It sounds like an oxymoron but I have a refill of 90 10mg diazepam being shipped out on Wednesday.

While I had my first fill, I also "came across" some of that gorgeous European Roche Valium.

Now, I am no microgram snob, but there was a great disparity between the quality of my US Generics and The Real Thing.

We argue about tolerance vs. potency so often that I really don't want to bring that up right now. I understand that pharmacy students learn the precise degree of margin of error allowed between the name brand drug's potency and the generics. Some generics are precise enough that you can scarcely tell the difference.

Nonetheless, in our discussions we have definitely concluded that some generics tend to be clinging by their fingernails to the lower end of potency, or have perhaps fallen through it entirely.

I am not the only one who has made a complaint about Geneva brand benzodiazapenes. I have announced many times, loudly, sometimes wearng a funny hat and glasses, that Geneva triazolam IHalcion) is truly the least potent med I have ever taken. Triazolam was my wonder drug for months. I didn't take it daily, and I varied between the .25mg (single pill) and the .5mg (2 pills and max adult dosage.) Suddently my pharmacy ran out of that generic (it was called "Greenstone") and shipped in a load of light blue sacharrin andwhite clay pressed into the shape of a .25mg triazolam pill. Geneva made it. Never having been the type to fool around with Halcion, I got ready for bed and took my night meds (including two of these Geneva "triazolam") and took a book and a cigarette to bed. (Since I'd already been on it 3 months and realized that it, like every other CNS depressant known to man, takes 3-4 times as long to kick in than the PDR warns. So I was not going to burn the house down). I was still reading and smoking an hour later. 2 hours later. A day or two late I took 3 of them in the middle of the day and went about my business. It deson't make sense to blame it on temperature or exposure. For one thing, this was winter. Even if it were summer, I was getting my meds from the univeristy pharmacy, to which C-anything meds come in armored cars. Also, my university is not located in a tent village outside Tula. Unless I am quite mistaken, most meds arrive at the pharmacy in foil-wrapped air-sealed bottles.

I actually did not even realize the poor quality of the meds until a few weeks after I picked them up. I still had my good old reliable Greenstones. When those ran out, I only noticed that the new ones were different because they were a lighter shade of blue- light enough to fool a color blind guy into thinking they were white. I brought them back and explained the problem. They agreed to order a different generic and the pharmacist even gave me a blister pack of 4 to tide me over. Unfortunately, the different generic was only marginally better than the Geneva. I wish I remember the name, bur all I recall is that they were also very light blue. What you have to bear in mind here is that there is no way I can imagine this having been a tolerance issue. The pills in one refill worked. The pills in the next refill didn't.

Desperately. I explained the situation to my doctor and headed off to find a different pharmacy. At CVS, I showed them ny prescription. Then I explained the problem. Though I didn't know the generic's name at the time, I knew for sure they were dark blue. So I did the unthinkable and the pharmacist broke the law. She let me see one of the pills. It was the right brand. Or, well, it wasn't cornflower blue. So I filled it. I had her write down the name so I could ask the school pharmacy to order it. By the way, ot was the right pill and the student pharmacy did order it and we lived happily ever after (other than the pharmacist YELLING at me for filling a prescription alsewhere. I had no choice, but I'm just a woman, perhaps sickly but probably a hypochondriac, so it never crossed his mind to thank me for doing a favor bey researching to find out exactly what brand they needed to dispense).
I can only conclude two possibilties;
1) Dark blue pills are stronger than light blue pills
2) Geneva sucks.

AND NOW FOR THE QUESTION, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

Though I have lost the bottle, I was looking through my favorite picture book trying to identify the design on the pills I got for my first fill. As far as I can tell, having looked through the whole picture section, the curly cue design matches both the diazepam and a script for tizanadine (round, not oval) that on og my friends had several months again. However, in the great big hulking section of my PDR, Abbott only lists their brand name products. Now, I can't imagine a generic-only company to go through the trouble of imprinting that complicated sort of square spiral curly cue onto their products. If anyone can confirm this (like, you have abottle of 10mg diaz from Buwuse in your hand and it has that design on it and the label says Abbott, please give me s sign).

I do NOT want that brand again. I am too spoiled by the real thing. Plus, my diaz is prescribed as both a muscle relaxers AND a sleep aid. It doesn't take much to help with the muscles, but this generic is not going to help me sleep.

U know my opening will cause everyone to want to share their bad banzo stories, and I don't mind that at all. But first I need your help.

Can anyone reccomend a GOOD generic diazepam?
Money is short. Really short. What is the price range for the Real Thing. . . 10mg V cuts?

Greenstone isn't listed in the PDR, but I know they exist. Can any of you rX majors point me to a parent company?

Thanks. I will need to make the call tomorrow, so this reallyis a kind of urgent qyestion.