Hydrocodone Overdose and its effects

CupofDice said:

I have a 16 year old character, in good health, who overdoses on 16 pills (either 5 or 10MG) of Hydrocodone. I want him to have permanent damage to one of his kidneys after this, which from I read Hydrocodone can do. He has been abusing Hydrocodones for about a year, so some tolerance would have been built up right?

Questions-

1. Does Hydrocodone damage both kidneys? Or just one? If it damages both, can there be separate degrees of damage to each one? Also, does the damage show itself immediately or over time?

2. Would a Gastric Lavage (stomach pump) be performed on Hydrocodone overdose in some cases? Or if they do not know what he overdosed on?

3. Can a Hydrocodone cause a coma for a period of 1 or 2 weeks?

4. Should I ask a medical forum this instead, and do you know of one that allows theoretical questions like this.

5. Can it continue to cause seizures long after the fact?

6. Is 16 pills, 10MG, too much? Maybe 5MG? Maybe less? The number 16 is important, but it can always be changed.

Thanks for any helpful answers!

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I ask my GP questions like this all of the time... Try PMing "Colorado Guy" (he's a doc and is usually around the forum).

I took Hydrocodone a while when I was injured. It took about 1 tablet to knock me out. I couldn't see anyone being able to take 16 of them. I was a wobbly jelly sleepyhead most of the time. No freakin way could anyone take 16.

Vicodin is much worse for your liver than it is for your kidneys. An overdose can cause a person to pass out as their liver tries to process all the acetaminophen that comes with the hydrocodone in Vicodin.

It's possible to do a cold water extraction to remove the hydrocodone from the crushed-up pills, in which case, 16 pills could still cause damage and overdose (including shallow breathing/breath cessation, fainting spells, "nodding off," coma and death). A teenager probably would not know about cold-water extraction unless she or he was particularly net-savvy and had plenty of time and patience.

Most Vicodin pills are 5/500 (or 5/325), meaning 5mg hydrocodone and 500 or 325 mg acetaminophen. 16 pills would be 80mg hydrocodone, a lethal dose in a person who has no tolerance for the drug.

I know a guy who has been to rehab several times for his Vicodin addiction, he pops 4-6 pills at a time, unable to wait for a CWE completion. He has OD'd several times after taking a handful of these pills, passing totally out and needing CPR to be revived. He has a very high tolerance for the drug. His liver is shot, and he is not even 35 years old yet. His kidneys are fine, as far as I know.

ETA: 4000mg of acetaminophen a day is the maximum dose. Even that can cause liver damage if taken daily. Addicts take more.