# Well, I just took a Hydrocodone and I don't see what the big fuss is about. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292 "2018-05-16T16:56:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/21 "2018-05-17T02:02:54Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > There are people who are genetically resistant to opioids. I’m one of them. They make me a little foggy, but that’s it–for surgical pain they’re practically useless. I get a lot more benefit from ibuprofen. I recall reading a story about someone like that in the military. I believe the doctors used dilaudid instead and that worked. I have no idea how that works though. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/22 "2018-05-17T04:08:50Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I recall reading a story about someone like that in the military. I believe the doctors used dilaudid instead and that worked. I have no idea how that works though. Dilaudid is what they gave me after I had the shards of my left tibia and fibula surgically wired back together, because they knew they couldn’t send me home if I was on IV antibiotics and crutches. It was damn good stuff for that purpose. But I thought it was also an opiate? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/23 "2018-05-17T04:21:22Z")
Without reading what others have said…I hear that a lot. That is ‘I took Vicodin for the first time, I don’t get it’. There’s a big difference between taking a Vicodin (or other painkiller) when you’re in pain vs taking 3 or 4 of them, when not in pain, just for fun. It’s like a non-drinker saying they had half a beer and all it did was make them tired. Back in my day, we’d take 3-5 of them at a time and have a fun night. Never two nights in a row, tolerance builds up very fast. A buzz you can get from 3 or 4 tonight might take 5 tomorrow, it was easier to limit it to twice a week or so. @Eva, Dilaudid is an opiate (or technically an opioid). As I recall, opiates are natural, opioids are synthetic. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/24 "2018-05-17T05:03:09Z")
I was half expecting a series of posts from the op coming back with “and now I took three more … I don’t see the big deal.” “It does do anything to me, but the dentist won’t refill it so I’m going to have to get some somewhere else …” so on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sodalite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@Sodalite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sodalite)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/25 "2018-05-17T08:40:04Z")
I’ve had multiple surgeries from early childhood on up. I’ve been given just about everything out there at one time or another. Things were OK the first several years but at 14 I started to develop an allergy. I had a button to push for morphine after back surgery. The nurses complained I wasn’t taking enough and didn’t believe me when I said it made me feel bad. Fast forward to my mid-thirties. Any type of narcotic makes me intensely itchy. Dilaudid causes a flash of crushing pain a minute or so after it’s given. Then it makes me break out all over my face and chest. It keeps me sort of semiconscious at slightly higher dosages. There is no dreaming or awareness of time. I was on it during a week in ICU and might remember about thirty minutes in little snippets of wakefulness. Lower doses make me so tired that I’ll keep falling asleep on the toilet. I wake up and remember I need to go, then I’m gone again before I can start. It also causes me to make weird noises while I’m out. Anything from a low moaning to a high pitched kind of squealing sound and I have no control over it. Fentanyl does NOTHING for me at all. I had to have a drain put between my ribs and into a liver abscess. It had been done once before and we found a drug combo that worked well. The second doctor wouldn’t listen and went ahead without the correct meds. Just the fentanyl. The first cut through the skin was the only thing I didn’t feel. I screamed and cried my way through the whole procedure. From the way I’ve been treated I have to wonder if they think allergy means, “everything will be fine and normal when this medication is given”. I’ve been told that as long as it doesn’t make my throat close up it’s safe to take. Just suffer through the side effects the best I can and shut up. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/26 "2018-05-17T08:57:32Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Is it oxycodone, or Oxycontin? The stuff they give me is a big dose of acetaminophen with 5 mg of hydrocodone. As I understand it, the NSAID is for the pain, and the oxycodone is so you don’t care how well the NSAID works. Opiates don’t work all that well against pain _per se_, but they affect your reaction to pain. > > Regards, > Shodan Nitpick, acetaminophen isn’t an NSAID. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/27 "2018-05-17T12:48:04Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Dilaudid is what they gave me after I had the shards of my left tibia and fibula surgically wired back together, because they knew they couldn’t send me home if I was on IV antibiotics and crutches. It was damn good stuff for that purpose. But I thought it was also an opiate? It is an opiate, it is Hydromorphone. I believe I read about the story I was discussing in the biography of Howard Wasdin. He was in Somalia and got injured, and he said he was one of the 1% who didn’t respond to morphine. But he said that when the doctors switched him to dilaudid that that worked. I have no idea about the actual biochemistry of the situation. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/28 "2018-05-17T12:49:44Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > My kids are genetically prone to be addictive. Everyone one in my family is on alcohol or other, in many stages of addiction. So I preach.beg. talk til I’m blue. About this issue. Funny though it looks like the lil’wrekker may be the one who might have a problem someday. She had her wisdom teeth out and other dental work last summer. She had 30 pills of vicodin, and begged for every one I would give her. It was obvious they made her high. She has no pain tolerence, at all. I have had the big talk with her about fun drinking at college. And showed her examples in our own family of the ugly results of years of abuse. I hope she’s getting it. I know I come off like Debbie downer about it. I have to do it though. I feel like a flimsy piece of paper between her and addiction, at this point. So far, no issues yet. I am watching. How do you square that with this post? > [@Was I on another planet while the opiates explosion occurred?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999/12): > > I have never had a doctor just willy-nilly prescribe oxy or hydrocodone. You kinda have to beg for it if you need it around here. My daughters dental surgeon gave her a prescription for generic Advil, after wisdom teeth removal. I had to call him back to get the real stuff. Then I had to drive over to pick up the paper script, they wouldn’t call it in. > My dog bit hand got me 16 oxy. No chance of getting addicted around here. I’m just curious. These two posts seem completely at odds. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/29 "2018-05-17T12:56:50Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Nitpick, acetaminophen isn’t an NSAID. I sit corrected - thanks. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/30 "2018-05-17T13:26:00Z")
Is regular morphine or diamorphine any more effective against acute pain than the other drugs mentioned (fentanyl, hydrocodone, etc) in case the patient is resistant to the latter? ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/31 "2018-05-17T17:27:59Z")
The first time I took vicodin, I had an extremely vivid dream. And I regularly have vivid dreams, but this one was different. I was dreaming that I was back in childhood, going on a trip to my grandmother’s house. And during this dream, I was actually thinking like a child. Very specific things that hadn’t occurred to me in decades. Weird, wild stuff! Sadly, subsequent doses did not have this effect… ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/32 "2018-05-17T17:39:52Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > How do you square that with this post? > > I’m just curious. These two posts seem completely at odds. I’m not seeing it. What specifically seems contradictory to you? If it’s that there’s no chance of her getting addicted while saying everyone in her family has addiction issues, I think she’s separating herself from the rest of them. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/33 "2018-05-17T17:46:16Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > I’m not seeing it. What specifically seems contradictory to you? If it’s that there’s no chance of her getting addicted while saying everyone in her family has addiction issues, I think she’s separating herself from the rest of them. Well, **Beckdawrek** makes her daughter who is in pain from surgery, beg for her pain medication (why she just doesn’t follow the doctors instruction, I have no clue). But yet, despite this, she insisted that the doctor give her said medication. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/34 "2018-05-17T18:03:02Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Well, **Beckdawrek** makes her daughter who is in pain from surgery, beg for her pain medication (why she just doesn’t follow the doctors instruction, I have no clue). You realize this can be interpreted in a way that doesn’t mean she’s a shithead, right? Such as her daughter wants to take them more often than prescribed, but Beckdawrek only gave them to her when appropriate? > [@](#): > > But yet, despite this, she insisted that the doctor give her said medication. She mentioned her daughter genuinely having a low tolerance for pain. It’s not uncommon for parents not liking it that their kids are suffering. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/35 "2018-05-17T18:18:40Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Is there a way to find out if a person is? I wrenched my back one time [del]moving a bookcase because I was too lazy to remove the books[/del] playing a super X-games related acrobatic sport, and they gave me some type of oxy something or other. Didn’t seem to do anything for me. Get your genetic profile done by 23andMe, download your genome, then run it through Promethease. Part of their report is how you are likely to react to various medications. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/36 "2018-05-17T19:07:16Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > You realize this can be interpreted in a way that doesn’t mean she’s a shithead, right? Such as her daughter wants to take them more often than prescribed, but Beckdawrek only gave them to her when appropriate? > She mentioned her daughter genuinely having a low tolerance for pain. It’s not uncommon for parents not liking it that their kids are suffering. :rolleyes: It’s that her family has many alcoholics and other addicts, she’s worried about her daughter being a flimsy piece of paper away from being an addict, and yet she insisted on getting opioids from the doctor for her. Having your wisdom teeth out hurts, but three Advils would help a lot, and you’re not risking a lifelong addiction. And then, she got opioids for herself for a dog bite, which doesn’t seem like someone deathly afraid of addiction in the family. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/37 "2018-05-17T19:52:47Z")
I felt let down when I found some old meds that hadn’t done anything for me, so I’d given them up. Read the label and realized that I’d been on a methamphetamine without any real effects. I mean, shouldn’t I have at least started wearing dirty tank tops and drinking cheap beer? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/38 "2018-05-17T20:24:01Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > There are people who are genetically resistant to opioids. I’m one of them. They make me a little foggy, but that’s it–for surgical pain they’re practically useless. I get a lot more benefit from ibuprofen. I don’t even get foggy. Nothing. I might as well be eating Tic Tacs. It’s just a person by person thing; some people are very resistant, some extremely susceptible. Being resistant to them is great for avoiding addiction but also means there’s a form of pain management that doesn’t work so well for you. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/39 "2018-05-17T20:57:25Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > It’s that her family has many alcoholics and other addicts, she’s worried about her daughter being a flimsy piece of paper away from being an addict, and yet she insisted on getting opioids from the doctor for her. Having your wisdom teeth out hurts, but three Advils would help a lot, and you’re not risking a lifelong addiction. I don’t know. If one is making sure there kid is only getting them as prescribed, I don’t see the outrage even if she does worry about addiction in her family. Vicodin is commonly prescribed for wisdom tooth extraction for a reason- because it works much better than Advil alone. > [@](#): > > And then, she got opioids for herself for a dog bite, which doesn’t seem like someone deathly afraid of addiction in the family. Again, I think it’s because she knows herself by now. Addiction runs in my family too, and I worry about the younger ones in my family, but I know myself. I don’t know how people can drink so much and do it again. Same with drugs. I hate the feeling of not being sober or in control. I’m not afraid of pain killers even though I’m concerned about others in my family. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292/40 "2018-05-17T21:57:52Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Try taking 3-4 of them and see if you get a buzz. (Note: No, please don’t.) > > Some of the people who get addicted take crazy amounts of them. Kurt Angle (Olympic gold medalist and professional wrestler) claimed he was taking 65 extra strength Vicodin per day (which would be fatal for you or me) at the peak or his addiction and pain issues. I was going to come here and say something comparable. I’m also surprised that Mr. Angle didn’t destroy his liver in the process, from all that acetaminophen. Several years ago, I had a lot of dental work done, and the oral surgeon prescribed me 20 Vicodins, and I never took any after those procedures because ibuprofen did the job. However, in the years since, I have taken one here or there for a sinus infection, a burn I got from the oven grate, and three of them in the two days after my first breast surgery last fall; I didn’t need them for the second one. All they did for me was knock the pain back, which is what they’re for. One of my classmates died about 10 years ago from ODing on fentanyl (he was found unconscious in his house with two Duragesic patches on him, probably stolen) and a friend said he was an “avid user” of that and hydrocodone. ☹ Looking back, I strongly suspect that he became a pharmacist so he could have ready access to drugs (BELIEVE ME, THERE ARE EASIER WAYS TO DO IT) and have learned of two other classmates whose licenses have gone on and off suspended status over the years, on top of them being in and out of jail as well, because of this. Neither of those were any surprise to me either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-i-just-took-a-hydrocodone-and-i-dont-see-what-the-big-fuss-is-about/814292.md?page=3)