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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Strange issue with Norco's

G

GRINuIT1

Greenlighter
Joined
Feb 3, 2011
Messages
10
Hello All!

Just joined Bluelight and happy to be a part of this community now. :)

I have sort of an odd thing happening with my pain meds and was hoping
somebody here has either had a similar experience, or knows why this could be happening. So here gos..

I have been taking Norco 10/325's for about 4 years now for low back pain
(scoliosis and muscle spasms) I started off at 4 a day for the first 2 years, then moved down to 3 a day for the next year, and most recently, (last 4 months) have been tapering myself down to about 2 a day. The reason for the tapering is because I'm trying to find a nice balance between pain relief and not being a vegetable all day. I have recently found that balance by taking half a pill during the day, and 1 to 1 and a half before bed.

Now for my issue, as I'm sure a lot of people who take opiate pain meds have, I've grown to enjoy the euphoric effects from taking them in addition to the relief they bring. Well, that's where my issue comes into play, every so often, (has become more frequent lately) I will take my normal dose for nighttime (1 - 1 and a half) and it will do absolutley nothing, no euphoria, no pain relief, and sometimes i even feel slight withdrawal effects as if I have taken nothing at all! :\ I will end up having to take an extra half to another whole pill to get any kind of effect.

In fact the last two nights, (tonight included) I have had to take 2 to 2 and a half just to feel anything at all. I really don't think this is a tolerance thing because I've been tapering down, and the majority of nights thoughout the month a dose of one and a half works just fine... and I don't think it's a potency issue because it's happened on nearly every refill I get at least once or twice..

Please if anybody knows what may be causing this I'd love to hear any advice you guys may have..

Thanks in advance!
 
My oh my that is a lot of APAP to be taking for 4 years. Nice work on the tapering though!

Regarding the lack of effect of the hydro, it could have to do with your meals before bed. A nice big cheeseburger for dinner might still be kicking around in your gut and prevent absorption of the hydrocodone. Since this only happens once in a while I agree it is unlikely to be tolerance, but if you are getting withdrawal symptoms (not just breakthrough pain) then it's cause there isn't enough drug in your system.

By the way welcome to Bluelight!
 
amapola said:
My oh my that is a lot of APAP to be taking for 4 years. Nice work on the tapering though!

Regarding the lack of effect of the hydro, it could have to do with your meals before bed. A nice big cheeseburger for dinner might still be kicking around in your gut and prevent absorption of the hydrocodone. Since this only happens once in a while I agree it is unlikely to be tolerance, but if you are getting withdrawal symptoms (not just breakthrough pain) then it's cause there isn't enough drug in your system.

By the way welcome to Bluelight!
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Thank you very much! Glad to be here!

I am pretty proud of myself for cutting 2 pills a day off my dose.. As for the night time meals, I usually wait about 2-3 hours after a meal before I take my dose, but I'll almost always eat something shortly after I take it.. Still, that never used to affect it before.. I just can't figure out why one and a half would be enough some nights, and then others, well, not..? It's funny, sometimes tricking my body has worked, like for instance, i started by taking half, waiting 10 mins, taking another half, waiting 20 mins, then take the third half and man, for a while I was in lal la land all night! Well then I'd get the nights where it would do nothing, so I started taking a whole one, waiting till that kicked in, and then take another half.

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for this to be happening, and it sucks because before the last couple nights I had a streak of like 3 weeks of taking 2 a day and being perfectly fine.. :( arrrghh
 
Well if it's not just psychosomatic, like you mentioned about tricking your body, then I still think it is an absorption issue. Perhaps try dissolving the pill in a glass of water? It'd likely be wise to speak to your doctor about the situation and see what they say. If I were you I would also have my doc run liver tests and get me something without acetaminophen in it. One or two grams a day is within recommended dosage but I wouldn't be comfortable ingesting that.

Is your pain not adequately controlled at the lower dosage? You complained about being a vegetable all day which is why you tapered down. Oxycodone would be another option for your pain which some people find more stimulating than hydros.
 
amapola said:
Well if it's not just psychosomatic, like you mentioned about tricking your body, then I still think it is an absorption issue. Perhaps try dissolving the pill in a glass of water? It'd likely be wise to speak to your doctor about the situation and see what they say. If I were you I would also have my doc run liver tests and get me something without acetaminophen in it. One or two grams a day is within recommended dosage but I wouldn't be comfortable ingesting that.

Is your pain not adequately controlled at the lower dosage? You complained about being a vegetable all day which is why you tapered down. Oxycodone would be another option for your pain which some people find more stimulating than hydros.
Click to expand...


If it is just a mental thing, that would be something huh? Maybe I'm anticipating getting high so much that it never comes? But then my pain is still there too and keeps me from being able to sleep.. :\ If it's an absorption thing, is there any way of increasing absorption? I mean other than dissolving or CWE, both of which I've tried and am not crazy over..
 
If it's an absorption thing, is there any way of increasing absorption? I mean other than dissolving or CWE, both of which I've tried and am not crazy over..
Click to expand...
Taking with food prevents the pill from sticking to the sides of your stomach and not dissolving. Taking without food prevents the pill from getting caught up with the rest of your digestive contents and delaying the onset.

I would not recommend a CWE on such small daily amounts as you would lose a large amount of the active ingredients. I would however recommend dissolving it in liquid first. Maybe ginger ale? That's about all I got. Unless you want to plug it after taking grapefruit juice and diphenhydramine before bed ;)
 
amapola said:
Taking with food prevents the pill from sticking to the sides of your stomach and not dissolving. Taking without food prevents the pill from getting caught up with the rest of your digestive contents and delaying the onset.

I would not recommend a CWE on such small daily amounts as you would lose a large amount of the active ingredients. I would however recommend dissolving it in liquid first. Maybe ginger ale? That's about all I got. Unless you want to plug it after taking grapefruit juice and diphenhydramine before bed ;)
Click to expand...


I will definatley try that! I knew joining this forum was a good idea, thanks for all your advice mate! =D
 
StaySedated said:
Touch the boys!

Touch the boys!
Click to expand...

Lol what?

Anyways, if it is just a randomly occuring event, I would agree that it must be an absorption issue, and probably not tolerance. seems strange, though. To remedy this I would MAKE SURE your stomach is more or less empty, and then crush the pills and take on an empty stomach.

Also, you should look into potentiation methods, which many claim to help increase the effects of certain medications. There are a number of threads on this subject. Also, on those days, your pain could just simply be more intense that day, which would require a little more medicine to combat it and get to a comfortable level.

Regardless, I hope you get your pain issues sorted out. good luck, and welcome to bluelight
 
Even at that relatively low dose for that long I would think you do have somewhat of a tolerance for hydro. It's a good thing you've never taken more than prescribed amounts though because that's when the tolerance issue really kicks in.

As for you nighttime dose, I would have two suggestions. One, as stated above, make sure you eat at least 3 hours before you take the dose (ideally 4-5 hours). Also, take a few baby aspirin 5-10 minutes before you take your nighttime dose. That will help a lot.
 
rooster.jpg
 
Thanks everyone for the helpful tips! What's with the spam posts from StaySedated? Man it looks like he got quite a few threads! Maybe someone hacked his account..

At one point I tried taking my dose with like half a bottle of starbucks frappuccino, and at first, my regular dose was almost too much, felt like I took twice as much as I actually did! and that worked for a couple days, then I stopped because for onething my stomach was hating me, I'm guessing caffiene and norco on an empty stomach may be the reason for that? and for another, well same thing, I'd still get those nights where it wouldn't work at all.. Maybe I need counseling :)

By the way, does anyone know if crushing the pills will lessen the amount of time they are effective? Because I'd be all for doing that if it will help with the absorption thing but I definatley don't want to have take more half an hour later because it wore off too fast..?
 
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