Vicodin?

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Has anybody else taken vicodin? I was given it for knee surgery, and I am not liking it one bit. The first time I took it it was fine, but now I don't like it at all. It's like that floaty disconnected feeling, and rather queasy. I'm wondering if I should have taken it with something besides donuts.

I've got a pizza in the microwave now to see if that helps, but at this point I'm thinking of just switching to Advil tomorrow and calling it done. Has anybody had a similar experience with Vicodin?

 

[RNMOM]

Well sure hun, it is supposed to make you feel weird, it is a narcotic.

Really, it contains a form of codeine and it is tough on the stomach. Try even small pieces of cheese or some other fat/protein type food in your stomach.

Whenever you take something pretty strong like vicodin, codeine and especially percocet, you should lay low. Moving around will cause more of the spacey feeling and nausea. You might get enough relief from the motrin but maybe give your surgeon a call about it too.

 

[staley7580]

Yes... When I take it, I get ill feeling to. I usually eat something with bread, so the pizza will probably help. The donuts might have had to much sugar and helped the tummy issues along. When I get that feeling, I usually choke down a couple of slices of bread really quick, and it goes away.

 

[bumbershoot]

Well sure hun, it is supposed to make you feel weird, it is a narcotic.

Eh.

I took demerol for my ill-advised tonsillectomy, and that took away the pain, made me feel very woozy, but NOT bad at all.

I took vicodin for a toe that a table tried to take off, and that did NOT take away the pain, made me feel sick, and BAD BAD BAD.

I won't take vicodin again if for some reason I need something like that, and I would be on the phone to the prescribing doctor, telling them that it was awful, that I wanted something else (if I did), and to put it in my notes that vicodin was off the list. In my case it was prescribed by an urgent care place so I didn't follow up, I just stopped taking it, but if I were my current self back then, I should have contacted them to get something else so I could actually sleep at night and not wake up every time a breeze wafted over my toe (which had to be out of the covers for fear of the sheets touching it, which is not my sleeping style and kept me up even more than the pain was doing!).

If you think ibuprofen will help then just switch to that, but if you still need the Big medicine, call your MD tomorrow.

 

[Michelle67]

Well, the floaty feeling is going to happen with narcotics unless you have a high tolerance. You could try half a doseage, but I'm not a nurse so I would definitely call before doing that because some pills should never be broken in half or crushed because they will enter the bloodstream too quickly and be potentially hazardous. Nausea may be a simple matter of needing to have good solid food in your stomach before you take it. If eating before you take it doesn't help, call your doctor and get the prescription switched. I can not tolerate codeine, but I can tolerate Vicodin or Percocet (hydrocodone or oxycodone). My husband can not tolerate any of them, and they had to give him hydromorphone for his last surgery, after he had had an adverse reaction to the others. That freaked him out so he stuck with ibuprofen.

 

[noodleknitter]

Studies have consistently shown that ibuprophren and tylenol = less pain than vicodin. Call you doc for dosage, and take care to eat something if the ibuprophren ever hurts your stomach. An old mom's advice!

I hope that you are feeling better!

 

[Steffi]

I don't like Vicodin at all, either. I got some last week when I had a tooth/gum infection; it made me very sick to my stomach and didn't do half as much for the pain as Advil. I did try it again with more food in my stomach, and it didn't make me ill, but still didn't really do anything for the pain. And I can do without that woozy feeling, ugh.

 

[Disney Doll]

It's a narcotic. Of course it is going to give you that floaty feeling. Is your pain unbearable? Would rest, elevation, ice, Motrin not do the trick to keep the pain to a bearable level?

You don't have to be pain free. You can get the pain to a bearable level.

 

[RUDisney]

I've never had a problem taking vicodin, but one of my former employees brought one to work one day in case the pain from his thrown out back got worse. His wife gave it to him, she's a doctor. He literally laid down on the floor for about 4 hours. If he got up, he said he'd throw up. We kept offering for one of us to drive him home and one of us to drive his car home. After 4 hours on the floor, he started to feel better and could drive himself home.

I've always found that my pain is kept under better control if I stagger vicodin and ibuprophen... a vicodin at 8:00, a motrin at 10:00, another vicodin at noon, etc. But, then again, I've never felt floaty with vicodin. Percoset, OTOH, makes me sleep. With vicodin, I can at least function.

 

[delilah]

I'm a doctor, and it is fine to split the vicoden tablets in half--there should be a score mark.

Believe it or not, there are actually people who take vicoden when they don't have pain for recreational reasons. That amazes me. I had surgery recently, and was given vicoden for pain. It didn't really help the pain all that much, but it gave me the side effects--dizzy, nauseated, excessively tired, not able to concentrate. But, the second night after my surgery, I decided not to take a dose before going to bed. The pain in my feet (where I had my surgery) kept me up. So, I guess it was really doing more than what I thought, and took the med once at night for about a week.

 

[Barb D]

I get horribly nauseated with Vicodan and Dilaudid, but not with Percocet. Percocet just knocks me out. I've heard other people say the opposite. Maybe ask your doctor for a different med.

I'd rather deal with pain than nausea any day.

 

[Magic Mom]

All those pain meds make me ill. I had darvocet for my back, and the darvocet eased the pain a bit, but not enough to make up for the nasty side effects. So I refused to take it. And the Motrin was tearing up my stomach, so my doc perscribed Mobic/meloxicam. That stuff worked great. Its not a narcotic, but it took away most of the pain.

 

[luvmy3]

I was prescribed vicodin for some dental work I had last month. I never had any ill effects from taking it, but I did notice that the pain relief was the same as when I took 3 advil.

 

[noodleknitter]

All those pain meds make me ill. I had darvocet for my back, and the darvocet eased the pain a bit, but not enough to make up for the nasty side effects. So I refused to take it. And the Motrin was tearing up my stomach, so my doc perscribed Mobic/meloxicam. That stuff worked great. Its not a narcotic, but it took away most of the pain.

Is that an nsaid? I have problems with ibuprophren, too. Thanks!

 

[kimmikayb]

I hate it too. Not only did it knock me out for two days (I had a tooth pulled and didn't need to be out for TWO days), I was terribly ill when I woke up.

I can't take morphine either. Makes me extremely sick and my head feels like it will explode.

When at all possible, I try to stick to motrin.

 

[Magic Mom]

Is that an nsaid? I have problems with ibuprophren, too. Thanks!

It is. According to the bottle, there is a chance of stomach upset or pain, but It hasn't had that effect on me yet. I'm not taking it right now, because I have very minimal pain now, and not every day. So it just made sense to stop taking it.
I really hate taking medicine.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Thanks for the replies. I always hear people talk about it like it's such a great thing, I thought maybe I was some freak of nature or something, lol. I was told to take 1-2, I took one and the pain was still pretty bad. The next dose I still only took one, and the pain disappeared but it wasn't worth it. I don't get why people like it. That stuff is horrid!

I'm a doctor, and it is fine to split the vicoden tablets in half--there should be a score mark.

Believe it or not, there are actually people who take vicoden when they don't have pain for recreational reasons. That amazes me. I had surgery recently, and was given vicoden for pain. It didn't really help the pain all that much, but it gave me the side effects--dizzy, nauseated, excessively tired, not able to concentrate. But, the second night after my surgery, I decided not to take a dose before going to bed. The pain in my feet (where I had my surgery) kept me up. So, I guess it was really doing more than what I thought, and took the med once at night for about a week.

I just don't understand it. Maybe they life feeling like a queasy space cadet? That feeling was not fun at all! My next dilemma is I have this big bottle of it that I'm not going to use, so I'm not sure what to do with it. I know you shouldn't throw away prescription meds (especially a controlled substance) and I know you can't flush it because it goes into the water. I also don't want to keep something like that in my house, so I'm not sure what to do with it. Dis experts, do you know?

 

[4greatboys]

I like Vicodin. It helps reduce the pain effectively for me. However it can upset my stomach so I make sure I take it with food.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I like Vicodin, too. It's the only thing that dulls my pain when I can't get a morphine drip =) And believe me, I've tried it all.

Thankfully, it makes me a little woozy and tired but nothing else.

 

[Barb D]

I also don't want to keep something like that in my house, so I'm not sure what to do with it. Dis experts, do you know?

Take it back to the pharmacy and let them dispose of it.