Healthy Life Plans

You should of course avoid putting drugs into your body unless it’s absolutely necessary, but sometimes you need them. Maybe you just had a root canal done and the pain requires a prescription strength pain killer, like Vicodin. Should you buy the brand name “Vicodin”, or the generic form of the exact same pain killer?

The short answer is, you should always try to get the generic version of any prescription drug you need. There’s no reason to buy the brand name version of any drug because the ingredients that are used to make the drug are exactly the same. You don’t get anything extra buying the name brand name version, you’re just paying extra.

You see, when a drug company comes up with a new drug to solve all our problems, they get to patent their new drug so nobody else can create or sell that drug for 20 years. When the patent expires, the other drug companies can create and sell their own version of the same drug with the same ingredients. This lowers the price of the drug because they have competition now.

Drug companies have run many studies showing generic drugs work equally effectively as brand name drugs. Side effects were not higher, and the reward was not lower. They’re the same.

The Food and Drug Administration requires that generic drugs be the same in dosage, purity, strength, and performance as the brand name drug they’re copying. Lots of drug companies that make the brand name drug also create generic versions of their own drugs.

You won’t be able to find a generic form of every drug, because many drugs are still patented. There’s nothing you can do to avoid paying an arm and a leg for those drugs. Just make sure you always ask your pharmacist for generic pills, and they will let you know if there is not a generic alternative right now. There’s no reason to pay twice as much money, when you end up with the exact same amount of drug.

Keep in mind, drugs should be a last resort. If you’re taking prescription drugs for heart disease or depression, these things can be taken care of naturally. Of course you need to ask your doctor before discontinuing use of any drug, but if you eat healthy your heart problems can be taken care of. Depression can be treated by exercising for an hour a day, no joke. So only use drugs if you absolutely have to.