to take the Actavis brand you may want to consider searching for a new pharmacy while you still have enough of the Accord brand to last you until you find one. If the new pharmacy is a considerable distance I suggest you then check with the pharmacy and your doctor to see if you can work out a situation that least inconveniences you.

I hope this info helps. Sorry that you and so many others have such a terrible time obtaining the medication you need.

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I got terribly addicted to clonazepam after taking it for 10 years. The withdrawal was hard and dangerous. If you can wean off this class of drugs, you will be doing your mind a favor.

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If you actually need a certain brand over another, for efficacy, ask your doctor to write "medical necessity" on the script. There's a clearinghouse that makes those formulary decisions for health carriers, and you and your doctor may have to combine forces to get approval. You may also inquire about a mail order option to buy the Sandoz preparation.

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Re: Venita (# 2)

I did the same thing. I weaned off after 10 years and yes, the withdrawal was horrible. I'm back on them now but on a much much smaller dose. My dose used to be 1-2 .05 mg a day and I now only take half of that and only a 14-day Supply in 30 days. I'm on a antidepressant, Citalopram for anxiety and depression and it helps a lot but there is a breakthrough anxiety on certain days that I just can't cope with so they do help but I prefer not to have to take them because of the drowsiness and the dull feeling.

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Re: Venita (# 2)

Seeming I've tried almost every med under the sun to no avail, and this is the only one that works so I'm going to stick with it. It makes it to where I can live my life like every other normal person. It's the only med I take.

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Re: Kevin (# 1)

Last week I got my colonzepam refilled and I didn't even bother to look at the color or anything because I've only been taking colonzepam for a few months. I only take it at night to help me fall asleep. Well I normally take only 1/2 of a .5mg and I'm out within 45 min. I guess I'm a lightweight. Well I took half and an hour later was still wide awake eyes bugging, jittery not even feeling sleepy. So I took a whole one. 45 min after that I was still having a hard time going to sleep, so I googled the info on the pill and the maker was Accord. They are from China. So this week I went to CVS and had them filled making sure they weren't Accord brand. I took half a pill and withing 30 min I was out. These are made by Actavis. I will definitely make sure I get all my refills at CVS now!

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Re: Dee (# 4)

I’m sorry you’re having such a hard time with anxiety. Life can be very hard, indeed. I hope you can reach a better place in your life. I feel great compassion for you. ??

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Re: Nikki (# 6)

I have been taking Teva Brand clonazepam for about 20 years. 2 pharmacies that I use,cvs and rite aid have stopped carrying the Teva. They have replaced it with accord or activas. For me , the accord seems to be a little better,

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Re: Sam (# 8)

Rite Aid ordered the Teva for me when the blue ones made me sick. I have been on this for 26 years,

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Re: Nikki (# 6)

What color are they if they are the 1mg yellow ones I've been trying to get those since Feb or March 2018.

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Ever since Teva stopped making the .5mg Clonazepam earlier this spring I’ve been off. I tried Sandoz, Accord, Mylan and now Actavis, i don’t like any of them but there are no other options so I’m stuck with the Actavis. My anxiety with this brand goes from Zombie when I take a tiny bit more to anxiety ridden when I switch back to a normal dose. I get a few days where I’m alright but it always seems to flip flop from too much to too little. I hate this, Teva was the best. I was on it 13 years and now everything else is s***.

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Yes. Actavis was absolutely horrible for me to the point I was switched off Teva clonazepam and it was fine for the actavis and told my psych I wasn’t taking this Sh*t and threw my bottle in her garbage and said I refuse to take these and cvs had told me 1mg clonazepam is discontinuing after me taking it 9-10 years. At higher doses and then lower. I’m not at 2mg daily clonazepam amongst an adhd med and another med, but the psych now writes DO NOT FILL WITH ACTAVIS BRAND! On my script :) she’s amazing. But meanwhile I jumped the gun and got off the kpin and a he switched me to diazepam eg: Valium and it was the worst summer of my life. And that was at the dose of 21/2 10mg a day. Valium is garbage. Actavis clonazepam is garbage. I’m not the only person in my family let alone who’s noticed this change. And certain aquatances’ who are n the same med and all agree stay away from the clonazepam from actavis.

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Now, after reading all the replies to your post it got me curious so I looked at the brand that I get. The dose is 0.5 mg clonazepam and the manufacturer is Solco.
I don't believe I've seen that mentioned here. Anyone heard of it?

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Actavis is a sugar pill accord is working fine but I miss my Teva.

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Re: PurpleRayn86 (# 12)

10 mg of Valium is equivalent to .5 mg of clonazepam. How much clonazepam were you taking before you switched to Valium? What are you taking now

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Re: Kevin (# 1)

Please explain to me how anyone of you guys take this drug? My doctor has been pushing me to change from Xanax to Klonopin but will only give me 2 a day. He says it is supposed to work for 12hrs which is complete bulls***. I might get 5 hrs relief from it if I'm lucky no matter what brand. I take the Xanax 5 times a day and it works great.

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My pharmacy had 2mg Clonazepam on back order, so instead of getting 60 2mg tablets they had to give me 120 1 mg Clonazepam tablets. Sandoz make Accord's Clonazepam, I seen the bottle in my pharmacy.

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Re: Kevin (# 1)

This thing with pharmacies taking Teva clonazepam off the market shows how bad some of these new cheapo, weako generic versions of clonazepam are. Now, you have to look at how bad the name brand was, I had been taking it for bipolar illness for years. Then they put the hole in it, and it was definitely weaker. That is when I changed to Teva. I get my psych meds from CVS. My doc told me the reason Teva took clonazepam off of the market, was because they had ordered an ingredient from China which had a chance of causing cancer,

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I had the same issue i switched to diazepam 10mg 2.5x a day after Teva discontinued their clonazepam, I’m on accord now and it’s wayyy better than GARBAGE ACTAVIS. Took me 7 pills just to get sorta aggravated and tired. Accord is good very potent but you do wake up still feeling anxiety free Wich diazepam DOESNT! Have your doctor writings what brands you can take on the script mine does with no issues

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Re: PurpleRayn86 (# 19)

Hey when did you last pick up your accord refill? When Teva got disontinued accord was what the pharmacy gave me on June 10 and it sent me into complete withdrawal. Accord felt like a sugar pill to me..... but I have heard accord has recently became stronger and better, I’m wondering if I should try it again. Tnx

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Re: Dee (# 29)

Yes. I took another brand that made me sick. I don't remember which. I switched to Solco and took it for years with no problem. Pharmacy gave me Accord and after three doses I am staggering around all day. I am going to call the pharmacy tomorrow to see if I can get Solco

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Re: Joseph (# 25)

I have taken Solco for years with no problem pharmacy gave me Accord for some reason. After taking one pill at night for three days I am staggering and can't stay awake during the day. I am going to see if I can get Solco. Not all generics are the same in spite if what pharma companies tell us

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Re: JazzmanStar (# 52)

They didn’t for about 18 months and just recently went back to their own formula because so many of us complained

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Re: Jace (# 45)

I live in Arizona and I've been taken this for 25 years.
And you're right you cannot stop or quit taking it because you will get worse. But as for not being able to find Teva I was curious when I started reading this and I got up and I looked at my bottle and on my pills and there it is the word TEVA SO THEY HAVE TO STILL BE MAKING IT.

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Yeah I've talked to them too. They said they brought back the 1mg and didn't have a release date on other strengths.

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Re: Jace (# 49)

CVS has the 1mg, the .5s should be next since they are the most common. Teva never said they weren’t making them. I’ve been talking to them for months and they said the would be back to the old formulation by end of summer which is now. Don’t believe me? Call them. They’re back in many States, read any other forum on this topic and you’ll see many reports of the 1mg being back. I’m waiting for the .5 which should be soon.

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Re: Matt (# 48)

And where have u seen these?? Trav has said they are not continuing to make or in the future make clonazepam?

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Re: Sam (# 46)

TEVA is in the process of coming back, they’ve started to release their 1 mg and the other strengths soon should follow. It’s the exact same formulation as it was before they switched to Actavis.

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I've been tapering for almost two months using Solco/Qualitest. It's working, started at 1.5mg per day and now I'm down to 0.9mg

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Re: Jenn (# 40)

I took Teva for 15 years, was my favorite of all clonopins. A couple of years ago I could not find them anywhere. Finally on Accord, I find a clonopin that works well. Activas, name brand and all others did not Solco works well. I take Accord 1 mg 3 times and Solco 4 mg at bedtime

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