Questions and Answers about Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen

Hydrocodone is a cough-suppressant and narcotic analgesic (pain killer) for pain management. 5mg of it taken orally is the same as 30mg of codeine. Early studies initially concluded that this drug and morphine provided the same level of pain control, but now it is thought that a 15mg dose of hydrocodone is the same as 10mg of morphine, the effects of both being the same. Typically this drug is combined with acetaminophen (Vicodin, Lortab), but sometimes it is combined with aspirin (Lortab ASA), ibuprofen (Vicoprofen), and antihistamines (Hycomine) or in liquid form (Tussionex) as well.

User Testimonials (from the Explaining Medicine forum):

User Question:
I have taken vicodin for approx. 9months now on a daily basis, i was in a car accident and ended up with 5 buldged disks in my lower back, including the siaticca, bursitus in my right hip and nerve damage in my right foot. but hey, I'm alive Praise God...
My question is this, what is the difference between darvocet and vicodin? recently i have requested to be taken off of the vicodin and put onto something not as potent but with no codien in it... can't take codiene.

User Response:
In response to your questions about the Darvocet....these drugs may be somewhat related as they ARE narcotic pain relievers, but they are from different substances. To the best of my knowledge, Darvocet is a combination of Propoxyphene with Acetiminophen, and Darvon contains Aspirin versus the Acet. The latter may be of stronger dosage or mg, but that just varies.

Vicodin is just a brand name for the generic drug Hydrocodone and can either be combined with Acet(Tylenol brand and sometimes shows as APAP on the rx's), Ibuprofen(Motrin brand) or even Aspirin(sometimes this will show as "ASA" on rx's). The usual dosages of the hydro-combo drugs are 5mg, 7.5mg and 10mg with a range of 325 mg of the non-narcotic pain reliever to as high as 660mg or 750mg. I myself have usually taken the Hydro/Acet combo with 10mg and 500mg. Of course, you have to consider the amount of Acet you are getting in that due to liver concerns and some people do better with that being subbed with Ibuprofen like Vicoprofen, etc. Of course THEN you have to consider the stomach involvement with that instead of the liver involvement with the other. Heck, it is all a darned trade-off if ya' ask me! haha

I myself have been prescribed Darvocet in the past mainly and very often for dental procedures(dentists seem to like this stuff) and have reacted to it poorly with nausea and such. The hydrocodone has NEVER caused this and has been my narcotic pain reliever of choice since I CAN take it during the day without drowsiness(it can even sometimes wire you or even give you energy) and I am very functional especially when I have strenuous tasks to perform, drive, etc.

As far as in comparison, I know Hydrocodone and its brand-name counterparts-i.e. Lortab, Lorcet, Vicodin, Vicoprofen, Norco, Zydone, etc. are a "Schedule II" substance in most or all cases unless that has changed. I don't know the schedule that the Darv's are in, but are still considered a narcotic with the usual pharmaceutical monitoring and such.

Either way, anything narcotic based-that is either naturally or synthetically derived from morphine-based or related drugs manufactured from the poppy and such ARE highly addictive and habit-forming and you just have to weigh the pros and cons of everything.

Good luck and I hope some of this answered your questions...

More Information:

MedlinePlus: Hydrocodone
DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency): Hydrocodone
Drugs@FDA: Hydrocodone
Wikipedia: Hydrocodone

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