r/ADHD • u/SnooRobots7776 ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) • 1d ago

Medication Generics of Medication

Okay, I kinda feel like I am going crazy. I finally began treatment for my ADHD at the beginning of this year, and since then I have tried different types of medication, but I'm curious how many people notice a difference across the different generic types.

My psychiatrist bumped me up to 20mg of generic Adderall XR, and I was given those adorably pink pills, the AMG 280. Now, I struggle with jaw clenching, and was told that it was pretty inevitable with stimulants that the increase of that might be a side effect. So, the pink ones did make it a bit worse, but as long as I took it with a protein shake in the morning it wasn't too bad. Now, I'm not sure if the whole pharmacy switched or just switched for me, but my last refill was these orange ones instead of the pink, with a big M on them. That's fine, I am more than willing to try others to find out if they work better; however, I feel like these orange ones are not as effective? I'm wondering what have your experiences been like on generics and is it far fetched at all that I feel like I'm not as motivated as I was on the other ones? I have tried researching and usually I just get 'drug fact' websites rather than the experiences that people have faced.

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u/sureshot1988 1d ago

There is a significant difference between them for me.

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u/SnooRobots7776 ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) 1d ago

Okay, yeah. It feels like I got booted down to 15 or even 10mg rather than the 20mg I've been doing well on.. I just dread the idea that I might be imagining it or something.

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u/sureshot1988 1d ago

There is a significant difference between them for me.

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u/Smooth_Ad_5448 1d ago

ask your pharmacy if they’re actually a different medication, or if they had just ran out of pink compounding. majority of the time it’s the exact same medication, someone somewhere just ran out.

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u/SnooRobots7776 ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) 1d ago

Would the pharmacy be allowed to do this? I looked them up and they are supposedly from two different brands, so I can't imagine the brands would be happy if they were using the wrong medication with their branding on it?

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u/Smooth_Ad_5448 21h ago

what do you mean the wrong medication with their branding on it? it woukd be illegal if they weren’t giving u a generic adderall xr, but since they’re still giving you the same medication it’s entirely legal. people change their compounding powder frequently, majority of the time it doesnt have much affect. some people have reported they feel different when the person providing the medication has changed, theres research to back it for some medications. it just depends whether they ran out of compounding, or ran out of the medication, and got a new supplier. i wouldnt worry about it as majority of the time it has little to no effect. medications change color, size, shape, etc frequently.

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u/SnooRobots7776 ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) 20h ago

I was already on a generic Adderall XR, a pink one from 'UPM Pharmaceuticals', but when I got my latest refill they gave me a different brand of the generic, an orange one from 'SpecGx LLC' which is a branch of 'Mallinckrodt' which makes sense for the big 'M' on it.

So that's what I meant by wrong medication. It would not make sense for the pharmacy to pack someone else's compound into another brand's pills, so I highly doubt it's the same medication.. just because they are both generic Adderall XR doesn't mean they are the same compound, I was reading about people experiencing different rates of effectiveness depending on the different brands.

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u/Smooth_Ad_5448 20h ago

i woukd continue to take the medication, and only make changes if you notice changes. i have been on n off meds for 10 years at least, i have yet to experience side effects of change in effectiveness due to generic changes. the medication is what’s important, and that part didn’t change.

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u/SnooRobots7776 ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) 20h ago

Well I'm certainly not going to stop taking it lol but I think I'm going to call the pharmacy and ask if there was a reason behind the switch and if I could request the other brand. I'm not having any side effects, it just doesn't feel as effective as the other one did. I'm a full-time college student in my last semester of my BA, so I need to be taking something that works as much as it can!

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u/Smooth_Ad_5448 14h ago

yeah since you’re noticing less efficacy, especially if nothing in your diet or sleep etc has changed i’d let them know you’re experiencing these changes. if they can’t get you the old one you coukd contact other local pharmacies and see if they’re using the old supplier.

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u/SnooRobots7776 ADHD-PI (Primarily Inattentive) 13h ago

Yeah definitely! Worst case scenario I can probably talk to my psychiatrist about increasing the dose to counter the lesser efficacy, if I need to stay on this type! Thanks!

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u/Smooth_Ad_5448 8h ago

yes that could also be beneficial! as well as making sure you’re eating appropriate foods with it as well etc

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u/Smooth_Ad_5448 21h ago

what matters is if you take it and notice side effects, but like i mentioned the chances of side effects due to different compounding, or even a different supplier, are very slim.