Is this the same thing?

[waterflow]

When my Uro wrote the script for vicoden on the bottom of the bottle would read: sub for vicoden. When the other doc wrote the script for vicoden on the bottom of the bottle is written sub for hydrocdone which is the same name for the pill in the bottle. Wouldn't it have to say on the bottom of the bottle sub for vicoden too when she wrote it? Same pharmacy. I did ask the pharmaist. He said it was the same thing but I just don't believe him. It is not helping me at all.

[ICNDonna]

Vicodin is hydrocodone.

Donna

[SharonA]

It is the same thing.

[IC SARAH-CPP]

Ditto what the others said, same thing. Hydrocodone is the active pain mgmt drug in vicodin. Usually most pharmacies will give you the generic for whatever med you are prescribed, so that is why the bottle will say "sub for whatever"

Sarah

[dg2901]

Yep, same thing!

:)

[jenjen05]

Vicodin = Hydrocodone 5/500 and 7.5/500 or 7.5/750 (the 7.5's are usually referred to as Vicodin ES)
Norco = Hydrocodone 10/325

Vicodin and Norco are just brand names. The main ingredient in both is hydrocodone.

I would only be concerned about the manufacturer of your generic. Some people find that different manufacturers of the generics have different levels of affect. For example, I find I get better pain relief from 5/500 and 7.5/500 generics made by the manufacturer Watson than any other manufacturer.

[waterflow]

Jennifer, I bet that is what happened. Pharmacist used a different generic. It is like I am taking a 500 mg jelly bean for pain. Will maybe ask my Uro if he could call pharmacist to see if it is that. I don't dare to ask because I ticked off the pharmacst since I coudln't afford to pay for the lidocaine myself. Guess he ordered it just for me but I didn't tell him to order it. He had it there already when I went to get it but found out medicaid wouldn't pay it. I feel like I'm a pain in the butt to the medical world. Geeshie...

[jenjen05]

Next time you get an rx filled for hydrocodone ask for the manufacturer Watson.

I just got some AWESOMELY potent 7.5/750's today. Wish I could share with you since your stuck with the jelly bean suckage :-(

[waterflow]

"( your stuck with the jelly bean suckage :-( [/QUOTE] "

That sure is one advertisement the Easter Bunny will not want to use. :lmao: Will write down that manufactorer and see if the pharmacy carries it. Thanks.

[Zygala87]

Mary in my long experience with Doctors & Pharmacist I feel I would trust a pharmacist about medications over the Doctor any day. They are trained much more about meds. then Doctors. Hugs, Ziggy

[anewday]

Mary in my long experience with Doctors & Pharmacist I feel I would trust a pharmacist about medications over the Doctor any day. They are trained much more about meds. then Doctors. Hugs, Ziggy

Totally agree w/ this! Years ago I was a pharmcy tech- there were some dr's that would even rx drtugs that could be lethal in combo with other drugs they had written, or just in the dosage they wrote- even just the peon techs could catch it! Pharmacists are reliable resources.

Also, be careful requesting a specific manufacturer for a generic. This can be a "red flag" to some. Many pain med abusers/addicts request a certain manufacturer (esp Watson) becaue they get a better high- we saw it ALL the time. People never requested specific generic blood pressure meds, but they were always demeanding watson hydrocodone. And many pharmacy's can't control what they get and/or can't order a diff generic til they run out of the generic they have.

[ICNDonna]

We are fortunate in living in the "computer" age --- when our doctors order a new med for us, if we purchase all of our meds at one pharmacy, the pharmacy computer will pick up potential negative interactions.

Donna

[Breezy1218]

As everyone has already said, hydrocodone is the generic name for Vicodin. They will say "sub for Vicodin" since Vicodin is the brand name, but don't have to say it the other way around, if that makes sense. Pharmacies will always give generic when available, unless the prescribing physician specifically marks on the prescription to not substitute with generic.

I also have to agree with not asking for a particular name brand generic. Pharmacies each carry different generics (meaning from different companies), and that can also change often....I've gotten several different generics of the same meds over the years, from the same pharmacy, it just depends on what they have at the time. It unfortunately IS a red flag, and Watson DOES have a "reputation" of being a "stronger" generic (but in theory this wouldn't/couldn't be true....5mg of hydrocodone is 5mg of hydrocodone, no matter who makes it). There are a variety of strengths that Vicodin/Lortab is available in, with generic equivalents (ie 5/325, 5/500, 7.5/500, 10/500, 10/650, etc etc etc, you get the picture....the small number is the mg of hydrocodone, the larger is the mg of acetaminophen), but whatever generic you get is the same as what the Vicoden would have been. "Standard" Vicodin was always 5/500, but more and more places are going to 5/325 to lower daily acetaminophen doses (ie, taking 2 5/500's every 4 hours for a day ~ 24 hours ~ would put them over the amount of acetaminophen safely allowed in a 24 hour period).

Sorry, that was a lot of info......hope some of it helped, though!

[jenjen05]

I have always asked for certain manufacturers for even antibiotics and steroid cremes (aside from narcotics) and have never had a pharmacist say I'm a "red flag" or given me any problem over it. If you have a genuine script from a doctor for a pain killer you can ask for anything you want, you're paying for it after all.

My local Walgreens used to fill all my scripts. One week I got my 30 day supply of omeprazole and the next got a script filled for Diflucan. No one payed attention (including my doctor) to the fact I took omeprazole and within hours of having taken Diflucan my eyes turned yellow and I was near renal failure. You cannot take Omep and Diflucan together. Omep is a proton pump inhibitor and keeps Diflucan from working and all sorts of other good stuff. I will always put all my drugs into drugs.com's interactions checker and throughly read through all material given to me by a pharmacist and check with my mother (an RN) and my grandfather (a MD general surgeon) before I take anything. (I now get my scripts filled at a different, better Walgreens further away.)

I believe the reason why Watson's drugs are more potent is because they use less additives to "cut" their pills with. Or at least that's what they say. 5mg of hydrocodone is 5mg of hydrocodone but the problem with that is some manufacturers choose to "cut" their drugs with random additives that actually decrease the bioavailability of hydrocodone. I received this piece of information from my pharmacist after asking her why it seemed a rx I had just had filled by them by the manufacturer AmeriSource was not doing anything for my pain. I then got some made by Mallinckrodt and FLARED HORRIBLY within an hour of taking it. Called them and found out they have potassium sorbate as an additive they "cut" their Vicodin with. Watson does not. That's why I request Watson, not only for its potency. Besides... why would people with chronic pain want a less potent drug? And why would people with IC want more potassium sorbate? lol Makes no sense.

[Breezy1218]

I have always asked for certain manufacturers for even antibiotics and steroid cremes (aside from narcotics) and have never had a pharmacist say I'm a "red flag" or given me any problem over it. If you have a genuine script from a doctor for a pain killer you can ask for anything you want, you're paying for it after all.

My local Walgreens used to fill all my scripts. One week I got my 30 day supply of omeprazole and the next got a script filled for Diflucan. No one payed attention (including my doctor) to the fact I took omeprazole and within hours of having taken Diflucan my eyes turned yellow and I was near renal failure. You cannot take Omep and Diflucan together. Omep is a proton pump inhibitor and keeps Diflucan from working and all sorts of other good stuff. I will always put all my drugs into drugs.com's interactions checker and throughly read through all material given to me by a pharmacist and check with my mother (an RN) and my grandfather (a MD general surgeon) before I take anything. (I now get my scripts filled at a different, better Walgreens further away.)

I believe the reason why Watson's drugs are more potent is because they use less additives to "cut" their pills with. Or at least that's what they say. 5mg of hydrocodone is 5mg of hydrocodone but the problem with that is some manufacturers choose to "cut" their drugs with random additives that actually decrease the bioavailability of hydrocodone. I received this piece of information from my pharmacist after asking her why it seemed a rx I had just had filled by them by the manufacturer AmeriSource was not doing anything for my pain. I then got some made by Mallinckrodt and FLARED HORRIBLY within an hour of taking it. Called them and found out they have potassium sorbate as an additive they "cut" their Vicodin with. Watson does not. That's why I request Watson, not only for its potency. Besides... why would people with chronic pain want a less potent drug? And why would people with IC want more potassium sorbate? lol Makes no sense.

Oh I know what you are saying, jen. And for sure, not everyone that is going to request something is doing it for the "wrong" reason. I have read posts on a medication forum regarding that very topic, though (unfortunately, a lot of people that wind up posting on it do not use their drugs exactly, uh, legally, shall we say, so while I find the site helpful when looking up medication information, I don't much use the forum part, I just can't handle reading that kind of thing, drives me nuts).

They wouldn't tell a patient if they were flagged (although I am sure you are not, don't get me wrong!). It REALLY makes me angry that they did not tell you about the omeprazole/Diflucan interactions, that IMO is inexcusable!

I have a good Walgreen's story, too, totally O/T from this post, so I'll put it on a different thread...