2023-10-31 09:45:20
Vicodin® is a medicine that has a powerful pain-relieving effect. It was with this drug that the addiction of Matthew Perry, star actor in the series Friends, who died suddenly at the age of 54, began.
Summary
[Mise à jour le 30 octobre 2023 à 09h50] Deceased at the age of 54, the actor Matthew Perry was addicted to painkillers. And his addiction started with Vicodin. Doctors prescribed this treatment following a jet ski accident at the late 1990s. “I was faking back injuries. I was faking migraines, to get this prescription drughe told the New York Times fin 2022. When you’re an addict, everything is mathematics. I go to this place and I have to take three. And then I go to this place, and I’m going to take five. (…) I wasn’t doing it to feel high or to feel good. I just wanted to sit on my couch, take five Vicodin, and watch a movie. It was heaven for me.” During the filming of the series Friendsin which he played the character of Chandler Bing, he told CBC to take “55 Vicodin a day. “I weighed 60 kilosI was brutally thin, that’s why I can’t watch the show, because I could say, ‘Alcohol, opiates, alcohol, cocaine,’ and say from one season to the next what I looked like.”
Definition: what is Vicodin?
Vicodin® is the brand name of a medication marketed by abbott laboratoriesit contains an association of two analgesic molecules: paracetamol (500 mg per tablet) and hydrocodone (5 mg per tablet). Vicodin® is not marketed in France, just like its active substance, hydrocodone.
Is it an opioid?
The medication Vicodin® contains a step 1 non-opioid analgesic (paracetamol) and a step 2 opioid analgesic (hydrocodone). Opioids include drugs used therapeutically (morphine, tramadol, hydrocodone, etc.) and illicit drugs (heroin). An opioid substance is a molecule derived from opium that exhibits effects comparable to those of morphine. By activating mu (μ), kappa (κ) and delta (δ) opiate receptors, it exerts powerful action against pain.
What are the effects of Vicodin?
Depending on the doses administered, Vicodin® has variable effects. At recommended doses, the therapeutic effects are characterized by antitussive, analgesic and even analgesic properties. In addition, mild drowsiness may occur, but is not the desired effect. At high doses, severe side effects appear such as impaired mental and physical functions making certain tasks impossible to perform (driving a car, using a machine or even working). A significant overdose leads to respiratory depression the severity of which depends on the dose administered. Furthermore, a intense drowsiness leading to coma, muscle relaxation, cold sweats, slow heart rate and hypotension complete the clinical picture. In the most serious cases, an overdose of Vicodin® can cause asphyxia and cardiac arrest leading to death.
What is Vicodin used for?
Vicodin® is used to treat moderate to severe pain in patients suffering from cancer and having undergone surgery or trauma. This medication is prescribed for these indications when level 1 analgesics (paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are ineffective. In addition, Vicodin® is indicated in the dry cough treatment due to antitussive property of hydrocodone.
Is it considered a drug?
Vicodin® can be considered as a psychoactive drug. Like all opioids, taking hydrocodone in high doses or over a long period of time can lead to state of dependence comparable to that of a drug. The medication is defined as a drug when a situation of psychological or even physical dependence sets in and mental activity is disrupted by harmful effects on concentration, memory and perceptions. An individual dependent on Vicodin® is forced to increase doses due to the phenomenon of addiction. To limit dependence, treatment should be started and stopped gradually.
Is it marketed in France?
No, Vicodin® is not marketed in France, just like its active substance, hydrocodone. In France other equivalent opioids are available (codeine, dihydrocodeine, opium powder). In the United States, hydrocodone is the most commonly prescribed opioid medication. Indeed, several combinations of hydrocodone and paracetamol (called acetaminophen) are marketed at different dosages and under several specialty names.
Sources :
– Abbott Laboratories
– Hydrocodone extended release – gift or curse? Krashin D., Murinova N., Trescot A. (2013). Extended-release hydrocodone – gift or curse? Journal of Pain Research, 6, 53-57.
– Hydrocodone and acetaminophen. Habibi M., Kim P. (2022). Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen.
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