Fiorcet #3 -VS- Lortab 5mg

[bryan25503]

Before I started seeing my PM Doctor my PCP had me on Fioricet #3 With Codeine, he had me taking it 1 capsule every 4 to 6 hours, so then I started seeing my PM Doctor and he put me on Lortab 5mg 1 tablet twice a day, then this last visit he upped it to 3 times a day, my problem is the lortab 3 times a day is making me sick to my stomach and they dont help alot so I have a few questions... Is lortab stronger then Fioricet #3, because the Fioricet #3 helped better than the lortab is helping, and why did the Fiorcet #3 help better than the lortab if the lortab is stronger? Should I ask my PM Doctor to put me back on the Fiorcet #3 since they were helping and the Lortab is making me sick? I know that codeine is pretty low on the narcotic scale but it helped better and I dont understand why? Any help would be apprecaited.........
Brian

[feelbad]

It all depends mostly on just what type of pain you are trying to treat.I know from experience that the Fioricet works much better for headache type pain than anything else I had tried when i was getting alot of tension headaches many years ago.But as with most meds, they will work very differently on different people.Just because a med is considered stronger ,it doesn't always mean better.i would ask your doc to put you back on whatever works for you. If a med is actually making you sick when you take it, whats the use in trying to keep taking it.why be miserable when there are other options?Marcia

[Shoreline]

Hey Feelbad, Although the hydrocodone wold be considered stronger, like feelbad said, It all depends on why you take it. Firocet conatins ingrediennts that Lortab doesn't.
Lortab is 500mgs of tylenol and 5 mgs of hydrocodone. Fiorocet is tylenol, codeine, Butalbatol and cafeine. Butalbatol is a barbituate and has more sedentary or relaxing qualities, as in tensoion headaches, the cafeine also constricts throbbing vessels that may be the cause in yur brain. I get the exact oposite efect, the cafeine and codeine make me sick as a dog, where plain hydro and apap works fine for moderate pain.

Thy really are very different meds, Hydro is stronger than codeine but doesn't have the relaxing effect or the vascular effect. An older doc may be comfotable with the small amount of barbituate in the Firocet where a younger doc may be concerned about dependence on both barbituates and opiates, not that there is alot of opiate in a Firocet, but all you can do is explain it just like you did hear to your doc. Hopefully he will exlain his logic.

As far as upset stomache, you can take both of these meds with food and that normally does the trick as far as nausea. Needing an adjunct med for nausea for the mildest version of hydro and barely a step above Davacet and codeine may be kind of hard to justify. The nausea from opiates usually demnishes with time or by laying down.

So what works better for your headaches. Opiate nausea can usually be relieved by laying down because it's not actually eating at your stomach causing stomache upset, it acts on a part of your brain that causes nausea linked to equilibrium , hence the easy cure for opiate nausea.

Barbituate withdrawal is much more dangerous than opiate withdrawal becauee barbituates are als anti seizure meds, Discontinuing a barbituate abruptly can cause a seizure along with the normal withdrawal type "flu" feelings where pure oiate withdrawal is just that, pure opiate withdrawal when discontinued abruptly, but people don't generally have seizures from opiate withdrawal, just the nasty flu like symptoms..

You are really at the very beginning of treatment by a PM doc, It's all trial and error finding what works for you, there are abortives, preventive meds for headaches and some off label use of other meds for headache, Some of the antiseizure meds work well as a preventatitve but there is a slew of meds out there that just take time to work through to use as prevenative treatments so your not dependent on opiates alone to treat the pain after you allready have a headache.

Then there are preventative modalities "treatments" for headaches. Occipital nerve blocks, trigger point injections, Botox, Robaxin and DHEA infusions, some of the meds used for bipolar are also use like depekote, another anti seizure med. So don't expect instant relief or complete preventon untill you have worked through and tried lotsof the other options before a doc can say there is no other choice other than treat the pain from headaches with opiates. You can have rebound problems with this apraoch.

There are also non medicine techniques like acupuncture, chiropractic, PT, self hypsnosis, yoga breathing techniques, Bio feedback and guideed imagry. You have a long way to go and simply giving you pain meds to deal with a headache after it occurs really isn't the best they can do, if they can prevent the headache completely with meds like DHEA and other non opiate meds, it doesn't create the dependence on opiates.

Good luck, Dave

[tkgoodspirit]

Originally Posted by bryan25503

Before I started seeing my PM Doctor my PCP had me on Fioricet #3 With Codeine, he had me taking it 1 capsule every 4 to 6 hours, so then I started seeing my PM Doctor and he put me on Lortab 5mg 1 tablet twice a day, then this last visit he upped it to 3 times a day, my problem is the lortab 3 times a day is making me sick to my stomach and they dont help alot so I have a few questions... Is lortab stronger then Fioricet #3, because the Fioricet #3 helped better than the lortab is helping, and why did the Fiorcet #3 help better than the lortab if the lortab is stronger? Should I ask my PM Doctor to put me back on the Fiorcet #3 since they were helping and the Lortab is making me sick? I know that codeine is pretty low on the narcotic scale but it helped better and I dont understand why? Any help would be apprecaited.........
Brian

Everyone reacts differently to meds. What do you take these meds for? I use Fiorocet Tabs for tension headaches. Mine doesn't have the codine, it has caffine and acetaminiphen and a sedative in it.

Talk to your doc, see what he/she says.

Don't be taking anything that makes your stomach sick. No need to feel worse than you already do. Oh and have you been on the lortab long enough to let the possible side effects pass? I'm sure someone probably already asked this, but I'm too lazy today to read all the replies! LOL

Keep us up to date.
tk

[tkgoodspirit]

Originally Posted by Shoreline

Hey Feelbad, Although the hydrocodone wold be considered stronger, like feelbad said, It all depends on why you take it. Firocet conatins ingrediennts that Lortab doesn't.
Lortab is 500mgs of tylenol and 5 mgs of hydrocodone. Fiorocet is tylenol, codeine, Butalbatol and cafeine. Butalbatol is a barbituate and has more sedentary or relaxing qualities, as in tensoion headaches, the cafeine also constricts throbbing vessels that may be the cause in yur brain. I get the exact oposite efect, the cafeine and codeine make me sick as a dog, where plain hydro and apap works fine for moderate pain.

Thy really are very different meds, Hydro is stronger than codeine but doesn't have the relaxing effect or the vascular effect. An older doc may be comfotable with the small amount of barbituate in the Firocet where a younger doc may be concerned about dependence on both barbituates and opiates, not that there is alot of opiate in a Firocet, but all you can do is explain it just like you did hear to your doc. Hopefully he will exlain his logic.

As far as upset stomache, you can take both of these meds with food and that normally does the trick as far as nausea. Needing an adjunct med for nausea for the mildest version of hydro and barely a step above Davacet and codeine may be kind of hard to justify. The nausea from opiates usually demnishes with time or by laying down.

So what works better for your headaches. Opiate nausea can usually be relieved by laying down because it's not actually eating at your stomach causing stomache upset, it acts on a part of your brain that causes nausea linked to equilibrium , hence the easy cure for opiate nausea.

Barbituate withdrawal is much more dangerous than opiate withdrawal becauee barbituates are als anti seizure meds, Discontinuing a barbituate abruptly can cause a seizure along with the normal withdrawal type "flu" feelings where pure oiate withdrawal is just that, pure opiate withdrawal when discontinued abruptly, but people don't generally have seizures from opiate withdrawal, just the nasty flu like symptoms..

You are really at the very beginning of treatment by a PM doc, It's all trial and error finding what works for you, there are abortives, preventive meds for headaches and some off label use of other meds for headache, Some of the antiseizure meds work well as a preventatitve but there is a slew of meds out there that just take time to work through to use as prevenative treatments so your not dependent on opiates alone to treat the pain after you allready have a headache.

Then there are preventative modalities "treatments" for headaches. Occipital nerve blocks, trigger point injections, Botox, Robaxin and DHEA infusions, some of the meds used for bipolar are also use like depekote, another anti seizure med. So don't expect instant relief or complete preventon untill you have worked through and tried lotsof the other options before a doc can say there is no other choice other than treat the pain from headaches with opiates. You can have rebound problems with this apraoch.

There are also non medicine techniques like acupuncture, chiropractic, PT, self hypsnosis, yoga breathing techniques, Bio feedback and guideed imagry. You have a long way to go and simply giving you pain meds to deal with a headache after it occurs really isn't the best they can do, if they can prevent the headache completely with meds like DHEA and other non opiate meds, it doesn't create the dependence on opiates.

Good luck, Dave

Shore, I know what you mean about those headaches. I have been getting tension headaches usually 2 sometimes 3 a week when I finally asked my PM's nurse about Fiorocet while she was preparing my neck for cervical injections. I did have those injections at the base of my skull, wow talk about pressure! Anyway, the only relief I got from those was that I could turn my head more freely than before. The back of my head swelled up like a watermelon! and to this day, I still have a itty bitty knot where the injection point was. Of course this procedure didn't work, so now I use the meds, and even the meds don't work, unless I take the Fiorocet as soon as I feel the slightest twinge of a headache, but sometimes I don't even really get relief until the last dose has been taken. Man those tension headaches are killers. Especially when you wake up with a full blown one! You just know your day is gonna stink.

Good to see you again shore, how ya feeling?

tk