I recently received my shipment of hydrocodone 10/325 from Norco Worldwide. The Pharmacy that filled the prescription was Medipharm RX, Inc. of Tampa, FL. In any case, I have been on a pain management schedule including hydro 10/650, during consultation with Norco Worldwide we decided to introduce the 10/325 version in order to reduce my APAP intake. Received meds two days later. Within five minutes of taking the ONE of the new meds I experienced extreme adverse reactions to this medication. The symptoms include the following; shortness of breath, extreme rapid heart beat, extreme dizziness, extreme anxiety, complimented with the feeling of death by heart attack or seizure would soon follow. I don't drink alcohol, smoke dope, do blow or participate in anything other than my pain treatment. The reactions I experienced happened each of the three times I have taken these pills. The pills look just like other Watson brand 10/325's I have taken before, oval in shape, light yellow in color. So I need your help here forum, is it possible this pharmacy has sent me something other than what was intended? Do these side effects I mention sound like something commonly experienced while abusing methamphetamine and not Hydrocodone? Is it possible that the hydrocodone is stronger than it is intended to be and I received a bad batch. I am telling you this stuff is really scary and any input would be appreciated. I have sourced a handful of 7.5/500 Vicodin ES to hold me over, they work fine with no ill effects.

Please Help figure this out...

Cheers

I had the same exact effects from Norco when I first tried it. I lived...lol Seriously, just break them in half until you get used to them.

Clarise

wow , now that is a weird situation , i would call nww and tell them what happined , the only other thing i can think of , is that your body is getting more hydro effect , because of the lower apap content , this issue seems to vary from person to person , some say they need more apap to feel the affects of hydro . when i first started taking 10/325 they had a simular affect on me also . good luck , i hope you can figuere this one out .........

Same thing happened to me when I tried the Norco brand 10/325 for the first time. I thougth I was having a panic attack every time I took one. I did the same as Clarise, broke them in half until I got used to them. It is scary, though. I also never had that reaction from 7.5/750 or 10/500.

JDC,

I've been Pm'ed MANY times with Patients that have had similar side effects when 1st trying hydro. After my 1st knee operation I was given hydro and had a very similar situation myself. When I tried to sleep I would wake up gasping for air. I think taking halfs for the time being would be a good idea. If you like you can PM me and I will speak to your PA about switching meds, just let me know.

Thank you,
-David-

thats why i always suggest nww for your rop , needs awesome customer sevice !!!

Thanks everybody. I do appreciate the consult. I contacted NWW as well as the Pharmacy, pharmacist said to contact NWW and have them send me another script in different format. She said it could be a side effect to the binders we all know exist within the contents of our medication. My tabs were Watson 853's, generic for Norco but highly reputable otherwise. I took one of these Watson 853's last night at 8:30 PM and I am still completely spun out from it.

Not sure what NWW doctor will do for me but I am kind of scared of these things. Funny thing shovelhead,I have had 10/325's before and thought they were somewhat benign and asked for the 10/650's to get more relief. So you see, what I once considered to be weak, is now completely out of control. For one reason or another my body is metabolising these differently. Furthermore, it is not even remotely euphoric, no hydro nod just shear terror!

Thanks again everybody and if you have more advice please sing out.

JC, standing by

hydro nod??? What is that???

good luck to ya , jdc . i really do think if you take only half , your body will adjust . nww will re script you , but it will cost you money . for the new meds .

people get sleepy

That's right Blue, it is when the medicine starts to make you sleepy. Last night I felt like I was riding a luge rather than sleeping in my bed.

Not sure if I want to pay more money for replacements Shovel, already into this for a couple hunj. We will see what happens. That was good of NWWDavid to post in.

Thanks again. More later.

JC

so when you get super sleepy after like your last dose later in the evening, is that a bad sign or normal ? I am finding myself getting the snoozies at the end of the day when I have already taken 3-4 hydro (sometimes more unfortunaty)
I wasn't sure if it was the med I had or just a common effect. I will say that I am sleeping great latelly but in the early hours of the day, I may have to add some cafeine in to keep me more awake.
Any idea's ? Do I have anything to worry about ?

invester , caffieine is ok just don't over do it , i guess hydro's affect people in differnt ways , some times makes me drowsy , sometimes hyper . but it is listed as a depressant , due to the nature of the active narcotic ...

There's a caution for you David. Hydro does suppress breathing. I'm glad you woke up.

"Investor"- I have had unusual fatigue/sleepiness sometimes when taking too many mg's that day. Sometimes that happens if a tolerance isnt up to the mg's you took that day. Just be careful- maybe drop the mg's a little and space the doses further apart.

this is why alcohol is a no no with drugs that are respiratory suppressants. Karen Quinlan who was comatose for what? 10 years.... it was theorized that she took valium & alcohol together
normally a rising level of carbon dioxide will force you to breathe, but drug ingestion can overide that
it would probably be a good idea to "google" drugs that are known respiratory depressants, all narcotics,but some more than others ......
eg. morphine more so than demerol

often a physician will have respiratory depression in mind when he decides what to prescribe

breathing is part of a patients vital signs, nurses are taught to count respirations per min
the normal rate is 20
a person heavily sedated with morphine may have 10 breaths per min of less
it could be considered poor nursing practice if a nurse failed to notice the patients rate was so low and gave an additional morphine dose
on the other hand caffeine is a respiratory stimulant

yes, there is something strange with those, they just seem really really really potent or something because they really mess you up. Break them in half of course....not sure why they do what they do but I don't take them anymore.

Okay gang, NWW has responded and PA will contact me tomorrow morning for consult. With your good advice and some inside assistance from NWWDavid this matter should sort itself out. For now I would like everyone to know that NWW is a first class outfit and regardless of whether they re script me or not they have satisfied my query. Therefore, I highly recommend NWW if you are looking for first class care.

Thanks again everybody and will post update after consult tomorrow.

JC

One other factor might be an allergic reaction to the dye used to color the pills. Yellow dye #5 is a particular problem for those w/ asthma, I believe, but don't know much personally, just from asthmatic friends and a quick Google.

There are So many food colorings used in pills (& every thing else!) & so little info for the public...f'rinstance, some red food dyes will set off an ADHD child.
Just a thought.

I am an asthmatic and the yellow dye does not effect me, although it also depends are what your allergy may be that causes asthma, like for me it is the common cold or NSAIDS, and aspirin, motrin those sorts of things,

you got that right jdc , nww is a class a nop !!

Everybody has given Excellent advice on this page for JDC. I think it's GREAT to have a person such as DAVID, on the board to answer questions.

I know YPM does this as well, but I agree with the comment above, that Chris doesn't seem to handle the questions and concerns in the same manner as David. David comes across as much more professional.

I don't currently work with either company, but this is just an observation I have made also. DAVID seems to be the MAN and truly cares about his customers. Take Care.

Maybe it makes em sleepy? That's all I can figure.

I dye actually makes more sense as hyro helps relax breathing pathways if it's not over done. I had a terrible reaction to vanilla yogart the other day and never thought it could have been the yellow dye. Something to think about.

Investor- I too have had similar effects in which you describe with the hydro 10/325s Watson 835. I get totally out of it which is a problem some of the time, especially because I am in college full time. I also prefer the 10/650s for daytime use because it seems to give me an energy/ alertness boost and does work for the pain. The 10/325s are better for bedtime. I know that too much apap is bad on your liver, etc., but with the 10/325s, I take more tylenol (which is also apap) and try to make it equal close to the 650 from the others and it works exactly, maybe a little better for pain than the 10/650s. The 5/500s (taking 2 at a time) either Watson or Qualitest brands are also very effective without the undesirable side effects. Have you tried the Malinkroft 10/325s? These don't seem to work to well for pain at all and knock me out cold, just FYI. Hope this helps ya more. arronboy

I like the 10/500's better too. Strange. And the 10/325's are so very HARD that perhaps they take longer to get in your system? Or maybe theyre time-release or something. I really don't know. But theres quite a difference.

I prefer Watsons over Mallies anyday. And the " Robin Eggs " are the VERY best (the 7.5/500's, white fat oblong tablet with blue specs). I think they might be Vicoden . I've also had the Vicoprofen, and it SU#KS!! It has aspirin instead of Tylenol and definitely isnt as good!

I have never had a problem with the mallies.

I thought that it was just me. I had a 45 minute "spell" last week with the 10 / 325s and I threw the rest of the bottle away. It was the worst feeling that I ever had. I had no control of my breathing at all. It was definitely labored breathing to say the least. Until I fnd something safer, I'll stick to something that I am more familiar with... Ecotrin. I didn't get them from NWW it was another well known ROP. My 2 cents.