Due to extreme tooth pain (to be followed next week w/ wisdom tooth removal), my dentist has prescribed Lortab.
Trouble is, the drug seems to have absolutely no effect on me. Everything I’ve read claims that Lortabs are powerful, addictive, makin’-ya-loopy, etc., but I get nothing. Same pain, no “groovy vibes,” hell, it doesn’t even impair my ability to operate heavy machinery! I tried to explain this to my dentist the day after my visit, but nobody seemed to care. They just told me to take an Advil w/ each dose.
So, two-pronged question:
Have any of you heard of people who are immune to particular painkillers?
Is there any other painkiller I should request prior to surgery to ensure that the following few days wil be pain-free? (I’m getting all 4 W.T. out, 2 of which are impacted)
I’m no teetotaler, and I know what good drugs feel like (I’m no walking encyclopedia either, but, hey, I went to high school in America…) and I don’t feel any effect from Lortabs. Any help?
My dentist recently told me that cocaine users are difficult to deaden with novocaine or any of the other -caine local anesthetics that dentists use. As he explained it, the molecules are similar enough that an habituated patient’s tolerance works on the anesthetics.
Lortab is hydrocodone + acetaminophen (Tylenol) which is simply a semi-synthetic opiate-like narcotic similar to codeine. Some kinds of nerve (siatic in my case) pain are not that effected by low doses of opiate based drugs and low doses will also not really effect your ability to function that much.
Higher does will numb you, not the pain. You’ll still feel it but you won’t care as much. You could also simply be resistant to opiate drugs. Do other opiate drugs affect you? if you were a casual recreational drug user in your youth (or currently) your receptors for a particular opiate class could be much less senstive than normal.
What is the dosage?
It’s also possible (but not highly likely) that they filled the wrong prescription or short changed you on the dose to make money or to build a stash. Hydrocodone is a very popular recreational drug and some Pharmacy techs are playing funny games with dosages. I really don’t know how you could test the strength other than sending it in for analysis to a drug testing lab.
Here is someone with a similar scenario.
Ringo: Nope. Have no desire (nor can I afford) to be a cocaine addict. Maybe when I hit the big time…
Astro: Tried opium in college once. Tasted like incense, but it felt quite good at the time. So I assume that my body reacts “normally” to opiates. (too bad I don’t associate w/ those types anymore, or I wouldn’t be having this problem, I guess!)
I’m taking a Lortab generic manufactured by Watson, a hydro/apap 7.5/500 mix. Prescription was filled at “chain” pharmacy, by a stoic “Marcus Welby”-type of fellow who fills my Prevacid 'scripts and who I highly doubt is skimming off the top, so to speak.
Does anyone know of substitute painkillers that I might suggest to my dentist?
Darvocet (which is the same thing as Lortab, almost) has little to no effect on me. Same for Toradol, which is a supposedly very strong non-narcotic painreliever (my ex took it for his Migraines and praised it to the high heavens). Both advil and alleve (naproxen) have a greater effect on me.
I also do not feel “good” on Morphine (made me very very nauseous, did not particularly take my pain away) and Vicodin makes me so violently ill I can’t keep it down, so I’m not sure if it works or not.
I’m kind of screwed on the painkiller front.
People’s chemistries are individual. It is quite possible your Lortab is having no subjective effect on your pain. Call your dentist about it, and ask if he can offer something else (it will probably be Tylenol w/ Codeine or Vicodin). If he seems suspicious that you are just trying to cadge more “fun drugs” offer to return the Lortab to be destroyed at his office.
I have never used narcotics outside of a medical setting, and have never been treated for any chronic pain. So I don’t beieve I have an acquired resistance to these narcotic painkillers. They just don’t seem to work for me.
Alright…just had about twenty minutes of pain severe enough to make me almost vomit. The doctor is out until Monday, and, like I said, doesn’t seem too interested in stopping my pain…
So, an addendum to my question: What can I find over-the-counter that’ll get me through the next few days until they pull my wisdom teeth?
I have told this to many of my patients (and I am positive of the results if only anecdotal). Ibuprofen is a better pain-killer (at least for tooth and abcess pain) than the morphine or codeine based ones. Ibuprofen is quite a potent anti-inflammatory drug. If you have no gastro-intestinal or renal (kidney) problems and are not on any medications like warfarin this drug is quite a miracle cure. I have seen first hand patients with abcesses that do not respond to conventional opiod therapy (Lortab, Vicodin, Darvocet) that did quite well with ibuprofen 800 mg 3 times a day with food and a full glass of water. Of course, that strength is only available by prescription in the U.S. (although you could call your M.D. and ask if taking that high of a dose by using OTC ibuprofen would be appropriate for you). For all the hype that Vicodin and Lortab receive for pain relief, you would be surprise how effective plain old ibuprofen works.
Although IANADentist, I can concur with the above advice. When I had a uniquely strong pain from a combination of an impacted wisdom tooth and a nearby tooth that needed a root canal, 600 mg iburpofen did the trick (that’s 3 Advil, BTW). I took 'em every 4 hours, and barring pre-existing kidney problems this is okay on a short term basis (it is way more than the “maximum dose in 24 hours” noted on the package). Be sure to drink lots of water and take the pills with food. Post op, when I couldn’t keep down the Vicodin, the oral surgeon said the same thing: ibuprofen.
There is no chemical difference between 3 OTC Motrin/Advil and 1 600mg “prescription strength” Motrin. Although, there is one difference: prescription strength is cheaper, assuming you have a pharmacy plan.
I’m kind of in the same boat as you with being immune to opiate based pain killers. I have had a lot fo dental work done, and my dentist’s script of choice is Vicodin. If I take one, it doesn’t do anything at all to me. Now, keep in mind that I have done more than my share of opiate based rec drugs. That’s all way in the past (7+years) , but I don’t know if it’s that my receptors are not responding, or that if I still have some sort of residual tolerence built up to these things.
Damn man, I am sorry. There is not too much that is worse than bad dental pain. Others have mentioned the same to me about Advil and Aleve but that didn’t help me mch either. So…
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STUPID SOLUTION TO FOLLOW. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.
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I am only posting this as anecdotal, do not take this as advice. I just know how nasty dental pain can be, and when one vicodin doesn’t do anything, there have been a couple times where I have taken two vicodin and washed them down with a couple shots of whiskey. It doesn’t really make the pain go away, but you sure don’t care about it anymore. Now, doing that could very well be a recipie for waking up dead. But after several hours of gut wrenching pain, I thought it was worth the risk. Also, keep in mind that I am checking in at ~300 pounds with a high tolerance for alcohol as well as pain killers. YMM (and probably will) V.
This is actually the first day I’ve been able to access the board since my last post, so I had to come to a few conclusions on my own, eg: One Hydro/Apap 7.5/500 has the same amount of acet. as one Tylenol. The Bandini Solution? Take two at once, just as if I was taking Tylenol! THAT’S when I started to feel mellow! I’m a big guy, so I don’t know why my doctor didn’t just recommend that to me when I asked him why one wasn’t doing the trick.
I’ve also been hitting the Advil Migraine liqui-gel caps. Seems to help a little…
Mouthbreather: Wouldn’t recommend hitting Lortabs and alcohol at the same time; from what I’ve read, the acet. plus the alcohol will put one hell of a strain on one’s liver, possibly doing some serious damage.
Plus, some friends said they’d keep their eyes open for some “non-prescription” medication if I really needed it. I wonder what they meant?
