Coumadin vs. warfarin

[Karlynn]

I found the bottle of the 3's that made me go high - they are Barr warfarin.

If generic makes someone's INR change - I would think it would be a matter of adjusting the dose to accommodate and making sure you stayed on that particular brand. However, you never know when a pharmacy is going to change their brands of generic.

I didn't take the 3's long enough to know if I would have been stable on them.

 

[catwoman]

Rich:

I'd be questioning Medco about the tablets you got. I used Medco for 2+ years and got warfarin. Never got any "odd" tablets, and they were always able to halve.

Get an Rx from your doctor for 30 tablets of generic and take it to a Wal-Mart and get it filled at $4. Then see how these tablets do for you. If your INR is still off, it may be true that your body doesn't respond to generic as well as it does to the higher-priced name brand.

I get my warfarin from Wal-Mart now. It's $12/90 tablets. It's about 1/2 of my co-pay through Aetna...

A friend had issues with Medco when they sent her 2 Rxes of Zoloft (1 brand-name, 1 generic) instead of 1 Zoloft and 1 for her thyroid Rx. She didn't notice the difference for 3 months, but wondered why she was so happy and why she was gaining weight. When she got the refills, she immediately saw the discrepancy.
She's ditched Medco and is using Wal-Mart or Albertson's, both of which can fill the generics at $4/month. And she's saving $$ over using Medco.

 

[dick0236]

After 38 years on Coumadin I changed to generic Warfarin 2-1/2 years ago with no effect on INR. When I made the switch, my cardiologist told me that some individuals did have some trouble with the generic. Before switching I spoke with the FDA, the current owner of coumadin, Bristol, Myers, Squibb (?) and a generic manufacturer, Barr Labs. All told me that the brand vs generic are identical in "active" ingredients although there may be some difference in "inactive" ingredients.

When I was younger and more active I had little trouble staying around 3.0. When I retired, became less active and docs began adding meds for hi-blood pressure, colesterol, etc. I began to have more difficulty staying between 2.5-3.5 on either brand or generic. It is my opinion that lifestyle and age factors have a lot more to do with with changing INR than the drug.

The protocol for the drug is to have frequent testing since INR can swing for seemingly no apparent reason. As was posted earlier, I would give the generic a little more time before dismissing it as less effective than Coumadin.

Under my Part D medicare my cost of 5mg Coumadin would be $30/mo or $360/yr. I go to Walmart and get it for $4/mo or $48/yr without using insurance. Incidently, I switched to TARO about six months ago and have noticed my INR is now a little more stable than under either Coumadin or Warfarin(Barr Lab). Go figure

 

[Isis]

Warren,
I never really thought about it. Our hospital is only ten minutes away and like I mentioned they have a special lab just for people like us.
They opened it some years ago because the main lab is really crowded all day, every day.
Rich

Rich,
Maybe your not interested in home testing, but it is such a convience. Only a small prick on the finger tip. Whole process takes less than 5 minutes and you have an instant result.