The other day, in yet another abortive attempt to organize stuff around here, I was rooting through the things on the top shelf in my medicine cabinet and stumbled across that old bottle of ***Vicodin Painkiller*** again.  This keepsake from surgery a few years ago shows no sign of going away.  I'm afraid to empty the contents down the toilet and I especially don't want to take a chance tossing it out with my garbage as I have been told that ***Vicodin*** is a "hot" street drug, that some people will almost kill for it.  As for me, I wouldn't touch this stuff again with a ten-foot pole.  ***Vicodin*** is effective as a painkiller but the side effects can be so severe that I don't understand how someone can live long enough to really work up a serious ***Vicodin*** habit.  **Pain Killers are Important Today** There was a time, years ago, when it was understood that a person who had been operated on would regain consciousness in a state of pain.  This pain was to be expected and the patient remained in the hospital, sometimes for days at a time, to be nursed and especially monitored as far as use of painkillers were concerned.  You could only have so many drugs and only at certain times no matter how you might plead or whine. In this modern age of same-day surgery (where a patient may leave for home within a couple hours after an operation), painkillers are especially important because it is of vital importance for a patient to be able to get up and walk out, usually clutching a prescription for ***Vicodin*** in one hand and a few tablets to get through the night or until a friend can get the prescription filled.  Part of the post-op routine today is to be so sedated that pain doesn't kick in at all until several hours after the operation.  All this is well and good but does entail a certain amount of risk.  Some drugs, like ***Vicodin***, can be very dangerous. **What We Have Here** Each ***Vicodin Painkiller*** white elliptical tablet contains the active ingredients Hydrocodone Bitartrate and Acetaminophen.  Inactive ingredients are colloidal silicon dioxide, starch, croscarmellose sodium, dibasic calcium phosphate, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, povidone, and steric acid. **Side Effects** No one can deny that ***Vicodin*** is an effective painkiller but it also packs dangerous side effects, foremost of which is that it is extremely addictive.  Take too much and getting enough ***Vicodin*** may be the sum and purpose for the rest of your life, long after your surgical wound has healed.  Also lining up as potential hazards are dizziness and nausea.  Here's another thing you might not find on the Internet under this drug's side effects -- when i was in the hospital, the nurses warned me that ***Vicodin*** could cause serious constipation.  I pooh-poohed this (pardon the expression) and didn't really think it would happen to me but it did.  Though I only took a total of three Vicodins during the course of two days, I still ended up being constipated for more than a week!  It sounds funny, I know, but I thought that I was literally going **to die from being constipated**. **Just Between You and Me** I'm **not** a doctor and even if I was, I wouldn't presume to give anyone but my own patient  medical advice on post-op recovery but here is what **my** doctor told me, just between him and me -- that Extra Strength Excedrin works just as well as ***Vicodin Painkiller*** and is much less dangerous.  That's the only thing I took during recovery from my last surgery and it worked out beautifully.        

AnnaBanana

Oak Park, IL

Well, I went to emergency room for an infected tooth, so they couldn't pull it but gave me the pain medicine.  I took two of these things right away and felt so much better, I was very happy.  6 hours later I took 2 more as instructed and woke up kind of going into a coma... nodding out, having to sleep and feeling like maybe I wouldn't ever wake up?  Not that I thought that was true, but these pills are very strong and if you have severe pain and need them, take only half the dose until you see how it affects you.  It was really scary.

northshoreshells

Waialua, HI

I am a white female and am 48 years old. I have suffered with rheumatoid arthritis for twenty eight years. For years R.A. mostly affected my hands and feet. I have tried several medications to help slow down the process and am currently taking Humira. Five years ago the arthritis started to affect my neck and my doctor referred me to a pain clinic. I was put on oxycontin which gave me some relief but it wasn't long lasting and my body became immune to it after only about 6 months. In 2007 I had surgery to remove several rheumatoid nodules form my hand and was prescribed vicodin post-surgery. After taking vicodin I felt no pain whatsoever, anywhere. I told my physican at the pain clinic about the results and he gave me a prescription for vicodin 10mg to take one three times day. I cannot say enough good things about this medication. It has brought me the best pain relief that I have ever had in 28 years! I have been taking it for almost three years now and I still get the same great results every time.

ShariMunger

Waterloo, IA

**Vicoden (hydorcodone/ibu**) has been a great help for me. As I am 50 this year, I've noticed that things don't always want to work when I awake or trying to get out of my chair. Also, my husband and I heat with a wood burning stove. It is an ongoing task to keep wood cut, split, chopped.  **Vicoden (hydorcodone/ibu**) is great for relieving some of the pain in my back, knees, and slight pain in my hands after we've really been at it with the wood. The dose for me is 7.50/200mg, which is 7.50 hydrocodone and 200 mg ibuprofen. Very slight dose of both medications in this one medication. It doesn't make me sleepy or goofy or anything. It simply begins to relieve the aggravated pain of my body. I usually have one daily, at least. That allows me to go about my day in a usual and normal manner.  As with the wood, there are a few other things that I do as part of my life that set off more pain than normal. On those days, I take one in the morning and another before I go to bed! It truly does help! :) PLEASE, ONLY TAKE AS PRESCRIBED BY YOUR DOCTOR!

littleredgiddyup

Bonifay, FL

So, I had to go to the Dentist for a 'procedure' a few weeks ago. Nothing serious, just some excess teeth that needed to be removed. Actually, that was a painless procedure in and of itself due to the funny gas they used, but that is best saved for another review. After said 'procedure', I don't remember much. Except a mouth full of cotton and some dazed remembrances of 'dry sockets, likely with little in common with Proust and his Madelaines'. And a prescription for this Vicodin stuff.  Proust only wishes.  Goethe, meet Faust. Have I just been living under a rock for the last twenty years? Where has this stuff been all my life? I mean, I'm old as Methuselan and I've taken a lot of pain medicines - even that newfangled Excedrin Migraine Relief and IT has never come close to killing pain like this beastie. The only thing is, it will make you feel like the Care Bears have ensconced you in a fluffy cloud, and you decidedly can not operate heavy machinery after consuming it. Make that any machinery. Actually, don't do anything. But seriously. You'll absolutely forget about the pain. If your Doctor prescribes this, I highly recommend it.  

vdelongpre

Decatur, IL

vicodin is one of the best pain killers available. it is not fair that you need to have a prescription to get it. doctors are generally very reluctant to give scripts for it because it is "highly addictive" frankly, i don't think it is as addictive as most people think. i have taken it on and off for many years and i am not addicted. i can take it or leave it (when i am not in pain, that is). sure, it makes you feel nice and relaxed and if you take a lot of it it can make you feel sort of high...but i still do not take it unless i need it for pain because i know that it is not good to do that. if you get addicted you eventually need more and more to get the same feel good effects, and then you can end up overdosing and this can lead to serious health problems, even death. if you take vicodin in moderation, however, and don't allow yourself to become addicted and/or overdose there is no harm in taking this drug. and it is very good at relieving serious pain.

mariolntn

Watertown, NY

Vicodin is a prescribed medication that primarly is prescribed when a patient has had a surgery or a accident. This medication is not sold in stores. It is the best pain medicine their is. If you are in unbearable pain fel free to sk your doctor for this medication, But firstsee if you are able to take this brand of medicine. that is why you cannot purchase it over the counter and it has a really strong wway of supressing your pain. I first tried this medicine after I had Hernia surgery. In my opinion, this kind of surgery is worst that having a baby When your medicine wears off uh ol youre in trouble because it hurts so badly I couldnt even walk. While I was waiting for my precription of the Vicodin to be filled, I had to put up wit the unbearable pain. Once I took Vicodin O my Gosh, A Miracle!!! My pain was gone in about 3 min. It was a great feeling. BUT BEWARE Vicodin could be adiccting!!!

Ketta8482

Belleville, IL

I have been prescribed Vicodin so many times and it always goes to waste. It makes me vomit and when I can hold it in I am severely nausiated. Now I think my doctor was a bit of a quack because he told me that is what Vicodin does, It makes you feel sick a little bit but I'm seeing that a medicine that is suppost to kill the pain and help you shouldn't make you sick like he was telling me. So he was wrong. This is a Narcotic containing Hydrocodone and Paracetamol and is used to relieve mild to severe pain. It comes in Tablet form and it also has a generic version of itself also. This drug is taken orally of course and is approved by the FDA. Now when I was pregnant I was not allowd to take this drug it was not recommended for pregnant women at all because not enough research had been done with pregnant women and Vicodin so if your pregnant just forget about it okay, it's not worth risking your baby. My side effects were nausia, vomiting, upset stomach, severe headache, dizzy, lightheaded and I get itchy, I don't understand that but I do get kinda itchy on my arms and trunk when I take this. I only take this when I really really need pain to go away as It does work very well. But I just cannot take it very often as it does mess me up and makes me puke.

KaciOhio

Somerset, OH

I have taken vicoden for at least 20 years because I have had to go under gone more than 20 surgeries the pain medicine vicoden has helped relieve moderate pain, if taken correctly it enables a person to get back on there feet in a short period of time.  I also suffer from migrain headaches so I have had try quite a few different kinds of pain relievers.  I know this is an addictive type of medicine but over the counter medicines just to not do the trick.  I you take a vicoden at the onset, I mean the beginning of the headache you can unusually control it with one dose, but if you wait until the headache is full blown then you have to takes several doses to get the headached until control, and you do not want to do that because then you take too much and may make yourself sick.  if you take this medicine correctly it works wornderfully, but if you take it incorrectly you make it really hard on yourself and those around you, so use it with alot of care.

marybsaxton

Prosser, WA

Hi my name is steve and about 2 years ago I was percribed vicodin by a doctor for my pain. I broke my hand and this was the reason why i was perscribed this drug. I consisidly took vicodin once three times daily as suggested by the doctor. I noticed that  I kept on having to up my doseage because it would no longer work for my pain. As I did this I noticed that I was becoming dependent on the drug vicodin just tot make it through the day without having withdraws like being sick and consistintly using the restroom over and over again. Then one day I decided that I wanted to stop taking vicodin and I have never felt sicker in my entire life. I could'nt even get out of bed. I was having horrible hot flashes and was sick to my stomach. I felt this way for a total of like seven days. I believe that those were the absolute worst seven day of my life all because of a drug that a perfessional doctor gave to me. I feel that nobody should be perscribed this drug for those reasones.Vicodin is the devils candy and should not be in anybodys hand or body as a form of medicine.

smezo

Dearborn Heights, MI