Difference btw hydrocodone and oxycodone?

[SHELLBELL79]

What is the exact difference between hydrocodone/Vicodin/ loratab and oxycodone/ Percocet? I know Percocet is supposed to be lil stronger but what is the real difference? Does one work better on other pains? What's the difference btw hydro and oxy? Thanks!!

[LadyPam912]

There is a hydrocodone without acetaminophen in it.  I've been on & off it for years.  It's called Vicoprofen (with ibuprofen), so it's not nearly as hard on the liver.

[RunningMom]

Percocet works better for pain and it lasts longer in the body.

[philnoir]

acetaminophen , in daily doses greater than 4 g / day can cause irreversible toxicity to the liver. and once the liver goes, you're only hope for survival is a transplant -- a proocedure with limited success.

Opioid pain medications combined with acetaminophen ha e changed recently -- these medications, like Vicodin and Norco, Percocet, and others now have 50% less acetaminophen than they once contained.

Still, anyone requiring large amounts of opioid pain releiver should be prescribed medications w/o acetaminophen (called paracetamol in Europe).

If you are requiring more than 10 pain pills per day containing this known liver poison, talk to your doctor about hepatotoxicity or liver damage caused by acetaminophen/paracetamol.

[Garlic5876]

I have been taken both hydrocodone and oxycodone for seven years the latter for 6 3/4 yrs the hydrocodone was just prescribed tome with slow release morphine pills. I have stop taking or I should miss taking my medication every once in a while and I get no mental withdraw problems but I do get extreme pain in my back ( I have 2 crushed disc in my back,and the only reason I don't have an operation is everyone I have talked to have been in worse shape than when they were before their operation,some needing several more of them with same results) but I have found the combination of the morphine pills and hydrocodone I take less pill and have less side effects like constipation . I like the oxycodone for keeping the pain away better but I would like to get one of these Meds without Tylenol because my liver enzymes have been going up had hepatitis c got rid of it and I don't want to get it again, the treatment almost killed me.

[NeverAgain127]

Funny, I was just discussing this with my doctor yeterday.

I think its been well explained here that oxycodone is MUCH stronger than hydrocodone.   But if you really want to know, the only difference from a pharmacological point of view, is that on the 14th carbon, with Hydro, there is an 'H' atom, and with oxy, there is a hydroxyl group ("OH".)

I have a degree in pharmacology and am fascinated by how such a tiny change can have such an enormous effect on the human body.

In my state, a doctor can phone in a script for hydrocone.  But oxy?  NO way. You have to physically bring in the piece of paper yourself.

[philnoir]

All opioids cause a histamine release in mammals, which is dependent on dose, route of administration, and heterogeneity of the patient.

This is why most people itch when taking opioids. Opioid-related itch can be treated with an oral antihistamine, for instance, 25-50mg of benedryl.

In extremely rare occasions, opioids can cause a true anaphylactic reaction that requires a full emergency response including airway management and treatment with injectable antihistamine and/or epinephrine.

Many people who have an allergic response to strong opiates like morphine but do not actually express a true immunoglobulin-mediated allergy, will show an intolerance to the drug. In this case, anesthesiologists will often substitute hydromorphone without incident.