witchywoman Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 I was taking my Trazodone tonight and just happened to notice the word "barr" on the tablet. So I figured the manufacturer was barr. When I looked on the bottle, though, it showed a different manufacturer, Apotex I think. I tried to look up what the company barr tablets look like and couldn't find anything. Im worried I've been taking a totally different drug. I have been having anxiety issues. My pdoc kept asking if my meds were all the same, making sure nothing was changed. What if I've been taking something other than Trazodone? My pharmacy did this to me one other time, but I caught it before I took it. They never admitted to it being the wrong drug, just kept apologizing that I had to make a special trip in to get it. I did notice that both barr and apotex(?) make Trazodone so I guess they could've just printed the wrong manufacturer on the bottle, but I don't know. Is this something I should bring to the pharmacists attention? Does anyone have a picture of what barr's trazodone tablet looks like so I can compare? It looks like trazodone, it's just the manufacturers dont match up. Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble. I just wanted to know your thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeInVa Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 I've had horror stories when being on generic meds,at least with my Dilantin used to treat seizures.I'd been taking the name brand since 93 but in 07 had my script filled with a year's supply of generic & it negatively effected my mood big time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meg Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 hey ww, this is certainly something to bring to your pharmacy's attention-- they should know about any mistakes because with other medications for other people, mistakes can be immediately life-threatening and needless to say, they don't want that. here are a few pill-checkers that were tagged on the top of the cocktail board here, I believe you can search by manufacturer/med or by what it looks like: http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/PillImages/PillImagesSearch/ http://www.drugs.com/pill_identification.html hope that helps a bit, call your pharmacy but don't assume the worst, it's very possible they just switched generics (but IMO they should tell you that when you pick it up- my pharmacy always does so I know that it will look different and not to worry) and I hope you feel better soon, m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meg Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 cvs has been my favorite pharm. for many reasons, but they also print a description of what the pill should look like for that certain manufacturer and dosage right on the side of the bottle. it's part of the label now I think it's a great idea. to be fair, I think more pharmacies are doing this, my 'osco' pharmacy (within a shaw's grocery store) now has descriptions too, but I also lucked out that the pharmacist is a neighbor, lol (it *is* Vermont after all) and is sometimes too helpful/detailed. oh and ww- one last thing, the 2nd link I gave you 'pill identifier'/pill id wizard is better than the first link. the search is super detailed and easy to use. drugs.com is overall a very useful site. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witchywoman Posted January 29, 2009 Author Share Posted January 29, 2009 OMG, thank you guys so much. Meg, that pill identifier is awesome. It is trazodone Im taking, just a different manufacturer than what they put on the bottle. I feel so much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeInVa Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 when my pharmacy was bought by walgreens they would regularly switch generics, not put it on the bottle, and then not update the generic switch in the computer so the manufacturer on the bottle was different than the one than the actual pills. it's one reason i switched pharmacies. what scares me, like meg said, is that giving someone the wrong drug can be fatal so you'd think they'd keep up with that sort of thing. at the very least, it causes a lot of undue fear and stress on us patients. Aren't Walgreens & Wal mart owned by the same company? I get my meds(both Dilantin & Paxil) scripts filled at my local Wal mart & they're the ones who messed up with the generic Dilantin so that really troubles me a great deal now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meg Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 OMG, thank you guys so much. Meg, that pill identifier is awesome. It is trazodone Im taking, just a different manufacturer than what they put on the bottle. I feel so much better. Glad to help-- it's pretty unsettling to not know what you've been taking (eep.) so I'm glad that you were able to figure it out. If you ever want to get to that site again and don't remember the url then it's 'pinned' in a permanent thread at the top of the med cocktail board by a lovely CB mod. I'd still mention it to your pharmacy-- if they're gonna be jerks about it, you can always call the overhead company and make an anonymous complaint which should filter down to them (unless this is a tiny local place). They should take that seriously imo and not wait for someone to make a biggerbadder mistake in order to pay attention to what they're doing. I trust my pharmacist very much so don't worry too much if something looks different (they usually tell me anyway) but when I was at Rite Aid I'd always Pill-ID and count any new meds because they were so unorganized it was scary. If you're able to, I'd think about switching pharmacies to be honest, especially if they've made mistakes then handled them badly before. A pharmacy/ist that you trust is a huge load off in my opinion (which you didn't ask for, lol). hope you feel better soon, m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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