Shoreline

Hi Becky, The first number is the number of mgs of hydrocodone "the opiate" The second number is the amount of apap "Tylenol" the only difference is the size of the bottles it came in. Pharmicies get bottles of 100, 500 and 1000. The only difference your feeling is the difference between one generic and the other which can easily be as much as 25% and still get the highest rating from the FDA as far as being Bioequivelent.

The FDA allows a +15% and -20% variance because even with the name brand version, if you give 100 people the same pill out of the same bottle, you will get this variance in the actual serum level of all those tested due to metabolism, size, weight, even gender can create a difference in how we metabolize medication. The full prescribing info on Oxycontin says women usually produce a 20% higher serum level than men, meaning they metabolize the med better and more gets to the blood stream. It may have to do with body fat percentage but it's simply one of the many variables that can occur with all medication.

I do believe some manufacturers take advanatage of that allowable variance and actually put less active ingedient in each pill, say 8.5 mgs instead of 10, another manufactuer may actually shoot for 10mgs and end up with 11 mgs in a 10 mg tablet. If you go to malinkrodts web site and look up their generic version of 30 mg roxicodone they actually tell you each 30 mg tablet contains 27 mgs of oxycdone and each 15 mg tablet contains 13.5 mgs. It's all about ther money. ON a bottle of 100 pills shaving just 1 mg per 10 mg pill creates 10% more product and is perfectly legal.

That last number you described is simply the size of the bottle that came to the Pharamcy or your home if you get mail order scripts.I suspect the bottles came mail order and your simply reading every number on the bottle.

After taking hundreds of pills you may also be developing tolerance to the drug and feeling the difference. At the end of a bottle of 500 I wouldn't expect the same level of relief you got from the first pill. Both are generic equivelants of name brand Norco 10/325. The size of the bottle is the only thing that last number reflects.
Good luck, Dave