Generic?

Generic prescription drugs are often argued to be the same as the name brand. When I had my thyroid removed, I asked the doctor why they prescribe a particular replacement hormone over another, and he said no particular reason, but when a patient is on a specific name and dose that works, they do not like to play around with it. He mentioned that "inactive" ingredients can change how a drug is absorbed or works. When I specifically ask doctors to write "no substitutions" for my levoxyl, they all reiterate that with thyroid medication, they particularly do that.

So why is thyroid medication special? In theory, if one thyroid substitution has the same amount of active ingredient as another, they should act the same. Yet physicians seem to believe otherwise.

I always thought my birth control was the generic. Apparently there is a generic-generic. Any woman out there taking hormones probably has experiences some side effect of birth control - migraines and weight gain are common. After 2 months on the generic-generic though, I have lost 4 pounds.

May not sound like much over 4 months, except that I am far from trying to lose weight. When I was having eye problems, I was not going to the gym and have only been averaging twice a week since, I have not changed eating habits at all. Other things I have noticed are that my hair has stopped brekaing/falling out and I am not as tired as I used to be. Now, all of these could have to do with adequate sleep; being productive at work, but not working too much; an end to the chronic stress of graduate school; different water (seriously, my water is really hard and full of iron); more dairy in my diet (lots of people say dairy fat can help with weight loss); quiet at night in the winter, and peepers at night now rather than all cars and sirens; or different inactive ingredients in my prescription drugs...who knows?