Have you had anxiety worsen when on different adrenaline brands?

Treatment and medication
1

My non verbal autistic son has severe anxiety and ocd, and has been on sertraline nearly 6 years.

He was started on 25mg of the original brand Lustral (zoloft) by pfizer, the effect was life changing, OCD and anxiety no longer ruled every hour of the day, he could finally enjoy and participate in life. Over time he was given some different generic brands and also went through some rough patches so the sertraline was increased to 100mg .

One time literally over night his anxiety dramatically increased, over the next few days he became agressive, self harmed, off his food, barely slept, and totally withdrawn, we racked our brains trying to think what could have caused the sudden change, then I realised it coincided to the day I started a new box of sertraline called Aurobindo (manufactured in India) luckily I had some of the other brand and gave him this the next day, the change was dramatic, by the afternoon he was back to himself.

His psychiatrist agreed to put Lustral on his prescription for consistency and he has been stable and happy since. Which begs the question, did his medication always need increasing or was it the change in brands causing an increase in anxiety.

I unquestioningly trusted professionals in the UK who reasured me that generic brands were EXACTLY the same as original brands, that the only difference was the price. This is an outright lie, or they genuinely believe it. After researching the internet I found many others having the same problems, the active ingredient is supposed to be the same, the so called inactive ingredients are not the same, but are just as important as they control the rate of absorption.

I think everyone should be prescribed the original brand of medication when first starting, and to keep a week in hand so that if they start experiencing an increase in anxiety on a different brand, they could stop taking it and take the original brand they kept back so they then know if it's them or the different brand causing the problem, so medication isn't increased unnecessarily.

Problems occur when medications are imported, they are not inspected closely or regularly enough, there seems to be greater scrutiny, health and safety of food premises.

We are talking about medication that effects the chemistry of the brain, there needs to be larger financial investment for investigation into manufacturers by governments around the world.

2

Thank you so much for the info. I totally agree with you. It is high time that we not settle for what or where our meds come from. I use to use amoxicillin for certain infections but was given a brand that was not the original manufacturer and I broke out in hives. I never had hives before and the only difference was the antibiotics. So there you go. If we had a census of people who had a reaction to meds produced from other countries this forum would crash. Wake up and smell the coffee.

3

Hi Paula,

I have done some research on this too. I have always taken the Aurobindo brand and once I went to the pharmacy and they had a different brand but reassured me it wouldn’t matter. Within a day I had all the side effects come up again. I went back to the Aurobindo brand and they disappeared. 

I spoke to somebody else on here who said they had the same experience but rode out the side effects and after a week it settled down.

I’m not sure exactly why this happens but I agree that doctors need to be more informed. When you have a mental health problem something like this can be very detrimental, especially to your son. Hoping things are all good for him now x

4

Just to say, title should have read - have you had anxiety worsen when on different ‘sertraline’ brands.

Don’t you just love spell correction!

5

I’m glad you brought this up as I’ve been arguing with the chemist for years about the difference in brands . I’m back on mirtazapine and the difference in brands are so noticeable to me yet my chemist is not having none of it 

6

Hi Paula,

I was given the Aurobindo and I will never forget the bad night I had when I first started.

Then I did my research and went back to the GP who agreed to give me Lustral but I pay £26 for each box.

Needless to say that I am on week 5 of 59mg with no side effects what's so ever. So I will stick with the Lustral but I have to pay.....

7

Hi Paula, I can no longer get the activis brand of sertraline as they have merged with accord, I take 150mg. I've been taking the accord brand about a week and the ringing in my ears is awful, I feel like i have a constant " hangover", heady with nausea, tired and have aching muscles. There's no point talking to doc as they INSIST there's no difference between brands???...I am just hoping this to will pass???

8

Hi Sue,

Really sorry to hear you're going through such a bad experience. I'm just a mum and no 'expert', but if I was you I would give it just another week, if you still feel this bad then go back to your doctor or preferably see a more understanding doctor and insist on the original brand Lustral. My son's psychiatrist took a lot of persuasion I went armed with video evidence of my son's anxiety and printed out lots of evidence from the internet like other people 's experiences with different brands on forums.

If they still refuse, then when you get your prescription and take it to a pharmacy they will normally try to find a specific generic brand for you, one generic brand that my son tolerated was a brand called 'Fannin (UK) Ltd' this is manufactured in Britain.

Hope things improve soon, so many people have problems with different brands they can't all be wrong! Good luck:-)