Memes

ITT: Americans who can't fathom generic medicine names

Tylenol isn't the medicine, paracetamol is. I love having grown up in a European country which mandates pharmacies to very clearly inform you, not just in some fuck ass place, but repeat to you 3 times, that there is a cheaper generic version which does the same thing.

Trade names all well and good until you start traveling. Also you're less likely to find cheaper generics if you only know the brand names.

I do. I extend it beyond medicines as well. Corporations have spent lots of money for their brands to be household names. They don't control my language.

Specifically to medicine, I will note that the generic name actually carries information that the brand name does nothing for. Lisinopril and enalopril are the same medication class, act similar. Amlodipine, nimodipine, nicardipene are all the same class. Those generic names have important meaning.

Oh, you want facial tissues? Why didn't you ask?

Sure, here's some acetaminophen and ibuprofen.

Don't you mean bleach wipes?

Paracetamol

Aspirin

Ibuprofen

What? That's what they're called

Good on you for including a written description of the image but... "picture of the actor Tony Stark"?

Edit: or are these descriptions automatically generated?

Yo gimme some of that Dihydrogen monoxide.

I'm a prescriber in the US and the name that people will commonly use varies by drug and by region. It's also influenced by whether that medication is even available generically due to patents (if that's the right legal word) on medications being decently long when they first come out.

I agree it's a mess

Generic drug names are widely used in the UK and europe - we don't have US style advertising. There are brands but they don't cut through in the same way when generics are so widely known and mandated for prescriptions coming from the NHS too.

Benadryl isn't even a specific drug, it's just a brand with different drugs in different countries (cetirizine in the UK). I'd just say "antihistamine".

Also brand name drugs are largely a scam - pharmaceuticals are heavily regulated and generics are the exact same drug. Save yourself some money, learn the generic names and buy those. Otherwise you're just paying the drugs company for their advertising and the big price mark up for their profit as a "premium" brand.

In my country we mostly use the generic names, save for very few exceptions, and even then they are used interchangeably with the generic name.

What if I call it Tylenol but always buy the generic anyway?

Medicine schools in anywhere except USA. Farmacists, medics, nurses, life rescuers, hospitals, social workers. They're all encouraged to use the active components of medicines and not commercial brand names. Specially because there are differences in regulations and sometimes the commercial names don't carry the same formulation in other markets, or are US specific. Tylenol for example doesn't exist in Latin America. But you can find many other brands and presentations of paracetamol as acetaminophen.

If you use the brand name for everything, eventually it will become the generic name.

tell me you're student without telling me you're a student

Ew, gross, anticholinergic allergy meds? I'll stick to my third generation Cetirizine Hydrochlorides, thanks.

Yes! I live in Korea, and I have no idea what the local brand names are. If I want some Advil, I have to ask for Ibuprofen pronounced "Ee Boo Pro Pen". Tylenol is Tylenol here, though.

I don't think I even know what the brand names are, like only active ingredient names are on the packaging here.

what about "antihystamine"? or is that too generic?