M is available in generic form or as the drug Vicodin. This prescription medication is often prescribed to patients with back pain so they can get some relief from their symptoms. It is considered a narcotic analgesic combination drug and is a Schedule 2 controlled substance. As a pain reliever, it is highly effective, which is why many people develop a dependency.
While acetaminophen alone may not be enough to touch the pain that many people experience, when combined with hydrocodone, it can make a big difference in the amount of pain they are feeling. In addition to being a very efficient pain reliever, when taken in larger doses, Vicodin can give the user a high, which includes feelings of happiness and euphoria.
This can be dangerous because that euphoria adds to the appeal. The drug is highly addictive and tolerance builds up over time. When this happens, it takes more and more Vicodin to achieve the same effects, which can lead to overdose.
Once someone has had a chance for their tolerance to build, stopping abruptly can lead to the uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms.
Misusing medication is a slippery slope. Many folks begin their struggle with addiction because their pain is intense and they think that an extra dose will help just this time. It is available as a prescription only medicine and is used for back pain, cough, pain, rheumatoid arthritis. Natural home remedies and over-the-counter OTC products can be used to temporarily relieve toothache pain until you can visit your dentist. Certain over-the-counter pain medications can be used alongside antibiotics and other self care options to help alleviate the pain caused by a UTI.
Stiff, painful and tender joints? Since this medicine is used for pain, you are not likely to miss a dose. Skip any missed dose if it is almost time for your next dose. Do not use two doses at one time. Seek emergency medical attention or call the Poison Help line at An overdose of this medicine can be fatal, especially in a child or other person using the medicine without a prescription.
Overdose symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, sweating, severe drowsiness, pinpoint pupils, slow breathing, or no breathing. Your doctor may recommend you get naloxone a medicine to reverse an opioid overdose and keep it with you at all times. A person caring for you can give the naloxone if you stop breathing or don't wake up. Your caregiver must still get emergency medical help and may need to perform CPR cardiopulmonary resuscitation on you while waiting for help to arrive.
Anyone can buy naloxone from a pharmacy or local health department. Make sure any person caring for you knows where you keep naloxone and how to use it. Avoid driving or operating machinery until you know how this medicine will affect you. Dizziness or drowsiness can cause falls, accidents, or severe injuries. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before using any other medicine that may contain acetaminophen sometimes abbreviated as APAP. Taking certain medications together can lead to a fatal overdose.
Get emergency medical help if you have signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat. Opioid medicine can slow or stop your breathing, and death may occur. In rare cases, acetaminophen may cause a severe skin reaction that can be fatal. This could occur even if you have taken acetaminophen in the past and had no reaction.
Serious breathing problems may be more likely in older adults and in those who are debilitated or have wasting syndrome or chronic breathing disorders. This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may have breathing problems or withdrawal symptoms if you start or stop taking certain other medicines. Tell your doctor if you also use an antibiotic, antifungal medication, heart or blood pressure medication, seizure medication, or medicine to treat HIV or hepatitis C.
Opioid medication can interact with many other drugs and cause dangerous side effects or death. Gastrointestinal System — Prolonged administration of hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets may produce constipation.
Genitourinary System — Ureteral spasm, spasm of vesical sphincters and urinary retention have been reported with opiates. Special Senses — Cases of hearing impairment or permanent loss have been reported predominantly in patients with chronic overdose. The following adverse drug events may be borne in mind as potential effects of acetaminophen: allergic reactions, rash, thrombocytopenia, agranulocytosis.
Misuse, Abuse, and Diversion of Opioids — Hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets contains hydrocodone, an opioid agonist, and is a Schedule III controlled substance. Hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets, and other opioids used in analgesia can be abused and are subject to criminal diversion. Addiction is a primary, chronic, neurobiologic disease, with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations.
It is characterized by behaviors that include one or more of the following: impaired control over drug use, compulsive use, continued use despite harm, and craving. Drug addiction is a treatable disease utilizing a multidisciplinary approach, but relapse is common.
Abuse and addiction are separate and distinct from physical dependence and tolerance. Physical dependence usually assumes clinically significant dimensions only after several weeks of continued opioid use, although a mild degree of physical dependence may develop after a few days of opioid therapy. Tolerance, in which increasingly large doses are required in order to produce the same degree of analgesia, is manifested initially by a shortened duration of analgesic effect, and subsequently by decreases in the intensity of analgesia.
The rate of development of tolerance varies among patients. Physicians should be aware that abuse of opioids can occur in the absence of true addiction and is characterized by misuse for non-medical purposes, often in combination with other psychoactive substances.
Hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets, like other opioids, may be diverted for non-medical use. Record-keeping of prescribing information, including quantity, frequency, and renewal requests is strongly advised. Proper assessment of the patient, proper prescribing practices, periodic re-evaluation of therapy, and proper dispensing and storage are appropriate measures that help to limit abuse of opioid drugs. Following an acute overdosage, toxicity may result from hydrocodone or acetaminophen.
In severe overdosage, apnea, circulatory collapse, cardiac arrest and death may occur. Acetaminophen — In acetaminophen overdosage: dose-dependent, potentially fatal hepatic necrosis is the most serious adverse effect. Renal tubular necrosis, hypoglycemic coma, and coagulation defects may also occur.
Early symptoms following a potentially hepatotoxic overdose may include: nausea, vomiting, diaphoresis and general malaise. Clinical and laboratory evidence of hepatic toxicity may not be apparent until 48 to 72 hours post-ingestion. Treatment — A single or multiple drug overdose with hydrocodone and acetaminophen is a potentially lethal polydrug overdose, and consultation with a regional poison control center is recommended.
Immediate treatment includes support of cardiorespiratory function and measures to reduce drug absorption. Oxygen, intravenous fluids, vasopressors, and other supportive measures should be employed as indicated. Assisted or controlled ventilation should also be considered. For hydrocodone overdose, primary attention should be given to the reestablishment of adequate respiratory exchange through provision of a patent airway and the institution of assisted or controlled ventilation.
The narcotic antagonist naloxone hydrochloride is a specific antidote against respiratory depression which may result from overdosage or unusual sensitivity to narcotics, including hydrocodone. Since the duration of action of hydrocodone may exceed that of the antagonist, the patient should be kept under continued surveillance, and repeated doses of the antagonist should be administered as needed to maintain adequate respiration. A narcotic antagonist should not be administered in the absence of clinically significant respiratory or cardiovascular depression.
Gastric decontamination with activated charcoal should be administered just prior to N-acetylcysteine NAC to decrease systemic absorption if acetaminophen ingestion is known or suspected to have occurred within a few hours of presentation. Serum acetaminophen levels should be obtained immediately if the patient presents 4 hours or more after ingestion to assess potential risk of hepatotoxicity; acetaminophen levels drawn less than 4 hours post-ingestion may be misleading.
To obtain the best possible outcome, NAC should be administered as soon as possible where impending or evolving liver injury is suspected. Intravenous NAC may be administered when circumstances preclude oral administration. Vigorous supportive therapy is required in severe intoxication.
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