Watson Lortab Formula Change (Page 8)

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.

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fertile I have a good relationship with my doctorand yes and 2014 you no longer can get 500 milligrams of Tylenol with any of the hydrocodone biet lortab like them percocet anything with that combination will be written as 325 milligrams of Tylenol I was getting Watson 10 milligrams 500 and in December my doctor decided they were going to change the prescription and wrote me out 10 325 hydrocodone I took it to the same drug store that I was getting the Watson and and and they were carrying quality fast that's the maker 10 325 with the V and yellow all I did was add a Tylenol with the pill and it still took the pain away that is what the drugstore was carrying in the 325 and the 500

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My doctor also gives me lortab 10's I get 180 a month so 1 every 4 hours. I'm on a drug contract. I live in utah.

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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.

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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.

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***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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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!

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

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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.

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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.

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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!!!

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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....

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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

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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.

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