Just got some blood test results that indicated my liver enzymes were up. Normal was 0-45 and mine was 47. I have been taking Lortab 10/500 (hydrocodone 10mg to 500mg of tylenol). When the blood work was done, it was taken a few days after my injection. The nurse told me I could take lortab every 4 hours so I did and did this up to the day of the blood draw. I had blood work done back in Sept and everything was fine then. Just saw pain mgt. dr yesterday and he gave me another script for lortab 10/500. I got home saw the results and was concerned. I am afraid to take anymore lortab until i see my pc. Is there any pain meds out there with no tylenol? Thanks

Tylenol is acetominophen right? Advil is Ibuprofen but I'm not sure what it does to the liver. I know that I use it for torn rotator cuffs (800mg x 3 per day) and it does wonders. My doc gave me that rather than vicoden because I hated the idea of an addictive drug.

I would be a "little" concerned too. 500mg is alot of tylenol. Even Percocet 5mg/325mg would be better than those. But I would suggest something like Roxicodone it has no tylenol at all. You might be ok with ibuprophen but be careful with it too I can cause stomach bleeds. I was on NSAIDS for 10 years because I too didnt want to take the narcotic route but after various bad episodes with my stomach my doc decided on narcotics first it was ty 3 and the caffiene irritated my stomach then it was percocet for about 6 months and the tylenol became a concern finally Oxycontin which has no tylenol. I would suggest the roxicodone or if your stomach is alright a mild narcotic with ibuprophen instead of tylenol. The enzymes arent up that much so action on your doc's part now would probably lower them. If you decide to go the ibuprophen route take it with food or milk to avoid stomach damage or ask for something like Nexium or Losec to prevent or heal the damage. Good luck.
Autumn.

Yes tylenol is acetaminophen. A family member died from liver cancer but they were an alcoholic. I don't drink. I can't take advil or anti-inflammatories because it's hard on my stomach. Another family member took advil for arthritis and has had bleeding problems from the stomach. This is one reason I was prescribed something without advil and had many injections because I couldn't tolerate anti-inflammatories. Advil is hard on the kidneys.

I haven't filled the new script yet(still have some from the previous bottle). I guess I could get another blood test done since I was on lortab every four hours at the time of blood work. It was done for getting life insurance so my primary care dr. doesn't even know about this unless I tell him. Pain mgt dr. says to notify primary dr. while Hubby says to wait another month and then get blood work re-done and notify dr then. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif I was just concerned about taking more or even filling the script knowing that there is an increase of enzymes. I don't want to "grin and bear" the pain because I did that before and ended back to square one with incrased muscle spasms. Can't win either way http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/frown.gif

Hi Autumn, I guess we posted about the same time. Thanks for the suggestions. I'm calling my primary today before I take anymore Lortab and maybe take the written script back to pain mgt for something with no tylenol.

Another question, Do you know if Roxicodone is similar to lortab10/500? I've taken percocet 5mg before and my dr. told me that percocet and vicodin are similar but vicodin is not as strong as percocet. I switched to lortab (2 times the strength of vicodin) because 5 mg of hydrocodone wasn't enough. I guess I'll have to mention this to the dr. as well. No tylenol in med sounds promising and if it saves my liver, it's better for me. Thanks Autumn.

Ya I think we posted at the same time lol http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif Your doctor is right about Percocet ( 5mg oxycodone/325mg tylenol) is stronger than Lortab which is 10mg hydrocodone and 500mg tylenol. The roxicodone is percocet without any tylenol I assume its 5mg oxycodone and 0mg tylenol. It may come in other strengths but I am not sure since we dont have it here in Canada unfortunalty or I would be taking it instead of the percocet for my BT pain. I dont agree with your husband I would want to have this checked right away.
Call your PM doc and voice your concerns and tell him about the test and ask him to change it to either the roxicodone or if he knows of something with hydrocodone and NO tylenol to prescribe you that. Plz update me on how it goes good luck.
Autumn.

OOpppss I didnt answer your other question Vicodin is 5mg hydrocodone/500mg tylenol and percocet is 5mg oxycodone/325mg tylenol. They have percocet in higher mg like 7.5mg and 10mg but the tylenol increases too and your dont want that. Good luck.
Autumn.
So I dont think vicodin and percocet are near the same thing cuz they are a diff drug altogether. But yes the percs are stronger.

Here's some info........

To my knowledge Hydrocodone is not available on it's own. Vicodin has Tylenol (hydrocodone/acetaminophen) 5/500, 7.5/750, 10/800.

Percocett also has Tylenol (oxycodone/acetaminophen)
5/325, 7.5/500, 10/660.
Percodan has Asprin, same numbers

Oxycontin has only Oxycodone, time released over 12 hours (some say it doesn't last that long, more like 7 or 8) in strengths of 10, 20, 40 and 80mgs.

Roxicodone and Oxy IR (imediate release) offer small doses of oxycodone 5, 7.5, 10mgs just like Percocett and Vicodin without anything else.

There are all kinds of other pain killers but they are alot stronger and your doc may not want you to climb higher than the oxy/hydrocodone level.

Demerol (meperidine), Diluidid (hydromorophone) MS contin (moriphene sulfate) Ask your doc, you should be able to find something that works for you if you are concerned about the acetiminophen level.

http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

I used to have a page marked for a drug converter I found on the web, can't seem to find it now DOH! You could punch in 5mg oxycodone and convert it to another drug to compare the strengths. Oxy is stronger than Hydro......5 mgs Oxycodone works out to something like 4.2 mgs of Hydrocodone, so Percocett is slightly stronger than Vicodin........Just thought I'd share. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Hey Shonn I had the same page marked lol. When I went to 2mg Dilaudid at bedtime. It equals 10mg oxycodone. Geez we are sounding like experts here lol. Guess thats what happens when you are a CP Patient.

Autumn

WOW, it's a small web after all.......Most of my knowledge comes from being stuipid and abusing these pills and books, hee hee. Diluidid eh, I remember those little 4mg yellow ones.......... http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Mine are yucky orange lol. So how ya doing now? I am still taking all my meds for Chronic pain. I have my first appt with a pain management doc May 13th so I havent a clue what new bunch I will be on. Maybe some therapy or injections with the meds? I have no clue how I pain clinic works gonna be scary. Long as it works I guess http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif
Autumn.

Hello, This is my first post so please excuse me if I say the wrong things. I am in the same boat as many of you I started taking Vicoden after a severe cut to my wrist. ( I almost cut my hand off) I am now seeing a Pain Management Dr and taking 3 20mg Oxys twice a day. I am very concerned about my liver. I want to get off of the meds all together. I hope I can do it. I'm glad i found this group. Maybe with some support I ca do it.

I am currently taking Lortab 10 mg of hydrocodone/500 of tylenol so I was wondering if there was something with no tylenol similar to that strength. I asked about vicodin (5 mg of hydrocodone) comparison to percocet because the lortab is twice the strength of vicodin. Shon said "5 mgs Oxycodone works out to something like 4.2 mgs of Hydrocodone, so Percocett is slightly stronger than Vicodin". If percocet is 4.2 mg of hydrocodone than it will be less strenght then what I am taking now with the lortab 10 mg hydrocodone.
I don't want to go to oxycontin, heard bad stuff about it.

I talked with the nurse with the pc dr.and she said it was up to the pm dr. if he wanted to switch my meds to something with no tylenol and I need to go back for a re-check of blood. Thanks for all the responses,

J_f ...You know I heard ALL the bad stories about oxycontin too but I am glad I ignored them and went by my cardinal rule. "they are safe if you dont abuse them". It has been my lifesaver. Its the little percs I had the trouble with http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/frown.gif. Thr roxicodone would be the best choice I wish it was available here in Canada. Or the OxyIR. So many livers over here could be saved.
I start my Pain Management in May so not sure if my meds will switch or not. My Primary doc told me the PM doc might not like the fact I am on dilaudid so this was my last script for that. Another thing I didnt understand because it has been a Godsend helping me sleep. Not sure if I will get withdrawls from it or not because I only take one at bedtime as needed and I do skip nights and it doesnt bother me.
Well the sun is trying to peak out here this morning so maybe my mood will get better http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif have a nice day my friends.
Luv
Autumn.

[This message has been edited by Autumn Angel (edited 04-17-2003).]

Here's the coverter website you need to compare the different pain meds. http://www.globalrph.com/narcotic.cgi

Director

The pm nurse called me back and said he was switching me to Roxycodone 5 mg and I looked at the converter chart and roxy wasn't listed but when I used oxycodone to compare it to hydrocodone. 10 mg of hydrocodone(1 lortab) worked out to 6.67mg of oxycodone or 5mg of oxycodone worked out to 7.5 mg of hydrocodone. Seems to me like it will be a little less of a strength for me since I am also not getting the tylenol added anymore or will it be about the same amount of pain relief because roxycodone is a different base of medicine? I should be ok with that amount as I am cutting back to 1 1/2 lortab per day.

I won't recieve the roxycodone till Monday because the pharmacy had to order it. They called to five other pharmacies and only one pharmacy had some of the medication. They couldn't just give me what they had and then more once the order came in because it would "cancel" the remaining pills on the script. I would have had to go and get another script from the dr. for remaining pills pharmacy couldn't give me. I didn't know how would I explain that! I didn't want to lose the rest of the script so I decided it was best to wait four more days to get the full script.

One other question. I notice that hydrocodone has a half life of 3.5 -4.5 hrs. while oxycodone has no half life. Can someone explain to me what half life means?