Vistaril 25mg and Percocet 10/325mg , usual frequency MD's order them? Q 4 prn is okay?

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How often does doctors usually order Vistaril and percocet together for pain? How frequent should it be ordered for it to be considered acceptable? Sorry new-bie here. Thanks for your help.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

I suspect the vistaril is being ordered for the anxiety that often comes with pain. It is a antihistamine similar to Benadryl but it has a side effect of reducing anxiety. It has no value by itself for pain control. It can also help with the itching which is a known side effect of some opioid's

Hppy

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Vistaril is often combined with opiates for illicit use, as vistaril potentiates the euphoric effects of opiates.

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Is it okay to be given Q 4 hours as needed?

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Percocet is often given every four hours since it's half life is about 3.5 hours, vistaril however is usually every 6 hours or even just twice a day.

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Psych nurse here, that dose of Vistaril is quite low and fairly safe. As always, monitor respiration, sedation, etc. before giving, but it has a low tendency for abuse and is definitely one of the safer meds for managing anxiety. I usually see it being ordered max TID but that scenario stems from long term out patient management.

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical/Float Pool/Stepdown.

The ortho MDs at my hospital all have vistaril in their order sets to be given along side any pain med chosen (they give a variety so the nurses can make an executive decision along with pt input/experience and not have to be called at home in the middle of the night only to need to switch meds).

So yeah, vistaril can help potentiate the effect of the narcs and is often ordered safely at q4 hours, q6 hours, etc prn.

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