valymemom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7076
posted
I have been reading back posts about pain meds and vicodin in particular. I would like to know how much vicodin (mgs) folks have been prescribed. My son's llmd just prescribed 7.5 mg to be taken every 4-6 hours.
Also has anyone found that it keeps them up. He said he could hear/feel his heart pounding last night. He did take ambien, also.
Posts: 1240 | From Centreville,VA | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
valeymemom, I think he needs to get acclimated to the pain meds. When I first started taking pain meds, I had to take a very small dose...much lower than what was prescribed. For better or worse, over a period of time, I needed the full dose to be effective, though I reached a plateau quite a while ago that makes the pain tolerable, and so the need to increase the dosage, for me at least, was not infinite.
Now, if I'm having exceptionally bad pain and take more than my 'just getting by' dose, I do still get a sort of 'burst of energy' feeling when I first take them, but it passes fairly quickly and isn't something that would effect my sleep. I think your body gets used to them and they stop feeling like such an 'intruder' in your system and more like your steady state.
I'm sorry that's kind of vague, but hope it helps.
monkeyshines
Posts: 343 | From Northern VA | Registered: Oct 2004
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Aniek
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Member # 5374
posted
My first prescription was for 5/500. I took half at first, because it made me nauseous the first few times. Quickly got up to the full dose. I now take 7.5/750. But I was on 5/500 for 2 years.
The dose depends on the level of pain. But if a smaller dose works, you want the smaller dose with a narcotic.
Vicodin can keep you up. My pain specialist mentioned this side effect in some people.
It gave me a lot of energy at first. I actually think it was because my pain was finally gone. I got used to it though, and now sleep fine when I take it. I also focus fine on it. I've taken final exams on vicodin fine.
I take mine when I need it, not every 6 hours. If I don't have pain, why take it?
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Medicine affects different people in different ways.
I have gotten relief from as little as a third of a 5/500 Vicodin.
My husband can't take it at all--it makes him itch. He can't take codeine because it makes him hallucinate. Codeine doesn't work for me, and makes me nauseated and headachey.
I have taken Ambien and Vicodin together, but I try not to--I try to gauge if I can't sleep from the pain or if I just can't sleep.
Ambien always lets me sleep, but I don't like taking it unless I have to. It has on occasion made me feel hungover. Whereas Vicodin doesn't make me feel strange and it usually helps the pain.
I would try the full dose of Vicodin without the Ambien just to see if that's what's keeping him awake.
This disease makes you feel so darn weird all by itself, that when you add drugs, you just don't know.
Posts: 353 | From Florida boonies | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
I was "scared" when I took vicodin. I know it sounds silly but after this started happening I read the drug info. and "fear" was actualy listed as one of the side effects. Just something to look out for. It kept me up too.. but mainly b/c I was scared.
Posts: 117 | From . | Registered: Oct 2006
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valymemom
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posted
Thanks all for your responses. I did not mention that he also started armour thyroid and we think this may have caused the jumpy heart.
Posts: 1240 | From Centreville,VA | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
I'm always interested in the discussions relative to pain medications.
Our daughter's pain med intake is huge. She's been taking Vicodin (Hydrococone) & Dilaudid (Hydromorpone) for over 5 years now.
Her Vicodin intake is 10 - 10/325 tablets a day and the Dilaudid is 10 - 8MG tablets a day.
Even with this narcotic intake she's just recently been able to have some semblence of a life.
Both her pain mgmt dr and her LLMD concur that she's narcotic dependent, but neither wants her to cut back until the Lyme symptoms are better.
What's remarkable is her resistance to the pain meds. I've broken both a Vicodin and a Dilaudid in half and taken them (at separate times) and they put me to sleep for 10 hours.
Is resistance to narcotics a symptom of Lyme???
Posts: 681 | From California | Registered: Oct 2005
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
No, it is a symptom of raised tolerance, a factor in addiction.
I was offered vicodin and lots of other pain meds - this one Rheumie who told me she KNEW I had Lyme but wouldn't treat me because she didn't TREAT Lyme and didn't want to get INVOLVED with Lyme offered me MORPHINE!!!!!!!!! Another doc offered me POT and another one offered me oxycontin... I never took any pain meds with Lyme and I was in excruciating agony for years with it around the clock. But I cannot take things like that safely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And now the pain is gone!*)*!)
You guys are lucky who get to take them without problems*)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Be careful people in recovery. I know a couple of Lymies who went Out on pain meds... and a couple of people who developed addictions while on pain meds for Lyme- and also thankfully a few people who were on major pain meds but had no lasting dependency issues including a couple of people who were in so much pain they were doped up around the clock for years!!! But when the pain was gone they were able to stop with no ongoing issues (lucky*)!
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Raised tolerance is a factor in addiction and dependence.
Drug dependence is physical. In addition to the physical, addiction involves a large psychological dependence.
You can be dependent without being addicted.
Meaning that you can taper off, stop and not use the drug again.
One certaintly doesn't want to be either dependent or addicted, and granted--it's a gamble.
But pain is a killer every bit as much as addiction. Maybe more.
If I were going to end it all, I wouldn't use Vicodin. Too much acetaminophen in it--a person could survive and have to die slowly and painfully from liver failure.
(Sorry. . .I'm not making light of it--just being a little morbid. For me it's a coping mechanism.)
Posts: 353 | From Florida boonies | Registered: Nov 2005
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savebabe
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9847
posted
I took armour thyroid medication and it made my heart pound and I could not stop trembling. My endo pulled me off that medication and has had me on synthroid since, it has made a huge difference.
Posts: 1603 | From ny | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
If he is being kept up at night, its the Ambien. ITS BAD STUFF! If he is having trouble sleeping, get a prescription for Lunesta. Lunesta is a sleeping med that is much MUCH safer than Ambien and has limited risk for long term dependency. Now, the racing heart, if he has just started taking thyroid, then that is a listed side effect of the medicine and means that his body is rejecting it and doesn't really need thyroid. The amount of Vicodin that your son has been prescribed is the standard starting dose. If it isn't working for your son , then don't hesitate to contact your doctor, its what they are there for.
Take Care, K-lyme
Posts: 227 | From CA | Registered: Apr 2004
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
Physical dependence on narcotics just happens. Your body gets used to the narcotics, so you need a higher dose to get the same result.
This is NOT ADDICTION! It is completely different. And if you are in pain, then that is how you control your pain. It's ok to have to raise the dose.
Recognizing, of course, that at some point a dose may become toxic.
Addiction to pain killers is actually very rare when used properly to control pain. When people are in pain, they do not get the euphoric feeling that leads to addiction. They get pain control.
Most doctors do not understand how pain medications work. Many LLMDs also do not understand.
Of course, if you have a history or family history of addiction, then the risk of addiction is higher. And I would want to monitor any child/teenager on narcotics for signs of addiction.
But increasing dosage does not mean addiction.
Lymedad - does your daughter get regular liver panels? That dose is toxic for the liver.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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