Gregory House routinely misuses Vicodin in House M.D.
Vicodin is a prescription combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen. In the series, House takes it to manage chronic pain caused by an infarction in the quadriceps muscle of his right thigh. His dependence on the drug becomes a continuing medical, ethical, and personal conflict.
The medication is central to House’s characterization: it helps explain his attempts to control pain while also creating impaired judgment, secrecy, withdrawal, and professional consequences. Several storylines depict efforts by colleagues and institutions to limit or address his use.
Viewers sometimes substitute other opioid brand names because many prescription pain medicines appear in medical dramas. House’s recurring medication is specifically Vicodin, not OxyContin, Percocet, or tramadol. The show does not present his drug use as a harmless personality trait.