The following information is NOT intended to endorse drugs or recommend therapy. While these reviews might be helpful, they are not a substitute for the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgement of healthcare practitioners in patient care.
Suffered from degenerative disc disease for 3 years before finally having a fusion. Vicodin was the only medication that could make a dent in my pain. Broke pills in half and never took more than 2-3 pills per day, no matter what, or tolerance develops. Need to take a stool softener or live with constant rectal bleeding and clogged toilets. The drug also allowed me to maintain or improve mentally in order to function in a demanding job. This is separate than the pain relief. Another interesting side effect is an increase in libido at least for males. The combination of Vicodin and Viagra worked great for me to achieve erection. Also, the Vicodin effect for me mentally was identical to that of having an orgasm.
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I started taking this after my knee surgery, I found it to be be great. My recovery time was fast. I had no pain and lot's of energy. It started with 3 or 4 pills a day then after that it got to be 5 or 6 a day. I then had foot surgery. I had to take more for the pain to go away. This went on for 5 years. By the time I got help I was taking 20 to 25 pills A DAY. I now know that God is watching over me because if he wasn't I wouldn't be here now. I am now off of all pain killers but it took a lot of hard work. I'm letting you know this because it creeps up on you before you even know it. Vicodin may help you at first and you may be able to control it. I thought I could. I'm just asking you please be careful with this medicine.
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I've been taking Hydrocodone APAP 5-500 for 2 months now. It works for me. I only take one tablet at night to help me sleep. I was operated on cubital tunnel syndrome. It helped me a lot.
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I am a 70 year old woman. I have spinal stenosis. Each day I wake up thinking I won't need to take Vicodin today, but I do. I take 2 when the pain starts and it always takes the pain away. If I wait too long to see if the "PAIN WILL GET BETTER BY ITSELF" I'm only fooling myself. It never gets better by itself! My doctor tells me not to worry about addiction, that he knows how often I take it and he keeps track. So I let him do it.
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I am not really impressed with the pain control I receive from Vicodin. I have a long history of chronic pain related to my disease Lupus. I have had Lupus for 20 years. As I get older the pain seems to get harder to deal with. Fortunately, I am still able to work and function on a daily basis.
I am fully aware of all of the side effects, for me the benefit almost always outweighs the risks.
I don't understand why doctors are so afraid to give you something different that may actually work better for me. They are so concerned with addiction. Vicodin is addictive!!! I don't understand their rationalle.
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I have a history of kidney stones (very painful) and Vicodin is the pain killer of choice. Tylenol 3 is very similar. My doctor has alternated between them. When Vicodin doesn't work (about 10% of the time) I have to go to the emergency room for a Morphine injection.
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Use this for chronic cluster headache. Only medication that provides lessening of severe head pain. Not enough research has been done with the use of Vicodin ES for chronic cluster headache pain.
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I use Vicodin when I'm in pain. It only helps me for 2 to 3 days then after that nothing seems to help with pain. I've had surgery on my wrist and I am going to have surgery again soon. I fear that I am going to get addicted to it because my dad is addicted to it and I don't want it to happen to me. I need to tell my doctor and ask him what else would help with pain.
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Post op foot pain. Not effective to address pain. Mild side effects: dry mouth, skin feels charged and I am unable to stay asleep due to weird dreams that seem to just "pop" into my head. First day on medicine, I'll call Doctor tomorrow hope he will give me something different.
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This is a great drug and really makes me feel better as a result of chronic back pain that radiates into my legs and abdomen. I only take 1 to 2 pills a week to get some relief.
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Occasionally I take this for my migraines when I run out of my Midrin. I also have severe neck pain of unknown cause. Works very well, but I'm careful not to take it all the time because I know it is addictive.
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I'm 24 years old and have three kids. With my last they gave me a water injection twice. The first time it didn't work. They did it a second time and I still felt no relief. A few hours after I had my son I started having major pains shooting up my back. The doctor said it would go away and it didn't. I have a lot of damaged nerves from when the gave me the water injection. I get shooting pains on a regular basis. After my doctor started giving me Vicodin my pain has gone away more than 50 percent.
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Ripped my gastro calf muscle playing tennis...Ouch..very painful and hard to sleep at night. Vicodin helps for mostly on the outside of the injury but not too much within the deep damaged tissue for me. I'd say about 85 percent or so, just enough to ease off the majority of pain for comfort at bedtime.
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I've just recently had 19 teeth pulled all at once and absolutely couldn't sleep at night. I was given 750 mg of Vicodin (Hydrocodone) and now I can sleep. It takes the pain away but only lasts for 3 hours at the most. I sometimes get a headache from it and have suffered from constipation. All in all, the relief you feel from severe pain is well worth it. Do not drive while taking this medication. It makes some people sleepy and slows down your reaction time.
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I take Vicodin for menstrual cramps. It is quite effective in eliminating the pain, but it does make me very sleepy and slightly out of touch with reality. I found that caffeine counters this effect, but I haven't asked my doctor yet if it is okay to take caffeine with Vicodin (I read the warning label twice and didn't find anything mentioned there). I haven't noticed withdrawal symptoms, but I do use a minimum amount and am not prone to addiction in general.
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I had 2 foot surgeries within 9 months of each other that took me over 2 years to heal, and was given Vicodin for the pain. At first it was awesome, it took care of the pain but I slept all the time. After a while I ended up taking more to relieve the pain, which scared me. So I would go off of it for a month or so and live in agony to prove I was not addicted. It detaches you from whats going on around you. I finally figured out that I would rather be in some pain than be so depressed as that drug made me feel. I just stick to ibuprofen now.
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My Wisdom teeth started too hurt and before they got pulled I couldn't stand the pain and the only thing that made it better was 2 vicodin pills before bed. The pain went away.
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I was prescribed Vicodin 5/500 because my wisdom tooth is erupting and I'm waiting for the surgery on Wednesday. I was in severe pain for two days before consulting a doctor because Advil would hardly take the edge off.
Vicodin takes almost all the pain away and makes it possible to swallow FINALLY.
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For some reason this is the only pain killer I can tolerate. I have been prescribed different types of medicines and they are either to strong or don't work. The only problem I have is when you tell the doctor this they act like you are a addict, which I am not. I am just telling them what works for me so I don't waste my money on a script that doesn't work. Doctor's can't figure out why I have chronic pain.
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I have had 2 left knee reconstructions and was prescribed Vicodin 10/325. After a few short weeks I was already immune to the dosage and had to start taking more. Although it works great for body pain, I have a killer headache and no appetite once it wears off. When I have a few good days that are pain free and I don't use the medication I feel like I'm going through withdrawls.
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I have spinal stenosis and take Vicodin 7.5/500 6-8 times a day it has taken the pain away. No side effects. Doctor says it will make me sleepy but I find is it keeps me awake. Been on it for 3 years and it's the only thing that lets me live a pain free day.
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The only problem I have had with Vicodin is that it really upsets my stomach. Whether I have an empty stomach, full stomach or whether I eat right after I take it or right before. It doesn't matter. Still makes me so sick. So my doctor suggested that I crush it and add it to yogurt or something of that sort and it has been helping a lot. I don't know what the difference is but hey, it works and i'm pain free.
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Currently in pain management. Have been taking Ms-contin and Norco both 3 times a day, for 12 years plus. Had two gyno surgeries in December and January (last Wednesday) and was prescribed vicodin as well. With the other medicines I take I found my overall pain management, not just surgical pain to be much better. Really found a few pain free moments for first time in 2 years. Great relief. Wish I could take it all the time with current pain medication regimen.
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I was hit by a dump truck. I tried aleve and naproxen which helped for a little while. My doctor gave me a prescription for Vicodin and it has helped me so much. Vicodin has never made me queasy, drowzy or loopy. I have never had any side effects from taking it. For severe pain, your doctor might recommend taking it with a muscle relaxant.
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WOW! I had oral surgery and when the anesthesia wore off, the whole side of my face hurt worse than any pain I'd ever had before. I couldn't even touch a tissue to my runny nose without going through the roof. Within minutes of taking the Vicodin, not only was the pain gone, but I was able to sleep through the night.
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I am 50 years old and have had severe rheumatoid arthritis for more than 6 years. I was taking Advil like candy for years until I was diagnosed with Arthritis. My 1st Rheumatologist put me on 7.5/750's 3 times daily and it worked well. After changing doctors after major Lung Surgery they sent me to a Pain Management doctor who put me on Duragesics then MS Contin. That sure got rid of the pain, but the depressant effects of Morphine based medications made me miserable. Hydrocodone or even Oxycodone work very well as long as you don't abuse them. I'd wish more Pain Management people would get off the Morphine dependency. This kind of treatment makes it hard to treat pain after major surgeries.
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ON A POSITIVE NOTE, THIS HAS HELPED ME TO LIVE A PAIN FREE LIFE . I HAVE SEVERE DIABETES, PERIPHERIAL VASCULAR DISEASE WHICH CAUSES SEVERE LEG PAIN AND CRAMPS, ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT. SINCE I WORK WITH KIDS, IN A BIG HIGH SCHOOL CAMPUS, I AM ABLE TO WORK AND CONTRIBUTE TO SOCITEY, WHEN TAKING VICODIN ONCE A DAY.
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I have been suffering from migraines for over 8 years. This past time the doctor ended up giving me vicodin to relieve the pain and get rid of the migraine. And I am loving it, as long as I take the vicodin when I am supposed to I am without pain. The only bad thing about the vicodin is the dry mouth and the fact that I feel detached from everything. But I can live with those two things in order to get rid of a migraine. I would recommend this medicine to anyone who has a migraine and can't get rid of it (I had mine for over 2 weeks before going to the doctor)!
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I took it (2 a day) for a few weeks for a compression fracture and it helped not only that but the constant arthritis in the lower back. I also took it some years ago, knowing only the generic name and not associating it with 'Vicodin', for shingles. Nothing short of heroin can eliminate shingles pain, but this did a pretty good job without any sign of physical dependence. I will request a continuing prescription just for the arthritis.
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I recently had an accident where a board hit the side of my ankle at a racing speed. About 20mph impact to my ankle, and a broken cuboid, 2 torn ligaments, and a broken ankle cap. I was prescribed (M37) Vicodin. I take it 3 times a day and I live pain-free. But one side affect ive noticed is constipation. Sounds funny but its true, taking vicodin on an empty stomach avoids this.
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I have been having considerable reconstructive work in my mouth lately. It is very effective in controlling my tooth pain as long as I take it on an empty stomach.
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I was in a serious car accident and severely injured my leg. It was put back together by metal but I am in chronic pain. I currently take Vicodin ES and live a pain free life. This medication is extremly helpful in allowing me to lead a normal life.
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I am 22 years old and have had 2 micro-disc surgeries on the L5. The first on 1/19/04, the second on 7/19/04. I'm 5'10" 125lbs. For a couple years I relied heavily on Ibuprofen due to lack of insurance, and was taking 8-16 a day depending on weather conditions and working conditions. I now have insurance and have been taking vicodin 500mg up to 3 times a day for almost a year now and live a more painfree life.
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My wisdom teeth are impacted and I have several cavities and I am waiting to have surgery. My doctor prescribed Vicodin for the pain and it works very well as long as I continue taking it every 6 hours. I can tell when the medication wears off, because my jaw starts to throb.
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cindy sue said: 
2young2livewithfibro said: 
