hydrocodone safety
 

Hi all. I am wondering what the safe dosage is for hydrocodone 7.5/750 for long-term usage. I have taking it for 2 years to modulate unrelenting neck, shoulder, arm and back pain. The reason for the pain emerged 3 months ago when I was dx with Parkinson's Disease. I am under the care of a pain management specialist, am in excellent health other than the PD and have no vices. Now that I have a slew of health care providers, I''ve noticed that some are shocked and other unphased when I report the medicine. What is the safe level assuming I will be on it long-term? I am 45; my grandmother lived 20 years with early onset PD...

It is the Tylenol portion that is problematic. Upper safe limit for acetaminophen is 4 grams a day. And that is for normal liver functions. Any changes in liver status, requires careful thought to Tylenol intake.

So people with long term pain issues, may develop liver problems from long term high dose Tylenol.

There is a product called Norco with only 325mg of Tylenol.
It comes in a 7.5mg strength of the hydrocodone portion.
Norco comes in:
5/325
7.5/325
10/325
That is hydrocodone/acetaminophen

You could ask your doctor for that if you are concerned.

There are some concerns about kidney damage and impaired functions with Tylenol as well. This article gives some information:
http://general-medicine.jwatch.org/c...ull/2004/803/1

Is the neck, shoulder, arm and back pain thought to be caused by the PD???
Are the drs sure that is the cause of it?

Do you do repetitive work , lots of lifting, reaching or overhead work, long hrs at a desk job? now or in the past? car accidents, whiplash?

Those symptoms caught my eye as they could also be from a repetitive strain injury, thoracic outlet syndrome or cervical spine, or other causes.
our TOS & RSI forum-
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum24.html

i just read your other post about your vision difficulties... thoracic outlet does that too - TOS for short.:)

I just don't want you to have a missed dx , if those sx are due to something other than PD, it would be best to know so you can get treatment for it.
Quite a few drs aren't up to speed on TOS, it's kind of a mystery dx...:(

the TOS forum useful stickys will give you a crash course about it -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread84.html

Of you take 1 or 2 in the evening after a tough day the 7.5/750 should be okay, but if you need it every 4 hours, that's 6 x day.....4500mg of Tylenol is over recommended dosing. If you like your liver at all ( ;) ), I'd ask your doc for a switch to the 7.5/325.

For someone with less pain or new to narcotics, the Tylenol is there to potentiate (make it work better) the hydrocodone. When you've been dealing with chronic pain awhile, the benefit of the Tylenol is negligable and the risk of liver damage is greater.

My pharmacist told me that in Europe you have to get a script for tylenol and then they only give you 6 because it is so bad for you. I take hydrocodone. 375 mg. tylenol, 6 a day.

I take norco
 

HI- I TAKE NORCO 10/325 2 OR 3 TIMES A DAY AND NEURONTIN 300mg-3X A DAY FOR MY PN PAIN. BEEN ON NORCO APRX YR- YR AND A HALF- AND JUST GOT BACK ON THE NEURO 'CAUSE I GOT THE SHINGLES!!! OUCH.

Hi "Rose" ~ I hope and PRAY that you've had a liver panel during that time to see how your liver is functioning, and if NOT, please have your doc order one ASAP! Since you've been on this for over 2 years, I'd surely want to know how my liver was. I'd not being an alarmist, but I've KNOWN people who have had liver damage in a shorter time span than this!

So please ask for a liver panel to be sure. God bless, and do me a favor?? Let me know how you come out? I really worry about this stuff, and I care. God bless you and I'll send some prayers your way. Take care. Hugs, Lee :D

PS: You're probably FINE ! I don't want to scare you. Chances are you're A-ok, really! :D

if you want to completely avoid the tylenol risk
 

try vicoprofen....it has ibuprofen/motrin/advil..(they're all the same)....with
hydrocodone....

one thing though ...I found the 7.5/200's weren't meant to be
fractioned .....and in fractions they burned going down slow
and gave me a minor asthma type reaction for like 40 minutes after

but that's not typical

I think for most people they're much safer than tylenol loaded
pills