this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2024

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[OC] Anyone else insist on using the generic name for all meds? (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Image: 4 panels organized in a rectangle following a sequential order like a comic strip. The first panel is of a man with a very serious face stating, "Hey man, got any diphenhydramine?" The second panel is a grainy picture of the actor Robert Downey Jr. with a slightly inquisitive face and saying, "What's that?" The third panel is an identical copy of the first image and saying, "Benadryl the allergy medicine." The fourth and final panel is a grainy picture of Bobby rolling his eyes and taking a deep breath.

Edit: Tony Start -> Robert Downey Jr. I didn't know that Tony Stark was a character Robert Downey Jr. played 🤦‍♂️

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (4 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (7 children)

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?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 62 points 8 months ago (4 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

do you know why theres no aspirin in the jungle?

cause parrots eat em all

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Y'see, I would have said "parrots ate 'em all". It still works.

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

This is probably the worst example to choose, because in the US the generic name is acetaminophen. This is a case where the brand name actually unites understanding of a drug whose chemical name differs by location.

That being said, I still agree with the spirit, let’s stick to referring to the drug and not the brand.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Touché, though I love knowing names like paracetamol or acetaminophen, ibuprofen, diclofenac, acetylsalicylic acid etc.

I can't come up with many names because I don't remember every single drug, but when I see a drug, I always read the chemical, never the brand, and I'm glad for my country and my parents for that.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

stop taking benadryl. it’s been obsolete for decades and has really nasty side effects.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Got names? Most of the other options I've found have other nasty side effects or don't help.

Being serious... I'd love to finda working alternate

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (5 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Tylenol for example doesn't exist in Latin America

it absolutely does, what?

that said, agreed

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

TIL that Tylenol is just how americans call paracetamol

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean, Americans call facial tissue "Kleenex" we're pretty bad at accepting corporate brands as a stand-in for "the standard."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean even nos capsules are called whippets and ZIP and stick is velcro

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Nah, velcro is called velcro - the inventor of "loop and hook fasteners" called them velcro strips. The fact that the brand wanted full control of the name after the fact is irrelevant.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I was going to say. That was just common practice in my native country. We did use the most common brand names sometimes, but even then we used them interchangeably (if we asked for Nurofen we really meant ibuprofen and didn't care if we got another brand; like asking for a kleenex)

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 8 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (5 children)

I use the American brand names when talking about meds on the internet.

I've never taken trade-name Tylenol, Benadryl, Advil (without pseudoephedrine), Xanax, Effexor, Prozac nor Klonopin.

But those are the names I'd use when discussing them to "blend in". If I start talking about panado or rivotril I may cause confusion. The API names are also just a fucking mouthful.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Tell that to the copyright lawyers

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

People have lost trademark rights because it's too ubiquitous.

Aspirin was literally the brand name by Bayer but lost it.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

haha, no...I'm just autistic

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Paracetamol

Aspirin

Ibuprofen

What? That's what they're called

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Isn't Paracetamol a brand name for acetaminophen?

Edit: just googled it, apparently they're both generic names for the same thing (like aspirin / acetylsalicylic acid)

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

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.