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Is it possible to get bad meds?

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Posted 5/8/2013 5:24 PM (GMT 0)
For those that followed my "sleeping " thread you know what this moth almost had been like. I've really felt just awful and sleeping all the time almost like I was being drugged or poisoned. It started the week I moved back to beach side apt. I've thought the apt was making me sick,mold,anemia, potassium, anything I.could think of that started about a month ago.

I filled my methadone yesterday and took my dose out of new bottle and it was instant change. After about 3-4 hours I was up walking on beach,cooked a Big dinner and went nuts cleaning. Slept 5 hrs last night and still going strong, just like normal.

Is it possible last months meds were old or bad or something had changed in them? Could they have made me sick? After thinking about it all my mysterious symptoms seem likely withdrawal related. I just felt sick all month.

The minute I got the new methadone in my system it was like instant relief.

This ever happen to anyone?
Posted 5/9/2013 12:45 AM (GMT 0)
It's not unknown. Check the bottles for the manufacturer. Are they the same? Insist on getting your supply from the same company. Get it written into your record.

Different generic makers use different fillers - "non-active" ingredients. There was an article in WSJ a couple of years ago or so about lots of foreign generics being made with varying ingredient quality from another country.

I have to watch what I'm going to be given in surgery to make sure the brands of meds, especially propofol, they're going to use doesn't include sulfites. I had a problem with one brand of a heart med years ago too. My pharmacist had the same problem with the same med. The store quit ordering that brand after our complaints.

I used to be able to take barium sulfate for gastric tests just fine. Now all the supplies locally come from Canada and contain artificial sweeteners and flavoring. I have to take Benadryl before getting tests now and insist on not taking the whole dose of the barium.
Posted 5/9/2013 12:52 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Vickie,

I think it is entirely possible that something was amiss with your meds. I had issues with my Xanax xr several times. Depending n the brand of generic, some have virtually no effect and a certain one works perfectly.

I'm glad to know you are feeling better.
Posted 5/9/2013 1:21 AM (GMT 0)
I agree with the others here, as some generics are made differently even though they have the same active ingredient. I have tried about 4 different generics for the fentanyl patches, and only 2 of the 4 generics worked for me. Two of the others, which were fairly new generics on the market when I got them, were much thicker matrix patches compared to the Mylan matrix patches and I went into withdrawal with the non-Mylan matrix patches. Somewhere I read from 100% of people who used and tried the same generic brands also did not work for them at all. Something about the fentanyl being "stuck" in between the plastic and the adhesive which did not allow the active ingredient be absorbed correctly when worn.

I have since requested the Mylan brand patches from the University hospital pharmacy and they keep them on hand at all times now, and only the Mylan and the brand name are the ones they stock.
Posted 5/9/2013 2:03 AM (GMT 0)
On my Ambien, since they became generic, some variations seem to work better than others, so I would think what you are suggesting are possible. I don't worry too much about drugs being out of date when sold to me by a national drug store chain, but I do question the consistency of some of the generics out there.

david
Posted 5/9/2013 4:41 AM (GMT 0)
Is it possible something was amiss with your last fill? Yes it is possible and there are a lot of things that could have happened from it being a bad batch, to it being from a different company and their inactive ing messed with the absorption of the medicine into your system, and perhaps the worst thing of all your medications being switched by someone working at the pharmacy you had them filled at.
Posted 5/9/2013 6:05 AM (GMT 0)
Oh wow! It's unreal but yet from almost the moment I got the new script all my strange symptoms went away.

I never even really looked at the pills. Methadone is only made by 2 companies and I've only seen one in 5 yrs of filling them here in Florida.

They are pretty generic looking although they have numbers on them. They are just a little white round pill and I'm talking little. The 5mgs are like tiny and the 10 a tad bit bigger.

I do recall a time or two they crumbled before I could swallow and that's unusual. I would never have thought about them being switched or anything.

I thought actually maybe they had gotten damp or something.

All I know is I was sick all month. Sick enough I thought something was seriously wrong.

I will from now on check everyone of them. They came from Walgreens but 2 different ones. Certainly hope it wasn't a different Med and that it would show up in my testing at the Dr this month.

Scary stuff.
Thanks all. Knew I could count on you Guy's for answers
Posted 5/9/2013 10:07 AM (GMT 0)
Vickie when you go into the doctor mention what was going on last month and that you suspect that something may have been wrong with the medication now since this month everything seems to be back to normal.

Getting your meds switched is only one possibility and it is not common, but it has happened to people before. More likely you were the victim of a mishandled batch of drugs. They may, at some point between the factory and you, may have been stored wrong such as in too hot of an environment which can alter the pill.

Might not hurt to talk to the pharmacist where you had last month filled at when you get a chance and let him/her know about last months script. You don't need to tell him of your suspicions just that they were not effective and how you felt ill all month and about how some of the pills were very brittle.

If it happens again I would see about getting the medication exchanged and be sure to keep a pill back to show your doctor or in case it is needed as evidence by the police if indeed it is determined to be counterfeit in some way.
Posted 5/10/2013 2:07 AM (GMT 0)
It doesn't matter what store you get them from. All pharmacists look for the least expensive generic brand when buying supplies. You have to find the manufacturer's name on the label.

Mention the problem to the pharmacist too. He or she probably has a record of everything about your purchase in the computer too.

Keep the label you have and make sure you tell the pharmacist you want the same manufacturer next time you refill.
Posted 5/10/2013 2:22 AM (GMT 0)
Yes it's possible to get bad medications, CVS got into trouble with giving out expired medications, some medications are good for a certain time frame after the expiration date and pharmacies are not supposed to give out expired medications but what we the customers do not know is incredible, the dollar store have items they sell with expired dates and some things it's okay for but others you don't even want to try so maybe ask for the brand bottle for your medications...

Alcie, every bottle has a label but not an expiration date...to get an expiration date you need the original container the medication came in to the pharmacy with. I had to ask the pharmacy manager once to do not take my inhalers out of the original containers they came into the pharmacy with as the fewer times that my medications get touched is better for me as I get sick easy...amazing what we don't know if you don't ask....
Posted 5/10/2013 8:38 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks Char,something was off. At home prior to moving to Florida my Walgreens always gave me the stock bottle. They never have here. I'm going to ask next month and it's actually even smaller and easier to store.

I guess they automatically use a 120 count bottle and methadone is really small so the bottles like 1/3 full. I'm positive here in Florida especially that controlling heat and humidity is important.
Posted 5/10/2013 3:14 PM (GMT 0)
So true about expiration, Chart. That's just another thing we should check - before we leave the pharmacy. The manufacturer's name should be on the label, but if it isn't we should ask.
Posted 5/11/2013 1:44 AM (GMT 0)

I agree, I would mention it to the pharmacist and your doctor. I would also tell the pharmacist that you want your meds from the same drug company as the ones you have now that are working.

I'm guessing too, that you don't store you meds in the bathroom with all the humidity (some ppl don't think about that), but also, being in Fla, you might want to have dessicant in the area where you store your meds to help keep the moisture out - as I do with my gun and ammo here in Fla wink

Glad that you are feeling much better and hope you don't ever get another bad batch of meds.

I had been on a brand name thyroid med for a while (which was actually cheaper than the generic ?!). Then the company started having some sort of issue with the DEA and CVS couldn't get the brand name so I went to synthroid.

When I called the drug company on my CVS label to see where the ingredients came from, the drug mfgr. rep told me that that info was proprietary !!! WTH ??!! ( I really don't want to injest things from China so I like to check out the manufacturers of drugs, foods etc that don't list the info I want) Geez, I'll just assume that  the ingredients come from China.

I've heard that generic meds can vary batch to batch, which is not a good thing.

Posted 5/11/2013 2:00 AM (GMT 0)
That is so weird and I think anything is possible with the manufacturers and drug companies the pharmacist. People make errors all the time. It may have been the wrong dosage. That has happened to me before. The pharmacy filled my adderall script with the generic pills they always give me (they looked the same is what I mean). Well it turned out the manufacturer of the generic adderall made a mistake. The 20mg pills were actually 30mg tabs. 30 mg tabs would have been a different color, so the mistake was made during the making process.. It wasn't like they accidently put the 30mg tabs in the wrong bottle. The pill looked exactly like the 20mg's but was a different mg completely.

I have faith everytime I take my meds that they are the right drug @ the right mg, because look at all the recalls that happen ALLL the time. It's not very encouraging to then experience a situation where you actually had a medication discrepency happen to you first hand.

As soon as you noticed the different effects, I would have brought them back to the pharmacy. I would have also looked on the FDA page for any methadone recalls. :) that's just me though.

I'm glad this script is all good for you. smilewinkgrin



nvrthesame98 said...
For those that followed my "sleeping " thread you know what this moth almost had been like. I've really felt just awful and sleeping all the time almost like I was being drugged or poisoned. It started the week I moved back to beach side apt. I've thought the apt was making me sick,mold,anemia, potassium, anything I.could think of that started about a month ago.

I filled my methadone yesterday and took my dose out of new bottle and it was instant change. After about 3-4 hours I was up walking on beach,cooked a Big dinner and went nuts cleaning. Slept 5 hrs last night and still going strong, just like normal.

Is it possible last months meds were old or bad or something had changed in them? Could they have made me sick? After thinking about it all my mysterious symptoms seem likely withdrawal related. I just felt sick all month.

The minute I got the new methadone in my system it was like instant relief.

This ever happen to anyone?

Posted 5/11/2013 6:32 AM (GMT 0)
  I am so glad to new script has made a difference and you are feeling better. It sounds like you might be onto something. It does appear something was wrong with your last med refill. Do you have any left in the bottle? I would take it to the pharmacy and tell them how you felt. It may have been a mistake on their end that wasn't  caught. Maybe call your dr next week and ask what they think happened or what you should do.... Just a thought.
Posted 5/11/2013 7:13 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for all the replies. It was a really strange and scary thing. I actually thought something was seriously wrong with me.

I wish I had figured it out why I still had some but like a good contract abiding CPer I don't fill my meds early and I took the last 2 the day before and then started the new ones. When I did that's when I noticed the difference. I also rinse the bottle before trashing it because I have an 8 year old granddaughter who one time was drinking kool-aid out of an empty pill bottle she had found and I almost hard a heart attack! !

With methadone the little amount of residue left could be lethal to a child. Thank God it turned out to be a old bottle an anti-nausea Med had came in that are in blister pckgs so there was no harm. After the long talk with her not to do that I still play on the side of caution.

I will definitely pay more attention to expiration dates and batch and lot numbers.

I've learned since moving to FL to think about how heat and humidity effects everything. After the 1st year of
having to throw away towels.,clothes, ruined pictures in glass frames and various things.
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