Generic Norco M367 10/325 (Page 5) (Top voted first)

It's no good. I have to take three at a time for 1 hour of pain relief. Anybody else have this problem with M367 - 10/325? Has anyone else noticed that meds from certain manufacturers do not work as well for them?

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Peanut, they won't call the police, you didn't do anything wrong. Maybe you can ask to speak to the pharmacist in private and ask him/her about the manufacturer. Let them know that the Mallincroft has not been effective in controlling your pain and you have had a reaction when you took it before (whatever you experienced) and you want to make sure that you have your prescription filled with another manufacturer if they have it. Sometimes it's all in how you approach the situation. I believe that Qualtitest (not sure of the spelling) and Watson are the only other drug manufacturers other than the Mallincroft who mostly everyone can agree that it either is not effective or it has side effects. Wow, it's terrible that we have to worry about how to stand up for what is best for us and worry about looking like an addict! When I asked my new pharmacy about it, they said that raises a red flag when someone asks about filling their prescription with a certain brand! Good luck to you.

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I have been on Norco 10/325 (by Watson) for pain management, successfully for years. I have to drive 2 hours each way now to pick up an original prescription because of the new drug classification laws. I was wondering why I was feeling sick to my stomach and light headed, so decided to go on the internet and check out the Mallinckrodt brand of generic Norco, and came across this site. I called the pharmacy that filled my prescription and they said they are only able to get that brand, no longer get Watson brand. This is manipulation by our government to take over control of the medicines we take. This month, since starting the Mallinckrodt brand, I have more physical side effects than the good that the meds are supposed to do. I am so frustrated right now, and I will be discussing this with my pain physician.

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Great idea Sandy, but what I am concerned about is that if no Qualitest is available then it limits your option to get another manufacturer in the meantime?? I inform the pharmacy that I experience reactions for the Mallincroft (sp)( which is 100% true and they are not effective for me) Has anyone else's cost went up (who do not have Rx insurance)??

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Sandy, You can get pain medications in the mail? There's a mail order co. trying to get me to use them. They would fill prescriptions for water pills etc. Also, my Dr told me pain scripts could only be written for a months supply. Why can't these supposed professionals get on the same page?

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In Mi I use ezscripts,(medco) for all my drugs. I got a 90 day supply of an off the wall generic norco and switched back to my local drug store but quick. With the new law in place I could not do that again. I must go to the doctors office once a month for a script. Every third month I see my doctor. I still use ezscripts for all my other drugs.

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I'm in Mi. and have medicare and it's backed up with bcbs. I've gotten these before like I said but perhaps I still could if you have any luck with it. I also like the Qualitest and get it from cvs once a month. Please let me know how it goes. It would save me from having to go out to get the paper script every month. I'd go back to express if I could do what your doctor is doing for you. I like the idea of telling them the brand you want because I'd be to afraid to rock the boat at the drug store I go to.

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Ronin, one thing I have discovered over the last year and dealing with chronic pain entering my life is that we are our own advocates from a medicinal sense. I take the infamous M367's (I have no complaints aside from it being shorter acting than my 'discontinued' Qualitest yellow Norcos), and a rather controversial drug called ZoHydro since I have chronic TMD and am otherwise forced to wake up and dose at night.

When I say "our own advocates" I mean take responsibility and while it is atrocious, do your doctor's job and the pharmacy's job before doing YOUR job. Doctor's used to call pharmacies to confirm inventory before sending a patient there with a script--they no longer do this. Now I call a week before I am to pick up my scripts to make sure they have the right amount. So you have to make a phone call or two, so what, it would have completely saved you from your scenario. As for comments like Peanut's, I think you aren't being truthful in that "you're afraid to ask for the yellow ones cuz they will call the cops" but the easiest 'tactic' that is also truthful in asking to try other brands is stating that you've found that you have had adverse reactions to a particular brand, but you aren't allergic to the medicine since you've been on others that worked just fine.

I also recommend anyone seeing a pain specialist who has pain above an "8" to inquire about ZoHydro, because it is the antithesis of what has been done to Norcos: pure hydrocodone with no APAP in an extended release capsule filled with beads that are of different thicknesses to dissolve and release it into your system over the course of 12 hours. I would say it lasts 8 to 10 but it not only removes the 'abusers' from the equation (no doctor in their right mind would prescribe ZoHydro to a potential abuser), it is tremendously powerful. I'm also in Illinois like a few of you and use Jewel/Osco's pharmacy--they (mine) have no qualms with ordering alternative brands or letting you fill a script with two different generics. The point is you have to take matters into your own hands when that is the furthest thing from 'right' there could be. Do I enjoy calling pharmacies to check inventory? I enjoy it a LOT more than two or three days into withdrawal, wrestling with the mere THOUGHT of driving to a pharmacy to pick them up. Sorry for the length but I saw a lot that needed coverage.

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The pharmacies get whatever comes from their supplier. I was able to get Qualitest up until around Feb. That is when they started getting different generics and most especially, the one that made me sick. The pharmacies make more money on the cheaper generic, so once again, it boils down to money. I am so tired of having the one part of our lives we can somewhat control (the pain part) stolen away from usl This whole thing just smells of too much government!

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Sandy

I know where you're coming from. The big chain store pharmacies have to turn a buck I guess but at whose expense? Some doctor this week told my daughter that she would get better prices and service at small family owned pharmacies. If my store stops with the Qualitest I will go to a smaller store and ask for the generic I want. The big chain stores would degrade you or turn you in for pharmacy shopping. The thought of having the government tell me how much pain I will endure and when makes me sick. Good luck to you.

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Unfortunately, my doctor wont prescribe anything stronger than Norco, so I manage. But, i don't like all the Tylenol in it...scares me what it is doing to my body. But, better to be out of pain, so I settle. I like my doctor, so I don't want to switch. Maybe she will change her mind about other pain meds.

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I'm going to try to explain a few things about generics you might find useful. First: I'm not a doctor. I make mistakes. I might say something wrong or goof. Second, I am a scientist, but in computers. But I do understand the scientific method, and I can handle a little bit of statistics, and translate it into plain language. Third, I've been taking various generics since, ummm, 1980 or so, so I have some practical experience here. (Possibly more practical experience than I'd like.)

I've seen many reports of generic Norco M367 (and 365) 10/325" [e.g., 325 mg tylenol, 10 mg hydrocodone] not working well. I see them all over this forum. (Many people I've read are most unhappy with the quality control. I've seen them referred to as "garbage" and "India generic trash", which may tell you how happy people are with offshore generics).

What's needed: A list of generic manufacturers and whether or not users think their pills work. Thus I don't have a good enough database to make statistically valid conclusions, e.g., to say that something is absolutely true or absolutely false.

It may be a smart idea to start tracking this here; e.g., "DingALing Generics, India dispenses useless Norco 10/325" The more the data, the better. But that would probably be a different thread, and doing that sort of thing is up to the site operator, not me.

Also, try Googling: "Who makes hydrocodone 10/325" and get a list of manufacturers.

Going to Wikipedia and typing in "generics" will do more to educate you on this stuff than anything I could give you. But let me at least try. I'm quoting Wikipedia:

In theory, generics are "...within the range of a 90% Confidence Interval of 80.00%-125.00%...".

Stay with me here! This isn't hard math! It's just a way of saying something in "statistics shorthand". It isn't hard to understand:

It just means that 90% of the time (so, "9 times out of 10"), a generic will be in the range of 80% to 120% of what -ought- to be in the pill. So in our "Norco 10/325" example, 90% of the time, you'll get hydrocodone in the range of 8mg ("80%") up to hydrocodone 12mg ("120%").

The other 10% of the time, who knows what you'll get? Statistically speaking, which greatly reduces what can be said for certain, you have a 9 in 10 chance of getting meds within a 40% range of what they should be: (in our case, 80-120 mg). It also means that whoever came up with that range and confidence interval was not comfortable saying, "You'll always get well manufactured meds with good quality assurance". In particular that last 10% can be a real problem.

Note also that the amount of tylenol ("acetaminophen" in 10/325's) will also be in the 80% to 120% range, so (pulling out my calculator), 9 times in 10, you'll get something in the range of 260 mg up to 390 mg. For those of us who like our livers, tracking the amount of tylenol we take is important stuff.

And it's not saying that the amount won't wobble from pill to pill. One pill may be 8mg, another 10mg, another 12mg. Who knows?

It could be that when the elephant turning the generator wheel for the generic manufacturer stops for a break, that you might get a pill full of acetaminophen, hydrocodone, elephant toenails, or whatever. Many manufacturers are in the Third World. On a more serious note, you may get lead or red paint.

For Americans used to meds that generally are in the ballpark, and who are not used to third-world manufacturing practices and quality assurance, this is quite a shock. But in the 3rd world the infrastructures don't give electrical power 100% of the time, and the water isn't always clean (a la "Montezuma's Revenge"). And no matter who you blame, American healthcare is in big trouble.

In the 3rd world generic manufacturers are trying to make money. If they set their machinery to put 8 mg hydrocodone into every "10/325" they make, then out of a lot of 10 of them, it costs them 80 mg of hydrocodone to make the pills, not 100mg. That extra 20mg is "free" for them, and goes into the next batch. Multiply this by a whole lot of pills and you'll see why it's bad business for them to make pills on-spec.

(Something to watch out for: If you're buying "10/325"'s on the Internet, specifically the Dark Web, you will rapidly find out that many people are quite good at forging pills. They'll have the correct color, identical markings, and so forth. Right now the marketplace for hydrocodone is a seller's market, after our wonderful DEA kicked hydrocodone into the silliness of Schedule II, so look out for forged pills. I wish there was a lab you could send pills to for analysis, but the only one I knew is gone now.)

HOWEVER,

This is something a patient can learn about, and actually exert some control over.

What you need to do is learn who is manufacturing the generics you're taking. Generally, there's a 3-5 letter code on the printed label (examples: "BARR", "TEVA"). Keep a notebook and -write down- what you received (quantity, number of mg, # of times to take it per day, and especially, who made it.)

Write down when they work. Write down when they don't work. Be methodical about it. Written and computer records both work fine...

When it's obvious you've gotten a bad batch of generic meds, it's time to have a friendly chat with your pharmacist and just tell them, "Look, this generic from [whoever] isn't working, could we try some other manufacturer?"

Pharmacists aren't trying to shaft you, there's just no way for them to track a bazillion generic manufacturers, unless they hear, from you, that there's a problem. You need to be their feedback mechanism. Try to bear in mind that most pharmacists are being told in a big way to use inexpensive generics and to keep minimal stock onhand.

A pharmacist cannot take back a bad batch and swap you for a good batch, so don't even ask. But ask the pharmacist, "On your next refill, could we please go to another generic manufacturer"? In almost all cases, they'll be happy to. They don't like filling prescrips with junk.

Also keep communications open with your doctor, too. Doctors also can't keep track unless you help them. You've got to step up and take the responsibility for tracking what you get. This forum is a great step forward in this.

You must not go to your doc and say, "These suck, please give me a prescrip for either brand-name or at least a generic that's halfway okay". Doctors are being tracked by the DEA. Your name will pop up on a computer list of "early refills" if you refill early more than 3 times in any 6 month period (at least, that is my understanding). If that happens, your pharmacist, your doctor, probably the DEA, all get a letter that you may have a drug problem. (That happened to me because I was stocking up on refills for a long trip away from home. I had to go around and explain this to a bunch of people. Very tedious.)

As a quick for-example, I used to ask for "BARR" generics in what I take. They worked really well. Then "TEVA" bought out "BARR". Now TEVA's stuff is no more than 1/2 strength of what it should be, and it tastes different.

The brand-name cost is ridiculous.

With Our Benevolent Government handing out health and prescription insurance, you can bet your sweet bippy that some government MBA type is making lists of the cheapest generic manufacturers on the planet, and that's probably what you'll be forced to get. This will suck. As I said, American healthcare is in big trouble.

I hope this dissertation has helped you. Let me know if I can answer a question or two...

Thanks,
Smalls

If you look up who actually makes generics, you'll find a long list of foreign countries (India is very big on these). I've seen reports that "CARA" makes white-colored generics that don't work well. The white-colored "Watson" (I don't know their name code right off) are not getting happy reviews. The yellow colored ones work or don't work depending on who made them that day.

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Yes but be very careful speaking to the pharmacist about this problem. it seems it is cheaper for them to switch manufacturers and buy in bulk so they don't really care if it works for you and then they accuse you of being a addict because you are asking for a specific manufacturer. Good luck.

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Watson is no longer Watson Actavis took it over and there Norco pills are horrible I get better results from Aleve then Norco 10/325 I have to take 2 in order to even get a little relief I had a total knee replacement in April and while I was in Rehab I was getting yellow Norco I don't know where they get there supply but Walgreens deals with Actavis for Norco and like I said they do not work good

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You need to take half to get it in your system after 20 minutes take the other half.then take normal also wait 20 minutes before you eat something it works better that way hope it helps

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HI NIKKI, Even though there is supposed to be the same amount of meds in the generics, there is a variance allowed for when making them. the effectivness of some makers is just less.Its the same with my albuterol inhaler, if I get the generic I get no relief at all, but when I use the name brand I definetly feel the difference. My heart races and I can breathe within minutes. With the generic I get no relief at all. Not good. Also the price of generics has skyrocketed, so I just get the name brand anyway. If Im going to pay for it I want it to work.

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Jasmine

Norco is hydrocodon-Acetaminophen

Percocet is Oxycodone-Acetaminophen
Oxycodone is stronger than Hydrocodone


Norco, Percocet and Morphine are all opioids. 5yrs ago I went to the emergency room of my hospital in great pain. The doctor asked me if I was allergic to Morphine and I told him no. He shot me with Morphine and within a few minutes I felt no pain at all. I can see why they use this drug on the battlefield as it works so quick. Norco works great for me and with less side effects. Many prefer Percocet but I find they zap all my energy for hours on end.

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Hate it when the government gets involved in regulations for drugs.

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Yeah right I been dealing w this for 5 years now. THE PHARMACIST SAYS THAT THEIR CORPORATE ORDERS THEIR MEDS AND THST THEY CANNOT ORDER A SPECIFIC GENERIC IVE BEEN TO 3 OHARMACIEA ALL USE CRAPGENERICS AND SUFFERING FOR 3 MONTHS STRAIGHT. THIS IS INSANE. HOW DOES NOONE CARRY QUALITEST THIS COST ME YET ANOTHER JOB.

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Sandy,

I tried Express Scripts and my pills were late. I had to call my physician and get a small prescription for my diabetic pills. Then too my mail gets here at 5 to 6 pm. It is so hot by the time I receive my pills. They are sitting in a hot mail truck all day long. I cannot rely on them. That was my experience.

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Takeing three 10/325 of NORCO is not good be aware that your. Also taking 925 mg of tylenol, which is very bad for your liver. Spread out your medication every four hours. No more than six for 24 hours. Try two to start, then one every four or six hours. Never to exceed 2000mg of tylonal!! Check with your dr.

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