What is Lortab and how it is used to treat a person’s pain?

Lortab is a prescription drug commonly known as Lorcet, Norco, and Vicodin. It is a combination medicine, which means that it treats a person’s pain in two different manners with the help of its two main components – Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen. The drug is usually prescribed to those who experience pain for a short while such as the pain one experiences after undergoing a surgery or having an injury. Very rarely is the drug prescribed to those whose pain refuses to leave them for a long period of time. Among the two main components of Lortab, Hydrocodone works like an opioid drug which means that it changes the perception of a person towards the pain he is experiencing or increases the person’s resistance towards the pain. There is also a caution prescribed with Lortab that it should be used to treat pain one is experiencing for a short while instead of a long-term pain because the longer a person takes the drug, the more there are chances of that person becoming addicted to it.

How does dependence and tolerance for Lortab develop?

Since we already told you that Lortab is a kind of an opioid drug which changes the perception of a person towards the pain he is experiencing or increases his resistance towards the pain. But if the drug is taken for a longer period of time, there are more chances of development of dependence and tolerance towards the drug taking place. We mean that if you are completely dependent on the drug then you may experience withdrawal symptoms if you stop taking it midway. Tolerance and dependence mean two different things in this case. The condition of tolerance develops when a person’s brain and body become used to the intake of Lortab and the need of taking higher doses of the drug to get the same effect is obvious. If you develop a tolerance and take higher doses of the drug, you are putting yourself at risk because the excess of intake of the component Acetaminophen present in the drug can lead to acute liver failure. Dependence means that the person is physically dependent on the drug for survival and stopping the intake of the drug midway can lead to withdrawal symptoms like aches and pains, diarrhea, vomiting, insomnia, chills, and involuntary movements of the person’s legs. Addiction is a disease connected with a person’s brain associated by the compulsive urge of taking the drug. The person who gets addicted to Lortab may experience symptoms like cannot stop thinking about the drug for a single moment, or their lifestyle and behavior changes completely.

How to judge if a person is addicted to Lortab?

Since we already told you that Lortab is a kind of an opioid drug that helps change the perception of a person towards the pain he is experiencing or strengthening the resistance of the person towards the pain. In most of the cases, if an opioid drug is taken excessively then the person taking the drug tends to develop a tendency of taking it regularly or excessively. This leads to the person either suffering from a chronic liver failure or he stops thinking about anything else other than the drug. The drug is also prescribed to those who are experiencing a pain for a short while but there are many who continue to take the drug even after they are relieved of their pain. In such cases, the person becomes physically and mentally dependent on the drug. Some of the health problems that a person taking the drug in large number can experience are the breathing ability of a person reaches at an alarming rate, problems in the functioning of the liver, if a person is already suffering from depression then his depression may increase. Other kinds of symptoms that can be seen in case of abuse of the drug are confusion, constipation, dizziness, mouth keeps on drying repeatedly, unable to hear properly, jaundice, heartbeat decreases rapidly, stomachache, weakness, loss in weight. The most unusual symptom in case of abuse of the drug is that the person has multiple prescriptions of the same drug and he is regularly consulting different doctors. In short, if Lortab is taken for a short while can relieve a person of his pain but if used for a long period of time then the pain the person experiences will be greater than the pain to get relieved of which he took the drug in the first place.