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Confused, need professional opinion

A friend of mine is prescribed to Adderall 20mg XR, as am I. After a few weeks she felt as if the drug was not working. She opened one of her capsules and found that it looked as if it was sugar inside, as well as tasted like sugar. She did so for 5 capsules and they all contained the same sugar-like substance. It looked completely different from the medicine which a few of her other adderall 20 mg XR capsules in her prescription consisted of. She took it back to the pharmacy where she gets her prescription filled (Kroger) and they said they would send it back to the manufacturer to get it tested. The pharmacist which helped her made it seem like nothing was wrong, almost making her seem dumb in a way and took the entirety of her remaining prescription which consisted of roughly 10-12 pills. She felt uneasy about the whole thing and decided to go get her prescription back so after she went back to the Kroger about a half hour later and asked for her prescription back, they gave it back, but it only consisted of 4 pills and they were all regular adderall 20 mg XR's, they were not the same pills which her prescription contained prior (the what seemed like sugar pills). It seems the pharmacy took all the pills which consisted of the sugar-like substance, and left the good adderall capsules. She thought something was up so she called me and explained what had happened, I also found this odd, especially being a pre-law student, this is not normal, what would you say has happened and/or what is going on? Did someone in the pharmacy mess up and is trying to cover it all up, because it surely seems so.
5 Responses
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3126128 tn?1342881771
It could very well not be anything with the makes of the Adderall...There could be a pharm staff memeber there possibly addicted to Adderall...and Is opening the caps up taking the actual meds out of it and filling it with sugar that way no actual "pills" are missing since they are watched very closely. Just a thought could be wrong. I'm on the same meds as well and have never seen anything like that
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank you for looking at it guys, I went over to her house the other day and she showed me in person what it looked like. I will compare the 2 capsules and their contents to try and provide a visual in case you (Dr. Midlam) or anyone else has a say on the matter. Adderall 20 Mg XR capsule vs. sugar-substance capsule. The capsules themselves are EXACTLY the same, and I mean exactly. Same writing which says M. Amphet Salts on the top piece, and 20Mg on the bottom piece. Both share the same size as well as capsule color (orange). They are actually the exact same as the Adderall I take as well. Now, when it comes to the contents of the capsules, they are COMPLETELY different. The capsule which contains the Adderall is filled with little light orange colored balls, just as my Adderall. The other capsules contents on the other hand (keep in mind there were many of both capsules in her prescription) looked exactly like granulated sugar, and I mean exactly. I would have mistaken it for sugar and put it in my coffee if it was just spread out on a table. It leads me to believe this pharmacy is not doing its job or something, which is obviously beyond my jurisdiction, so I told her to get her prescription filled at another pharmacy, because that Kroger pharmacy has totally lost my trust and I don't want anything to happen as a direct result of a mess up with her prescription. Any intake?
Helpful - 0
5022228 tn?1362483165
man sounds fishy to me well alot of pills are filled with fillers even gypsim thats in sheetrock was found in them.  Big pharmacies dont care what they give us as long as they get cheap rates on the product.I will never take any drugs Im a EMT and  the side effects are usually worse than the condition.Im sure there test will come back normal to cover there ***.
Helpful - 0
4475871 tn?1355177344
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Unfortunately, it is not possible for me determine exactly what has happened with the information provided in this situation. To do so would require physically examining the capsules (the identifiers on the outside of the capsule, color, appearance, and contents on the inside of the capsule, etc.) as there may be different generic manufacturers of the same drug. With that said, commercially available medications and their generic equivalents should contain a bio-equivalent active ingredient. If a generic is used there should be no loss of potency. I would recommend for your friend to follow up further with the pharmacy, if she is still concerned, to determine what the most appropriate next steps may be.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
To follow up, her pharmacist did call to tell her he gave her the wrong prescription back (he gave her those 4 adderall capsules on accident instead of her old sugar-like substance filled capsules) but I am still curious as to why there were capsules in her prescription that were sugar-like filled capsules, as well as authentic adderall capsules.
Helpful - 0

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