Comments on I want to be a pharmacist...: What's with the Hydrocodone Love Lately?

Giant Academic Medical Center here in town took 5/...

2009-09-22T20:52:43.143-05:00

Giant Academic Medical Center here in town took 5/500 off formulary about two years ago in favor of 5/325. The reason was to reduce the amount of tylenol and maximize the amount of hydrocodone. It's not new here. Maybe the rest of the country is catching on? If hydrocodone was available as a single-entity product, I don't think norco/vicodin/lortab would even be prescribed.

I think a little bit of it is this part of the cou...

2009-09-19T15:16:40.738-05:00

I think a little bit of it is this part of the country - It's all Lortab, Lortab, Lortab here, but where I used to work, I was far more likely to see Vicodin, Vicoden, Vicodan (sad when the docs can't spell the brand name of the most prescribed drug...) and quite a few Norco rxs as well. Come to think of it though, I have seen quite a few more /325s than previously...

agreed...its's the tylenol. But I've been begging...

2009-09-18T22:11:34.726-05:00

agreed...its's the tylenol. But I've been begging docs to switch for years. And as a side note....most docs in my area with chronic pain patients are requiring narc contracts. It doesn't imply the patient is a seeker or abuser. The docs are requiring them for ALL pain patients to comply with DEA scrutiny and state board regs. I've seen the contract patients are not abusers

The thing is, they're not keeping the same directi...

2009-09-17T15:08:00.426-05:00

The thing is, they're not keeping the same directions but upping to the max quantity of the 325mg tablets so they end up being in the same boat but with more hydrocodone.

I don't personally think anything of it. Lets be ...

2009-09-17T06:04:05.469-05:00

I don't personally think anything of it. Lets be quite honest, for people taking that amount of hydrocodone daily, the tylenol isn't used for anything other than to keep the from overdosing. If the mds are changing the dose so the patient can actively take more, then that's one thing, but is there really a difference between 10/500 1-2 q 4 to 6 h prn and 10/325 1-2 q 4 to 6 h prn?

I think its more than a little silly, it's down ri...

2009-09-16T14:32:00.258-05:00

I think its more than a little silly, it's down right stupid. All it's going to do is give the addict another way to get more hydrocodone because of the 'liver' risk. I say fuck that.

Frantic is right. Becasue of the FDA "Tylenol" sca...

2009-09-16T07:19:23.077-05:00

Frantic is right. Becasue of the FDA "Tylenol" scare I've been switching to the lower APAP forms of the combo narcs.

I agree it's somewhat silly, but it's more to cover ourselves from the hassle of families, patients, and lawyers grilling us on the potential for APAP OD.

Yep, it's that whole Tylenol overdose thing. If we...

2009-09-15T16:16:36.359-05:00

Yep, it's that whole Tylenol overdose thing. If we can't get them off the habit-forming narcotic we can at least take comfort that we're not giving 'em too much of that deadly Tylenol.....