Aleve Naproxen
Aleve Naproxen
Why do doctors prescribe drugs which are available over the counter?
I was prescribed 500mg Naproxen twice a day, for which I got a prescription filled. Why don't docs just tell patients to take over-the-counter Naproxen (Aleve for example)? Is this some kind of scheme for the pharmaceuticals industry to keep making money on a drug now available in otc generic form?
The prescription naproxen 500 mg (Naprosyn) is a different salt from the one in prescription Anaprox/OTC Aleve, and has different pharmacodynamics, though not by a lot.
But we do prescribe OTC drugs. Sometimes it's as a favor to those who can share the cost when it's covered by insurance, and sometimes it's because people just want and/or expect a prescription. You'd be surprised how often I have patients ask for a prescription after I've gone through a lot of trouble explaining why they don't need one, and in my specialty (emergency medicine), it's hard not to look on that as a waste of valuable time.
