switched to generic brand of BC

[laurie-house.livejournal.com]

For the past 3 or 4 months I've been on birth control I've been taking reclipsen. I decided to order my next pack online, instead of calling it in. I had a bit of a hassle in ordering it, but finally did, but reclipsen was gone and in its place was apri, with a note saying it was the generic brand of reclipsen.

I started taking apri yesterday and was wondering if taking it would conflict with me having taken reclipsen. Or are they essentially the same thing?

I don't want to mess up my cycle or anything by taking a different BC.

Comments

[unconventional.livejournal.com]

I have heard it can occasionally mess with you (a friend of mine went from Yaz to the generic and it completely screwed with her), but it shouldn't. I think that's rare. The point of a generic is it's essentially the same thing. Inactive ingredients may be different, but they're inactive. The active ingredients will be the same. I went from one generic of yaz to another generic of yaz a couple months ago and had no problems.
Reclipsen is a generic form of Desogen so it's similar to my situation of going from a generic to a generic. I can't speak for your body but it shouldn't have any effect on you. It's not supposed to, anyway.

[laurie-house.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the reassurance!

BTW Is that a bruins player in your avatar?

[knittinggoddess.livejournal.com]

This. The inactive ingredients--binders, mostly--won't interfere with your protection. But all inactive means is that they're not the ingredients that do the job listed on the side of the box. Your body might still react to them if you're sensitive to some ingredients. (A friend of mine is allergic to a very common pill binder! It's all liquid medications for her!)

For years, I had to be on brand name Ritalin, because the generic available in my area gave me increased anxiety. My doc had heard this multiple times from her patients, and suspects that it just was metabolized a little faster than the brand name. But the kind available to me now doesn't have that anxiety-inducing side effect.

So sometimes your body might treat it a little differently from the brand name, but you're unlikely to have major issues. You might want to be prepared for a bit of adjustment spotting or pms symptoms, though, due to the slight possibility that your body thinks it's different enough.

[allons-y42.livejournal.com]

You should be fine! I've been on ortho tri cyclen lo for years and had the generic intermitently, and it's essentially the same. I was mostly just annoyed that the packaging would change.

Very rarely one can have an allergic reaction to the different non-active incredients, like the dyes or fillers, but this is not typical.

[gryphonwing.livejournal.com]

Some people are really really sensitive to tiny changes in their medications, and may react differently to a particular generic. Others (like me) can pretty much take anything. When I was on HBC I could change brands on the fly - not just brand-to-generic - and nothing ever happened. :)

They're supposed to be essentially identical, so in theory you're fine.

[archangelbeth]

Yes, all this. And even if the side effects are different, the protection vs. pregnancy should be identical.

[pinkmath.livejournal.com]

I switch from Yaz to a generic of Yaz (Gianvi) with no problems.

Last last year Gianvi drastically changed it's packaging, pill size, pill color, I keep double checking the box to make sure I'm on the same thing. Anyway... After starting this new looking pack I spotted for a week. I haven't been able to find anything saying Gianvi actually changed anything so either it was time to random spot or an inactive ingredient changed. Other than that I'm fine. It still keeps my acne away.