Bad Rx reaction

[MaggieMae]

People react differently to drugs. I've taken Vicodin once or twice and found it not that effective (at least the small dosage I took). However, I've also taken oxycodone, so the Vicodin may have just seemed ineffective by comparison.

Whatever the case, I would much rather take either of those drugs in sufficient dose rather than drink alcohol to relieve pain. I dislike the side effects of alcohol more than I do those of the opiates I've had, and I think the opiates were more effective pain killers.

As far as a simple high, I don't like the effects of alcohol. Or at least, as someone who does not drink, I don't like the effects when seen from a sober perspective. Alcohol makes people stupid, loud, sweaty, dirty, and basically unpleasant to be around for anyone who isn't also drinking. Add to that the vomiting, the hangover, and the fact that it would be bad for my reflux, and an opiate high seems much more appealing to me.

These things can be very different depending on the individual. And of course, whether as a pain-killer or to get high, people should BE CAREFUL with their drugs! Alcohol, prescription drugs, or illegal, they can be dangerous! I don't have a problem with people taking drugs for whatever reason, I just hate to see them abuse it and cause problems for themselves and those around them.

I'll shut up now before I choke on the thin air up on this high horse.

I quit alcohol (at least in large quantities!) years ago for much of the same reasons. I hated to see sloppy drunks, then began to see I could become one too if I kept it up. That was "back in the day" as they say -- 20's and 30's when martini lunches were the in thing, and after work soirees the norm.

 

[syrenn]

That's all I've been doing, too. I just double the dose of IB or acetaminophen, switching back and forth usually every other day because IB works better for inflamation but doesn't work as well for pain.

So far, it seems no one thinks Vicodin and its partners are worth it, so again, I wonder why it's so popular among addict wannabes?

I have no idea either! Though when i told my neighbor i was not taking them...she offered to take them of my hands... said "it took the edge off"

I think drug addicts are just addicts...any drug will do.

Well if they had a reaction like I did, it certainly wouldn't have "taken the edge off." In addition to the physical reactions, I was under a great deal of stress sure I was having a major heart attack and wouldn't live to see the light of day. I guess some people just don't have reactions like that. The script says those are symptoms but usually lessen once a regimen is begun. But I'm not gonna give it that long to find out!

I didn't get it either... i hate the stuff.


I hope you feel better soon.

 

[syrenn]

The last time I took it I had a separated AC. I took two as directed and about an hour I threw up and it was blue. I also had the low BP. I hate that stuff, and it never took away the pain.

So what did?

I've had Tylenol 3 with codeine following two different surgeries and that worked fine easing pain and I had no reaction.

The difference is that codeine is not a synthetic drug. Vicidone is synthetic codeine.

 

[syrenn]

That's all I've been doing, too. I just double the dose of IB or acetaminophen, switching back and forth usually every other day because IB works better for inflamation but doesn't work as well for pain.

So far, it seems no one thinks Vicodin and its partners are worth it, so again, I wonder why it's so popular among addict wannabes?

I have no idea either! Though when i told my neighbor i was not taking them...she offered to take them of my hands... said "it took the edge off"

I think drug addicts are just addicts...any drug will do.

You didn't give them to her, did you? Don't be a party to drug diversion!

As to the above question... yeah i know what she described is not an allergy. What i experience is the allergy.

Not a chance did i give them to her. They sat in my drawer for years until the hospital had a pill disposal program.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I don't like to tell people about this experience - but hey - it's anonymous here - so why not?
I have had numerous kidney stones, and if you have ever had kidney stones then you know - YOU WANT EVERY DRUG YOU CAN GET.
I was at the hospital, I was also suffering from a huge headache and vomiting (both common for the more severe stones)...they gave me hydromorphone...well...I had a bad reaction to it.
First thing I noticed was my arm that had the IV in it was red and sweating profusely. By the time I noticed that I began to feel paranoid...REAL paranoid. I sat straight up and turned to my wife and said "we need to get of here"...she looked at me strange, but in those few seconds the paranoia was increasing more and more - out of nowhere I was completely convinced they were going to kill me. I then started to try and get up and began yelling at my wife to go get the car and pull it up to the door...she paused for just a second..that infuriated me and I began cursing real loud etc.
Thank GOD for this little old nurse who obviously recognized what was happening. She walked up to me placed her hand on the sides of my face and calmly told me that I was having a reaction to the medicine, she kept repeating my name over and over, she got my wife to keep telling me this over and over - what I didn't know was that the reason she placed her hands on my face was to block my view of the doctor injecting benadryl into the IV - that was smart, because in the state of mind I was in - it would have got ugly fast.
Within seconds the effect of the hydromorphone took full effect and I could no longer sit up and just as fast my mind came back and I laid back and enjoyed one helluva buzz.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

It doesn't help with pain, it is merely a strong NSAID that will thin your blood to the point your heart cannot pump it.

 

[MaggieMae]

Yikes. For reasons I won't go into, I was prescribed Vicodin (10 mg/325 mg Acetominiphine) for pain, and had a severe reaction to it last night.

First extremely sleepy (which I expected, so I didn't take the first dose until I was ready to call it a night), but a half hour later, I felt flushed which within minutes turned to being soaked in sweat, dizzy, nauseated and eventually threw up). I took my BP which was way low at 97/59/61. I thereafter sat very still and took my BP at half-hour intervals until about 2 hours later when it was back to normal at 121/60/73.

And the worst part is that IT DIDN'T RELIEVE THE PAIN AT ALL.

My experience aside, I keep wondering what the attraction is to prescription drugs in the first place to take as some kind of "escape" from some part of one's life they wish to dull. I would think that anyone having a reaction like mine would just say no to experimenting with such opiates that can cause this kind of reaction, especially considering the possibility of becoming addicted. It was very scary and I was this far away from calling 911.

I am allergic to Vicodin. It makes me ITCH! It doesn't work for me either in terms of pain.

Sorry you had the bad reaction.

That's not an allergy. It's an adverse reaction that is well known to occur with opiate medications. There is a reason people who get IV opiates have benadryl on board as well.

A lot of people confuse adverse reactions with allergies. Allergies are things like anaphylaxis which will kill you. Adverse reactions are the unpleasant side effects to the drugs that are not abnormal or unexpected.

It becomes problematic in health care when someone confuses them and comes in with a drug allergy to 10 different things that aren't a true allergy. It's estimated that up to 90% of penicillin allergies aren't really allergies at all.

So when you go to see the Dr., the new trend is to ask patients to describe the allergy and what it did to them.

I agree about the adverse effect warnings. Seems that every prescription now puts a disclamer in that it "may cause nausea, vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, lightheadedness, dizziness" which I normally scoff at because I've never had those effects. In fact, I was quite shocked that I did experience all of what I did, especially the puking, because I hadn't thrown up since 1984. True. So I guess I'll start paying more serious attention to those warnings.

 

[MaggieMae]

I can't stand prescription pain meds. I take 3 Advil 3 times a day for tough pain. I always get the script filled in case the Advil just doesn't work but that kind of hard medicine really makes me feel worse.

That's all I've been doing, too. I just double the dose of IB or acetaminophen, switching back and forth usually every other day because IB works better for inflamation but doesn't work as well for pain.

Acetaminophen does absolutely nothing for inflammation. It's good for fever and pain. NSAIDs like ibuproffin and aleve (naproxen) are good anti-inflammatory agents.

So far, it seems no one thinks Vicodin and its partners are worth it, so again, I wonder why it's so popular among addict wannabes?

Because people want to get high. They aren't addict wannabes either. They are true addicts. It doesn't have to be a street drug for someone to be addicted to it.

I was thinking about first-time users who do it just to be part of the group, usually teenagers.

 

[MaggieMae]

I don't like to tell people about this experience - but hey - it's anonymous here - so why not?
I have had numerous kidney stones, and if you have ever had kidney stones then you know - YOU WANT EVERY DRUG YOU CAN GET.
I was at the hospital, I was also suffering from a huge headache and vomiting (both common for the more severe stones)...they gave me hydromorphone...well...I had a bad reaction to it.
First thing I noticed was my arm that had the IV in it was red and sweating profusely. By the time I noticed that I began to feel paranoid...REAL paranoid. I sat straight up and turned to my wife and said "we need to get of here"...she looked at me strange, but in those few seconds the paranoia was increasing more and more - out of nowhere I was completely convinced they were going to kill me. I then started to try and get up and began yelling at my wife to go get the car and pull it up to the door...she paused for just a second..that infuriated me and I began cursing real loud etc.
Thank GOD for this little old nurse who obviously recognized what was happening. She walked up to me placed her hand on the sides of my face and calmly told me that I was having a reaction to the medicine, she kept repeating my name over and over, she got my wife to keep telling me this over and over - what I didn't know was that the reason she placed her hands on my face was to block my view of the doctor injecting benadryl into the IV - that was smart, because in the state of mind I was in - it would have got ugly fast.
Within seconds the effect of the hydromorphone took full effect and I could no longer sit up and just as fast my mind came back and I laid back and enjoyed one helluva buzz.

That's scary.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

A doctor told me a very good painkiller that actually has more effectiveness than most narcotics is this...two Tylenols and two ibuprofens taken together. It is not something someone should do with any regularity - but when taken short term it is perfectly safe....and it works beautifully.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I don't like to tell people about this experience - but hey - it's anonymous here - so why not?
I have had numerous kidney stones, and if you have ever had kidney stones then you know - YOU WANT EVERY DRUG YOU CAN GET.
I was at the hospital, I was also suffering from a huge headache and vomiting (both common for the more severe stones)...they gave me hydromorphone...well...I had a bad reaction to it.
First thing I noticed was my arm that had the IV in it was red and sweating profusely. By the time I noticed that I began to feel paranoid...REAL paranoid. I sat straight up and turned to my wife and said "we need to get of here"...she looked at me strange, but in those few seconds the paranoia was increasing more and more - out of nowhere I was completely convinced they were going to kill me. I then started to try and get up and began yelling at my wife to go get the car and pull it up to the door...she paused for just a second..that infuriated me and I began cursing real loud etc.
Thank GOD for this little old nurse who obviously recognized what was happening. She walked up to me placed her hand on the sides of my face and calmly told me that I was having a reaction to the medicine, she kept repeating my name over and over, she got my wife to keep telling me this over and over - what I didn't know was that the reason she placed her hands on my face was to block my view of the doctor injecting benadryl into the IV - that was smart, because in the state of mind I was in - it would have got ugly fast.
Within seconds the effect of the hydromorphone took full effect and I could no longer sit up and just as fast my mind came back and I laid back and enjoyed one helluva buzz.

That's scary.

It was....it really was.
It is interesting when I think about it, kind of surreal. I was seriously approaching the point where my mind was no longer mine - and who knows what I would have done. I remember it, but I remember it as a scene in a movie rather than something that happened in real life.

 

[Liability]

Yikes. For reasons I won't go into, I was prescribed Vicodin (10 mg/325 mg Acetominiphine) for pain, and had a severe reaction to it last night.

First extremely sleepy (which I expected, so I didn't take the first dose until I was ready to call it a night), but a half hour later, I felt flushed which within minutes turned to being soaked in sweat, dizzy, nauseated and eventually threw up). I took my BP which was way low at 97/59/61. I thereafter sat very still and took my BP at half-hour intervals until about 2 hours later when it was back to normal at 121/60/73.

And the worst part is that IT DIDN'T RELIEVE THE PAIN AT ALL.

My experience aside, I keep wondering what the attraction is to prescription drugs in the first place to take as some kind of "escape" from some part of one's life they wish to dull. I would think that anyone having a reaction like mine would just say no to experimenting with such opiates that can cause this kind of reaction, especially considering the possibility of becoming addicted. It was very scary and I was this far away from calling 911.

Hey Magoo,

No joke. That could be a sign of a drug interaction.

Fwiw, I suggest you call your doctor (not the pharmacist) about your described reaction, pronto. Just to be on the safe side, I mean. IF your doc says it's nothing to worry about, the call was a mild waste of time and cheap insurance. But if the reaction was a drug interaction, it might be a good idea to play it safe and make sure that it doesn't cause any other health problems for you.

 

[geauxtohell]

It doesn't help with pain, it is merely a strong NSAID that will thin your blood to the point your heart cannot pump it.

What? Physiologically that makes no sense. The only instance where something like that happens is in hypovolemic shock with blood loss. The fix for that is to bolus normal saline which dilutes the blood to virtually nothing, but allows the body to minimally profuse organs.

NSAIDs don't dilute the blood, they may mess with coagulation, but that would be a bleeding problem and there are other far more powerful drugs (warfarin) that are used for that purpose.

What NSAID are you talking about?

 

[geauxtohell]

I don't like to tell people about this experience - but hey - it's anonymous here - so why not?
I have had numerous kidney stones, and if you have ever had kidney stones then you know - YOU WANT EVERY DRUG YOU CAN GET.
I was at the hospital, I was also suffering from a huge headache and vomiting (both common for the more severe stones)...they gave me hydromorphone...well...I had a bad reaction to it.
First thing I noticed was my arm that had the IV in it was red and sweating profusely. By the time I noticed that I began to feel paranoid...REAL paranoid. I sat straight up and turned to my wife and said "we need to get of here"...she looked at me strange, but in those few seconds the paranoia was increasing more and more - out of nowhere I was completely convinced they were going to kill me. I then started to try and get up and began yelling at my wife to go get the car and pull it up to the door...she paused for just a second..that infuriated me and I began cursing real loud etc.
Thank GOD for this little old nurse who obviously recognized what was happening. She walked up to me placed her hand on the sides of my face and calmly told me that I was having a reaction to the medicine, she kept repeating my name over and over, she got my wife to keep telling me this over and over - what I didn't know was that the reason she placed her hands on my face was to block my view of the doctor injecting benadryl into the IV - that was smart, because in the state of mind I was in - it would have got ugly fast.
Within seconds the effect of the hydromorphone took full effect and I could no longer sit up and just as fast my mind came back and I laid back and enjoyed one helluva buzz.

The benadryl/dilaudid combo is a pretty good knockout punch.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

It doesn't help with pain, it is merely a strong NSAID that will thin your blood to the point your heart cannot pump it.

What? Physiologically that makes no sense. The only instance where something like that happens is in hypovolemic shock with blood loss. The fix for that is to bolus normal saline which dilutes the blood to virtually nothing, but allows the body to minimally profuse organs.

NSAIDs don't dilute the blood, they may mess with coagulation, but that would be a bleeding problem and there are other far more powerful drugs (warfarin) that are used for that purpose.

What NSAID are you talking about?

Vicodin, s0n, is a NSAID. So is Acetaminophen. Aspirin too.

 

[geauxtohell]

It doesn't help with pain, it is merely a strong NSAID that will thin your blood to the point your heart cannot pump it.

What? Physiologically that makes no sense. The only instance where something like that happens is in hypovolemic shock with blood loss. The fix for that is to bolus normal saline which dilutes the blood to virtually nothing, but allows the body to minimally profuse organs.

NSAIDs don't dilute the blood, they may mess with coagulation, but that would be a bleeding problem and there are other far more powerful drugs (warfarin) that are used for that purpose.

What NSAID are you talking about?

Vicodin, s0n, is a NSAID. So is Acetaminophen. Aspirin too.

Acetaminophen/tylenol is not technically an NSAID. It has no anti-inflammatory properties. Vicoden, Percocet, and Lortab are also not NSAIDs. They are opiod drugs that are cut with acetaminophen. The dosage 5/325 etc signifies the proportion of opiod to acetaminophen. 5 mg opiod and 325 mg acetaminophen.

If someone comes in with a sprained ankle and you give them vicoden, you are just addressing the pain. It would be much better to give them motrin or naproxen to reduce the swelling and control pain.

On a side note, chronic vocoden etc. users are most likely unknowingly screwing up their livers by taking way more than the recommended dose of acetaminophen. The GI docs are going to be busy in the future.

 

[AllieBaba]

Yikes. For reasons I won't go into, I was prescribed Vicodin (10 mg/325 mg Acetominiphine) for pain, and had a severe reaction to it last night.

First extremely sleepy (which I expected, so I didn't take the first dose until I was ready to call it a night), but a half hour later, I felt flushed which within minutes turned to being soaked in sweat, dizzy, nauseated and eventually threw up). I took my BP which was way low at 97/59/61. I thereafter sat very still and took my BP at half-hour intervals until about 2 hours later when it was back to normal at 121/60/73.

And the worst part is that IT DIDN'T RELIEVE THE PAIN AT ALL.

My experience aside, I keep wondering what the attraction is to prescription drugs in the first place to take as some kind of "escape" from some part of one's life they wish to dull. I would think that anyone having a reaction like mine would just say no to experimenting with such opiates that can cause this kind of reaction, especially considering the possibility of becoming addicted. It was very scary and I was this far away from calling 911.

Vicodin is a pretty intense med. It can certainly slow your heart and respiration considerably, which is how it can cause DEATH when people od on it. It also can produce the side effects of agitation, itchiness (which is why people are often prescribed diphenhydramine with it).

And a lot of people have a low, low tolerance to it.

Just know it doesn't have those severe side effects on everybody; for some those symptoms are actually a relief from their usual state of being.

It's not terribly effective as a pain killer for me, either. Plain old codeine works much, much better without the horrible side effects of vicodin. Anymore, I don't let the docs prescribe vicodin to me; I ask for codeine w/aspirin.

 

[Jos]

For Pain I just smoke some of my home grown Opium. extracted from the poppy's on my land

 

[Montrovant]

What? Physiologically that makes no sense. The only instance where something like that happens is in hypovolemic shock with blood loss. The fix for that is to bolus normal saline which dilutes the blood to virtually nothing, but allows the body to minimally profuse organs.

NSAIDs don't dilute the blood, they may mess with coagulation, but that would be a bleeding problem and there are other far more powerful drugs (warfarin) that are used for that purpose.

What NSAID are you talking about?

Vicodin, s0n, is a NSAID. So is Acetaminophen. Aspirin too.

Acetaminophen/tylenol is not technically an NSAID. It has no anti-inflammatory properties. Vicoden, Percocet, and Lortab are also not NSAIDs. They are opiod drugs that are cut with acetaminophen. The dosage 5/325 etc signifies the proportion of opiod to acetaminophen. 5 mg opiod and 325 mg acetaminophen.

If someone comes in with a sprained ankle and you give them vicoden, you are just addressing the pain. It would be much better to give them motrin or naproxen to reduce the swelling and control pain.

On a side note, chronic vocoden etc. users are most likely unknowingly screwing up their livers by taking way more than the recommended dose of acetaminophen. The GI docs are going to be busy in the future.

I don't know about vicodin, but I'm pretty sure they make oxy without the acetaminophen. The added acetaminophen certainly seems to be the norm, but for anyone who is or expects to be taking them for an extended period they could ask about getting the non-acetaminophen version (I looked this up for some reason a while back, I think as part of an argument some friends and I were having lol).

 

[geauxtohell]

Vicodin, s0n, is a NSAID. So is Acetaminophen. Aspirin too.

Acetaminophen/tylenol is not technically an NSAID. It has no anti-inflammatory properties. Vicoden, Percocet, and Lortab are also not NSAIDs. They are opiod drugs that are cut with acetaminophen. The dosage 5/325 etc signifies the proportion of opiod to acetaminophen. 5 mg opiod and 325 mg acetaminophen.

If someone comes in with a sprained ankle and you give them vicoden, you are just addressing the pain. It would be much better to give them motrin or naproxen to reduce the swelling and control pain.

On a side note, chronic vocoden etc. users are most likely unknowingly screwing up their livers by taking way more than the recommended dose of acetaminophen. The GI docs are going to be busy in the future.

I don't know about vicodin, but I'm pretty sure they make oxy without the acetaminophen. The added acetaminophen certainly seems to be the norm, but for anyone who is or expects to be taking them for an extended period they could ask about getting the non-acetaminophen version (I looked this up for some reason a while back, I think as part of an argument some friends and I were having lol).

They do, but I don't think it's commercially available here in the U.S. I don't think I've ever seen it at least. I have seen the pill form of morphine sulfate.

What I am seeing, are a lot of people on the combo drugs for years and years.