What is Hydrocodone (Vicodin)?

Hydrocodone (Vicodin): what is it?

Hydrocodone is a substance commonly prescribed by doctors to treat intense and chronic pain.

The name that most people know hydrocodone by is Vicodin. 

It’s a drug that effectively treats pain, but improper use can lead to serious addiction.

What is Hydrocodone: A Brief Guide

Hydrocodone is classified as an opioid. More specifically, it’s an analgesic. Analgesics relieve pain, whereas anaesthetics remove almost all sensations for some time. 

Opioids interact with the communication between your nervous system and brain, muting or altering feelings of pain. They can also modulate how you react to pain emotionally, making them an effective way to recover from surgeries, massive injuries, and chronic pain. 

On the other side, though, hydrocodone can produce a euphoric effect. When used outside medical treatment, people use the drug to contribute to relaxation, euphoria, ease of anxiety, or fall asleep. 

Those effects can lead directly to addiction. 

On top of those effects, the body might develop a dependency on hydrocodone, leading to physical addiction. The individual might experience cravings when they’re not using and seek out more to ease those cravings. 

This can occur when a person uses hydrocodone as medically advised as well. While it’s unlikely that you will develop an addiction if you use the medication as prescribed, it’s still possible. 

One common way individuals find themselves addicted is by taking more than prescribed without consulting a doctor. Your body will develop a tolerance to the prescribed amount, and taking more to relieve the pain might seem necessary. 

Hydrocodone and Abuse

When you increase your dosage without consulting a professional, you start carving the way for dependency. Your physical pain can leave, but the physical dependency upon the drug may not go away as easily. 

The longer the habit persists, the more severe and intense the relationship between the person and hydrocodone. It’s also important to note that hydrocodone abuse can lead to overdose and death in high amounts. 

Small instances of hydrocodone misuse don’t lead to death in most cases, but hydrocodone abuse leads to a lot of fatalities. 

The key thing to understand is that one shouldn’t use different types of hydrocodone without a prescription. Additionally, one should always use the substance as prescribed.