I took vicodin for back surgery pain and skull/brain surgery. Powerful stuff.
If you have the $$$ it is far better to get the actual vicodin, and not the generic. The brand name drug is much cleaner. Far less hard on my stomach.
In general, I hate taking any narcotics, but when you have acutely intense pain in certain tissues, it's a real tough putt to gut it out. I have gutted it out, and I've taken the drugs. I'd rather have the choice.
I have so many of these drugs it's not even funny, because they have prescribed it to me so often because of the repetitive nature of all my procedures. If I take the pain meds, it's only usually right at the first, and then I just try to deal with it as it diminishes, so I never come close to finishing the scrip. I have some excellent docs, and they know how I am about meds/narcotics, so there is a lot of trust there. I almost never ask for pain meds, so they know that when I do ask, it's a serious thing.
OP, I hope you can manage through your pain. Be careful with opioids. Powerful, but potentially a problem.
Greater love hath no man than this....