Does taking vicoden lower your immune system?

[Waiting4myprincess]

Hey everyone. Just a quick question. I have been taking vicoden (7.5/500's) for about the last 3 months on a regular basis. They were prescribed to me by my pain management doctor for severe back problems that I have. The question that I have is.....can taking vicoden lower your immune system? I had a baby in December and I have been sick at least 8 times since she was born and I don't mean little colds, I mean flu like sick. (stomach bugs, strep throat, sinus infection, etc.) Could it be related to taking the pain meds? I don't know what else to think. I used to be pretty healthy. Any ideas??

Thanks,
Danielle

[againnot]

My pain management dr told me that opiates do indeed harm your immune system.  I was on them for many years.  They knew that my immune system was compromised due to my cancer, but I was not told this by any other of the nurse practitioners.
Maybe I should have researched it myself, but it never occurred to me that that was an issue.
Another reason, in my opinion, that we need to be our own advocates and learn as much as we can about our medical conditions.

[TrumanW]

Faith doesn't heal ****. Faith is essentially placebo. It could be connected, but no one in here is qualified to say that it is. Remember, correlation ≠ causation. Average people are neither logicians nor doctors -- and even if they were, that wouldn't give them the medical justification to say what [is] happening to you.

In fact, not even if there were a medical study that showed a correlation with high dependent function on opiates and frequency of cold/flu would it say that it's what's happening with you. Because... like I said, correlation ≠ causation.

If someone had a causal basis by which it happened, and found that to be the both the expected cause, effect and mechanism in you, then someone could say, "yes."

Just because someone else in here had an addiction, doesn't either mean that you do. Are you honestly in back pain? Is it more pain than others you know are in? Would not taking something palliative decrease the degree to which you could live your life?

Personally? I could entirely stop all drugs I take. I would lay in bed, in agony, unable to move, disinterested in personal conversation, unable to get continuous sleep from the pain but constantly tired from the pain, and devoid of a will to live.

So -- in a facile sense, I'm addicted to all the drugs I take. Neurontin, vicodin, etc.. But that's only because I'd prefer to continue living -- and living in a way that isn't nearly the same thing as dead, or wishing for death.

It ***** that we haven't had someone come along and figure out how to replace the parts we need in order to live pain free. Biology has had 3.5 Billion years to specify the blueprints for life. The human study of biology on the other hand, is only about 200 years old -- since the microscopy, ligature, antiseptic, anesthetic. Those things marked the beginning of our ability to engage in surgery.

Molecular medicine is even newer. No one is withholding the cure for what ails us. People are working on it tirelessly. Greedy tyrants cannot hold them down, any more than Galileo could be held down.

There are those who love science (aka, truth) more than anything else. And they'd give their life to distill the facts of reality for all of mankind to know.

One day, there will be a newton, an einstein, a feynman, a niels bohr. It may be from stem cells, it may be artificial.

But until then, do what you have to do to live. There is no guarantee that you will live long enough to see that day, but there is no PURPOSE in living a life that feels like death.

If you take your drugs for their medical purposes... or a dose that is very near to it, and if your pain is real -- then do what you need to do to feel alive.

[Shotrock]

I never got sick when I had the Norco's, if I felt sick 4 norco's, tired 4 norco's, anxious 4 Norco's, Happy 4 Norco's, Sad 4 Norco's... You get the Idea... I would be more concerned with your pill addiction, you should stop right away... I had back surgery in 1984 so i have always had a built in excuse to use hydrocodone, and trust me i used it.. There are many ways to deal with back pain other then pills.. You owe it to that little princess...... Good Luck.... Faith will heal you......

[skitz758]

go to top of this page click doctors u canask them specifaly your question.
they are good

[Waiting4myprincess]

Every time I get sick I go to the DR> All he does is write me a prescription for an antibiotic. There is nothing wrong with me other than just being sick, but I wasn't sure if the pills could have lowered my immune system.

Thanks for your response.

[GoingToMakeIt]

It might be time for a checkup. Opiates typically don't let you get sick as easily as that. My wife (RN childbirth instructor) said to get checked out.