When used correctly and for only a short period, hydrocodone is usually safe and effective. Based on your medical history, your doctor can weigh the pros and cons of the two medications. If you’re pregnant, talk with your doctor about the risks of these medications. Remember, keep this and all other medicines out of the reach of children, never share your medicines with others, and use hydrocodone only for the indication prescribed. Avoid drinking alcohol or taking illegal or recreational drugs while taking hydrocodone. Medications for opioid use disorder are safe, effective, and save lives.

Vicodin Addiction Treatment and Detox

Some of these programs use medications to help ease withdrawal, while others don’t. The best approach for you will depend greatly on vicodin addiction the nature of your addiction. These side effects include behavior changes, difficulty breathing, constipation, and lightheadedness.

• If you need opioids for severe pain, work with your healthcare professional to take the lowest dose possible, for the shortest time needed, exactly as prescribed.
• If you think your loved one may be addicted to opioids, talk with their healthcare professional right away.
• Vicodin is an opiate pain reliever typically used for severe pain.
• People with asthma or breathing difficulties may need to avoid these pain medications entirely.
• Medically assisted detoxification can help you safely and comfortably detox from the substance.
• The combination of alcohol and pain medications can cause extreme dizziness or drowsiness.

Signs of Vicodin Addiction

However, these patients are still encouraged to contact medical professionals, keeping them updated on their progress after the treatment. This process allows patients to avoid most of the negative symptoms of withdrawal due to anesthesia. Drug detox is a short-term program which tries to remove as much drug from the bloodstream as possible. As the drug starts leaving the body, a patient will experience several undesirable symptoms. Doctors can help alleviate many of these symptoms by prescribing medications.

• Along with its needed effects, acetaminophen / hydrocodone may cause some unwanted effects.
• It’s also important to record your pain in a diary while you take it.
• The United States continues to be in the midst of a prescription drug abuse epidemic.

Short-term versus long-term effects

Plus, AAC has facilities scattered across the country, each of which is filled with highly trained professionals who provide evidence-based treatment interventions. Even at low levels and when taken exactly as prescribed, these medications can cause dependence. Misuse of these drugs can lead to addiction, poisoning, overdose, or even death. People with asthma or breathing difficulties may need to avoid these pain medications entirely. Also, because of the risk of increased constipation, people with blockages or difficulty with constipation may not want to take oxycodone or hydrocodone.

• When addicted to a drug, a person will continue to use the drug even when it makes life worse.
• If you find that you cannot quit using Vicodin in spite of all your efforts to stop, you may want to seek a professional treatment program to help you with your dependence.
• This is one of the reasons why one may fail to identify dependence or if it’s developing.
• If you need surgery or medical tests, tell the doctor ahead of time that you are using this medicine.

They will act especially against the drug effects or produce similar but milder effects. After some time, the patient’s body increases its tolerance to hydrocodone. That means that the body adapts its receptors to be less sensitive to the drug molecules.

Appointments at Mayo Clinic

It’s an indication that the drug has changed the way your brain experiences pain and pleasure. Tolerance to the drug can develop quickly — in some cases, within a week. You may feel you need to take increasingly higher doses to achieve the same effects you felt when you first started the medication. Opioids interfere with pain signals heading to the brain to change your perception of pain as well as your emotional reaction to it.

• Since it is an opiate-based drug, Vicodin withdrawal is similar to withdrawing from heroin, morphine, methadone, or codeine.
• Rather than be taken orally, the powder is snorted into the body by the user.
• The Drug Enforcement Administration classifies hydrocodone as a Schedule II substance.
• There are specific reasons why doctors don’t prescribe hydrocodone/acetaminophen for long-term use.
• A doctor may also prescribe these drugs to treat other conditions, including chronic cough, pain from cancer, and arthritis.

Find More Resources on Opioids

Understanding Hydrocodone Addiction