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We can enjoy life as it is, follow our usual ways, develop our creativity and skills endlessly with only one condition - we are not in pain! Consider it closely! Can you think of yummy dishes when your have a toothache? Can you dance your night away with your ankle sprained? Can you fulfill any routine task with positive attitude when your mind is clouded with pain? The answer is definit - no, you cannot! Pain is the ordeal we all have to stand from time to time. We are afraid of pain and try to avoid it but we rarely think that pain is the best friend we have, too. Astonished to hear that? Well, don’t be, because pain is what makes all living beings survive and take good care of their health!

As the antagonist of Hugh Laurie’s novel “The gun seller” declared, “pain is something you cause to yourself”. It is really so, when something is wrong with our organism, either inside or outside, our mind generates strong throbbing signals that we decipher as pain or chronic ache. This way our body cries for help and pleads us to handle the trouble as soon as possible.

When humans develop dangerous chronic illnesses pain can exhaust them twenty-four hours a day, turning their lives into a devastating nightmare. Of course, the major task of present-day medicine is to help those men and women decrease the pain and lead normal lives. Today opioid medications, both synthetic and natural, are the most trusted pain killers available.

Vicodin belongs to the class of synthetic opioid analgesics, too. Containing Hydrocodone (synthetic opiate) and Acetaminophen (Paracetamol or Tylenol), Vicodin causes double pain decreasing effect bringing you swift relief. This successful compound of two pain relievers is know by many brand names depending on the concentrations of Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen in them. So:

- Vicodin consists of 500 mg Paracetamol and 5 mg Hydrocodone;
- Vicodin HP is 750 mg Paracetamol and 7.5 mg Hydrocodone;
- Vicodin ES comprises 660 mg Paracetamol and 10 mg Hydrocodone;
- Anexsia consists of 500 mg Paracetamol and 5 mg Hydrocodone or 650 mg Paracetamol and 7.5 mg Hydrocodone;
- Dolorex Forte; Hycet; Liquicet; Lorcet is made up of 500 mg Paracetamol and 5 mg Hydrocodone; 650 Paracetamol mg / 10 mg Hydrocodone; or 650 mg Paracetamol and 7.5 mg Hydrocodone;
- Lortab is 500 mg Paracetamol and 2.5, 5, 7.5 or 10 mg Hydrocodone;
- Maxidone has 750 mg Paracetamol and 10 mg Hydrocodone;
- Norco has 325 mg Paracetamol and 5, 7.5, or 10 mg Hydrocodone;
- Polygesic has 500 mg Paracetamol and 5 mg Hydrocodone;
- Stagesic has 500 mg Paracetamol and 5 mg Hydrocodone;
- Xodol comprises 300 mg Paracetamol and 5, 7.5, or 10 mg Hydrocodone;
- Zamicet; Zydone consists of 400 mg Paracetamol and 5, 7.5, or 10 mg Hydrocodone.

Other non-active ingredients included in each pill of Vicodin are: colloidal silicon dioxide, starch, croscarmellose sodium, dibasic calcium phosphate, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, povidone and stearic acid. If you are allergic to any main or non-active components of the medication, please, call your MD before you purchase cheapest Vicodin and start taking it.

Vicodin, like any other narcotic analgesic, is recommended to resist moderate to moderately severe pain. This medicine is most usually prescribed for acute, chronic and/or post-operative conditions. Sometimes it can also be used to stop severe cough.

Semi-synthetic opioid analgesic Vicodin is available in different medical forms: tablets, capsules and liquid solutions. The safe dose for adults is 1-2 tablets of Vicodin with every meal 4 times a day. In fact you may take this medication with or without food but the majority of practitioners state that full stomach protects gastrointestinal tract. So, if you suffer from nausea after taking Vicodin, it may help you to take this medicine with food. Likewise, if you follow Vicodin therapy, drinking plenty of water during a day can help in preventing constipation typical for Vicodin takers.

Please, note that each sort of brand or generic pill contains different quantities of Vicodin. That is why you should be very careful how many tablets you take. The maximum safe quantity of Acetaminophen for grownups is only 1 gram (1000 mg) per dose or 4 grams (4000 mg) per day. If you take Vicodin, 1-2 tablets each time is needed, the max number of tablets a day is 8 tablets. If you take Vicodin ES, 1 tablet each time is needed, i.e. max 5 tablets a day. If you take Vicodin HP, 1 tablet each time is needed, i.e. max 6 tablets a day. Pain killing capsules can contain 2.5 to 10 mg Hydrocodone and 300 to 750 mg Acetaminophen. You should take Vicodin every 4 to 6 hours or 15 ml of liquid solution every 4 to 6 hours as needed. If possible, take minimal dosage of Vicodin and keep to the time span of 6 hours to avoid numerous adverse reactions and addiction to this drug.

If you miss a scheduled dose of Vicodin, take it as soon as you can. If it is almost time for your next dose, take only that dose skipping the previous one. Never take double or extra doses to avoid ruinous ovedose! The awful thing is that
Vicodin overdose can be fatal.

Talking about Vicodin side effects, note that this med can make you feel dizzy or drowsy. That is why you should be careful participating in activities demanding alertness and quick reaction (driving, using complicated machinery ect).

Keep off alcoholic beverages because they increase the risk of Vicodin adverse reactions. Remember that Vicodin contains Acetaminophen in it, and this substance is able of causing liver damage. If in addition to it you consume alcohol every day, it interacts with Acetaminophen and increases the risk of bad liver damage.

Just as all synthetic narcotic medicines Vicodin can cause severe side effects, which are rather seldom. If you face a severe sign seek medical help immediately! Serious Vicodin side effects include:

- severe drowsiness,
- severe abdominal pain and constipation,
- slow heart rate,
- hyperventilation, troubled or slow breathing,
- hallucinations and altered mental status,
- confusion, anxiety or fear,
- unusual fatigue,
- hearing loss,
- decreased urination,
- cold and clammy skin,
- bluish tinge on the skin,
- blood disorders,
- low blood pressure,
- seizures,
- kidney and liver problems including failure.

Liver failure causes jaundice and a number of symptoms like pain in the upper right side of the abdomen, yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes and dark urine.

What is more, personalities allergic to Vicodin can experience severe allergic reaction:

- itching, skin rash or hives,
- unusual swelling of the mouth, tongue and throat, wheezing and breathing difficulty.

If you take Vicodin therapy and feel uncomfortable when you have to rise from a seated or lying position you can minimize dizziness and lightheadedness doing it slowly.

If you are rather old great caution is advised when using this drug - you may be more sensitive to the adverse effects of the drug, especially decreased breathing and drowsiness. It is forbidden to prescribe Vicodin to personalities under 18! Children should never be given Vicodin, as its safety and effectiveness in children has not been investigated till now.

If you have to undergo any type of surgery, tell your surgeon that you are using Vicodin ahead of time. This med weakens the effect of narcosis that is why you may need to stop using Vicodin for a short time.

The topic of Vicodin, pregnancy and breastfeeding is essential, too. The effects of Vicodin during pregnancy and breastfeeding are not properly investigated. To be on the safe side, avoid taking Vicodin if you are pregnant to keep your unborn baby safe. Discuss with your MD all pros and cons before getting Vicodin no prescription and starting it. Although some medical reports state that this drug is safe for pregnant women, you should take it only if obvious positive effects outweigh the possible risks. Bear in mind that if Vicodin is regularly taken in the time before delivery, it may cause respiratory depression and withdrawal symptoms in the newborn baby because the fetus becomes Vicodin addicted within the mother’s womb! Nursing mothers should not use Vicodin because Paracetamol and Hydrocodone easily gets into human milk effecting your baby.

Vicodin is occasionally prescribed in veterinary for dogs if they are allergic to Carprofen (Rimadyl Rx) or Etodolac (Etogesic Rx). But frankly speaking it is not the best choice of a pain killer. The point is that although Hydrocodone that gets rid of pain is well tolerated but Paracetamol is toxic to dogs and it causes numerous liver problems. All the same, Vicodin is sometimes the only option for chronic arthritis troubles in older dogs.

Present-day medicine is rather careless about Vicodin addiction today - addiction to illicit street drugs and/or alcohol is considered to be a far more serious condition. Frankly speaking, Vicodin is not really viewed as a drug able of causing the same distressing troubles as other drugs! No wonder that this attitude of medical people often leads Vicodin addicts and their nearest and dearest to the idea that everything is under control and they do not require the withdrawal treatment. What a shame!

If you feel any withdrawal symptoms after you stop taking Vicodin, seek drug abuse treatment immediately! Humans who have a problem with drugs or alcohol must be particularly careful and go to their practitioner regularly. If you have to undergo Vicodin addictin treatment, be ready for the initial phase - the detoxification process. It cleanses the physical body of a person and prepares him or her for further treatment.

Why is Vicodin so addictive? The point is that the regular use of Hydrocodone causes certain changes you brain - in the way it handles opiates. The longer you take Vicodine and the higher is the dosage you apply daily, the sooner you develop an opiate tolerance. Consequently you need ever greater doses of the medicine to reach the same pain decreasing effects.

If an opiate-tolerant individual tries to drop taking Vicodine, he or she will experience bad opiate withdrawal symptoms. Vicodin addicts experience the first withdrawal symptoms within 6-24 hours following their last dose. They experience:

- runny nose, muscle aches and other flu-like symptoms;
- nausea;
- diarrhea;
- anxiety;
- depression;
- insomnia;
- irritability;
- chills;
- drug cravings;
- increased pain of the disease that forced them to take Vicodin.

Secondary Vicodin withdrawal symptoms that can last for months with varying degrees of intensity are:

- insomnia,
- lethargy,
- depression.

The withdrawal peak is located within 72 hours of the last Vicodin dose and it lasts for 4-5 days. Pain individuals who are using Vicodin for its analgesic effects develop increased sensitivity to pain during the withdrawal period.

Probably the best and the most realistic illustration of severe Vicodin withdrawal torture is the episode from the “House M.D” serial where the main character Greg House survives the most negative Vicodin withdrawal symptoms. The best way to avert Vicodin addiction is taking 1 tablet of Vicodin 3 times a day after meals and never prolonging the period of Vicodin therapy, then you will get back to normal painless life and will be able to enjoy every delightful moment of it with the people you love and care for.