Last week my local surgery/pharmacy changed my 62.5 mg Madopar to 62.5 mg Co-Beneldopa, the generic name. Technically they should be the same - 50 mg levodopa/12.5 mg benzeradide.
But something fairly dramatic has happened. My akynesia has worsened considerably, my walking has got very dodgy and I feel very zombie like (no disrespect to zombies). Also my inner tremor, not visible, which had all but gone away is back and quite bad.
Could this be the change in tablet regime or is it merely coincidence? I'm still on the 125 mg Madopar but will they change that?
Advice please. Will call my pharmacy tomorrow.
When i started out from diagnosis I started with branded sinemet that was fine, but when they moved the dose up they tried to palm me off with generic sinemet, I too noticed the differences straight away the Pill was inferior , I was taking more but the effect was far less, Not only that the love or lack of it that went into the production of the pill was obvious compared to the branded sinemet, it was rough, covered in the dust, it stuck to my tongue,it made me feel ill.
I took it back to my surgery and told them exactly what i thought, the doctor panicked and I was then Put on Madopar, Not Generic but the roche Madopar, and i have felt the benefit's ever since, and i'll hold on to it, I have had suggestions from Neuro that i shpould move onto stalevo, but that would be generic stalevo 'stanek', our local parkinson rag reported lots of problems for sufferers with generic.
These Generic Pills are sposed to be the same,But they are Not the same, if you dig you can read there are different tolerances in Performance, If you are prescribed Sinemet or Madopar you should be prescribed It, its a bit like asking for 'coca cola' and being issued 'happy shopper' we both know they are Cola's, but we all know it is not the Same!!.
Parkinsons uk in Parkinsons awareness week made much of we should be getting 'better treatments'.
If Madopar was good for your Health Jules, then Demand you have it.
my local pharmacy was unable to source co-beneldopa at the end of last year and l was given Madopar. I have since been changed back to co-beneldopa 25mg/100mg, I feel different, and not as good as when I was on madopar. I have been in touch with another local Parkinsons sufferer and he also thinks the change is making him feel worse. I have informed my GP. I don't know whether it is change in the medication or one works better than other!
Sometimes the pharmacist change the makers of our meds to an less effective and cheaper make, this is known as 'generic medication'. I'm all for reducing the outlay for the NHS, but not at the cost of the people who are not able to tolerate the change. This happened to me and I contacted the GP and said I needed to have the original make of medication back because I was feeling rough on the 'generic' meds.
Give them a try and if they don't suit you then contact your GP and tell him/her how you feel.
