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What Causes Agitated Feeling After Reducing The Dosage Of Vicodin For Hip Pain?

Posted on Wed, 25 Mar 2015

Question: Aloha Dr. Rynne, I was on hrt when I became injured and began vicodin for hip pain. My testosterone reading at the time of the injury was approximately 750 nano grams. I felt I was hyper. XXXXXXX intake of vic was 3-4 10/325 per day. I am now slowly withdrawing and am down to 1 per day. I am extremely agitated, and just downright mean most of the time. I have frightened my friends and fear I am a little out of control. Should I continue my withdrawal or stand at 1 per day until my disposition changes? I have discontinued hrt. I feel good otherwise and am able to exercise. I am retired so work is not a factor. Thank you for your answer.

Answered by Dr. Chintan Solanki (30 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
wait for stability then stop Vicodin, tell me details of intake

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Vicodin contains acetaminophen and hydrocodone. Hydrocodone is an opioid substance which is responsible for withdrawal. Deaddiction of the same depend on dose as well as duration of intake.

You have cut down the dose from 3-4 tablets to 1 per day that is good.
If your agitation has started after cutting down the dose it is withdrawal symptom. No need to stop vicodin per day right now. Wait until you become stable on that dose(I think it will not take more than 2-3 weeks). After that in my opinion half tablet should be taken and then stopped.

Please tell me some details:

-Since when you are on vicodin? How did you decrease the dose, means gradually or speedily?

-In HRT what was the indication? And dose and type of hormone given for how much duration?

Waiting for your reply to help you further.

Regards,
Dr.Chintan Solanki.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Pradeep Vitta

Follow up: Dr. Chintan Solanki (1 hour later)

Dr. Solanki, Thank you for your answer and I will comply. I gradually decreased the vicodin at 1/2 tab per week. Low T was discovered by my PCP during a routine blood draw. I was administering 100mg of test cyp once a week for 3 years. This was intermittent and dependent upon additional blood draws. I am aware that this type of steroid has a long half life and will take time to decrease. Hopefully sooner than later.

Answered by Dr. Chintan Solanki (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
you can stop vicodin soon,Test cyp might be responsible for agitation

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thanks for follow up and information.

Testosterone deficiency found out coincidentally.In some males injection of testosterone may cause some agitation. If same side effect happened in your case due to test cyp, it will take time to resolve until this steroid comes to normal in your body.
To check that agitation is related to hrt or vicodin, correlation of symptom onset timing and both the drugs intake should be checked. One possibility is also that both drugs are involved.
But never the less you can stop vicodin gradually and you will be better soon.

Hope this answer will help.
If still any query there, I will be happy to answer. If not, you can close the discussion and if feasible give your feedback and rating so I can improve my service. In future you can contact me directly on this site if you wish with this link:
http://bit.ly/drchintansolanki
by clicking on 'Ask me a question' on same page.

All the best and wish you good health.

Dr.Chintan Solanki.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Pradeep Vitta