Hydrocodone is the only pain med that works for me.I have no side affects but sometimes even it does not work when there is some nerve pain going on. It can be addsictive and that scares me so just watch my dossage. I have been off of work for 2 months with my last surgery. I am anxious about going back due to I have more pain and that leads to more meds. I can do fine for 1/2 days but by wed evening after 8 hour days I could not go to work on thursday without pain med. Just doesnt feel healthy to know you need the meds to work?

Hydrocodone never seemed to be strong enough for me. I'd had the occasional 7.5mg. that an ER would give me, but it never seemed to make a dent in the pain. But then again...by the time I started going to ERs and hunting a doctor, I was toast. LOTS of problems. My doc started me out on Tylox...3 times a day. Worked very well. (oxycodone)

My doc prescribed me the strongest hydrocodone he can give out ...at first combined with ibuprofen they were working ...but after a while they started making my head feel really heavy ...i got really bad migraines & felt really nauseous ...it was worse than the pain from my leg! So i had to quit taking them altogether. I always took them after i had eaten so im not sure what the problem was even when i took a small dose i felt awful.

I take Norco along with Oxycodone.
It's been a life saver for me.
I have'nt had any reactions to it either...thank goodness.
I was on the patch, but this works better for me.

I have been on this for a few years, with no side effects. It keeps my pain down to a low roar, never pain free from it.

I have been taking it for a year now, it works most of the time, but at night I take percocet, cant sleep on norco. I find it only works for 3 hours.

I am getting to used to it.I can take 3- 4 10s and hardly feel it anymore.They used to work real well but after 12 years I am looking to something new for the breakthough pain I have on the Kadian.

I've been taking this med for 4 years and I agree with the sweats and the itches although this doesnt happen very much now. My problem with it is the resistance my body builds up to it and the fact that there is a stigma attached as well. I have lost my family due to the fact that I am an 'addict' and refused to stop taking the meds. At the moment I am on this one as well as panadiene forte (1000 mg panadiene/60 mg codiene) 20 mg of hydro and 400 mg slow release of Tramadol and yet I still can go to the hospital in severe pain and they will give me an injection of up 40 mg and I can still feel - at that amount of drugs should I even have a body to feel??

I was put on hydrocodone one tablet ever 8 hrs. I was put on it after having gone through just about everything else. It doesn't help me as well but it was great to have when I ran out of the methadone. I was still in great pain though. I burned my leg with the heating pad because I was in so much pain that I didn't feel it burning me. I was put on it reg after about two years of seeing the pm doc. He always combines meds. Like taking hydrocodone with lyrica or neurotin or ultram. I take ultram with the methadone as needed. It is for the breakthrough pain. I was seriously worried about taking the methadone and my husband hates me taking anything but he told me to just take it and stop worrying about it so much. He never has told me to take anything. He can withstand a lot more pain than I. So I started back on it and except for breakthroughs like today I can fairly handle the pain. Hydrocodone was like putting a bandaide on the problem. It was like bleeding and you put a bandaid on to stop the bleeding at that point. Im just rambling on. Not making much sense. Sorry.

Only time I take Hydrocodone is when nothing else is working. Does leave me a bit groggy.
Then there's Oxycodone, which I believe is stronger yet.
Taking either on an empty stomach is not advised.

I took hydrocodone for a long time. I kept on hopeing that there would be this glorius day that I would wake up and ta da no more pain. I also understand that there is not going to be all 100% better and jumping around giggly. It didn't happen. There has been a lot of good talk here about it. Everyone is made different. What might be good for me might not work for you or the other way around. I took one tablet-7.5mgs every 8 hours. I don't like taking a lot meds but I understand that if something is going to even take some of the edge off I'm for it. Right now I have been put back on the methadone. The first day it took some of the edge off and I was very happy after weeks of intolerable pain. I even called the er and the nurse told me that since my pm doc put me on methadone the er doc would prob send me home. Without helping me. I talked to my pm doc about this and he said that they were talking to the er doc about chronic pain patients and they don't need to turn their backs on them. The doc said that I can not stay on it and one day I will have to do something different. So even if you do find something that helps a little then they may pull that magic rug out from under you. I understand that the body cain't handle it forever. I debted in my mind about taking it again but after I burnt my leg with a heating pad and was in intoleratable(?) pain I gave in. I have accepted that I will be in some or more pain all my life. But I don't have to be if there is something out there that curbs the pain somewhat as long as I don't push myself. That is what really gets me. Being in pain has really changed my life. Sorry for ramling on. I would take it if I had nothing else. I waited for a week in horrible pain before I started taking the hydrocodone that I had left previouslly. I called the er. I couldn't get into seeing my pm doc and my gen doc could not prescribe methadone. See my point that I am trying to make? Here I go again. It is up to you. You know your body better than anyone else.

Sorry for posting twice. I thought that the other one was deleted. I am still trying to get ust to my lap top and the keyboard is so much smaller.

I was on it for a while and it helped but then I needed to up it and I was taking so much that it made my stomach sick. I started throwing up so they switched me to oxycodone and I now take 15 mg every 4 hours and I haven't had to up it. I've been on it for probably 6 months.

It works great for me. It gives me energy but later it may make me very tiered. I guess it gives me energy because i don't feel any pain. I can work better and i can do things around my house. I can't get it from a doctor. I never asked for it but he says my pain has to do with muscles and that the muscle relaxers are sopose to do the job. They don't.

In 2002 the Dr decided that I was under medicated and prescribed Vicodin. (I had not been taking any meds for pain) It worked pretty well for migraine pain flares. Over time my GI Tract was giving me problems. Got to the point that I was having "bleeds" in the middle of the night.

I would wake up and blood would be all over my face and in my mouth. It was very troubling because I was only taking 6 per day.

Long story short....it was suggested that it might be the acetaminophen. Stopped all Vicodin and symptoms lessened. They thought the "bleeds" could also be from Toradol so that was discontinued. My drug of choice would have to be Toradol but it is very dangerous and can only be used short term.

I currently take Talwin NX. It is a relatively old narcotic that has an opiate blocker so that it can't be so readily abused. Hey, it works for me.

Not quite the stigma attached to Vicodin and some of the other widely used narcotics.