# What is Norco \[painkiller\]? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819 "2010-12-11T22:28:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819/41 "2010-12-13T02:19:58Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > What exactly does a Tylenol overdose entail? Untreated? A painful, lingering death over a few days after your liver fails. There is an antidote, but it must be administered within 8 hours or so, and symptoms of an overdose don’t always become obvious within the window for treatment. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819/42 "2010-12-13T02:32:05Z")
How much Tylenol does it really take to do that? I know, personally, two people that attempted suicide by APAP in high school. Both of them took a bottle (no idea how many pills) of Tylenol and chased it with vodka. Both said they woke up feeling like a million bucks\* and both are still alive and well today. \*It was odd that they both said that, I always assumed that has something to do with spending the night, thinking you’re going to die, and re-evaluating your life. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Doctor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819/43 "2010-12-13T06:14:41Z")
So based off all this data, in theory, I could get away with taking up to 12 Norco in a day and not destroy my liver. More than that, and the posibility exists of slow, lingering death. Gotcha. Don’t overdo the painkillers. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819/44 "2010-12-13T06:24:44Z")
> [@Doctor](#): > > So based off all this data, in theory, I could get away with taking up to 12 Norco in a day and not destroy my liver. More than that, and the posibility exists of slow, lingering death. Gotcha. Don’t overdo the painkillers. I wouldn’t do it for an extended period of time, and certainly not while drinking. Also, 60mg of Hydrocodone in 24 hours is quote a hefty dose for someone who hasn’t yet built up their tolerance to it. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Doctor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819/45 "2010-12-13T06:45:20Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I wouldn’t do it for an extended period of time, and certainly not while drinking. Also, 60mg of Hydrocodone in 24 hours is quote a hefty dose for someone who hasn’t yet built up their tolerance to it. No plans to drink while recovering and as it arthroscopic surgery I am getting, I don’t expect to need to use the meds for an extended period of time. I am definitely of the opinion to keep the painkillers to a minimum. I’ve heard too many addiction horror stories. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819/46 "2010-12-13T11:56:13Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > How much Tylenol does it really take to do that? I know, personally, two people that attempted suicide by APAP in high school. Both of them took a bottle (no idea how many pills) of Tylenol and chased it with vodka. Both said they woke up feeling like a million bucks\* and both are still alive and well today. > > \*It was odd that they both said that, I always assumed that has something to do with spending the night, thinking you’re going to die, and re-evaluating your life. Depends. Was it actually Tylenol/acetaminophen, or something else? (Some people just refer to any random OTC pain remedy by a particular brand name.) How much vodka? [This article](http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/820200-overview) says around 7-10 grams, and significant alcohol consumption lowers that amount. It sounds like your friends had tiny/incomplete bottles of pills, and/or got very lucky in general. Acetaminophen overdose is a really, really shitty way to try to die. ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819/47 "2010-12-15T16:26:30Z")
I once complained to a doctor about the Tylenol aspect of Hydrocodone and he switched me to 30 mgs of oxycodone with no additive----I believe it’s called roxycodone? I was recovering from a bad car accident where I had broken my cheekbone and eye socket. The doc told me that he rarely wrote hydrocodone prescriptions in any case and was mostly prescribing oxycodone. Is this a trend amongst doctors or just his preference? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819/48 "2010-12-15T19:22:03Z")
> [@Keith\_Berry](#): > > I once complained to a doctor about the Tylenol aspect of Hydrocodone and he switched me to 30 mgs of oxycodone with no additive----I believe it’s called roxycodone? I was recovering from a bad car accident where I had broken my cheekbone and eye socket. The doc told me that he rarely wrote hydrocodone prescriptions in any case and was mostly prescribing oxycodone. Is this a trend amongst doctors or just his preference? Oxycodone with no additive is generally called oxycodone. And It’s probably just preference, though I wish it were a trend. I’m not a big fan of hydrocodone, but it’s handy to prescribe over the phone, rather than prescribe oxycodone or morphine, which require written scrips. Codeine is about as good a pain reliever as hydrocodone, except that 15% of the population don’t metabolize codeine, so get no pain relief from it. A big oops if you send those folks home with it at the beginning of a weekend for a broken arm, etc. Ideally I wish they just stopped mixing acetaminophen with other drugs, especially the abusable ones. You want to kill junkies, go kill junkies. Don’t make 'em play russian roulette and drag health professionals into the mix. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819/49 "2010-12-15T21:18:20Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I’m not a big fan of hydrocodone, but it’s handy to prescribe over the phone, rather than prescribe oxycodone or morphine, which require written scrips. You can call in a Rx for hydrocodone? I am under the impression in my state we have to have a written and signed Rx for any controlled substance. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but that’s what we tell the patient’s anyway, so they don’t call the ED asking us to refill their chronic pain meds! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819/50 "2010-12-15T23:46:56Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > You can call in a Rx for hydrocodone? I am under the impression in my state we have to have a written and signed Rx for any controlled substance. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but that’s what we tell the patient’s anyway, so they don’t call the ED asking us to refill their chronic pain meds! Hydrocodone with APAP is a Schedule III drug, and my state (Wisconsin) doesn’t require a written, signed script to dispense. A signed order must be provided eventually, but it can be ordered anew or refilled by phone. The US is a patchwork of different states with different local drug laws. Here in Wisconsin, Schedule II stimulants cannot be prescribed save for narcolepsy, ADD and related disorders, and to establish a diagnosis of depression, when the diagnosis is uncertain. To prescribe it for other reasons will get one’s license placed in jeopardous circumstances, and could result in criminal proceedings. But we can call in Schedule III meds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-norco-painkiller/563819.md?page=2)