Roy Says:
What Is The Difference Between White And Yellow Hydrocodone?
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Updated
linda Says:
I read that the yellow norcos have dye and the white norcos don't. One is fat soluble and the other is water soluble. What's the difference?
37 Replies (2 Pages)
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37
Re: Marie (# 36) 
What were the markings on your yellow tablets? And what are the markings on your current white tablets? If you have that info or the NDC # / manufacturer name it might be possible to get the inactive ingredient profile.
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36
Marie Says:
I was recently in a car accident. Badly injured. And then got covid. They gave me pain medication. It was yellow Hydrocodone 10/325. Then they changed the color to white. It doesn’t work as well at all! I’m looking for a pharmacy that still offers the yellow ones anywhere near Huntsville Tx. I will even drive as far as Houston Tx. Thank you.
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debbers Says:
Re: William (# 9)
Methadone makes me extremely ill... like exorcist projectile vomit. The only med that worked for me that allowed me to function like almost normal was oxycontin with norco. But now the government wants to make you a criminal if you are in pain or have other chronic conditions. Such BS. But it's true those white ones don't do crap.
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debbers Says:
Re: Wintergirl55 (# 6)
These white ones are crap!!!!! They make me nauseated and do not work unless I take a higher dose and i don't want to do that. Pharmacy told me they don't make yellow tablets anymore but I read you get at safeway. We don't have Safeway but Homeland that use to be Safeway. All we want is not to hurt all the damn time. I don't care if I get dependent, my illness has ruled me my whole life so self sanctimonious folks can go f*** themselves.
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debbers Says:
Re: VICKIE (# 3)
i agree completely. been taking meds for 40 years so I think my body knows and so does my mind. the white ones are not very effective. just the way it is
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Mongo Says:
I’ve been taking the yellow ones for years , I received the white ones and they were nothing like the yellow ones. They did not relieve me of any pain like the yellow ones. I went today to pick up my prescription and they gave me the white ones and I told them I want the yellow ones and they told me they don’t make them anymore, so if they don’t work like the yellow ones, my do will have to give me something else. I find it hard to believe they stopped making the yellow ones.
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Larry Says:
I agree wholeheartedly with everything that I have read .
Told HEB PHARMACY & THEY SAID ,WELL ITS WHAT CORPORATE SENDS
US .NOTHING WE CAN DO
B###S###
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Misty Says:
Re: VICKIE (# 3)
Call your Cornator & be paitent enough to go through the red tape [steps] explain why you need to go back to yellow 9 times out of 10 you will get them back without having to pay for them ...
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Krazycatlady Says:
Re: William (# 9)
i know this is an old post but I have tried methadone many yrs ago when first diagnosed. It made me sick. But that being said I take meds for tourettes that I had before my injury. I take Morphine, percocet and other meds for my CRPS and have for 18 yrs. I am blessed with a wonderful doctor. I hope your doing well.
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Jeff B Says:
Re: D J I (# 27)
So let me get this straight... The pharmacist didn't have enough of the brand that you wanted in stock to fill the entire prescription, so he gave you 10 so that you wouldn't run out before he got the rest of it in? And you are upset about this? Would you have preferred that he told you that you can't get anything until he had the full amount in stock? You could have told him not to fill anything and asked for your prescription back (at which point you could have taken it to a different pharmacy that may or may not keep the brand that you want stocked).
I own a pharmacy, so I am pretty familiar with the laws which regulate pharmacies/pharmacists... Actually, there is a law that specifically gives a pharmacist permission to dispense a partial amount of a CII to a patient. What the pharmacist did was not illegal, nor was it a "loan." It is called a partial dispensing and it is completely legal as long as you get the remaining quantity from the Rx in a timely manner. If the balance is not dispensed in a timely manner, the quantity of the original Rx is reduced to the amount dispensed and the pharmacist must contact the prescriber to alert them to the fact that the full quantity was not dispensed so the prescriber can issue a new Rx. For example, say you go in on a Thursday to pick up your meds that, according to the directions, you will run out of on Friday. Your Rx is for a quantity of 60, but since the pharmacist doesn't have the full amount in stock and won't until Tuesday, he gives you 10 of them so that you don't run out of meds while waiting for your order to come in, then when you come back on Tuesday, he gives you the remaining 50 tablets that he "owes" you. Now if the pharmacy doesn't get the remaining tablets in stock before you run out, the pharmacist would change the quantity on your original Rx to #10, and contact your doctor so that he/she could write a new Rx. The new Rx would either be for the remaining quantity (#50) or for the full amount (#60). Either way, the new Rx would not be able to be filled until the partial amount would be used up (according to the directions on the Rx).
As far as the "It’s just the way for the pharmacies to gain an extra dollar" comment goes... You can thank your insurance companies for that. Allow me to explain...
Average (from all insurances) total reimbursement (insurance payment plus any copays) for Norco 10/325 is $0.22/tablet (the insurance companies pay the same amount no matter what brand is used). The average quantity for a prescription of Norco 10/325 is 90 tablets. This means that the average total reimbursement for an average Rx is $19.80 (regardless of how much the pharmacy pays for it).
The nationwide average cost to the pharmacy to dispense a Rx (overhead, labor, vial, label, etc.) is about $11/Rx. The total cost (to the pharmacy) for any given Rx is $11 plus the actual cost of the medication... For a Rx of #90 Norco, this means that if the pharmacy pays more than $8.80 ($19.80 - $11) for the tablets in that Rx, they will lose money. Remember that $8.80 figure for later...
Most pharmacies have a contract with a "primary" wholesaler that they must purchase a minimum amount of inventory from in order to avoid being penalized (higher prices). Independent pharmacies often have multiple "secondary" wholesalers that they use when their primary is out of stock on a particular item (but they don't get as good of a price from the secondary) and chain stores typically utilize a single primary wholesaler and no secondaries. Usually, secondary wholesalers will not distribute controlled substances to pharmacies, so the pharmacy must (in most cases) purchase controlled substances (including Norco) from one wholesaler. The price for a particular brand will vary between wholesalers based upon the contract that each wholesaler has with the manufacturer. I am in a unique position and am able to purchase controlled substances from 3 different suppliers. These are my best "per tablet" costs for the different brands of generic Norco from each of my 3 wholesalers (WS):
Qualitest Brand (yellow): WS#1 is $0.18, WS#2 is $0.14 and WS#3 is $0.14.
Watson: WS#1 does not stock, WS#2 is $0.17 and WS#3 does not stock.
Mallinckrodt: WS#1 is $0.36, WS#2 is $0.14 and WS#3 is $0.10.
Rhodes: WS#1 does not stock, WS#2 is $0.10 and WS#3 does not stock.
Tris: WS#1 is $0.09, WS#2 is $0.33 and WS#3 does not stock.
So, #90 Norco will cost me anywhere from $8.10 to $32.40 depending on what brand and who I purchase it from. So, if I purchase it as cheaply as I can get it, it costs me $8.10 + $11 = $19.10 which means that on average, I will make a whopping $0.70 on the prescription. I realize that the costs will vary from pharmacy to pharmacy, but not by more than a few percent one way or the other. So it really isn't a matter of "the pharmacy trying to gain an extra dollar" as much as it is a matter of the pharmacy just trying not to lose money.
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D J I Says:
Re: VICKIE (# 3)
I have to say vickie, you are spot on with that. I too have been on this medication before lortab, demerol or even darvocet was out, then taken off the shelf after over 20 years of pain medication. I have had them all from the actual brand-name to the generic mopar long pills. They are definitely not the same. I totally agree with you. It’s just the way for the pharmacies to gain an extra dollar. F***ing ass hats don’t understand some people actually need relief for their pain and are not out there seeking a high. They tell you what you wanna hear before that bottle of mopar or generic norco expires. I just this morning picked up my prescription that they have had in their pharmacy file for eight weeks knowing that there is a note in my file for watson brand only because i have allergic reactions to whatever they're trying to pass off to me every month. For the past 20 years or so they’ve known this. I even tried to pick them up early so they knew i was coming but he tells me he had to fill a couple of them yesterday and that they are on back order. If i’m not mistaken there is a law against passing out class ii narcotics as a loan to get you by until your order comes in. I had to take two of them and still am in pain and i refuse to wait till tuesday. My question is do you think i could pick up my prescription and take it somewhere else to get the brand i want because clearly what he did was illegal? He gave me 10 of them as a loaner until tuesday. When the order of watson comes in or should i leave it alone? I don’t want to come off like a pill seeker. It’s a tough call because i was just released from the er with a severe kidney infection and that is very painful and to know he did not even mark anything down on the bottle that he had given me and didn’t even run it through the computer. I am f***ing pissed. Please respond and tell me what you think. I thought i was crazy. Glad to see i’m not the only one out there having this problem. Be blessed!
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Boo Says:
The yellow pills are the real deal and the m367 are the real deal. The white pills that are now replacing the yellow ones which do not work as well because they only have 2.5mg of hydrocodone. They have done this because of the number of people abusing their medicine. They say we just took out the color but if that was the case why do they keep making both yellow and white, answer yellow has the rite 10mg amount they have to keep up with what they're doing and saying to people. It's a mind over matter. If you really are in pain and take your meds like the Dr tells you then you will feel the difference w/ in 20 minutes of taking one if you over take them you will get sick, not high and of course you could die. If you don't take them or you sell them, you really don't know or care until whoever got them comes back pissed wanting their $ back. If you've ever been flagged for any reason you will get the white ones. If you've been talking the yellow or m367 for a number of years ya may get them because they want to take all of us off pain meds. The government has control over everything and everyone, so when they say Dr. B, this person needs to come off, they've been taking them to long, this person always has way too much hydrocodone in their U/A. They've got to be taken off because they are abusing (over taking). This person hardly ever has any trace of medicine. Did you know when you do the new U/A it checks the intake levels among other things. My point is that the yellow or m367 is a real 10mg hydrocodone. We are being punished for the actions of others. I don't care if I spelled something wrong. I've been a victim as well. Talk to your Dr, talk to the drug store you've been using for years, if you take your meds like your doctor told you, you should be able to speak w/ them and get the right medicine. If you're not, then when you say I want yellow ya ain't gonna get em. You could take your script to 3 different places and they won't but if they do next time you see the Dr you're gunna get cut off because you're making it hard on the rest of us.
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Mark Says:
Re: Low (# 20)
One thing to remember, everyone is different and responds to meds differently, I've been on Norco for a couple years due to degenerative disc in my back, and bad rotator cuffs in my shoulders, I've taken every type of Norco out there from the m367, 176, watson853 and yellow, I've never gotten sick from any of them but, I will say the yellow ones work the best for severe pain relief.
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Roro Says:
Re: Jen (# 23)
Did you ask for specific kind or just ask what kind they carried .......
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Jen Says:
Re: Roro (# 7)
I called Walmart to see if they had this prescription as my primary pharmacy didn't have any and Walmart told me they couldn't disclose this info.
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Jeff Says:
Re: BL (# 4)
This is completely wrong. Medicaid pays a fixed amount per tablet plus a dispensing fee. The amount Medicaid pays does not change based on what the pharmacy pays for the medication (or what color it is). For example, Medicaid might pay $0.25 per tablet for hydrocodone/apap 10/325 plus a $5.00 dispensing fee, so for a Rx for #90 they would pay the pharmacy ($0.25 x 90) + $5.00 = $27.50 no matter how much the tablets cost the pharmacy. This is how all insurances and Medicaid work. They have a contracted ingredient cost (that does not change based on manufacturer) plus a dispensing fee (that is the same for all Rx's).
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Jeff Says:
Re: Roro (# 11)
The variances that you mentioned are not correct. While the FDA allows for a variance from the label of up to 25% per individual tablet, the whole bottle must average out to be within 10% of what the label says it is (this applies to both generic and trade name products). In other words, an individual tablet that is supposed to contain 10mg of hydrocodone may contain as much as 12.5mg or as little as 7.5mg of hydrocodone, but the whole bottle (regardless of whether the tablets are yellow or white) will average out to somewhere in between 9mg to 11mg of hydrocodone per tablet. Lots are regularly inspected by the FDA and there is no way that any pharma manufacturer is going to risk a recall, delays in production, and increased FDA scrutiny over an extra penny or two/bottle. They are going to make sure that the entire lot averages out to within 10% of the label regardless of the color.
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Low Says:
Re: VICKIE (# 3)
You are right im a gulf war vet and the va uses white more than ran out and we got yellow narco much better. I agree with u
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Val Says:
Yes the yellow ones work a lot better I agree it is a big difference well to me anyway
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Rheumatoid Pain Says:
I'm a Kaiser member too, they no longer carry the yellow 10mg. They're now contracted with Mallinckrodt, the white ones and they made me sick. Just one month on them and I got sick the whole time. Kaiser used Qualitest, the yellow ones, I've used for over 10 years and are the only ones I can take. The white ones are crap!!!!
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