to be filed under "for what its worth"

I started my career many, many moons ago (back in the days of cave paintings and T-Rex threats) in the medical field first as a EMT and then a pharmacy tech. Way back then, according to the FDA, the generic forms of the medications had to be identical to the brand names. Donning my suit of armor in academic pursuit, I will research this topic now and get back with you ASAP. I have taken Lamictal and Lamotrigine and they have had an identical effect on me.

In my humble opinion (also in the 'for what its worth' file), structure is a ABSOLUTE must to keep me healthy. There is no way in hell that I could work a swing shift or even switching around shifts to match scheduling priorities. The way that we maintain our health is by taking our medications on time, every day. How can that happen if you are working different hours? You MUST take your meds at the same time, every day, without fail, if you are to achieve and maintain recovery. Why? Each med that you take has a certain half life in which it degrades and you must maintain your medications in your blood serum level appropriately. For instance, I take zolpidiem (generic for Ambien) at one hour before bed time. I have to have a full eight hours for this to detox from my system. But I am also taking a NSAID, Relafen every 12 hours as I do with my lamotrigine. My clonazepam is dosed every 8 hours while my Effexor XR is dosed every 24 hours. I also take topamax every 12 hours and Soma every 8 hours. I also take phentermine with each meal to address the diabetes issue caused by Seroquel which I discontinued. Now I have to take metformin twice per day based on my food intake periods until the weight loss addresses the Diabetes II issue (I gained 30 lbs in under 2 months on Seroquel. At my top weight, I was 175 @ 5'7 and still came down with Diabetes. (It is a side effect of Seroquel and my Pdoc has stopped prescribing it for that reason. Too great of % of his patients have had to discontinue and go on diabetes meds.)

I have never shared my meds or their schedule in a public forum before but I do so now to make a point. Although my situation is admittedly complex, I am sure that you can understand the importance regarding my compliance regarding the timing of dosages. If you are switching your sleeping schedules and working schedules around, you will not be able to maintain your medication schedule. THIS, I propose, is the source of the angst that you are currently facing. You cannot maintain your blood serum levels if you are taking your meds at different times on different days and you cannot work safely under the influence of certain meds.

I STRONGLY encourage you to speak with your human resource representative and refer him/her to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Explain that you have a documented medical disability that requires regular medication throughout your lifespan that has to be taken on schedule each day. You can document your disability with a letter from your doctor withholding your diagnosis, just a confirmation of your disability requiring medication that would effect your job performance if your shifts were switched around. You can even back that up with a letter from your pharmacist stating the timing regarding the dosage of each medication and the cautions associated with such, redacting the prescription name. It is none of their business the nature of your disability or which medications you are required to take. If you really want to load your six shooter with teflon coated rounds, you can also leave them with the business card of a labor attorney that is willing to take on your litigation on a contingency basis. You would have one hell of a discrimination suit should you choose to file.
There. Do you feel better. You are not powerless and you are not backed into a corner. They have to make some concessions for you based on your disability, just as if you were in a wheelchair.
Now I will go look up the organic chem structure of the teva lamotrigine vs lamictictal. I shall return and then, I shall crash. Been up now over 48 hours but had to dispense the arguments.
hugs,
Colleen