no side effect under real Proscar 1/4 but huge on generic 1mg.. bad generic?

[jackdeparis]

Hello

I'm almost 36.
I took minoxidil 2% from 18 to 31, then 5% .
since around 24 I take a box of chibro-proscar 5mg (1/4 pill so 4 months ) every year, from a legal prescription from local pharmacy. There is no doubt the product sold in pharmacies here are real specially 10 years ago ( paris) .

Last week the pharmacist told me about his great generic 1mg finasteride for 24.50€ 84 pills. Not having to cut proscar pills was a plus so I decided to buy it. It's Finhair, sold by the lab expanscience, made by actavis.
Actavis is a very big worldwide generic maker ( I even worked for a company that sell IT services to them).
I never read finasteride side effects because I never felt any ( well a slight increase in libido for 3-4 days at beginning of treatment, I found out later this was due to the over production of testosterone in reaction of the lower DHT). So nocebo effect can be ruled out. I always use generic for other stuff because it's cheaper and well a molecule is a molecule so I have nothing against generic.
But here I have massive pain in the balls and up to the lower abdomen. I thought maybe it's gonna pass.. 5 days later same problems. Cut in half : same problem so I gave up..

Has anyone ever encounter something similar? switching from the real product to a generic and having side effects?
I wrote to the lab and I'm waiting for their explanation.

Thanks a lot.

[jackdeparis]

okay some news, the pharmacist because of the problem sold me the original chibro-proscar 5mg, and after a week no side effect.
So I decided to contact the equivalent of the FDA and send them the box.
Now if you google " recall actavis" you have countless articles about recalls due to manufacturing mistake in dosage... So I wouldnt be surprise this generic was crap containing either 10mg of finasteride or even duasteride.
we'll see..
all in all be very careful with generics even if you get them from your local pharmacist..

[Aonyx262]

Hi there. Firstly, if you're having extreme testicular or abdominal pain, you should see a physician. It may or may not be related to the finasteride.
I've been in two different generics and now brand name Proscar, as well as Avodart once per week and never had any side effects on any of them, even if I've taken well over the specified dosage.

Side effects can generally fall into two categories:

1. Those that are an overextension of the therapeutic effect. Think of Aspirin and someone who is bleeding because the Aspirin made their platelets too poor to stop the bleeding. This is where most of the supposed side effects of propecia might fall...because of the hormonal effects of the medication, which make the medication work for hair loss. A generic medication is sometimes thought to be "less pure" with added fillers. So if you think about it, having a side effect that mimics the alleged side effects of the active drug would seemingly be less likely on a generic than on the brand name drug...The drug might be less effective than the brand at performing the intended function, but the side effect profile should not generally be worse than the brand name, unless the added fillers make the drug more active in a certain tissue (testicle or prostate) than the intended tissue, which is unlikely in most cases.

2. The other kind of side effects are considered Idiosyncratic effects or reactions. These are not directly related to the mechanism of action. Basically, the drug acts somewhere else "by accident". Think of Tegretol (carbamazepine) and agranulocytosis (essentially a very low white blood cell count). This is not really a over extension of the properties of the drug, but more of a reaction that happens because of some other properties of the drug. Some potential side effects of a generic finasteride might fall into this category. For example, maybe a filler might cause heart burn, or a dry cough, or tingling in your fingers or something like that that really doesn't have much of anything to do with the actions of Finasteride on 5-AR.

If you're concerned that he drug you're getting isn't good, you should probably switch or go see your doctor...but in my experience I've only noticed less efficacy with a generic medication, but not really any increased side effects.