Watson Lortab Formula Change (Page 3)
(Newest replies first)

Does anyone know what Watson did or why they changed their formula for Lortab 10/500? It used to be blue and when I picked up my refill today they are now white. I still have a few days of my blue left but I swapped a few so I can try the white. I'm waiting for it to start working and I took it over 2 hours ago. My rx is 1-2 every 3 hours not to exceed 7 in a day. (my pm dr wants me on a stronger med but anything above hydrocodone makes me euphoric and I can't function) The blue color lortab starts to work within 15 mins. I took my first white color lortab 2 hours ago, waited an hour and took the 2nd and nothing. I will wait 30 mins longer and switch back to the blue until I run out. This sucks. I'm a full time law student, disabled, single mom and can't use my dominate arm because the pain level is too high. (My shoulder dislocates every time I move my arm, even after 3 surgeries the last one being a bone transplant to the shoulder.) Sorry about any typos, I am typing with my left hand and don't have the coordination in this arm/hand that I do with my right. Thank you for any information that you can provide me.

REPLY

REPORT

Don't let these pharmacists and doctors fool you into thinking NORCO is the only thing that exists for pain relief in the hydrocodone family of meds. They deny that Vicodin and Vicodin HP (which is pretty close to LORCET & LORTAB) still exist - that is til you come in with a RX! Ask your doctors to write you a RX for the Reformulated Vicodin HP = or simply have him/her write it for hydrocodone 10mg/acetaminophen 300. It works WAY better than the crappy Norcos, and its actually less Tylenol so they can't use THAT excuse.

***Note*** For some reason I've found (and discussed with others who agree) that the generic Vicodin HP made by Boca Pharmaceuticals works BETTER than the name brand Vicodin HP made by Abbott Pharmaceuticals.

My doctor still has had to add Percocet 5/325 to my daily meds in addition to the Vic-HP 10/300 as the new ones just aren't strong enough for all my pains. But the reformulated HP works FAR better than the Norcos.

Good luck everybody! May the Force Be With You!
I hope this helps some of you.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

Hello again all - & a new hello to those who have dropped in with their comments since I last posted mine. I first want to apologize because in my last post I said I would get back on here to let y'all know how things went on the next dr visit & if I could find an alternative to the dread worthless Norcos (might as well be fricken M&Ms as far as I'm concerned.) I have been trying to get back on here but my cell is a pain to type on even with swype, and my laptop is a beastly thing that weighs a metric ton - I have torn ligaments/tendons & tendonitis in my arm, not to mention pain from Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, ITP (they say it doesn't cause pain but the excessive bleeding can & does cause pain & fatigue) & herniated disks in my back making it difficult to even lift this laptop and type for prolonged periods of time.

So thats a rehash of my conditions (well not all - I am also dealing w Bell's Palsy and ungodly amounts of pain from broken teeth from years of too many prescribed corticosteroid treatments. (NOT meth, ewww, gross, but of course thats what people think of me when I open my mouth - despite the many thousands spent on crowns, bridges, partials spacers, extractions, fillings, dry mouth gels/rinses, etc. I am in my 30s, single, and likely to remain that way as lets face it, no one wants to kiss someone with a mouthful of rotten/missing teeth lost from years of taking poisons like prednisone and chemo from doctors oblivious to the dangers of prolonged high-dose usage. The treatments were often worse than the disease itself anyways, & rarely ever helped. When my conditions got so bad that I had to quit working & pursuing goals I had worked a lifetime toward, I went on disability and fell into a downward spiral of poverty and debt that keeps me enslaved and unable to afford treatments/surgeries I know could help me get a quality of life back.

I do not date. I do not work. I do not see my friends. I rarely ever talk to maybe just 1 or 2 friends every 3-6 months or so. I do not see my family. I haven't seen my own 91 year old grandmother in nearly 2 years because life on SSI disability keeps me too poor to afford to fix my car and register it so I can go see her. I can't even drive myself to the doctor because the Bell's Palsy effected my vision, and I haven't been able to afford car registration. The only way I can even get to the doctor is at the mercy of a friend of my mom's who takes pity on me. I have lost any and all semblance of independence. I am incredibly lonely but I hate to be seen because of the assumptions people make of me due to my teeth (or lack thereof now.) I can't even afford dentures (again I'm only in my 30s and I've had probably about $40K worth of dental work done over the years already! The prednisone just destroyed all that worked in less than 3 short years.

Oh and I love to cook too. Sometimes I cook things just to do it and smell it, even though I couldn't possible chew it. Sometimes I try to let it sit in some kind of sauce and get soggy and swallow it down, oh what I wouldn't give for dental implants and a SOLID meal!

Basically...

I am living in HELL.Correction - "existing", as no one could consider this "living".

If I don't get something done about my teeth I will likely die sooner than later from the infections and absesses, and there really isn't anyone who will help me in any way, and very few left in my life who would even mourn my passing.

I am the crux of the Fallen who dwell between the forgotten cracks of bureaucratic "herd-culling" and systematic soul-harvesting. Disease grips you, but the destruction it heaps onto your body is like a skinned knee compared to the Red Tape 3-Ring Circus of health insurance loops, hoops to jump and hope-shattering denials that whittle away at your spirit while the disease ravages your stress--weakened body. Then your landlords, business associates, bank, so-called friends and family take everything you ever worked for, putting you in so much financial debt and leaving you so emotionally bankrupt you fear you will never see the light of day again. You start to miss things you hated, like standing in line at the DMV, driving in rush hour on the 405 to the airport. Simple pleasures like laying down in your own bed - or any bed for that matter - taking a drive and listening to music - laying on the couch or sitting in your favorite chair watching tv or reading a book - simple pleasures seem as far away and unattainable as the top of Mt. Everest, or a star on the Walk of Fame.

Life after losing everything and everyone dear to me - or losing the ability to be around the few people who didn't abandon me when things got rough - has been a constant torture.

First thought in the morning is OH DEAR GOD WHY AM I IN SO MUCH PAIN??? WAS I IN AN ACCIDENT OR SOMETHING?!?!?! Last thought before I fall asleep in the broken chair in someone's living room (because I cant afford anything else on SSI) is WHY GOD DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME??? I have always tried to be a good person. I have always done unto others as I'd have done unto me. I have done good deeds my whole life. I have fought passionately for causes I believed in. I have organized foundations and charity events and toy drives for those in need. I am not a saint but I do not feel I deserve this accursed, painful existence.

With the pain meds, I could manage ok most of the time.

Without the pain meds that I need (I have taken VICODIN HP for 13+ years but was prescribed LORCET/LORTAB before and it did help a lot as well.) - life is becoming increasingly harder to bear, and I still have some living I need to do dammit!

Oh dear me. I'm so sorry for the Pity Party of 1 here, I know we're all hurting, wah wah woes me. I know my pain isnt special or significant or any worse than anyone else. I am just very, very much alone in the world, regrettably so considering a few years ago I had more "friends" than I could keep in touch with, and was getting to know parts of my family for the first time. But people get really funny when ya get ill, and then they get really gone.If you've stuck this far here's the helpful bits (I may have to post this twice so it gets read!)

Ok - so here's the best advice I can give: SCREW NORCO!!!! Do NOT believe your doctors and pharmacists when they say its the only hydrocodone pain reliever available on the market- its NOT! (C'MON FOLKS! Do y'all really think the entire pharm industry is gonna slaughter their best selling cash cows? I THINK NOT.)

Ask your dr to prescribe the reformulated VICODIN HP. Its the closest you're gonna get to the old Vicodin/Lortab/Lorcet for now. (Until ZoHyDro comes out, & people who have a horse in the race are trying awfully hard to thwart that before it even comes out (ie the "addiction specialists", the Masochists who have turned addiction into a multi-billion dollar industry running these BS rehab clinics where they just hand out Suboxone & mud massages at $30K a month - see ya again in a couple months! Their ignorant non-medically based hippy-dippy luxory spa facilities and practices actually promote addiction and kill people quicker than the drugs do! Ive lost several friends fresh out of rehab - 1 only 24 hours in! But i digress..)

I fully believe that dr's need to be judicious and cautious about what they prescribe, how much and to whom. All of us here have legitmate pain & disease, but it does no favors to bury heads in the sand about the problem of addiction. Like I said, I've got a few friends who have their heads buried in the sand - as well as the rest of them - 6 ft under. I have shed rivers of tears I thought would never run dry for those I've lost. But I'm going to be totally honest here, at the risk of sounding callous- they were addicts, they played with fire and it eventually consumed all that they were. Many of them were dead long before they were ever pronounced so by a coroner. I miss my friends, I'll always love them, but they made stupid decisions, thought they were infallible, immortal, they took far too much of their drug of choice and it eventually took them down in exchange. In nearly every overdose case I have known of, the death was the result of MIXING MULTIPLE DRUGS, usually some combo of hydrocodone and oxycodone, sedatives like Valium, Klonopin or Xanax, lots of wine and or whiskey, usually coke, often antidepressents like Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac et al, & very often cough meds like Tussin w Codeine. (I should point out I worked in the music industry a very long time, and lived in Hollywood, so I've seen a lot of talented people come ago. I met Michael Jackson less than 3 months before he died. His doctors did him an injustice. He shouldn't have had to pay for it with his life. AND WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THESE DOCTORS AND CELEBRITIES BAD CHOICES AND MISTAKES WITH OUR QUALITY OF LIFE!!!!!!

I only brought up the addiction thing because it is the ONLY argument keeping us from our medicine that allows us to FUNCTION! Oh, well, that and the liver argument - which frankly I think is largely a crock o' crap. I have taken Vicodin at high doses for well over a decade and nary a problem with my liver there be! When I realized that my pain was going to be a chronic issue, I made the decision to stop social drinking all together. (Being in the industry, my social outtings were often also work related, so I always made sure to keep sharp. That & I was usually always the driver, I have ALWAYS taken care not to drink and drive, I've lost a cousin and friends to drunk drivers. So I don't mess around with that. But when it became clear the meds were gonna be a part of my life til I found a magical healing pool of water to be baptized in, I made the conscious choice to cut out alcohol, save for maybe a small glass of champagne on New Year's, maaaaaaybe 1 - margarita or beer on my birthday. So its great that the FDA is suddenly all concerned about our livers, but for those of us who's livers are working great, BACK OFF! Save the Norco for the drinkers or those with liver problems.

I always found Norco to be a worthless drug. Granted I've taken some brands that worked better than others, but in general one HALF a Vic-HP, Lorcet or Lortab worked better than taking 2 Norcos at once! But I also know many people with chronic pain from Fibro, Arthritis, back injuries, hip and knee replacements, etc & so on, who took Norco and it worked fine for them - til all this reformulation stuff started. (And the Norco allegedly hasn't been reformulated since it always contained 325mg of acetaminophen which is now the new max. But if this is true, THEN WHY ARE ALL THE NORCO PATIENTS COMPLAINING ABOUT LACK OF PAIN RELIEF TOO?!?! Hmmm?? oO)

My guess is the FDA has done something to ALL OF IT. I dunno what or why. My best theory - conspiracy though it may be - the legislators & doctors spearheading the campaigns to stop ZohydroER (the new extended release Hydrocodone equivalent of Oxycontin) all have some things in common. You can do your own research an astute observation will point these things out. I'll give you one - most of them are alleged "addiction specialists", the people making BANK off of convincing people taking the prescribed amount of a medication daily is addiction - & offering high priced luxury spa treatments instead of any actual medical or psychological counseling for addiction. These folks LOVE to dole out Suboxone - the 21st century methadone that costs about $300-$400 without insurance and has withdrawals worse than H (which is about $20-$40 by way of comparison. See the picture starting to take shape here?)

I've even heard rumour (on here if you dig back about 50 or so replies) that SOME of the Pharm manufacturers are actually BINDING the new Norcos with an opiate blocker! Now that sounds like crazy talk, especially considering the EXTREME health risks of taking narcotic meds and opioid blockers together. But unless you get the little printout that's attached to the manufacturer bottles that shows the little chemical diagram & lists the inactive ingredients, I guess its not outside the realm of possibility.

**Note - I DID get the little printout with the chemical compound for the newly reformulated generic of Vicodin-HP (10mg of hydrocodone/300 of acetaminophen) from Boca Pharmaceuticals and it did not list any nefarious or questionable ingredients.

This drug is the closest I have found to the pain relief I was getting from the original 10/660 Vicodin HP or the 10/650 of Lorcet or the 10/500 of Lortab.

Even though it seems like less medicine - I SWEAR IT WORKS BETTER THAN THE NORCOS! You can always take an extra tylenol or half of one, which defeats the FDA's alleged liver-saving purposes, but just be careful and keep within the guidelines.

**(sub)NOTE: Many pharmacists will tell you that Vicodin HP no longer exist. They swear Norco is the only hydrodone/acetaminophen combo drug on the market now. B^%$#O#%!!!! If you have your doctor write "Vicodin Hp - 10/300" or even "Hydrocodone 10mg/Acetaminophen 300) the pharmacist suddenly produces it.

***(PostSubNOTE) Many pharmacists will also tell you that NAME BRAND VICODIN HP does not exist. They swear that it does not - that is until your doctor writes you a rx stating DO NOT SUBSTITUTE WITH GENERIC. BAM! Suddenly the name brand from ABBOTT LABS avails itself.

***HOWEVER****

It is my perseverance and that of others I know who have had it that the name brand ABBOTT Vicodin HP for some reason DOES NOT WORK AS WELL as the generic Vicodin HP from BOCA pharmacies (I'm not sure how many other generics exist if any, this is all i've found thus far). I have no explaination for this, other than that I haven't seen Abbott's little chemical diagram and inactive ingredient list, but I still have a hard time believing a drug co would mix opiates w opiate blockers as its highly DANGEROUS.

So, sorry for spilling my hard life story. I hope you made it to the helpful bits. I want to add that my dr also has me taking Percocet 5/325 in addition to the Vicodin HP 10/300. I am still in pain most all of the time. Some days are better than others. I am NOT a drug addict, and I do not feel that I nor anyone here should have to pay for the mistakes made by those who abuse medications. I also don't think doctors should hand out meds like candy to everyone who walks in the door with a hangnail or slight ache. I am a Middle Bear kind of gal, I see both sides I think a happy medium can exist between patients suffering in pain because of addicts' actions, and the Dr. Feelgood's and Mr. Brownstones who turn people into addicts in the first place. The pain is NOT in our heads. The CHANGE in the new meds is NOT in our HEADS. The pain is in our LIVES. We are not addicts, we are PEOPLE made up of flesh and blood and bone and muscle and ligament and tendon - and those bits that make up our physical being is where the PAIN exists. Chronic pain can feel so consuming, it seems at times like you were forged from pain itself. Why on earth would doctors or the FDA deny people who feel like this a little bit of relief??? Their actions are destroying lives! Please just let us have our pain medication! Deal with the idiot celebutantes and Richie Rich thrill seekers as you come across them. Don't you know, the harder you make something to acquire, the more the spoiled rich brats HAVE to have it! FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS! I'm sorry but if you abuse meds or take 200 pills in a day and carelessly mix meds, alcohol and street drugs and end up dead- well, you kinda brought it upon yourself! WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO SUFFER FOR THE BAD DECISIONS OF A FEW IRRESPONSIBLE PARTY ANIMALS WHO LIVE FAST AND DIE YOUNG, AND GREET EACH DAY LIKE IT WERE A BACCHANALIA!!!

*deep breath* Forgive my long-winded tyrade but haven't we all just had quite enough of this crap?!?!

Wishing blessings and sending all the positive healing I can muster to spare to each and every one of you all.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 2

Verwon, that is exactly what my doctor sand my pharmacist told me. They all told me that as of 01/01/2014 the FDA made it mandatory to lower the dosage of acetaminophen due to the fact that it is causing liver failure in to many people. I can tell a difference in the blue Watson 10/500 & the generic 10/500 though. The blue ones get the pain quicker, but they make me hyper when the others don't and others are slower to work. My family & friends notice the difference in me too. They say I don't shut up talking, but I'm in no pain. Some people may say It's all in your head, but not when your family and friends can see a difference in you and they know that you have taken one without you even telling them.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Let me start by saying I 1 MILLION % agree with your comment/post. That's the beauty of living in a free (or so were led to believe) Country. We have a right to our own opinions. I for 1 have not tried EVERY single lortab/norco/hydrcodine etc...but have been on quite a few different ones over the past 11yrs, due to numerous surgeries & more that I can't afford to have done right now so as usual the Dr throws pills @ me til I can get my surgeries. Ok, having said all that, it really pissed me off when u get us few "holier then thou/know it alps" that love to say "its all in your head people, blah blah b.s" maybe its all in the heads of the ones sayin it but fir those of us that have suffered in silence or for years in pain, no one listening, taking you serious or flat out just won't help because they have the same moronic "mind over matter" mentality, if anyone should know what works enough to get us out our beds in the morning, its US who can't escape our daily pains. My opinion is the blues worked the best any other 10/500 were weaker or just made me sluggish or tired (i do believe its whatever additives/binders each manufacturer uses) once they turned the blues white, the affect changed as well. Now that all 500's are dropped to 325mg, there IS A CHANGE & I don't care what manufacturer it is. Its not the same. So to the ones that judge, plz walk a mile in EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN PAINS' shoes before assuming you know what everone feels or doesn't feel. I wish only the best to all of you on here suffering in your own lives & hope for better days to come, Jessy

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I have been on Loratabs for years!! Last time I went to the doctor he told me they are going to quit making 10/500 because it has too much acetaminophen in them. All loratabs will be (norcos) which only have 250 mgs of acetaminophen in them. I agree I do not think they work as well but if you want the same medicine equivalent that you had just take a over the counter non-aspirin with the ingredient "Acetaminophen" The reason they are putting less in the loratabs is because too many people are taking to many and are overdosing and acetaminophen is like rat poison to your liver....

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

no no the blue one had something in them that worked better than pink, white, yellow or liquid I was not allergic to the blues but was to the pink and yellow (Narcos not worth the bottle they are in. the white ones might as well be m & m s They could keep the blues and give to people not allergic if it's in my head then I get a head cure to boot. I know more people that have said the same thing I'm posting here. The gov't needs to get out of my pain management, my quality of life! I had polio where I was three and now in my mid sixties I have post polio syndrome....this is real the polio germ stays dorman in ones body like the chicken pox I stay in pain now where as 5 months ago I had my meds on a schedule and I got my Quality of Life, now I only hate it I hurt all the time Please Watson put the blue ones back on market and label that the dye might hurt you, have pharmacist warn people but there's so many that need these just to feel human....not high....not out of it....but just normal, well as close to normal as a person with cronic pain can feel!!!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I was told today that you will no longer be able to get the 10/500 Hydrocodone. DEA will now only allow 10/325. They told me it is because of problems with liver failure. You will not be able to get it from any pharmacy is what Walgreens told me. So just another way the Healthcare Act is going to control what you get. If anyone still gets the 10/500, I would like to know where.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I'm not going to beat ariund the bush. Marihuana is the second best pain reliever there is next to Watson hydrocodone. I have a license to use medical marijuana . I at first wanted it to sleep. Itworks great for that But now that this pill problem has arisen I've used it for pain by smoking and eating it in baked goods. They alo have a pain stick called The Remedy.It is unreal at speedy pain control. I live in Washington State. Talk to your doctor. Best wishes to you all. I hope this helps if they print it.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

It is my undertstanding that you can no longer get more than 325 mgs of acetaminphen in any medication per the FDA.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Dont likethechange, Watson acquired Actavis... I believe that they kept Actavis ingredients & left theirs. You are not the only one experiencing this problem. I was on Watson OxyCodone-10/325.. When I picked up my meds on 3-11.. They were from Actavis mfg... If you read all the complaints.. People are having.. You will be amazed.. Report to FDA.. Go on website.. Report! Report!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Lately (about 1year) I've been chasing pharmacies to find the blue 10/500 Watson hydrocodone. After I couldn't find them anywhere I gave up and ended up with the equivalent of Norco 10/325 generic. I have fibromyalgia and cronic back pain. I'm not getting any relief from the new pills. I've been reading the letters from this site and I agree with all of them except the jerk that said it's all in your head. He sounds like a lot of doctors I've been to in the past. My doctor has been great but now hasn't been able to suggest anything but to take 1/2 Tylenol with each pill. If anyone can help please let me know.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I really feel it's a way of controlling us all. They say it's to STOP abuse and overdoses and liver protection, but I think that is bullcrap. We need to pull together before it gets worst...any idesa

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I had two back surgeries in 2008. I only take two lortab 7.5's a day . One in the morning and one in the late afternoon. I use to be somewhat pain free, not completely but bearable. Now when I take the new orange qualitest, nothing ever happens. I suffer through the day with pain that I cannot stand. Sure DEA, all you did was take some tylenol out. I will never believe that. Stay in your business of keeping illegal drugs off the street and let the MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS do their job. You haven't done so great on yours and now you are taking over theirs.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Replier #4 Verwon is correct. Pharmaceutical companies have been told by the FDA that all narcotic pain medicine cannot have more than 325 mg. Tylenol in them starting in January 2014. The bigger amount Tylenol mixed with hydrocodone is what makes the pain killer work. I was taken off Lorcets after 13 years b/c drs were worried about my liver and put on Avinza 20 mg. once a day for 5 yrs. then my Avinza was increased to 60 mg. a day and MSIR 15 mg. 4x a day. I've been on it for 5 yrs. There have been 4 or 5 times I've taken 2 Lortabs 2 hours after my regular pain meds b/c I was in so much pain and it helped with the morphine. Otherwise right now my pain meds work well.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

You are correct. I take hydrocodone 10/325. The yellow pills work great. Lately i have been given the white ones hich say m367 on them. They do not work!!!. I called the pharmacy and they said that Watson will no longer be making them. Now i have to go back to the doctor and get him to prescribe something else. Im sure the government has everything to do with this.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I have been on Lortab 10-500...as of Feb 5 2014 my pharmacy and Dr told me they no longer make it and my script was changed to Norco 10-325. I noticed a difference in my pain management. The new meds take longer to work and after about 4 hours I am in pain again versus the 6 hours.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

I LOVE YOU GUYS WITH YOUR REMARKS OF GOVERNMENT, PHARMECUTICAL COMPANIES AND ETHICAL ALL IN THE SAME SENTENCE.
JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR HERE THE 325mg, 500mg, OR 650mg IN YOUR GENERIC HYDROCODONE/ACETIMINEPHIN IS THE ACETIMINEPHIN OR TYLENOL CONTENT. THE FIRST OR SMALLER NUMBER LIKE 5mg OR 10mg IS THE HYDROCODONE CONTENT. forget all the brand names like lorcet, lortab, lortab plus, vicodin, or Norco. the government wants all prescriptions like these to read no higher than 10/325 and they don't care how they get there. I will guarantee if you had these new white Watson 503 tested they would not be 10/650 but rather 10/325. you folks are not hallucinating that you feel nothing from your new white pills because you're missing almost half the Tylenol. (acetimeniphin)

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

***NOTE*** The stupid pharmacy would not fill my RX of the 10/300 even though it was the same amount because they said the dr had "decreased the strength". I told pharmacist, yes per my request that I be given the reformulation of the SAME DRUG I HAD TAKEN FOR 14 YEARS!!!! I am not able to pick them up until Tuesday, I will report back and let y'all know if it makes any difference. I have no clue if they will be getting it from Mallinckrodt or Watson or AbbVies or what. All I know is that the 10/325 Norco's are TRASH! CRAP! I thought they were bad when they were the old yellow ones (an old doctor gave me a scrip a long time ago and I had them in the hospital a couple times) - they were pretty sorry then but the new white ones - both the name brand Norco's and the Malinckrodts are utter rubbish. I'd probably get more benefit from chewing a piece of Willow Bark like my Native American ancestors did. This is really crap for people with severe, chronic DOCUMENTED pain, I'm not talking about the loadies just trying to feel high. (FYI they usually want the OCs or Norco's anyways bc they can drink alcohol with them) I have had several friends overdose, and some are no longer here, on meds, so I am all about doctors NOT frivolously prescribing narcotics. Although in just about every case where people OD - like the celebrity nimrods who got the DEA/FDA panties in a bunch to begin with - and with my deceased former friends and acquaintances - in every case they either took a ridiculous amount above the prescribed recommendations (I dont mean taking an extra 2 or 3 a day, I mean like 80-200!) or they mixed large doses with other medications which supress the respiratory system, such as benzos like Klonopin, valium, Xanax, antidepressents like Zoloft, Prozac, etc, cough and cold medicines, sleep meds like Ambien, and copious amounts of alcohol, marijuana, coke or even H. (Which good news for the H dealers - H usage is at an all time high! Small town suburbs in CA have growing epidemics that make the old H days of NYC, L.A. and Seattle look as dangerous a church bake sale. H traffickers from Russia, China, Afghanistan, et so on are raking in the real profits here. )

Anyways I hope you all stay in as little pain as possible til we can all figure out how to navigate these stormy seas. I'll report back with my new meds on Tuesday. I just crushed up a Norco and swallowed it (dont worry I'm not stupid I'm not gonna insufflate the crap) just to see if crushing it would release the binding agent or something, I dunno, I'm just kinda pathetically desperate at this point. Not, find a local H dealer desperate, but just going out on a limb here to see if crushing it and swallowing it makes a dif. That was about 10 minutes ago. Swallowed it own with water and a Pepsi chaser (usually the caffeine helps activate it.) Still. NOTHING. Ugh. Norco. You suck.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

Well if this is true, that causes even WORSE liver damage. What the %$#$ is going on?!?! Are they just TRYING to KILL people?!?! I have been on Vicodin HP 10/660 for almost 14 years. I have Lupus, Fibro, Tendonitis, Herniated Disks, Back problems, Headaches, Bell's Palsy, severe damage to my jaw and teeth from years of Prednisone to treat the above but also chronic ITP, which means I can't take Ibuprofen, Aspirin or any other blood thinners as ITP is a condition which affects platelets. I am on disability, what they think a living amount is is a freakin' joke, I can't even find a place to live on it. Now they take me off the ONLY pain medication that has worked for all these years and put me on Norco, which doesn't even seem to help as much as Tylenol! I'm taking tylenol with it and I still get no affects. No pain relief whatsoever. For those who are concerned about feeling any euphoric effects, you sure as hell what feel em with these, that is a guarantee! If anything they just make me tire, irritable, and the pain never leaves. My mom is same way, she takes Lorcet, she's going ape $#^& since they changed her to Norco, she can NOT take them. I asked my dr to write my new RX for the Reformulated Vicodin HP (the 10/300), and he did, as well as some Oxycodone - which my pharmacy always fills with Roxicet which is about as helpful as chewing on a piece of straw and constipates me so bad I can barely go once a week (yeah cuz that's healthy) - but he wanted to cut back my HP, I plead with him not to and he cut back the OC instead. I used to get prescribed 180 HP and 120 10mg Percocets every month. My liver is probably the ONLY part of me that works just fine and I get blood panels frequently. This is BS. They should not have reformulated these medications which the thing that is supposed to be the liver damaging agent is available on every grocery store, pharmacy, hell even well stocked liquor store and gas station shelves in the country! The only conclusion I can come up with is that the FDA is working on orders of a larger shadow conspiracy that seeks to rid the country of the poor and disabled, & make life unlivable for anyone to suffer pain in any future cataclysms or catastrophies. Sorry to get all conspiracy theory tin foil hat - but its what it feels like.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

I have been on pain meds for a few years now since diagnosed with fibromyalgia and arthritis. I received mild relief from hydrocodone until all the manufacturers started their constant reformulations. My doc kept switching my pharmacy as we chased the manufacturers who had not made the changes and she even got my insurance to approve name brand only, but it was too late, because those manufacturers had changed the formulas too. The only thing the newly reformulated ones did for me was either over-sedate me or give me horrible side effects from the multiple fillers and binders. As she tried me on multiple other meds we found that they were changing as well, including extended release pain meds like Morphine and OxyContin. The only thing they did for me was cause extreme sedation (sleeping 12-18 hours at a time) and breathing suppression. NO pain relief. I finally found excellent pain control with Opana ER. But that changed last month.Of course the pharmacy said there was NO change but the fact is it has become very unstable and instead of the medication releasing 3 times, it releases ONCE...after 7 hours! NO pain relief, and EXTREME sedation. It caused me such a problem with suppression of my breathing with my last dose that I stopped cold turkey. My final proof that there was NO hydromorphone in the pill was when I had ZERO symptoms of withdrawal. I have made-do with my Oxycodone given for breakthrough pain, but I only have 3 a day so I can't take them regularly and the effect is only about 3 hours, and that was reformulated this month as well. It no longer gives more than about 10% pain relief than before and it also causes extreme sedation. It doesn't cause the breathing suppression, but it is no longer effective as a pain reliever. For those of you yet to awaken to the fact that they are doing MUCH more than removing the dye in the pills, I'd like to remind you I had NO withdrawal from 160mg hydromorphone (Opana) a day. I have an appointment with my doc Tuesday to tell her I'm afraid to take Opana in its current unstable form, but I have little hope she will be honest with me about what is going on. I don't know what we have to look forward to in future in regards to pain relief, but I am losing hope in modern medicine.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I've been on 7.5/325, I was using Walgreens Pharmacy to get my script filled. However, I have noticed that the "...

2 REPLIES

I know this is going to sound a little weird but has anybody noticed with Oxycodone 10mg that your bowel movements are m...

2 REPLIES

Anyone hearing about oxycodone and dilaudid's formula being changed? ## Hello, Maty! How are you? The formulation fo...

2 REPLIES

I took Levoxyl for about 10 years. I have tried almost all other drugs synthroid, unithroid, armour, cytomel and Levoxyl...

3 REPLIES

I heard there is a newly formulated opana er, is this true? Do they make you sick like the newly formulated oxycontin? #...

1 REPLY

Now I will preface this post by saying that this is IMO, and not based on any actual testing, but my own empirical data ...

2 REPLIES

I have been taking percocet 10/325 for horrible fibromyalgia pain and have had no issue with it's effectiveness. nI ...

2 REPLIES

I have been on oxycontin for years...I have terminal illness and suffer every day...only relief i had was from oxycontin...

17 REPLIES

I was just at my pm appt and my doc informed me that endo pharmaceutical has won the legal case on stopping other pharma...

4 REPLIES

I have been taking Fenofibrate 134mg for almost 7 years now. I have hereditary high Triglycerides. Mine was 633 the firs...

2 REPLIES