So, What is the Difference Between Lortab and Norco exactly?

If you take pain medication, you may have asked yourself what is the difference between Lortab and Norco? Understanding prescription medications, their differences and potential interactions is important. Especially when controlled substances like opioids are involved. This article from Harmony Treatment and Wellness will help you understand the difference between Lortab and Norco and why it matters.

The first thing you should know is that nearly every prescription medication has a “common” name and a brand name. The common name is the active ingredient in the brand name. It often becomes the generic name for the medicine when a generic becomes available. This can confuse people sometimes. This article aims to clear up that confusion for you.

What’s the Difference Between Name Brand and Generic Opioid Pain Meds?

This question could be the topic for its own article. For the purposes of this piece, we’ll keep it simple. Pretty much every pharmaceutical drug begins as a name brand product. Drug companies spend billions every year on researching and developing new medications. One of the ways they recoup these costs (and turn a profit) is selling the medication. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates all prescription medications. Companies hold a patent on any new medication they introduce That allows them to be the only one who can sell that particular drug for a period of time. That period of time varies, but it can be as long as 20 years.

You may have noticed many new medications are only available in the brand name form. This is usually because the patent has not expired yet. Once a patent expires, other companies are free to make their own versions of the same drug. These may include a generic version. These medications must have the same active ingredient as the name brand, that is the medicine part. The rest of the medication can vary. That includes things like fillers, coatings, color, flavor and so forth. When you ask what is the difference between Lortab and Norco, that last sentence is your answer.

OK, That’s Interesting, But What is the Difference Between Lortab and Norco?

Lortab and Norco are both formulations which include hydrocodone as the primary active ingredient. Hydrocodone is a semi-synthetic opioid medication. What is Lortab? Well, both medications have acetaminophen (aka Tylenol) as a secondary ingredient. The rest of each table (the inactive ingredients) may vary, but that has little bearing on the effect of the medicine. In the United States, hydrocodone is always combined with another non-narcotic pain medication. Acetaminophen he most common choice by far. Some less common hydrocodone compounds may include ibuprofen (Advil) or even aspirin instead.

If you want to know what is the difference between Lortab and Norco, it helps to be familiar with the medications in this category. The only practical difference between them is the fillers and form the come in.

These are all examples of prescription drugs that include hydrocodone and acetaminophen as the active ingredients.

Vicodin
Lortab
Norco
Lorcet
Xodol

As mentioned, there are also some much less common medications that combine hydrocodone with a different ingredient.

Here are some examples of drugs that include hydrocodone and something other than acetaminophen:

Ibudone (hydrocodone and ibuprofen)
Vicoprofen (hydrocodone and ibuprofen)
Hycodan (hydrocodone and homatropine)
Rezira (hydrocodone and pseudoephedrine)
Tussionex (hydrocodone and chlorpheniramine)

More About What is the Difference Between Lortab and Norco?

Vicodin, Lortab, Norco, Lorcet and Xodol are all medications that combine hydrocodone and acetaminophen. They are just brand names used by different drug companies for pretty much the same medicine. Each version will include a number which tells you how much of each active ingredient each tablet contains. For example, a Norco 325/10 has 325 milligrams (mg) of acetaminophen and 10 mg of hydrocodone. A Lortab 10 mg – 325 mg tablet has…you guessed it. 325 mg of acetaminophen and 10 mg of hydrocodone. Can you guess what’s in a Vicodin 5 mg / 500 mg? The smaller number is always the hydrocodone.

Conclusion

If you’re still wondering what is the difference between Lortab and Norco, the answer is ‘not much’. They are different brands of essentially the same thing. The filler ingredients will vary a bit. The size, shape and color of the tablets will vary too. But for all intents and purposes a 10/325 Lortab and a 10/325 Norco are going to produce the same effect. Lortab and Norco both contain hydrocodone which is an opioid. That means they are controlled substances with a high potential for addiction.

If you or someone you love is struggling with their use of any controlled substance, Harmony Treatment and Wellness can help. Give us a call at (772) 247-6180 or reach out to us via our contact page here.

Painkillers such as Codeine, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone and Morphine are all narcotics from the same family of drugs as Heroin. Opiates are derived from Opium derived from Poppies while Opioids are synthetically made versions that mimic Opiates. Because of this connection, painkillers can often lead to heroin.

This class of drugs act as depressants, relieving pain by binding to receptors in the Brain and Central Nervous System. They work by mimicking the effects of pain-relieving chemicals that are produced naturally in the body, but to a much higher degree. When opiates bind to opiate receptors in the body, they block the perception of pain.

While excellent for short-term pain mitigation and management, opiates create both tolerance and dependence in the longer-term. Not only does a patient need higher and higher doses to get the same effect as before, but they also become addicted and dependent on the medication to function normally. It takes less than a month to develop a dependence on opiates, after which a person will experience withdrawal without it.

Furthermore, Opiates are also known for producing feelings of euphoria, which then leads to recreational abuse.

The Opioid Crisis

Most people know that Opiate and Heroin use, abuse and overdose has increased over the years. The Opioid Crisis regularly makes national headlines. In response to the Opioid Crisis, regulators cracked down on production and prescriptions of opiates. They demanded that manufacturers decrease production by 25% and made it harder for doctors to prescribe them for pain. On the surface, this makes sense. Reduce the amount of people getting opiates and you will reduce the amount of people addicted to opiates. However, this did not answer the problem of people experiencing chronic pain nor those are already hooked on prescription opiates.

Turning to the Streets

Imagine you are a person with a chronic back injury and your doctor has been prescribing Oxycontin to help manage your symptoms for months. As we know, it takes less than a month to develop dependency, so you are fully addicted to your Oxycontin prescription. Now, due to regulations, your doctor can no longer prescribe your dose. Your pain has not subsided, nor has your addiction to opiates. Thus, you head to the streets. Unfortunately on the streets the price of prescription opiates, which was already high, has now spiked significantly. The street price of Oxycontin is $1 per milligram. If you have someone who takes 80mg per day, suddenly they find themselves with an $80/day habit. In order to get your fix, your painkillers can lead to heroin, a much cheaper option. 75% of all people with an opioid addiction end up switching to heroin as a cheaper source of opioids.

Statistics on Use and Abuse

Opiate use, and substance abuse in general, is on the rise all over the world, not only in the United States. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that:

In 2017, opiate painkillers were prescribed more than 190 times
Roughly 21 to 29% of patients prescribed opiates for chronic pain misuse them.
Between 26 and 36 million people worldwide abuse opiates
Over two million people in the U.S. suffer from substance abuse problems related to opiate painkillers
In 2010, the overuse of opiate painkillers resulted in nearly 17,000 deaths in the U.S.
About 80% of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids.
Overdoses from opioids increased 30% from July 2016 to September 2017 in 45 states.
The Midwest saw the highest increases overall, with overdoses increasing by 70% from July 2016 to September 2017.

Signs of an Opiate or Heroin Overdose

Early treatment can save a life. If you or someone else experiences these signs or symptoms after consuming Codeine or any other opiate, call 911 immediately:

Loss of consciousness
Unresponsive to outside stimuli
Awake but unable to talk
Body goes limp
Light skinned people: skin turns blue or purplish
Dark skinned people; skin turns grayish or ashen
Fingernails or lips turn blue or purple
Vomiting
Sounds of choking or gurgling in the throat
Pale and clammy face
Slow, weak or non-existent pulse

People who survive overdoses do so because someone was there to respond. It is rare that someone dies immediately from an overdose, getting them help can save their life and prevent permanent damage. The longer you wait, the more damage can occur. It is vital to act quickly.

Getting Help

We hope this article has helped you better understand how prescription painkillers can lead to Heroin. If you or a loved one are struggling with Opiate or Heroin addiction, please reach out.

Call us today and find out how we can help.

Sources

https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/heroin.html

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/relationship-between-prescription-drug-heroin-abuse/prescription-opioid-use-risk-factor-heroin-use