Pharmer.org

I agree with you.  Doctors are so paranoid that they'll be criticized for giving out unnecessary pain medication that they treat Vicodin 5/500s like they were gold or something.  It didn't used to be that way but in the past 6 or 7 years it seems that everyone is ultra conscious about the abuse of pain medication to the point of absurdity. 

Vivationman

And one must consider the cause of pain. 

A typical sinus headache is better treated with anti-infammatory like ibuprofen than with oxycodone alone.

MANY people that suffered for years with pain and tried large doses of all many of concoctions finally found relief with simple gabapentin. 

Opiates or similar medications are not always the best choice.

It is illegal to phone-in oxycodone-containing products, like percoset or percodan, or to allow refills on them because they are a higher schedule class of a drug.  Yoou can phone-in hydrocodone-products, like vicodin and vicoprofen in, though b/c they are not scheduled as high by the FDA.  As for Ultram, it might as well an OTC drug.  It is a joke.  You would have to eat the whole bottle to get any pain-relief.  I seriously don't understand why it even exists.

I guess it is true that it depends on your physical makeup as well as other factors, myself the 5mg used to work- years ago, when i was first getting them- but then again, I am smaller. A 190lb man, who never really took pain meds at all before, took the same 5mg and it did NOTHING. he had to take 2 5mg tabs, and it barely relieved the pain.

I think the reason vicoprofin is not prescribed as much is because ibuprofen eats at your stomach lining whereas tylenol messes with your liver- it's like which is the lesser of the two evils? actually, tylenol is b/c the liver can recover either better or faster than the stomach lining. more often, you will see dentists prescribe vicoprofin b/c they say the ibuprofen works better for dental pain than tylenol does. however, this is supposed to only be for a short-term use.

back in the day, before pain meds were abused so much, ultram probably was significant for something, now there are more bigger and better meds, leaving the ultram (tramadol) almost obselete. 

I'm a social worker, not a medical professional. All comments and thoughts are simply my opinion and experience.

Actually in some states you can call in Sch 2 med's if the doctor get's it to the pharmacy in a certain amount of hours In wyoming I think it is 72 hrs,but I know in Wy Sch 2's can be called in

Oxycodone is schedule II however hydrocodone is only Schedule II when it is in a compound with less than 80mg acetametaphin or more than 15mg of hydrocodone. All mass produced hydrocodone tablets are schedule III not II. The only way to get Schedule II hydrocodone is from a compounding pharmacy where they make the specific formula for you and put it in a capsule. Oxycodone is said to be 1.5-2 times stronger than hydrocodone.

Hi EMSmel (emt, phar. tech),

I'm kirby (BS in Accounting, CPA).

I like numbers so I want to correct one of your statements.

Vicodin and generics are Schedule 3 - not 4.

Actually a doctor can prescribe hydrocodone in any dose it just has to be compounded. The highest mass produced hydrocodone compound has 10mg but if it is below 15mg and at least 80mg tylenol it is still schedule III. The scheduling has nothing to do with the amount in the pill because a 5mg percocet is still in schedule II when a 10mg lortab(technically stronger) is still only schedule III. It has to do with abuse potential and oxycodone is 1.5 times stronger. Also you say there is no extended release hydrocodone when Tussionex which is a liquid contains a hydrocodone polystyrex iirc and is an extended release formula although it is a liquid not a pill. And there is a difference between oxy and hydro codone.....oxycodone is 1.5 times stronger so saying there is no difference except for scheduling is completely false. Although they are both semi-synthetic opiates they are different chemicals and different strengths per mg so saying there is no difference is false, dangerous, and misleading information.

Tussionex is 10mg per teaspoon so if you took two tablespoons that would be 60mg of hydrocodone so of course that is going to make a migraine go away. Saying you can not get hydrocodone in more than 10mg or in extended release is a false statement no matter what you choose to believe. Also fentanyl is not a morphine derivative last I checked it is its own fully synthetic opiate. As far as the urinating problem I have noticed that with codones, morphones, and full synthetics. But you will choose to believe whatever you want I guess because your first post did have false statements in it weather you choose to believe it or not. and to answer your question about who here is a chemist....I just ended my sophomore year at college with a major in chemistry....so in two years I will be a chemist...thats at least one person here on this site. Your right it is stupid to argue about the effects of a medicine because everyone is different but saying "they dont make this" or "these two are the same" when the statements are wrong is still false. 

I missed the post ahead of me

Thx

oh, also - when I told my neurologist about my urination problems, she said "ok, morphine-based meds give you problems urinating, so let's try something different for your migraines" - she was referring to the fentanyl patches.  But again, Thx

I know your last question wasnt addressed to me, but I think I can shed a little light on it for ya.  Hydrocodone is synthesised from Codeine or Thebaine, Oxycodone is usually only synthesised from Thebaine but can be made from Codeine but its a longer process. Both are structually similar to Morphine, but they arent technically "Morphine Based", they are however both made from a substance that is derived from the same plant. When it gets down to the exact differences, its going to be the placement of certain molecules in the chemicals structure that makes a difference. Depending on how the molecule is shaped will make a difference on how well it attachs to the opioid receptors in the brain, I also think it has something to do with how well it passes the blood/brain barrier (both of these factors into potency and duration of effects).

 You would think your doctor would have tried you on something like Demerol or Methadone before Fentanyl, both a pure synthetics but arent nearly as potent as Fentanyl and I think they are both significantly cheaper.