Hallucinations

[imsosad]

Has anyone ever experienced hallucinations due to medications? I have just switched to the brand name of effexor xr (about 4 days ago) and today had 2 hallucinations. I knew that what I was thinking/imagining wasn't true but it was very persuasive. One was a visual and one was a very persistent thought about something happening to me.
It doesn't make sense to me for it to be the med just switching to the brand name, would be more plausible switching to generic, no?
I am more curious about what happened now but at the time I was freaking out. I know people will say call the pdoc and I will tell her about them but she will not see me in between appointments.

[Stjesha]

Hey imsosad,

I don't think that switching from generic to brand or from brand to generic could cause that kind of symptom since the acting molecule is basically the same, and only the coating/envelope has a different "recipe" (as a pharmacist once told me).

I'm not sure about the side effects of this medication in particular, but I could suggest you to talk to a pharmacist. They know more about meds than doctors do sometimes.

I hope it won't happen again though.
Take care,
Stjesha

[paul m]

Hello Imsosad. I don't know whether or not medications have caused me to hallucinate. I do know that sometimes as my mood is changing I will experience mild hallucinations.

Having said that none of my hallucinations has lasted long. Once I got used to them, I also didn't find them overly bothersome. Having said that I very rarely have visual ones, most of mine are in hearing and taste.

Effexor does list hallucinations as a possible side effect and it also lists the following warning: " You should know that your mental health may change in unexpected ways when you take venlafaxine". Source http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/d...s/a694020.html

In regards to: can changing between generic and brand names make a difference? Yes, sometimes a huge difference, not very often, but sometimes. While the generic and brand names are identical chemicaly and supposedly in action, sometimes the generics are put together a little differently and that can affect a few people. ( think of recipe, the identical ingredients put together differently may cause a large difference in results). Even the casings on the medication can cause a different result in a few people.

I'm sorry that this is more of a none answer than an answer, but that's all I got. Take Care. paul m

[AJ]

Oral dosage forms such as tablets and capsules are made up of the active ingredient, fillers and the coating or shell. 75mg of Effexor is a very small amount of powder. To make a capsule or tablet form of a drug manufactureres have to use 'fillers' such as lactose to get enough bulk to fill a capsule or make a tablet. These fillers used or coating or shell can be slightly different from one brand of a drug to another. Also the concentration of a drug in the blood can vary from one brand to another. Usually the small difference is not clinically significant, but there occasions when this can make a difference.

For a drug like Amoxicillin the variance isn't significant, and one brand is as effective as another. On the other hand I would not change brands, whether brand or generic is being used, of thyroid or epileptic medication for example. The small variance can make a difference clinically.