There is nothing sweeter than the incredible glow and high of opiates. I have experimented with a few different drugs. Salvia Divinorum is my second favorite, but solely due to the enlightenment properties and nothing else. Alcohol has negative side-effects; I'm a light-weight and don't eat too much...
Hydrocodone
Well-documented
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 5 corroborating sources
- 1 ROA with full dose ladder
- duration data present
- 29 combo interactions documented
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 5 corroborating sources
- 1 ROA with full dose ladder
- duration data present
- 29 combo interactions documented
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Aliases: Vike, Vics, Norco, Hydro, Lortab, vicodin
Summary
Hydrocodone is most commonly prescribed in combination with acetaminophen (Vicodin, Norco, Lortab). When used recreationally or in high doses, the acetaminophen component poses serious risk of liver damage or failure. Respiratory depression is the primary cause of fatal overdose, particularly when combined with other CNS depressants.
Dose Information
| ROA | Light | Common | Strong | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 5-10mg | 10-25mg | 25-40mg | 40mg+ |
Light
Common
Strong
Heavy
Sources
Oral
Dose ladder — dose.wiki, PsychonautWiki, TripSitOnset, Duration & After-effects
| ROA | Onset | Comeup | Peak | Offset | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 10-30 min | 30-60 min | 1-2 hrs | 2-4 hrs | 4-8 hrs |
Opioid MME Calculator
⚠ Citation & Disclaimer:
Conversion factors sourced from the
NIH HEAL Initiative MME Calculator (Adams et al., PAIN 2025),
the CDC 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain,
and the MDCalc MME Calculator.
These are approximate equianalgesic ratios for educational reference only.
Individual responses vary significantly based on genetics, tolerance, cross-tolerance, and route of administration.
This is not medical advice. Do not use these conversions to adjust opioid dosing without professional medical guidance.
mg
10
mg
Hydrocodone
≈
—
mg
Morphine
| Substance | Equivalent Dose | MME Factor |
|---|
⚠ Equianalgesic dose ratios are approximations and do not account for genetic factors, tolerance, incomplete cross-tolerance, or pharmacokinetic variations. Methadone conversion is especially variable at higher doses. Always consult a healthcare provider before making any changes to opioid therapy.
Effect Profile
166 reportsScores (0–10) curated from multiple sources:
- Effect keyword matching from PsychonautWiki catalog
- Validated against 125 Erowid trip reports
- Weighted by importance: core (×3), major (×2), minor (×1)
Opioid
8.0
Intense
8/10
Strong euphoria, pain relief, and sedation with strong itching/nausea
Euphoria / Warmth
×3
10
physical euphoria
cognitive euphoria
euphoria
mood lift
Analgesia
×2
9
pain relief
analgesia
Sedation / Relaxation
×1
8
sedation
dream potentiation
Itching / Nausea
×1
10
nausea
constipation
dry mouth
Based on reports from:
Tolerance
Build-up
develops within days of regular use; analgesic tolerance faster than respiratory depression tolerance
Reset
Falls quickly once you stop, at a rate you can't judge. After any break, treat your tolerance as gone.
No tolerance chart. Our decay curves for opioids were estimates, and a curve can make tolerance look longer-lasting than it is, which is the dangerous direction.
Opioid tolerance drops fast when you stop, and even a few days off can be enough, so a dose that used to be normal can now stop your breathing. Overdose deaths rise sharply after prison, detox or leaving treatment, and tolerance also falls during a hospital stay. After any break, start with a much smaller amount, try a test dose first, don't use alone, and keep naloxone within reach. Alcohol, benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids and other sedatives make an opioid overdose much more likely.
Sources: FRANK: heroin · National Harm Reduction Coalition · WHO: opioid overdose · Merrall et al. 2010 · Binswanger et al. 2007 · Strang et al. 2003 · FDA 2019: gabapentinoids and breathing
Cross-Tolerances
Other opioids (e.g., morphine, oxycodone, codeine)
Effects
Aggregated from 125 single-substance Erowid and 41 Bluelight experience reports; 141 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out
Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.
Effect glossary — · full glossary
Positive Effects 43
47.6% (95% interval 40 to 55 percent)
89%
41.5% (95% interval 28 to 57 percent)
84%
41.0% (95% interval 34 to 49 percent)
86%
24.4% (95% interval 14 to 39 percent)
84%
24.0% (95% interval 17 to 32 percent)
–
22.3% (95% interval 17 to 29 percent)
80%
22.0% (95% interval 12 to 37 percent)
78%
19.5% (95% interval 10 to 34 percent)
82%
19.5% (95% interval 10 to 34 percent)
90%
18.7% (95% interval 14 to 25 percent)
88%
17.5% (95% interval 12 to 24 percent)
85%
17.1% (95% interval 8 to 31 percent)
85%
14.6% (95% interval 7 to 28 percent)
82%
9.8% (95% interval 4 to 22 percent)
85%
9.8% (95% interval 4 to 22 percent)
81%
7.3% (95% interval 2 to 19 percent)
77%
7.3% (95% interval 2 to 19 percent)
87%
7.3% (95% interval 2 to 19 percent)
88%
6.0% (95% interval 3 to 11 percent)
85%
6.0% (95% interval 3 to 11 percent)
85%
Show 23 more positive effects
4.9% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
80%
4.9% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
88%
4.9% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
85%
4.9% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
82%
4.9% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
85%
4.2% (95% interval 2 to 8 percent)
80%
4.0% (95% interval 2 to 9 percent)
–
3.0% (95% interval 1 to 7 percent)
80%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
90%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
80%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
80%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
80%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
70%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
80%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
75%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
85%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
80%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
75%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
90%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
75%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
80%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
90%
2.4% (95% interval 1 to 7 percent)
–
Adverse Effects 31
30.1% (95% interval 24 to 38 percent)
83%
22.0% (95% interval 12 to 37 percent)
84%
19.5% (95% interval 10 to 34 percent)
90%
19.5% (95% interval 10 to 34 percent)
84%
17.5% (95% interval 12 to 24 percent)
81%
12.2% (95% interval 5 to 26 percent)
77%
9.8% (95% interval 4 to 22 percent)
76%
9.0% (95% interval 6 to 14 percent)
75%
8.4% (95% interval 5 to 14 percent)
85%
7.3% (95% interval 2 to 19 percent)
83%
7.3% (95% interval 2 to 19 percent)
73%
6.0% (95% interval 3 to 11 percent)
80%
4.9% (95% interval 1 to 16 percent)
95%
4.8% (95% interval 2 to 10 percent)
–
3.6% (95% interval 2 to 8 percent)
75%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
80%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
80%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
85%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
90%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
90%
Show 11 more adverse effects
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
85%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
75%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
70%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
75%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
65%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
85%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
90%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
85%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
75%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
75%
2.4% (95% interval 0 to 13 percent)
90%
Also reported in combinations. In the 141 Hydrocodone reports where another drug was taken too, 21 (14.9%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 7 (5.0%) a seizure and 1 (0.7%) psychosis. In the 125 single-substance reports: 4.8%, 0.0% and 0.0%. One or more of the three comes up more often in the combination reports (17.7% against 4.8%), by more than chance would explain; that does not show the combination caused it. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Hydrocodone alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.
Combinations
Cross-Check Hydrocodone with another substanceCommunity Trip Reports
Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.
Erowid 8 reports 4 positive 1 neutral 3 cautionary visit
Its hard to say when I began using opiates. All I know is that a few years back, when I was maybe 15-ish, I was in high school, living with my dad, and I realized that certain prescription pills would get me high. I found some hydrocodone (vicodin) in my stepmoms drawer and took a couple. Then we went shopping.
I hope and wish that everyone reading this take this seriously. First I will give a short background of my self. I am 18 years old, male, and started off just smoking pot, mixing that with a few beers and shots. It was about a year ago that a friend offered me vicodin.
My mother had had back surgery over a year ago, for which she was prescribed a bottle of 60 hydrocodone tablets. I watched the bottle carefully every time I visited, and noticed that it seemed to remain steadily at the same level.
I'll start by saying that I'm a pretty experienced drug user. I've experimented with MDMA (ecstasy), MDA (similar to MDMA), cocaine, alcohol, morphine, 2c-i, 2c-b, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD (acid), marijuana (daily), Cyclobenzaprine (muscle/skeletal relaxant), Ambien (sleep medication), and amphetamine.
Introduction: (Please excuse the extended introduction. This is my first report and I feel as though it is necessary.) I will start with some background information. I am 16 years old and, prior to this experience, I had never taken any drug recreationally.
Some background: I've done my share of drugs, but tend to stay away from pharmaceuticals, simply because I can usually find better drugs. However, I just had my wisdom teeth out a few days ago, and was looking for something to stop the pain I was experiencing and help me sleep, because I'd already finished off my 'scri...
Im older than a lot of the readers here and you would think that I would know better, but yes, I admit now that I am addicted to Hydrocodone. Ive had a long and semi-successful life of drug use over the years.
Bluelight 7 threads 7 neutral visit
5 7.5 Vics I don't know if this counts as a true "trip." I always thought a trip can only be brought upon by my Acid and such. Well, it was my second time on Vicodien and my most enjoyable high. I popped 3 pills at lunch time. I didn’t feel much until I got to my 5th period class.
well this was my third time using this. first time was like a month ago with 15mg and it was alright. made me really sleepy and relaxed, didnt get all the hype. next was last week where i only took 7.5mg. it was a little more euphoric and more talkative.
Tonight’s drug totals: 85 mg Hydrocodone 1 mg Alprazolam 50 mg diphenhydramine HCL Large bowl of top grade medical Marijuana 12.5 mg Zolpidem (separate) So tonight will be a large combination of my beloved Marijuana and Hydrocodone, mostly Hydrocodone .
so i had a large stash of painkillers consisting of hydros,oxys,and tylonol 4's. i went trough and distributed most of these during grad nite. in which graduating seniors get taken to a yaht club for an alcohol and drug free and safe night haha right. i smuggled them in and did not incriminate myself .
I just finished typing this in the Erowid submissions box, just proofreading mostly and having a backup here Sorry it's so long. Substances taken earlier: One-a-day multivitamin and Magnesium supplement Drug experience: Marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, hydrocodone, amphetamines and methamphetamines, cocaine, various pills...
First my drug history. I started taking hydrocodone recreationally when i was 16. At my peak (appx. age 20) i was taking 90-150mg hyrocodone a day and 40-50mg percocet a day or if i was lucky a couple 20mg oxycontin a day. As of 2011 i was drug free for a year excluding alcohol.
Gender: Male Weight: 145lbs Age: 20 hey there, i just want to start off by saying i used to be addicted to vicodin in the past as a substitute for my addiction to harder drugs.
Pill Identifiers
4
known pill identifiers on record — view imprints, colors, shapes, and images
→
Hydrocodone's nerd page
Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more
→
Helpful Links
Import into PsychonautWiki Journal
The PsychonautWiki Journal app includes Hydrocodone, but its built-in data can be thinner than ours. Importing this file adds a separate "Hydrocodone (Substance Search)" custom substance with our dose ranges and durations, so you can log against whichever you prefer. It leaves tolerance out on purpose, for the reason given under Tolerance above.
⬇ Download import file
Import this file as custom substances
and you get "Hydrocodone (Substance Search)" with every
route's full dose ladder and timeline, no typing. Works on iOS and
Android (v15+); the format is confirmed by the app's
developer.
Ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription.
Report an issue or suggest an edit
Spotted incorrect or dangerous information, have a correction, a new study, or a useful addition for Hydrocodone? Let us know. Reports are reviewed by moderators — this is not posted publicly.