why is lortab/hydrocodone so widely used?

[brblx]

seems pretty goddamned worthless. it appears to be the most widely prescribed pain medication, yet it's barely if any more effective than OTC painkillers (probably gets all its effectiveness from the acetaminophen, anyway). on top of that, druggies seem to love it because it might make you a little loopy.

even my mom, who gets drunk off of a glass of wine, wired off a glass of soda, and generally feels the effects of all meds 5x as hard as she should, says that hydrocodone sucks. what legitimate reason does this medication have for being on the market?

i'm taking this shit for a tooth extraction, and i think i'm just gonna switch to excedrin migraine.

 

[techs]

Because people want a narcotic for pain. At the least, for many people, it has a great placebo effect.

 

[BillGates]

Hydrocodone never did anything for pain for me.

 

[Heller]

all i remember is when i had my 4 wisdom extracted vicodin (hydrocodine?)did nothing and i was still in pain. I drove to the dentist to pick up a perscription for some percocet, that sure did the trick.

 

[RoloMather]

Hydrocodone is a decent drug to use for moderate pain.

 

[waggy]

I have a large bottle of hydrocodone 7.5-750 and some 10-550. they work for soem shit but yeah its not that great.

 

[Pantlegz]

It really depends on the person how they will effect you, the 5/500 lortabs do nothing for me but a few 10/500 and I'm pretty out of it. I know people that refuse to take them unless they're really hurting becase it makes them feel ill. They also seem to have less effect when you're actually in pain, I don't get too loopy when Im hurting and take one or two but if I'm feeling ok and just wanna take a few it'll fuck me up.

 

[RoloMather]

Heroin works great for pain . . .

 

[Marinski]

OTC does nothing for me. I have joint problems + muscle tears from work (physically demanding) and vicoden or some sort of narcotic pain med in combination with muscle relaxers is the only thing that gives me relief for any period of time. Vicodins are kinda weak, Norcos are better, less tylenol in them.If Vicoden isnt working for you though, you're not taking enough of them.

 

[spidey07]

Because anything better has higher chance of being abused or addiction. If it's not working for you you're not taking enough.

 

[mattpegher]

Everyone pain tolerance and effect from medicine is different. For some the effect of hydrocodone is more than adequate for major pain.
The problem is that many people want to feel no pain, or mistake the euphoric buzz as a pain-free state. This leads to desensitization of the receptors and thus a progressively lower and lower subjective relief from the same dose of medication. If you take a medicine and feel no pain, you have over shot the mark and are only hurting yourself in the long run. Nerves are not on/off switches.
Vicodin has surpassed Lipitor as the most presribed drug in the US. It is also the biggest prescription drug sold illegally. Much of this is due to a cultural shift in the american populace that has zero-tolerance for pain.

 

[waggy]

Because anything better has higher chance of being abused or addiction. If it's not working for you you're not taking enough.

not 100% true.

I suffer from chronic pain from Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis and minor Cerbal Palsy.

Some days a 7.5-750 is enough to keep the pain in check. if it does not i will take another and that usually does it. BUT there are days when i could take the whole bottle and it wouldnt put a dent in the pain.

 

[drebo]

Vicodin makes it almost halfway bearable to stand up when I have gout in my ankle. No amount of ibuprofen has been able to do that. Naproxen might work, but I have a bunch of vicodin and it works fine. Also, vicodin makes me really, really hyper when I take it, and it's kind of fun.

 

[RoloMather]

Do not overdose on Vicodin since they have acetaminophen combined with hydrocodone.

You can seriously mess up your liver b/c of the acetaminophen.

 

[wheresmybacon]

It’s for moderate pain. They’re not going to give you Oxycontin for getting your tooth pulled.

For me, hydrocodone was fine for the dental surgery I had. If you’re still in pain, call your doctor.

 

[mattpegher]

Do not overdose on Vicodin since they have acetaminophen combined with hydrocodone.

You can seriously mess up your liver b/c of the acetaminophen.

Please heed this warning. I have had a number of vicodin overdoses come into the ER. The worst is chronic over use, which slowly kills the liver. The last lady had to have a liver transplant. Yes you could die but not right away and not without some serious discomfort. One of the worst ways to die.

 

[waggy]

Do not overdose on Vicodin since they have acetaminophen combined with hydrocodone.

You can seriously mess up your liver b/c of the acetaminophen.

yeap this and the chance of getting addicted (one of my sisters were addicted for a while. it was not pretty) are why i try to ignore my pain.

 

[brblx]

that's what i don't understand- why is the tylenol even there? why not just give two scripts so you can meter the pain med without worrying about destroying your liver?

also, i didn't even realize until just a few minutes ago that oxycontin, vicoden, et al are all basically the same med. so basically the next step up from hydrocodone is...heroin, in one of it's medical forms. seems like quite a gap.

edit: also, i'm not really bitching about the pain, just the med. i was awake for the extraction and it doesn't seem like it's going to hurt that bad, probably because this tooth was already rotted out and infected (hooray for poorly done root canals).

 

[spidey07]

that's what i don't understand- why is the tylenol even there? why not just give two scripts so you can meter the pain med without worrying about destroying your liver?

also, i didn't even realize until just a few minutes ago that oxycontin, vicoden, et al are all basically the same med. so basically the next step up from hydrocodone is...heroin, in one of it's medical forms. seems like quite a gap.

edit: also, i'm not really bitching about the pain, just the med. i was awake for the extraction and it doesn't seem like it's going to hurt that bad, probably because this tooth was already rotted out and infected (hooray for poorly done root canals).

Because they work best when combined in that ratio.

 

[mattpegher]

that's what i don't understand- why is the tylenol even there? why not just give two scripts so you can meter the pain med without worrying about destroying your liver?

also, i didn't even realize until just a few minutes ago that oxycontin, vicoden, et al are all basically the same med. so basically the next step up from hydrocodone is...heroin, in one of it's medical forms. seems like quite a gap.

edit: also, i'm not really bitching about the pain, just the med. i was awake for the extraction and it doesn't seem like it's going to hurt that bad, probably because this tooth was already rotted out and infected (hooray for poorly done root canals).

Because they work on different receptors thus giving better control than either alone.
Vicodin/norco/lortab (etc) = Hydrocodone with varying doses of tylenol.
Percocet = Oxycodone with tylenol
Oxycontin = Sustained release Oxycodone

Heroine is a morphone, similiar to morphine not a codiene derivative.

If you think that it doesnt do anything, try going 8 hours without it and estimate the pain then to the pain on the medicine, I would bet there is a significant difference. Or maybe for you not so much.

 

[Gooberlx2]

also, i didn't even realize until just a few minutes ago that oxycontin, vicoden, et al are all basically the same med. so basically the next step up from hydrocodone is...heroin, in one of it's medical forms. seems like quite a gap.

Well, there's percocet, which is oxycodone + acetaminophen (so a lower dose of the narcotic), as well as morphine, demoral, dilaudid, etc...

 

[waggy]

i get so confused on the lvl of pain meds. all i know is a shot of dilaudid and morphine are amazing stuff.

 

[SunnyD]

all i remember is when i had my 4 wisdom extracted vicodin (hydrocodine?)did nothing and i was still in pain. I drove to the dentist to pick up a perscription for some percocet, that sure did the trick.

I forget what they gave me when I had my wisdom teeth out. All I know is I got home, my wife gave me one, and 5 minutes later I couldn't pick my head up off the table and felt nauseous as hell. Dizzy too, to the point my wife helped me to the couch so I wouldn't fall out of the chair. I didn't touch the stuff after that. I survived for a day or so just on ibuprofen and was fine after that.

Now the shit my doc gave me for strep several years back (long story, completely unexpected prescription too, I was expecting him to tell me to take some Advil) - that was some GOOD shit. Weeeeeee!

 

[waggy]

I forget what they gave me when I had my wisdom teeth out. All I know is I got home, my wife gave me one, and 5 minutes later I couldn't pick my head up off the table and felt nauseous as hell. Dizzy too, to the point my wife helped me to the couch so I wouldn't fall out of the chair. I didn't touch the stuff after that. I survived for a day or so just on ibuprofen and was fine after that.

Now the shit my doc gave me for strep several years back (long story, completely unexpected prescription too, I was expecting him to tell me to take some Advil) - that was some GOOD shit. Weeeeeee!

i had 2 teeth out and they gave me darvocet =(

 

[Alienwho]

Lortab puts me into a state of chronic happiness. I feel like i'm floating on a cloud and can't stop smiling while on Lortab.