eli5 – Doctor writes me a Rx for “prenatal vitamins” and checks box for may sub generic – how does pharmacist choose which vitamins to give?

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There’s many different brands of Rx prenatal vitamins, both name brand and generic. How does the pharmacist know which one to fill based on such a vague Rx? Eeny, meeny, miny, moe?

This is what happened several years ago and I mailed the Rx to my mail order pharmacy and was mailed generic prenatal vitamins. No questions asked of me. I’m curious how they were chosen. I wasn’t informed enough at the time to compare ingredients or even know that there were several options. If there’s a better sub to ask this question please let me know. Thanks!

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Depends on the country, but generally the cheapest brand that contains folic acid, iron, calcium and Vitamin D.*

That’s pretty much what generic prenatal vitamin pills contain and there isn’t much benefit of going for a more expensive brand if that’s what you need. If your doctor wanted something on top of that (like more vitamin A, B, E or more minerals like Zinc or Iodine) they would probably have been more specific on the Rx about what type of prenatal vitamins you should get.

*Maybe Vitamin C as well. You might not need extra Vitamin C, but it’s hard to overdose on it since the upper limit of “uh, maybe you shouldn’t eat that much” is over 16 times Recommended Daily Intake. 2000 mg vs the 120mg RDI).

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