Vicodin what does es stand for

Drug Enforcement Administration classifies opioids as Schedule 2 drugs. This means they have a high risk of abuse and could lead to a physical or psychological dependence addiction. Vicodin and Percocet are both prescribed to treat moderate to severe pain.

For the most part, they should only be prescribed to treat acute or short-term pain caused by an injury or surgery. However, in some cases, these drugs may be prescribed to treat chronic or long-term pain due to conditions such as arthritis or cancer. Opioids work by interfering with the way pain signals are sent through your central nervous system CNS to your brain. This reduces the pain you feel and makes movement and everyday activities easier. Both Vicodin and Percocet come in brand-name and generic versions.

The brand-name versions come in tablet form. The generic versions of come in tablet and liquid forms. Both Vicodin and Percocet have been shown to be highly effective in treating pain.

In a study comparing the drugs, researchers found that they both worked equally well for short-term pain management. Another study showed that they work equally well in treating acute pain caused by fractures. However, a different study found that oxycodone, the drug in Percocet, was 1. Generic versions of drugs generally cost less than the brand-name versions. Because generic versions are available for both Vicodin and Percocet, most insurance companies require that you be prescribed the generic version.

The active ingredients in the generic versions of these drugs are the same as in the brand-name versions. Which means their effects should be the same.

At the time this article was written, GoodRx. Costs for the generic versions of these drugs were similar to each other and much lower than for the brand-name versions. Because Vicodin and Percocet are both opioid pain medications, they share similar side effects. Common side effects of Vicodin and Percocet can include:. While both drugs are likely to cause constipation, oxycodone has been associated with causing this side effect in more people compared to hydrocodone. The long-acting form of oxycodone may cause less constipation than the immediate-acting form.

Severe but less common side effects can occur with Vicodin and Percocet medications. If you have any of these side effects, call or go to the nearest emergency room right away. These side effects may include:. Both Vicodin and Percocet affect your mental and physical abilities, such as judgment and reflexes.

Vicodin and Percocet are powerful drugs, so you should be aware of the risks involved with taking them. Even if you take them exactly as prescribed, Vicodin or Percocet may become habit-forming.

In other words, these drugs can cause physical or mental dependence. For this reason, doctors are cautious when prescribing them. Overdose can occur when you take too large of a dose or combine it with another type of central nervous system depressant, such as alcohol, another opiate, or a barbiturate. The dose required to cause an overdose is different for everyone and is dependent on several factors, including body weight, tolerance to the drug, and underlying health conditions. As with any opioid, death can occur and is caused by respiratory failure.

Other Vicodin overdose symptoms include:. Even if an overdose is survived, there's no guarantee as to the quality of life. Brain damage can occur from a lack of oxygen. Tissue damage frequently occurs, including nerve damage and eventual atrophy due to the person being immobile for periods during an overdose, often in unnatural positions. This can cause muscles, tendons, nerves, and other tissue to become harmed under the body's weight while unconscious and from the immobility and lack of fluid exchange.

People have lost the use of limbs and suffered atrophy or shrinking of the surrounding tissues, resulting from the disuse associated with paralysis. In severe cases, amputation or surgical removal of the now dead tissue may be needed.

Because of the severity of the opioid epidemic, much effort has been put into treating overdose. Thankfully, this has resulted in the increased accessibility of the drug naloxone. Also referred to by the brand name Narcan, Naloxone is a medication designed to reverse opioid overdose rapidly. It is an opioid antagonist, meaning that it binds to opioid receptors and can reverse and block other opioids' effects.

It can very quickly restore normal respiration to a person whose breathing has slowed or stopped from opioids. Previously, naloxone was only available to hospitals and other healthcare professionals who would be expected to treat opioid overdose. But when overdosing fatally, time is of the essence.

The person loses consciousness before death and so can do nothing to save themselves or alert anyone. Since their breathing will become severely depressed and stop, they can incur brain damage the longer they are without help. People who survive what would otherwise be a deadly overdose do so because they were found quickly enough and gotten immediate assistance.

As the opioid epidemic grew, substantial efforts resulted in Narcan being made available in many states as a take-home rescue medication. Those who struggle with addiction can keep it on their person or in their home, or more regularly, loved ones can obtain the drug and keep in just in case. Many schools, businesses, and organizations have chosen to keep Narcan on-premises for unexpected opioid overdose. Countless lives have been saved this way. Because Vicodin is such a potent and effective opioid, addiction can occur rapidly and often unsuspectingly.

Addiction occurs where a person is struggling in some way in life. They are experiencing problems, or a significant issue, which they discover that drugs alleviate.

This problem could be anything from physical pain, as is often the case in opioid addiction. Or, it could be mental and emotional anguish. Often, pain comes in grief, loss, rejection, and a variety of other unwanted feelings. Opioids are excellent at numbing feelings since this is their primary function as painkillers. But the escape and reward provided from any drug have consequences. Addictive narcotics severely disrupt the functioning of the body's systems, causing the body to "adapt" to the drug when it is continually present.

This act of getting used to the foreign chemical is accomplished by adjusting its own chemistry. Now, the person is dependent on the drug. If they run out or stop taking it, the body must go back through a similar readjustment period to get back to normal functioning without it.

But rather than being a pleasurable experience, the body is "starved" of these chemicals before it begins to produce its own again. This readjustment period is known as drug withdrawal. Opioids are so addictive in part because of the profound effect they have on the body's chemistry. Withdrawal from drugs like Vicodin is perhaps the most excruciating form of detoxification. Symptoms are the exact opposite of the effects that the drug produced.

For Vicodin, the means that the person will struggle with pain, insomnia, restlessness, chills, upset stomach, and muscle cramping, to name just a portion of the nightmare. This is accompanied by an intense craving for the drug and will last for several days, with some symptoms persisting for weeks or even months in severe cases. Many people who become addicted to prescription pills began taking them for legitimate reasons. With opioids, this usually means pain.

In the case of an injury or surgery, Vicodin is often prescribed to treat pain for short periods afterward. Addiction can happen insidiously. For instance, a person could be struggling with shoulder pain for months.

It begins to affect their daily life, preventing them from picking up their child easily or performing all of their duties at work. Worried that they'll be demoted or fired, they push through the pain, further injuring their shoulder.

They can no longer ignore the pain or function, so one night, when they can't sleep from it, they go to the Emergency Room. At the ER, their pain is treated with opioids, and they are referred to a specialist since nothing is detectable from X-ray or examination.

They are sent home with a prescription for Vicodin as well, to last them until the specialist can see them. The opioids work, and for once, the person feels good. They feel great.

Not only is their shoulder not bothering them for the first time in months, but they feel happy and relaxed. The stress of their job and home-life melt away, and they find themselves feeling strangely optimistic about the future. This is the best they've felt in a long time. They don't tell their work because they don't want to be laid off or tied up in the workman's comp system. Besides, it feels better. Work is now a breeze, and time flies. The Vicodin really help.

And the specialist will cost more money and want to do fancy imaging and probably recommend surgery. No way. So, they go on figuring that it was just a flare-up, and it will get better with time. But soon, the shoulder is hurting again, and the warm and fuzzy feeling doesn't come when they take the pill. So, they take two of them, which works. Soon, the prescription is gone, and the person has an empty pit in their stomach. The pain returns but is worse than before. They have been overusing the shoulder while "numb" on the pills.

They begin to feel like they are coming down with the flu and cannot sleep that night. They cannot eat and have severe diarrhea, and the only thing that sounds good is more Vicodin. As you can see, the above example illustrates how addiction can occur quite easily to anyone.

If the person continues to obtain opioids to feel better, it will only get worse. Vicodin addiction is not something to underestimate. If someone you know is addicted to Vicodin, it would be wise to act now. Vicodin can develop tolerance rapidly, meaning that the person needs more and more of the drug to get high.

But the problem with Vicodin is that it contains acetaminophen, which is toxic in high quantities. And taking more than the recommended dosage of Vicodin can easily put one into the dangerous range of toxicity, another major concern aside from overdose itself. So, if a loved one is addicted to Vicodin, their life is in jeopardy each day. Even worse, as the Vicodin stop working so well, they may graduate to stronger prescription pain pills or illicit opioids like heroin and Fentanyl.

This will dramatically increase the risk of overdose and death. As you can see, acting before it is too late is vital. Every day that addiction progresses, the person is that much less receptive and able to be helped. If they openly use the drug, it becomes a matter of getting them into treatment. Assuming they don't want to, otherwise, they'd probably already be in treatment, you will need to convince them to try. The wrong approach is to buy into the mentality that "you can't help someone that doesn't want to help themselves.

It's untrue. Intervention works and saves lives every day. Intervention can take two forms, professional and non-professional. For cases of severe addiction, or when the person is likely to become violent or a danger to themselves, professional intervention is recommended. These services require much thought and planning by people who are trained to deal with these exact scenarios and help people make that decision to get help.

A good interventionist will not simply force the person into treatment. They will help them arrive at their own decision to try it. And even if they go grudgingly, they have a better chance than continuing to use drugs while their loved ones stand by helplessly and watch them slowly kill themselves.

As the drugs wear off and they return to rationality, they may just decide that they want to get better for themselves. In the case of a person who may be receptive, or should you not be able to hire a professional interventionist, the next best thing is to try yourself. Regardless of what happens, you must never become angry or upset with them.

This will nearly always cause a bad result. Instead, stay calm and be patient. Do not ask them questions they can easily lie about. Instead, tell them what you think or are concerned about. This opens the dialogue with an assumption that may be easier for them to accept. Before starting this discussion, it is best to be prepared and have options for treatment. You can always call the number on this page to get assistance with this. Caution should also be exercised with patients who are likely to take other acetaminophen-containing medications, antihistamines, antipsychotics, antianxiety agents, other narcotic analgesics, or other central nervous system CNS depressants including alcohol concomitantly.

When combined therapy is contemplated, the dose of one or both agents should be reduced. The use of monoamine oxidase MAO inhibitors or tricyclic antidepressants with hydrocodone preparations may increase the effect of either the antidepressant or hydrocodone.

Administration to the mother during labor or shortly before delivery may result in some degree of respiratory depression in the newborn.

The most frequently reported adverse reactions include lightheadedness, dizziness, sedation, nausea, and vomiting. Prolonged administration may produce constipation.

The total daily dosage should not exceed 8 tablets. The total daily dosage should not exceed 6 tablets. The total daily dosage should not exceed 5 tablets. Reporting Adverse Events. You can assist us with monitoring the safety of Vicodin by reporting adverse events to Abbott at Information by Drug Class: Acetaminophen. Food and Drug Administration Web site. Accessed October 28, Vicodin ES 7.

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