Vicodin shortage?

So, due to circumstances beyond my control I have three new, rather large holes in my body.


No cats were harmed in the making of this picture.

After leaving the hospital DW set off to fill my prescription for Vicodin (a pain killer). The first two pharmacies she went to were out and told her they haven't been able to get any from their suppliers for weeks. Luckily the third drug store had some but also stated they were running low.

A sign of the times?

-Blast

OUCH - I'm down to 4, my regular wound care doc is in the middle of moving, so I can't even call to get more. Sigh. With luck, the 4 should last 10 days or so (I'm almost all healed, and now only need them if I over do it)

Blast, looks like you were volunteering to recreate the "magic bullet" from the JFK assassination.

Interesting that two pharmacies that DW hit said the same thing. Were they part of the same chain? I haven't heard of any particular reason why any meds should be in short supply at the moment.

Don't know, I was at home watching all the pretty colors shooting from my fingertips.

-Blast

What the hell did you do upgrade from domestic long hair to freakin' mountain lion????

Oh yeah, back to the original question,

Most of the Med's DW is on are "controlled substances". It has become more and more difficult to get the scripts due to shortages at the pharmacy.

I know many retailers are limiting their inventories to reduce overhead.

My brother gets gnomes from vidocin, too! I'd rather have colors. Freaky short people scare me, I always think they are plotting to cut off my legs.

-Blast

I foolishly let small issues turn into large issues. Some lipomas should have been removed two years ago. They ended up the size of small lemons and so it required more extensive surgeries to get them out.

Lesson learn...I guess I should have more sympathy for foolish choices of others, huh?

-Blast

Good luck with the top bandage when you pull it off. Hair and adhesive tape... not so much.

Oh yeah, don't PO the DW, or you will never get those bandages changed.

Lipomas? I'll bet!

How fast were you running when they opened fire?

Sue

Yowsa! I got Vicodin after my ACL repair in '02. Frankly, all I got was a little sleepy. They gave me 2 wks worth, but I stopped needing it after 3 days.

Blast,

Take care and a speedy recovery to you. On the bright side, your hair cut is like mine...no maintenance!

Ask for hydrocodone instead.

I rarely use the stuff but I have a big stash as we live in a remote area and I had a bout of back problems a few years ago. It doesn't make the pain go away so much as letting you just not care...

Oh man! Speedy recovery Blast!

Good wishes to you, Blast. That looks nasty!

Actually, the WebBots included meds in their "shortages" predictions. That makes this a "sign of the times" indeed!

Glad to know that there were no cats involved in this "incident"!

Get well quickly, my friend!!!

Ha! At least they're benign, right?

Per the Vicoden shortage, it's probably cuz all my lovely fellow Detroit citizens are hogging them. I swear, this city needs an enema, followed by Narcan in the city water supply.

If you're having that much trouble, ask the doc for Norco instead. Same active ingredient, just less acetominophen in them. 325mg per pill vs 500mg per pill. However, do realize that the daily max on tylenol is 4000mg, so if you decide to pop a few extra tylenol, do the math to add them in with whichever drug you choose!

(Plus, a Norco addict is much rarer than a vicoden addict!)

Blast, you know how we all expected the crocodile man to end up in the jaws of a huge, gnarly croc? Well, we expect you to get damaged in a fire or explosion. Now you bring these pictures to us and expect sympathy?

Have a speedy recovery and good luck on scoring all the meds that you need!

P.S. Nice hairdo!

Blast I have to agree with Grouch, You are supposed to be injured whilst blowing things up NOT Lymphomas (you silly twit).

Also ask for Norco next time lots less addicting than Vicodan


Mike

Thanks all! I wish I had known about Norco before going in for the surgery. The toxicity of Tylenol always scares me and I avoid it as much as possible. Lower addiction rate is also a great thing.

I have to admit, I'm treating this situation as a much-needed vacation. I don't have to go to work, I don't have to watch the kids or do anything around the house, I have a stack of movies and frozen egg rolls lined up and if I get bored there's always the color-shooting fingertips.

-Blast, needing no sympathy

They're probably still ticked off about that last Willy Wonka movie.

Seriously, get well soon Blast!

My sympathies--I had one similar taken off my shoulderblade a few years ago. It left a nice scar. I tell everyone "It was nothing: I was stabbed in the back...at work..."

I showed up at work Tuesday with my head shaved. Told people it was because I picked up my old job as a bouncer at a strip club again and had to look tough. I can't wait to hear what they say when I return to work all cut up.

-Blast

Boy, you and Izzy--trying to puff up your "street cred"!

well damm!!!--medical or shoot-out it still looks nasty..
but you have the right idea for recovery--TV,snacks and pain killers

I wasn't aware we did a lot of sympathy. :P

This will be a lesson- get a problem when it is small.

LOL. That reminds me of something I heard on SNL, back when Vanilla Ice was in the spotlight:
"I told the world I was stabbed in the butt, but it was a toilet paper cut!"

Don't know why that stuck. Probably just really funny to a 12 year old.

Blame the cat!

I think I have seen pictures like that before Blast....from a frag grenade that got dropped at the grenade toss pit at Benning.

Just kidding buddy, hope you heal up soon.

While pushing the pain pills don't forget to drink water and to get some roughage. Those pills sometimes back the system up. The combination being blissed out, half asleep and watching the pretty pictures (or gnomes, as the case may be)often means people forget to drink and eat regularly.

Things back up far enough and long enough and they have to open you back up with an apple corer and clean you out manually. Not a pleasant experience. A big glass of water and a bowl of oatmeal couldn't hurt.

You know, it's funny - I have no visual effects from Vicodin. In fact, according to folks who know me, there doesn't seem to be any coordination or other effect - it just mostly takes pain away (disclaimer - IF I take too strong a dose for the amount of pain I'm in I get sleepy)

You may remember that early this year, I spend 14 days in the hospital, and the first 12 or so of them I was on 6ml of Morphine every 4hrs. No visual effects there either, but it did tend to make me want to nap, which was a GOOD thing, as when I was alseep, I wasn't hurting

No Gnomes or colors with me either

Hey Sue,
I think Blast needs a get well cat!
Stu

In my profession, the term "hitting the pharmacy" will get you 20 years in a fed pen.

Mallinckrodt, the manufacturer of several strengths of generic Lortab (Vicodin), has been on backorder for about a week now.

My guess is the doc ordered you a Vicodin 5 and those will be shipping out to wholesalers beginning March 6th. If the pharmacy was smart and had a decent inventory of high-volume product they wouldn't even feel the shortage.

And, no, it's not a sign of the times. Backorders happen all the time. A sign of the times right now is doctors' closets being empty of samples. Those eeeeeevil pharmaceutical companies have taken a beating, and are pulling back on their marketing. Now I get people complaining they can't get free meds anymore. I thought they grew on trees!

Agree with all you stated except a caveat to your last statement. Just because there are fewer addicts who know about Norco doesn't mean it isn't a red flag drug. We busted an addict doctor shopping based on my suspicions when he specifically requested Norco from the doc. Addicts like to think they are sneaky, but they stick out (usually) like a sore thumb.

Addicts who think they are smart like the Norco more due to the lower acetaminophen levels, so their livers won't konk out so fast.

Someone specifically asking for Norco can be perceived as suspicious, even if they are totally innocent. But if Blast were to tell the doc he can't get Vicoden d/t the backorder, I don't think anyone would have a problem with it.

Sorry, Mike, but Norco is equally as addicting as Vicodin. The hydrocodone component is what is addicting, not the tylenol.

Blast, you are insane for posting pics for cat-fodder. That pic will be in the Hall of Fame forever!

Ah, yes, samples! I've never gotten free samples of anything myself, but I'll occasionally see stats on them and I'm always amazed at just how many doses of various drugs are given out free every year.

Besides pharma companies cutting back on giving out free samples, I've been reading articles about more and more people really cutting back on their meds--pill splitting, skipping days, etc.--and for some, free samples from their physician help some patients get through a month so I'm not surprised that physician offices would be cleaned out of free samples.

I wonder how much all of those the free samples raise the price for paying customers. Free just means that someone other than the recipient pays for it.

The incremental cost of producing all those free samples is a pittance compared to the profit generated by your typical blockbuster prescription drug. Don't think of pharmaceuticals like a manufactured product like a car, where there's a cost of raw materials plus production plus a percentage for profit. Think of pharmaceuticals more like intellectual property, like software. Once you've paid a bunch of people to develop a computer program, there isn't much difference between making 1,000 copies or a million copies.

Generics are a different situation, but physicians aren't generally given tons of free samples of generics.

Seeing things while taking vicodin... hmmm you may have other problems

All kidding aside... if you don't have addictive tendencies you`ll be fine. I had to take it for a couple months after an ATV accident. My biggest piece of advice is don't just take more and more if it stops working 'good' ease OFF of it for a couple days then it will work better. Obviously if you are in such serious pain that you can't ease off for relief in a couple days then you need to take more or up your dosage. Try to get them to get you something with only 375mg of Tylenol instead of the standard 500. It's stupid that in the USA they require it to be mixed.

For you gorefiends, the whole story...
Because blogging about pain makes readers happy!

-Blast, who has no concept of the meaning "private"

Vicodin comes up to 10-660s, which are quite strong

Brave man!

I really felt for you when you couldn't get to your bed.

Damn, man, I take back what I have about sympathy. I was just razzing you, but yeah...

You've earned some sympathy from me.


Still pretty sure you'll take care of them when their little though.

Yeah, it does. With my leg wound, for about 18 months, I was on Vicodin every 6 hours. Started with ES, and had to eventually go to HP - now down to an ES every 2-3 days, when the leg is bad