Hey Phlox, Ken saved me a lot of writing. A hystamine release is a enzyme/ drug released by your body that binds to specific hystamine receptors when exposed to other chemicals or pollen, many substances can cause a hystamine release hence the need for antihystamines that block the relase of hystamines or block them from binding to the hystamine receptors.
Hystamines can cause runny nose, watery eyes, anxious feelings, itching nothing horendous and something that usually lessens when you become used to the med. Hydrocodne can cause the same problem , so can any med.
The easiest way to understand strenghth of medicine is to know that all opiates have the same potential for addiction,abuse and dependence is inevatable when used for a prolonged period. However when opiates are used strictly for pain and if you don't associate the initial warm fuzzie feeling you may have felt the first time you took hydrocodone with pain relief you should do fine. It's when people abuse, self medicate, mix drugs/alcohol to increase the high, which is all addictive behavior, Is when people run into trouble.
Hillbilly heroin doesn't mean Oxycontin is addictive as heroin. In fact there isn't one opiate that causes more dependence than the other when taken in equal doses. The gold standard to which all opaited are compared is morphine, It doesn't mean morphine is the strongest drug, It's just a way to compare drugs to each other.
Hydrocodone is about equal in strength to morphine, Oxycodone is about 50% stronger than Hydro or morphine. Dilaudid, which has been abused intra veinously for years and considered pharmacuetical grade heroin on the streets is 8 times stronger than morphine mg to mg. People have been injecting dilauadid for decades and when you inject or abuse any opiate the end result is pretty much the same.
If your taking 30 mgs of hydrocodone, It's just as strong as taking 20mgs of Instant release oxycodone or 30 mgs of morphine or 4 mgs of dilaudid. But no more addictive.
When an addict moves to IV use they want pure opiates that don't contain tylenol, But even then health concerns are thrown out the window. Crushing and injecting oxyContin causes necrosis of the surounding tissue, the fillers and binders can cause heart attack or strokes because their isn't a junkie out there that is purifying and removing all the fillers.
This is all the other good stuf addicts are injcting into their veins, info from the full prescribing instructions available at Purues web site.
The tablets contain the following
inactive ingredients:
ammonio methacrylate copolymer, hypromellose, lactose, magnesium
stearate, polyethylene glycol 400, povidone, sodium hydroxide, sorbic acid, stearyl alcohol,talc, titanium dioxide, and triacetin.
The 10 mg tablets also contain: hydroxypropyl cellulose.
The 20 mg tablets also contain:
polysorbate 80 and red iron oxide.
The 40 mg tablets also contain:
polysorbate 80 and yellow iron oxide.
The 80 mg tablets also contain:
FD&C blue No. 2, hydroxypropyl cellulose, and yellow ironoxide.
The 160 mg tablets also contains:
FD&C blue No. 2 and polysorbate 80
So along with the oxycodone they are injecting they are also injecting
Talc, cellulose "the base for most glue" sodium hydroxide "a cleaning agent like spic and span", Titanium dioxide "white paint pigment, "also a heavy metal" Polyethelene glucol 400 "antifreeze" Sorbic acid "another gum base and preservative"
This stuff turns to glue globs, caked up titanium dioxide and talc and even more dangerous Polyethelene glycol. "antifreeze" when injected into your blood stream. The amounts are so small they are harmless when taken orally but Everytime an oxy is crushed and injected, the addict is rolling the dice hoping a glob of filler composed of all kinds of nasty crap along with antifreeze directly into the veins doesn't kill them now or some time down the road when a glob of crud breaks loose and goes to their heart, lungs or brain.
More frm the FPI
Abuse of the crushed tablet poses a hazard of overdose and death. This risk is increased with concurrent abuse of alcohol and other substances. With parenteral abuse, "IV" the tablet
excipients,
especially talc, can be expected to result in local tissue necrosis, infection,
pulmonary granulomas, and increased risk of endocarditis and valvular heart injury.Parenteral "IV" drug abuse is commonly associated with transmission of infectious diseases
such as hepatitis and HIV.
But addicts are so clever they think they have somehow removed all the fillers that make up the bulk of each tablet. The risks are ignored and they inject all this crap anyway.
The whole Hillbilly Heroin thing is just news hype.
Hydrocodone is the most abused opiate in the US, But because of the tylenol in the different version like Vicodin,Lortab Norco etc, the apap somewhat limits the dose due to tylenol toxicity and would be lethal if injected due to the same talc and non degradable fillers injected into the blood stream.
However most addicts aren't thinking about their health when they swallow 5 10 mg lortab and recieve 250% more tyleneol than anyone should ever take at one time. Or inject Oxycontin that conatins more fillers than actual Oxycodone.
They destroy their liver a little more each day, Ignore being sick from what they are doing and continue untill they die, get arested or if they are lucky enough that someone interveens, they may survive, but who knows when a glob of talk/celluse and Ttanium dioxide will dislodge from the plaque it creates in the vein walls and cause a heart attack or a stroke.
Enough about addiction. Addiction is destructive behavior based on psychologic disfunction that turns getting high into the most important thing in their life. Addiction is destructive.
Physical dependence is just a consequence and what is destructive about improving someones ability to walk, managing pain and improving quality of life. Sure doesn't sound destructive.
Anyone that takes opiates for a prolonged perriod whether it be Hydrocodone, Oxycodone in any form, morphine, dilaudid, fentanyl, demerol,methadone, whatever, will become physically dependent. Meaning if they discontinue these meds abruptly they will experience physical withdrawal.
The big difference is Addiction=destructive beahvior regardless of all health risks.
Meds used to improve quality of life and ability to functin are completely oposite from addiction. The rate of abuse among pain patinets is much lower than the rate of abuse of all substances in the general public.
So wheter it's oxycontin, morphine or the duragesic patch, you will become physically dependnt, but addiction is something completely different and based on destructive neahvior in spite of health risks simply to chase a high they can only achieve by steadily increasing their dose.
PM patient do develop tolerance to side effects or the high, but you don't need to feel high to recieve the benfit of pain relief.
Most opiates cause a hystamine reponse, you see the classic Heroin addict scrathing and rubbing their face after injestion of a large enough dose of opiates to get high. Each time they get high it's going to take more to achive that same high due to tolerance of the side effects, the high feeling is oneof the side effects but is one of the first side effect to deminish, that's why an addicts dose has to keep increasing to get the same high.
It's a never ending cycle of increased dose, increased risk from all the fillers and impurities in these pills and no concern for their own well being let alone anyone else. Getting high becomes more important than the house payment or putting food on the table or going to work.
You just have to understand the differnce between destructive addiction and simple physical dependence. At any point if your pain could be relieved you could taper back the dose and eventually completely discontinue use and never look back, because you were only taking it for pain. If you start finding other reasons to increase your dose and start enjoying the feeling, then you may want to check yourself and look further down the road your heading.
Are you really stepping up to a more addictive drug, Not really, a 10 mg oxyC creates a lower serum level than a 10 mg Norco because the 10 mg oxy C releases 5 mgs about 45 minutes after taking it and the other 5mgs around the 6th hour.
If you were to compare taking 10 mgs of hydro every 4 hours to 10 mgs of OxyC every 8 hours your basically comparing a 10mg norco and a 5mg
percocet every 4 hours. The Although OXy is stronger mg to mg, Hydro isn't twice as strong acording to most conversion charts, but some people will respond differently to different meds. I wold bet you get better relief from a 10mg norco every 4 hours than you would 10mgs of OxyC every 12. First it doesn't last 12 hours, second , it's not enough Oxy.
Good luck, Dave