I have been prescribed Vicodin a couple of times, for a wisdom tooth removal and for getting part of my jaw ground away. It didn’t make the pain go away for me. I just felt so good, I didn’t care that I was in agony. 
Out of the 40 pills total that were prescribed, I have used a total of 3, 1 for the wisdom tooth and 2 for the jaw grinding. It would be way too easy to keep taking them.
I was introduced to the pleasures of Vicodin this year, also due to teeth issues. I took the 500s which seemed to help the pain and relaxed me. A lot. It was nice, but not a buzz. That was in April.
In August, the pain from two other rotting, fetid teeth drove me back to the dentist, wherein he prescribed the 750s. VERY nice! No more agony, plus I felt pleasantly rubbery and disconnected from my version of reality. The blasted dentist only gave me 10 in that script, but produced another scrip after the extraction, which I haven’t filled yet. I waiting until things get really bad and I need a little vacation.
Vicodin, for me at least, goes down SMOOOOOOOOTH,
No prob! I should stress again that I’m speculating. One surefire way to find out is to get a genetic or pharmacologic test for CYP450 2D6 activity, which most certainly can be done, and may only cost a few hundred dollars (I’m not endorsing that particular lab, just giving an example of what’s available). Why is this useful? Well, let’s say you’re caucasian. You’ve got a slightly-less-than 10% chance of being a “poor metabolizer” right there. Lot’s of drugs are metabolized by 2D6 (the only other liver enzyme more generally important may be 3A4). If you find out you’re 2D6 deficient, and you’re being given prescription meds, your doctor can whip open his PDR (or whip out his PDA and consult some software, as it’s done more and more these days) and check if the drug you’re taking is a target of that enzyme. If it is, you might be able to avoid excessive dosing (and hence potentially unpleasant side-effects), as your effective dose of the drug may be higher than it would be if you metabolized that drug like the average person. Conversely, a drug like codeine might work poorly or not at all for you, because it needs to be metabolized to be effective, and is just floating around uselessly in your system while you enjoy little or none of the hoped-for benefits. You could be taking an alternative, maybe even the very thing your body would have yielded had you been a good metabolizer, and why not be armed with that info. before you get treated?
I took a total of three yesterday. (I stayed up 'til 2330 so I could have one before bed.) Slept pain-free for eight hours. Only a small amount of discomfort this morning. So I took one when I got up. I don’t think I’ll need the rest.
I prefer ibuprofen to acetaminophen. It seems to work better for me, and I’ve heard there is a danger of liver damage with the latter.
Vicodin make me puke voluminously and constantly. (all opiates except codeine actually – my experience with morphine was singularly horrible.) I have no idea what Vicodin feels like, because I throw up the undigested pills. It’s like my body is yelling POISON!!!
So, Loopydude what does it mean if my body rejects the substance entirely? I usually put it down under “allergies” on medical questionaires, but I don’t think that’s correct. I don’t think copious vomiting is a histamine reaction … I could be wrong about that.
Nausea and vomiting are common adverse effects associated with opioids, and morphine is one of the worst offenders. The GI tract contains mu2 receptors, which, unfortunately, are highly activated by opiod drugs. This stimulation can cause reduced GI motility and emesis. (There’s probably a role being played by weaker stimulation of other types of opiate receptors). You’ve also got to remember, there’s quite a lot going in in the CNS with these opiods, including messing with your sense of equilibrium, not unlike seasickness might, and hence pressing the “vomit button” in the medulla. Probably the reason codeine isn’t giving you so much trouble is it is a prodrug, and must be metabolized before it becomes a potent mu receptor agonist, and hence isn’t hitting your gut the moment it gets in there. Hydrocodone, while still made more potent by conversion to hydromorphone, might still potent enough unconverted to give some people trouble.
In any event, all opiods can cause nausea, either immediately or some time after administration and conversion.
I’m not aware of any compounds that are truly selective mu1 agonists, and hence would be free of some of the GI side-effects while preserving some analgesic efficacy. Sadly, some people are just highly sensitive to having their opiate system stimulated in this way, and there’s not much that can be done about it. There are antiemetics that might help a bit if co-administered; but as they tend to act on different receptor pathways, their ability to reduce the adverse effects of opiods is limited.
Antihistamines might help a little, as mu receptor stimulation can cause histamine release. The anti-muscarinic and anti-dopaminergic (especially metoclopramide) antiemtics also may also be helpful, though I don’t really know why, except that those receptors are involved either in the CNS or peripherally with nausea. There are, of course, mu-antagonist drugs that could be used as antiemetics, but as they’re readily absorbed, they tend to interfere with not only the adverse, but also the beneficial effects of the drug.
Perhaps you just have to stick with codeine.
I’m of the “It doesn’t work” group.
The only way I got any effect from it, was to chase it with a beer, an “alternative cigarette”, and on an empty stomach. Even that combination didn’t have any effect until I decided that chopping some wood would be a good use of the rest of the day following wisdom tooth removal, though I think that was more an issue of low blood sugar than the Vicodin.
Too bad, because those that like them, seem to REALLY like them.
Vicoprofen.
Thanks loopydude that was actually quite interesting. I didn’t know that Codeine was metabolized somewhat differently. I guess I’m just very sensitive. Actually, it’s not unusual for me to have unusual or reverse reactions to drugs (for example caffeine often makes me quite sleepy) and as is common for redheads apparently, I have a low pain threshold. Good thing my SO has a high whining threshold.
Hm, redhead here … very high pain threshold [many years of acclimatization to chronic pain I would guess=)] apparently immune to caffeine [for a long time my nightime treat before bed was a 20 oz expresso with about 3-4 oz heavy cream, a drift of cinnamon and tiny amount of vanilla/splenda syrup [damn natures flavors for changing to that absolutely NASTY acetasulfasomething-K that tastes like licking a warm vinyl seatcover] Ibuprofin works well, my ankles turn into soccer balls on celecoxib, aleve acts about as good a painkiller as M&Ms. Love vicoden, percocet, morphine, codeine although cocaine just made my teeth numb and didnt perk me up or make me zesty/change my outlook [other than feeling like it was a great waste of money]
I will admit to being pretty nonaddictive. Cut the morphine to nothing about a quarter of the way through a hospital stay for a serious back injury, as it was to the level that ibuprofin worked and I couldn’t see bothering with the morphine any more. Stopped smoking - ran out of cigarettes and forgot to buy more and at the 3 month point when someone was trying to bum one off me and I realized I hadn’t smoked in 3 months decided not to buy them any more and have probably saved an assload of cash in the past 20 years from not smoking=). Can go from drinking myself silly [probably the eqivalent to 7 or 8 shots in 2 or 3 hours after work or in the evening] every day for a month to not having a drink for a year …
Wonder what that says about my genome=)
Blech, I hate vicoden. They make me both nauseated and sleepy and they don’t do a thing for the pain. When I shattered my leg two years ago, that was the first thing they gave me, I went back and made them change it to something different, percodan I think.
If you need for for a bit longer, I’ll bet you can get them to give you something different if you don’t like it.
I was taking Vicodin on occasion before my hip replacement, mainly when the pain started during the night and I couldn’t sleep. Post-op, I started getting Vicodin almost immediately (I think the only IV pain med I got was in recovery). I could have 2 Vicodin every 4-6 hours as needed, and I never took more than 3 a day cuz frankly the pain post-op was minimal. However, after taking only 1-3 tablets a day for a few weeks, I stopped cold turkey and it wasn’t pleasant. I felt agitated and jumpy for a few days, maybe I should have tapered down a bit instead.
I want a dentist that will give me nitrous or IV sedation for all procedures, including routine cleaning. I have a major dental phobia. Music helps, but the smells and sounds are still too much for me.
I thought I was the only one who got dizzy from taking Vicodin. Besides that it gives me a a godawful headache (and doesn’t do much in the way of pain relief). It’s not just Vicodin though. My doc prescribed me Ultram instead (which is waaaay weaker) and it gives me migraines! I think maybe opiates don’t agree with me because they gave me Fentanyl IV when they extracted my wisdom teeth and although it didn’t make me sick it made me suicidally depressed for the whole first day after my surgery. Once I got it out of my system I felt completely back to normal. Has anyone had a similar experience with Fentanyl? What’s the cause of this? (Sorry for hijacking this post btw. Am new here and this is my first time posting on a message board).
Samantha