Percocet is oxycodone + acetominophen (Tylenol).
Vicodin is hydrocodone + acetominophen
Any opiate basically knocks me on my ass, but sometimes that’s a good thing. Dilaudid was the only non-IV drug that made a dent in the post-op pain after I had the tib/fib fracture with open reduction and internal (and external) fixation.
I’m not a fan of not controlling what my brain is doing, but sometimes the end justifies the means.
Others have covered your questions, so I just want to give my .02 and say if you find yourself really enjoying these painkillers the best advice I can give is don’t take them anymore than you have to. And once you are well, flush whatever pills are left.
My opiate addiction started with my very first time on prescription pain meds. And using them snowballed so fast it was insane. That’s why I try to tell people to use the minimum you need and flush the rest. Having them sitting in your medicine cabinet is like Odysseus and the sirens. The call is so powerful it’s all you can hear.
Of course, that’s me, but I hope you’ll proceed with caution.
i had percocet after my c-section and it dulled the pain fairly well. i wasn’t pain free, but i felt pretty good and wasn’t groggy or dozey which was important as i wanted to be with it to care for Junior.
As others have said - it causes serious poo issues. i switched to regular tylenol after about 4 days just because i was anxious to go to the bathroom again - i’m usually a go after every meal type of girl and i had gone days with nuthin.
These are my reactions/opinions, yours of course will vary.
Percocet is stronger than Vicodin but makes me a little queasy if taken on an empty stomach.
Take the percocet before the pain “peaks” and you may not need the Dilaudid.
Yep, you’re going to be constipated. Plan on it and take what measures you need.
If you’re not used to opiates then do not drive, operate heavy machinery, or make any plans to be functional.
Depending on dosage and duration you may develop a bit of a tolerance, but generally (imho) it’s unlikely.
Either one my very likely make you sleepy, groggy, euphoric or nauseous. Just like any other strong opiate.
As someone who suffers from moderate-severe chronic pain and has taken Vicodin for a couple years, I definitely have a tolerance, but have have stopped taking it for over a year at a time in the past without any problem, other than being in pain.
I’ve also spent a month in the hospital on morphine and percocet alternating every 2 hrs and had no problem with addiction.
I had Percocet following nasal surgery and don’t remember any euphoria. I think it did make my brain a little incoherent and the recovery time just flew by. It also made me very gregarious which I hear is not uncommon.
I don’t recall any trouble with constipation but I was 15 so YMMV.
Ahh, Percocet. When I get a headache that Tylenol 3 won’t touch it I will occasionally take one.
For me, the pain doesn’t get any better but I am flying so high I don’t give a damn.
I am having surgery this Monday. They have prescribed dilaudid for after surgery pain. I have heard horror stories about this drug. I can’t take Percocet or Vicodin, allergic reactions. Any information would be appreciated.
Dilaudid is one of the few drugs I can really get behind “controlled” status of. If it wasn’t controlled, I’d abuse the heck out of it. For me (and everyone is different), dilaudid just takes my pain and anxiety and puts it into a pretty box with a pretty bow on it and takes it down the hallway and puts it in a closet where I don’t have to think about it for a while. It doesn’t make me groggy or foggy or any of that, it just takes the pain away. It’s lovely, lovely stuff. So I don’t use it except when someone with an MD after their name says I should.
Definitely see if they want you to take a stool softener. Depending on your insurance, it may be cheaper to buy one OTC or it may be cheaper to get a prescription. If your doctor thinks a stool softener would be good, ask him to write you a prescription, and then ask the pharmacist which way is cheaper for you. The OTC version is exactly the same as the prescription one.
If no stool softener, then prunes. They’re a classic for a reason. Also dried apricots, raisins and dates can help.
Try both - there is no one reaction to either.
As this is short term, it won’t matter, but the NSAIDS (Ibuprofen, acetaminophen, etc) are very bad for kidneys and should not be taken in quantity for extended periods.
I use extended-release morphine and dilaudid if a pain gets past the morphine.
Unless I take them on an empty stomach, I do not get psychotropic reactions to them.
Your results will vary.
That is a good reason for giving scripts for more than one narcotic.
Acetaminophen is not an NSAID and its risk lies not in the kidneys but the liver, which can fail upon overdose.
I had a major kidney stone issues during the first quarter of 2014 and was given Dilaudid by injection or drip on several occasions. That stuff was amazing: for the two hours or so each dose was effective, the pain just vanished, and I didn’t feel any sort of drowsiness or nausea.
During recovery, I tried variants of both Percocet and Vicodin, and not only did they not seem at all effective at pain management, I ended up with the worst constipation of my life, almost as painful as the kidney stone. I endorse those who have mentioned stool softeners: yeah, you definitely want to start that before getting on the meds, and I would furthermore keep some magnesium citrate around in case you really need to get things going.
I nursed my mother through all the stages of cancer and the ever-stronger drugs that were a part of her treatment. Dilaudid was the drug she was given about halfway through the process - after Percodan no longer worked and before Demerol was started. It’s strong and does make you loopy, but it also makes you anxiety-free and totally happy. My mother would lie in bed singing and laughing at whatever movies were playing in her head. Not something you’d want to do as a normal functioning human, but when you’re dying, it’s a pretty nice gig. I was sorry when it no longer dulled the pain for her and she had to progress to stronger drugs. She lost that carefree happy feeling and became more like the zoned-out, drugged-up patients you see on the heavy drugs.
I admit, after she passed, I tried one of the Dilaudid, just to see what it would do to me. Other than, literally, not being able to stand up out of the chair I was sitting in, it was euphoric. I am surprised this isn’t more of a street drug than it is. And I’ll bet it’s addictive as all get out.
I took Percocet after knee surgery for the first few days. It allowed me to get up and walk around and do the exercises they asked of me without turning into a screaming ball of pain/mush. But it left me lethargic. I was glad to be moved back onto Vicodin, which killed some of the pain, but left me mentally functional.
I just deleted a very long post about why I will never take Dilaudid again, but it involves cancer and being on it for three months. Not relevant!
For the short period of time you need to be on it, Down on the farm, you’ll most likely be fine! I echo what others have said about a stool softener, although I found I had to add Miralax, and even then it was iffy. But like I said, three months. 
I forgot to include that Percocet handled my pain fine, gave me a high, and chewed up my stomach. I believe the duration is longer than Dilauded, around six hours versus three or four.
I was given Dilaudid after my patellar tendon repair surgery (yes, the tendon between my lower leg and kneecap snapped!), and it did about what Dingbang describes, except I fell asleep. I was in the hospital for a couple of days, so I didn’t really have anything better to do.
Anyhow, the way it was explained to me is that if you can stay ahead of the pain (i.e. keep yourself dosed at a schedule that never lets the pain flare up), your experience will be better than if you let it get painful and then try to beat it back down.
I don’t know if it would have made me nauseated or not; they gave me Zofran, so I was fine as far as nausea and vomiting were concerned. Back when I had my previous knee surgery (1989), Zofran wasn’t out, and I projectile vomited as a result of the pain killers and was generally miserable, even if I wasn’t in pain.
I was given Dilaudid after my patellar tendon repair surgery (yes, the tendon between my lower leg and kneecap snapped!), and it did about what Dingbang describes, except I fell asleep. I was in the hospital for a couple of days, so I didn’t really have anything better to do.
Anyhow, the way it was explained to me is that if you can stay ahead of the pain (i.e. keep yourself dosed at a schedule that never lets the pain flare up), your experience will be better than if you let it get painful and then try to beat it back down.
I don’t know if it would have made me nauseated or not; they gave me Zofran, so I was fine as far as nausea and vomiting were concerned. Back when I had my previous knee surgery (1989), Zofran wasn’t out, and I projectile vomited as a result of the pain killers and was generally miserable, even if I wasn’t in pain.
Easily lost in the shuffle of concerns here is the presence of acetominophen in the Percocet.
Acetominophen is a pain reliever that nearly everyone has a good tolerance for, and it plays well with others and enhances their effectiveness. So far so good.
But acetominophen is quite rough on the liver. The bloodstream has to be detoxxed of acetominophen’s breakdown products and you do not want to exceed the recommended maximum dose of acetominophen (I believe it is 4000 mg per 24 hours but that assumes nothing else is taxing the liver).
Still so far so good, except that Percocet may not be the only thing you’re taking that has acetominophen in it. To start with, Tylenol is acetominophen. Some people take Tylenol as one of the mild pain relievers they use to avoid diving straight into the heavy duty stuff. Oops. Then, well did I mention that acetominophen plays nice with other drugs and often enhances their efficacy? So it gets mixed into a wide variety of other medications, some over the counter and some not. Check everything that you take for anything. Look for acetominophen as an ingredient.
I take 5/325 dose of percocet three to four times a day for a chronic pain condition.
While taking any opiate, you will want to eat lots of roughage. I like Plum Sweets, which are dark-chocolate-dipped “dried plums” (i.e., prunes). They’re really tasty.
I also have a big salad for lunch most days.
If you get really bunged up – and the combo of opiates and not being as active as normal can do that – try Fibre One bars. I like the caramel-chocolate-pretzels ones.
ETA: if you take any of the pills for more than a few days, you may have some physical symptoms when you stop taking them. If it’s really unpleasant, try reducing the dose instead of going cold turkey. Percocet can be snapped in half and spaced out to every 6-8 hours instead of every 4-6. Just move the times out by a few hours with each dose. It’s easier on the system than trying to go cold turkey.
A bit off topic, but are you perchance an exceptionally flexible person? A weird symptom of a lot of hypermobility syndromes – full-blown Ehlers-Danlos like a friend of mine, or just being unusually bendy at all the joints like I am – is that medication, especially pain medication, can do very strange things.
Tylenol and NSAIDs do what they’re supposed to do, but opioid painkillers do not work on me. At all. They make me itch everywhere, I overheat, my feet don’t work, and Vicodin makes me cry for no reason whatsoever, but they do nothing for pain. I’ve gotten equally haywire effects from antidepressants and anxiolytics.
Nobody has the foggiest idea why, but hypermobility syndromes are also correlated with things like anxiety disorders, so I just figure it’s some weird genetic brain chemical thing.
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