When I was in the hospital (mental hospital) this past March I was told that ANY narcotic, whether it is prescribed or not, would in essence zero out the effect of my psych meds and it would be like I had not taken them at all. Now I have noticed with some of the operations I have had, coming home I had to go right back into the mental hospital to get my meds straightened out, but I was on a morphine pump, so that I can understand. However, can taking the hydrocodone off and on for pain (mainly migraines) totally nix the psych meds?? Does anyone have any experience taking this sort of mix?

Hi Mickey. I'm not qualified to give you answers to your questions but I'm sure if you talk to your doctor they could explain it all to you.

Good luck.

Hi Mickey,
Many meds/narcotics etc can interact with hydrocodone but I assume if all are prescibed by the same doctor that should have been sorted out.
For your peace of mind though what medications are you on?
Nick

well, Im on lithium, trazedone, klonopin, remeron, and synthroid(?), which were prescribed by my psych doc, but my neuro doc put me on the hydrocodone for pain....now I know my psych dr didn't like the fact that I had the hydrocodone prescribed to me, but she did not go into it. So Im trying to manage with ibuprofen, which really isn't helping.

Mickey,

I take Vicodin and Klonopin and have for a long time. I don't feel they cancel each other out. The Klonopin is for nerve pain and the Vicodin for mechanical pain. I am not so sure I would use Hydrocodone though for the migraines as the narcotics can cause a rebound effect.

Hi Mickey,
It would be safer to take the hydrocodone than to use Ibuprophen. None of the prescibed meds will counteract each other. Ibuprophen and others in the same class have been known to decrease renal (kidney) clearances, meaning the body can't flush out lithium at normal rate. This can lead to an increase in blood/Lithium, sometimes to toxic levels. So, as you say the Ibuprofen isn't effective enough for you, better to stay with the hydrocodone.
I agree with what you've said, if it's after operations, possibly the anesthetics temporarily upset your metabolism, not in a toxic sense but enough to effect your well being.
good luck
Nick

Dude being on lithium you should know that you CANNOT HAVE NSAID's at all. Ibuprofen is a no no no the only thing you can have for pain is Tylenol. Be careful with all that.. Do your research.. Cause it can cause some pretty bad affects like Lithium Toxicity

Thank you for the reminder. I see the link I used above for this issue has closed. Here is a new one:

http://www.drugs.com/interactions-ch...=1310-0,1477-0

From the "moderate" classification for this interaction, it appears that individual renal handling of both drugs determines the potential for negative reactions. Anyone on lithium should be getting periodic monitoring anyway. Some people just cannot handle lithium well because of their own renal status.

Lithium remains a difficult drug for some people to tolerate.

I have degenerative disc disease, bi-polarism, arthritis. I have always told my docs upfront
About all three of these diagnosis so they know what meds to give. Well was given a very bad
pain medicine "methadone" for long term pain- hydrocodone for "breakthrough" pain...I told my provider it was makin me sick and she gave me a stomache pill! My therapist flipped out due to my heavy pain meds interacting with psych meds. Long story short we had it out and I no longer take those meds, but do take lyrica..was tryin what u r tryin but been havin a breakthru sine all day yesterday but too tired of ER rooms and same ole lecture! Just once I wish these damn docs could jump in my body and then tell what I should do! Bet it b different story huh! Well I just wanted u to know I am in same boat and hoping for either a rizotomy or surgery so "normal" can b somewhat in my life again. Not worry if I am moving wrong or Doing too much? Haha I got four kids and a grandchild in my home, docs outa come live with me for a week and get a reality check. I believe docs have too much power over our bodies, minds, and what they put in them. Don't we have a say in our progressssion??

Hi, Mickeycbee:

Before I started using fentanyl patches in September 2002 for my severe chronic RSD pain, I was taking hydrocodone tablets alone. They were totally ineffective at controlling my pain, so I would often go to the Emergency Room for help. The ER doctors would usually refuse to help me because they thought the hydrocodone tablets should have helped me. At that time, no doctor knew I had RSD. Neither did I.

One day, in the ER, I met a great and funny doctor. He was the first one to ever find out I had RSD, even though I went in denial when he told me about his diagnosis (I knew what RSD was from reading all the chronic pain books I had borrowed from the local public library). I complained to this doctor about how ineffective my hydrocodone tablets were. He could not prescribe anything stronger for me (I guess that is how it works in an ER), so he re- prescribed the hydrocodone tablets for me, which I was to take with a Valium tablet. This helped for a while but, unfortunately, not that long. Afterwards, a primary care doctor prescribed the Oxycontin tablets I had asked him to prescribe for me. A few months later, another primary care doctor prescribed fentanyl patches for me to use instead of Oxycontin tablets. Since the patches were effective, I had no reason to refuse them.