Generic Celebrex Leaves Many People in Pain

Generic medications are supposed to provide exactly the same therapeutic benefit as the original brand name drug. That has been the FDA’s promise since it began approving generic medicines.

Now that generic pills make up the vast majority of the prescriptions Americans take, however, there are questions about whether all of them are up to standard. A number of people have contacted us to let us know that some generic substitutions for their pain medications are not doing the job as well.

Q. I have been using Celebrex for osteoarthritis and it has worked well for me for many years. The pharmacy substituted generic celecoxib.

After only four days I am in a lot of pain, especially in my spine. I would gladly pay for the real thing.

A. You are not the only one to complain about celecoxib. Dozens of people have written to us saying that the generic Celebrex does not provide the same pain relief as the brand name.

You may be able to get some assistance from your physician, as this couple did:

“My husband had been on Celebrex for almost 20 years. When the pharmacy switched to generic, I did not realize it at first.

“My husband’s hand swelled so much that a couple of his fingers tripled in size. (We took pictures to show the doctor.) He also had a lot of problems with knee joint pain flaring up, as well as stomach ache.

“When I realized he was on the generic, we asked his doctor to write a new prescription with no substitutions. He wrote a letter to our insurance company saying my husband was allergic to something in the generic, so now the insurance pays for the prescription.”

You can read about other people’s experience with celecoxib at PeoplesPharmacy.com. Readers can report problems with generic drugs to FDA through MedWatch (www.fda.gov/medwatch).