An allergic reaction to Codeine would mean that you start having rashes for 1-2 days after taking the pills, but the question is if this means you’re allergic to Vicodin, Morphine or only to opiates?

The answer is that Vicodin being a semi-synthetic opiod that contains hydrocodone does not have cross reactivity with the true opiates, so this means that you’re probably not going to have an allergic reaction while taking Vicodin.

As for the morphine, it would be possible for your body’s antibodies to not recognize morphine as an antigen. This might be because Codeine and morphine have somehow different chemical configurations, as even if Codeine has the basic structure morphine does, it also contains methyl groups might cause your immunoglobulins to react allergic to it, but not to morphine which doesn’t have this.

Sometimes you’ll see that there’s a price difference between Vicodin pills, and that might be because of the generic vs regular Vicodin pricing.

The generic Vicodin is almost as the regular Vicodin, although the price is lower and there might be a small variance (5%) on the effect offered by each of them.

As an example:

Regular Vicodin (acetaminophen/hydrocodone)
Manufacturer: Abbott Laboratories DEA/FDA: Schedule III
Approximate Retail Price tablet: 5-500 mg (30 ea): $45.99

Regular Lortab (acetaminophen/hydrocodone)
Manufacturer: UCB Pharma, Inc. DEA/FDA: Schedule III
Approximate Retail Price tablet: 5-500 mg (30 ea): $40.65

Generic Vicodin (acetaminophen/hydrocodone)
Manufacturer: generic DEA/FDA: Schedule III
Approximate Retail Price tablet: 5-500 mg (30 ea): $11.99

As shown above, the generic one is cheaper because is a no-name one, just like with hardware you have retail and oem versions, with pills you have generic and regular Vicodin.

Better think twice before doing this. Vicodin contains hydrocodone, and if this is taken together (in the same time or one soon after the other) with other drugs the combined effect might be increased, decreased or altered. So don’t take Valium and Vicodin together, unless you consulted with your doctor and he recommended such a combination.

The increased/decreased or altered effect of taking Vicodin happens when combining it with anti-anxiety drugs such as Valium or Librium, so better take them at different time intervals (depending on how it was prescribed, every 6-8 hours).

Each product has an expiration date, thus the Vicodin pills also have expiration dates. So, a question comes in mind, how long after the expiration date passed on a Vicodin pill can you still use it without any consequences?

The answer is that you can take a Vicodin pill quite long after it expired, but the more time it passes since the expiration, the less effect the Vicodin pill will have. So its effect wears off in time past the expiration date. However, you shouldn’t take Vicodin pills that are more than 6-8 months over their expiration date.

Even if there’s not likely that some side-effects would appear by taking small quantities of Vicodin while pregnant, it’s not recommended to do so not only if you’re pregnant, but if you intend to get pregnant too (unless your doctor suggested that you do so).

The reason is that the effects of Vicodin on pregnant women have not been studied thoroughly, so it’s better to avoid using Vicodin while pregnant if there’s another solution. Also, by taking Vicodin regularly during being pregnant, you risk to transfer a drug dependence to the newborn.

All medications have side-effects, and if they write those possible side-effects on the instructions list that comes with them, it doesn’t mean that those could happen. Usually they put all the possible side-effects in there, and even more, just to be on the safe-side and not get sued if someone experiences something not on that list.

Vicodin comes with instructions that it might have some of these side-effects after being used: nausea, vomiting, constipation, lightheadedness, dizziness, drowsiness, flushing, vision changes, or mental/mood changes, slow/irregular breathing, slow/irregular heartbeat, change in the amount of urine, impairment or loss of hearing, allergic reactions (rash, itching, swelling, severe dizziness). If you experience such side-effects after taking Vicodin and they are getting worse, it’s advisable to notify your doctor or pharmacist.

The doctor prescribed Vicodin because the benefit (usually for pain relief) to you is greater than the probability of experiencing side effects, and these side-effects don’t affect most of the people using Vicodin.

It’s also important not to exaggerate with the amount of Vicodin pills you take at once, always stick to the quantity the doctor prescribed. An adult can have a maximum dose of 4 grams of acetaminophen per day, so if you take more than the maximum daily amount you might experience serious liver disease, followed by these symptoms: severe nausea, yellowing eyes or skin, dark urine, stomach pain, extreme fatigue.

This is a partial list of possible side effects, so anything you notice unusual after taking Vicodin you should discuss with your doctor or pharmacist.

A Vicodin pill should be either round or have an oval (football-like) shape. It comes in several colors, such as white, blue or yellow. There are some companies that make them with a fancy V on one side of the pill, but not all of them have that.

Furthermore, Vicodin (or the combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen) comes in several different strengths, ranging from 2.5mg hydrocodone/325mg acetaminophen to 10mg hydrocodone/500mg acetaminophen. I don’t think there are combinations which contain more than 10mg of hydrocodone.

This is the lowest amount of Vicodin that is usually prescribed for most pain problems (such as tooth pains), and it means that it contains 5mg of Hydrocodone bitartrate and 500mg of acetaminophen.

Doctors will prescribe Vicodin (even on a monthly basis) if the patient has a chronic condition that persists even if other medical treatments such as surgery and physical therapy were used. They can prescribe it also if the chronic painful condition can not be repaired otherwise, such as the pain from chemotherapy treatments in cancer patients.

A doctor is not going to prescribe Vicodin without medical tests or imaging showing a serious problem (at least they won’t prescribe it continually), so having Vicodin prescribed continually for temporary pain (such as for headaches, migraines), or other not so serious problems, is not really going to happen.

Since Vicodin contains acetaminophen (Tylenol) with anywhere from 5-15 mg of hydrocodone if you crush your Vicodin and ingest or simply chew it, the effect will be more powerful but for a shorter duration.

If you want to use Vicodin as a pain relief just swallow it, because it will slowly be digested and the effect will not be that intense but for a longer period of time. Crushing/chewing Vicodin will have a very intense effect for a short period of time, so the pain will be back sooner than if you had ingested it normally.