NEW PCP visit today! Lortab questions.

  My new PCP seems real nice and I felt pretty confortable talking with him. Told him about my feet,knee,hip,neuro's. orthopedic surgeon visit.  Anyway I bit the bullet and asked i the Lortabs (hydroco/apap 10-500) that my previous PCP Rx were safe or my liver. He didn't really say they were or not but he told me he was going to Rx me Lortab 10-325 (Hydroco/Acetamin) because it didnt have the amount of Tylonol the other had.

   Im guessing that the Lortabs hydroco/apa 10-500's are stronger than the Lortab hydroco/acetamin 10-325's? But my old Rx I had 10-500mg- 30 pills a month and the new 10-325 I have 120 pills. Sounds like alot more but does it actually = or is it more?                                                            Thanks for your time reading this!!!

Your new PCP technically greatly increased your meds.  Although each pill has 125mg less of Tylenol, you were prescribed four times the amount of pills, so your net increase of hydrocodone for month is 900mg, which is a HUGE increase in the narcotic portion of the pain medication.  Frankly, doctors don't like to increase narcotic medications these days, so your doctor is incredibly reasonable and helpful.   Believe me, it took me years to get my pain medication increased, so I'm quite familiar with the subject.

Let us know how it works out for you.

Leigh Ann

Itching can be one of the side effects of the medication, and if it is accompanied by a rash and swelling, especially around the face/head/neck area, you should seek medical attention right away as you could have breathing problems as well.  Personally, I just started taking Oxycodone, a cousin to Hydrocodone, and I was itching a bit myself for a day or so.  It was nothing major, and I didn't even think about it until you said something.  It certainly wasn't bad enough for me to even consider not taking the medication.  I had a horrible struggle trying to get my medication increased to an appropriate level, so the side effects would have to be pretty miserable for me to stop taking it.  I would just suggest familiarizing yourself with all the side effects and inform your physician if you get any of the more serious ones.

Leigh Ann

Even getting a medication at one location doesn't guarantee that the manufacturer will be the same every time.  In fact, I have actually received two different batches of medication at the same time because my pharmacy didn't have enough to fill my script with just one or the other.  Just FYI.

Leigh Ann

You might want to invest in a copy of the "PILL BOOK" which you can find at most pharmacies, drugstores, retail store with pharmacies, and bookstores that carry medical textbooks.  It's a big paperback that contains vertually every medication that comes in pill form, and all the information you could possibly need to know about it like formulation(what's in it), side effects, dosages, what it's used for, and there's even a section in the middle that has a photo identification guide of the most frequently prescribed medications.  It's less than $10 and they update it every year, so if you take more than one or two medications, it's worth investing in because I find that it's more useful than the information that comes from the pharmacy.

Unfortunately, I've had a lot of different medical conditions, and taken a whole slew of medications over the years.  For my migraines alone, I've probably taken thirty different drugs over the course of my lifetime.  Thus, I've obtained my knowledge base from personal experience, but I'm learning new things all the time.  I just started Oxycodone this past week for pain, and learned that it's an immediate release form, whereas OxyContin is a sustained release version of the same medication.  It's much stronger than the Hydrocodone I was taking, so my pain is being managed much more effectively.  It's only taken me several years to convince my physician to switch me over.  I also learned that I have a cousin that's just gone to a 90 day rehab facility because he is addicted this medication, which was not prescribed for him.  So I am well aware that I need to be very careful to stick to the dosage schedule for this medication.

Feel free to ask me about any medication anytime, I've probably been on it at some point...LOL!!!

Leigh Ann