DrugBuyers.Com: Norco or Hydro?

Hydrocodone is the potent opiate painkiller found in medications such as Lortab, Norco, Vicodin, among others, and in cough medications such as Hycodan and Tussionex.

Norco is simply a brand of hydrocodone and acetaminophen (Tylenol). Many people like Norco because it only contains 325 mg of APAP (another name for acetaminophen/Tylenol).
For people who take large amounts of these drugs daily, you do not want a lot of acetaminophen because it can be damaging to your liver.

Brand name Norco is made by Watson and comes in strengths such as 5/325, 7.5/325, and 10/325. When people say 'Norco', though, they are generally referring to 10/325. This is the most hydrocodone you can get with the least amount of APAP, so it is in high demand.

As far as generics go...

A bunch of companies make generic versions of Norco; Able/Qualitest, Mallinckrodt, and even Watson makes their own generic (they're little yellow pills that say Watson 853 on them). If you read anecdotal reports on the board, you will find personal preferences. I like Watsons myself, as they seem to kick in quicker. There is a lot of debate about why different generics work differently for different people, but that's off-topic and to get into an argument about it here would be to beat a long-dead horse.

But just a quick FYI, there are certain drugs that have what is called a narrow therapeutic index. This means that the very small difference in dosage could make a potentially significant difference in your treatment. This includes but certainly is not limited to drugs like Dilantin, Coumadin, Synthroid, Depakote, and more. With hydrcodone generics this is not practically a non-issue.

You asked about the strongest pain medicine you can get. If you have pain that will be helped in some way by extra APAP, or you find that APAP potentiates the pain-relieving action of hydrocodone, then you might want to go with 10/500 (Lortab), 10/650 (Lorcet), 10/660 (Vicodin HP), or maybe even Vicoprofen (7.5 hydro/200 mg ibuprofen) if your pain would be better relieved by the anti-inflammatory ibuprofen (aka Advil) instead.

I just wanted to clear that up, I don't know how much of that you already knew, this way there is some board reference explaining a very common term here.

-yawkaw