The VA put me on 5/500, 2 pills four times per day, back in Fall 1999. One pill dulled the pain but didn't get rid of it, and two pills got rid of the pain, but I also noticed a definite decrease in mental abilities. I was an engineering manager and couldn't afford to not be sharp-minded, so I tolerated the dull pain until I got sufficiently used to the hydrocodone (about a year later) so that taking two pills didn't make me stupid (or, if it did, I didn't notice and no one else seemed to either). Then, a few years ago, they decided that was too much acetaminophen and reduced the pill size to 5/325, which had very little effect on pain levels. Then they asked everyone to quit, so I did, cold turkey, and went on straight acetaminophen (non-prescription variety). Absolutely no withdrawal symptoms whatsoever, but a definite increase in felt pain levels (OK, a very large increase), to the point where I could not do all the things here on the farm that needed to be done. After one year, I asked my doc to put me back on the hydrocodone (all alternatives also seemed to be highly controlled drugs and referencing my PDR book suggested some side effects I chose not to experience), so here we are...
BUT... the pain levels have increased such that the 5/325s will no longer control it and the VA doc refuses to put me on 10/325s. Why, I do not know. But I just put in three hours in the barn (15 more wheelbarrows of shit) and I can barely walk at the moment because my back is screaming at me.
Life's a bitch, so just get on with it. Uh, wrong phrase... LIFE'S A BEACH. SURF, DUDE!!! Yeah, that's the ticket... (Morgan Fairchild?)