Please use this thread to discuss Oxycodone.

Thanks

I'm for it

For me, it was all my doc would prescribe. Being a tiny woman with two small kids, I just couldn't take it, not even a half. It made me way too loopy. It worked wonders for the pain. I was to take 2 every 4 hours, and 1/2 would work most of the day. I think if you can take it without all the loopy feelings it is really great. It just wans't for me. and when I requested something that wasn't as strong, my doc got mad and fired me. Who knew asking for something less than oxycodone could get a patient fired?

I have a friend that I care about that is addicted to oxycontin, takes about 80mg per day. Of course I tell him he needs to kick the habit because he doesn't need it for pain, and i've even referred him to this site to get support. However, he tells me that he's not going to kick it anytime soon because he says there aren't any long term effects on his body. I've done extensive research to prove him wrong, but to my surprise i have seen NOTHING that talks about long term physical damage. All i see is information about the addiction, the withdrawals and short term risks like overdose (which I am not concerned about in his case).

I want him to stop but he is not going to suffer through a month of detox unless I can prove that his body is at risk in the long run by continuing to use. Can anyone point to a reference that discusses long term risks?

Well thats the thing about opiates, there aren't really any long term negative health effects except diminished sex drive and chronic constipation. Unfortunately the real problem is that you become a enslaved by the opiates, you need them to feel normal, to feel right, and if you can't get them you suffer withdrawals which are hellish, four or five days of no sleep, constant diarrhea, anxiety, hot and cold flashes, goosebumps, sweating, and muscle and bone pain. After this acute phase it can take a month to get back to normal, sleep, feeling good etc. All these symptoms are immediately relieved by a dose of your favorite opiate. So, as long as you've got a steady supply no problem, people have lived long lives hooked on opiates. Your friend ain't gonna quit till the benefits of using are greater than the benefit of not using. The only caveat is for hydrocodone users, who consume dangerous amounts of APAP in their pills,this can be very damaging to the liver.

I've seen nothing other than addiction and/or dependence.

There are so many terrible side effects with many drugs - such as Tramadol, Vioxx (and other NSAIDS), acetaminophen etc. Seems like everything has a bad counterpart.

But, to be honest (and I have looked), I have found no negative references to short-term or long-term use effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine etc. other than addiction or dependence. That's it. Addiction and/or dependence are terrible, but liver damage or seizures or stomach bleeding or heart problems sound worse to me physically.

Of course, if a person is spending all his time, money etc. seeking these drugs, that's bad. But permanent physical harm? I can't find it.

One of the days I'm going to print a list of famous, powerful and influential individuals who were opiate dependant/additcted for huge portions of their lives.

Ray Charlessssss

John Hopkins I think, you know the famous Doctor, I believe was a morphine addict for his entire life.

Hitler, and some of his top people were very into Heroin/morphine. Eggar Allrn Poe I believe as we;;. I'll lrave out all the Stars rock or not, woulg take up too muvh room.

Hitler was into methamphetamine, not morphine. Hermann Goering, leader of the Luftwaffe was a morphine addict for many years, but was forced to quit when he was imprisoned at Nurmemburg. He committed suicide by cyanide before his death sentence could be carried out.

You are quite right, one of the founding John Hopkin's docs., a brillant surgeon, had an addiction to Morphine. And I might add, a pretty heavy dose.

While I am scripted Oxy., for a really bad back, I would NEVER recommend anyone getting started on that sh*t! You start off just fine, then tolerance comes into play, and in a couple of years that 80mg will not even START to get your motors running! You can end up taking it just to feel half-way normal. If its the "buzz" you seek, forget it. You may find your short term memory effected, as well as feeling kind of in a "mental fog." Of course, some may call that a "buzz," not ME!

I am going through Subutex now, to try to break this MESS. Please, take its from a fool who thought he would be just fine, stay away from it. Take care
Z

I was given a script for Tylenol #3s, Keterolac and Oxycodone (none of that time release nonsense). The scripts were written for my wisdom teeth.

HALL OF FAME

Stephen King
From 1979-1987, the horror novelist was addicted to cocaine describing it as his "on switch" and cannot remember a couple of books he wrote during this period. King claims it saved him from alcoholism and an early grave: "without coke I'd have gone on drinking until about the age of 55 and it would have been a couple of lines in the New York Times: 'Writer Stephen King dies of stroke.'

Sigmund Freud
Wrote effervescently of the "exhilaration and lasting euphoria" and its "stimulative effect on the genitalia". Even penned a (now hard-to-find) essay, 'UberCoca,' extolling its virtues. " Changed his mind about the substance when a patient friend of his died of an overdose.

Robert Louis Stevenson
Wrote Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde in six days and nights on a cocaine binge. "That an invalid in my husband's condition of health should have been able to perform the manual labour alone of putting 60,000 words on paper in six days, seems almost incredible," said his astonished wife, Fanny.

Sherlock Holmes
"Sherlock Holmes took? his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt cuff...the sinewy forearm and wrist, all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks...sank back into the velvet lined armchair with a long sigh of satisfaction." The Sign Of Four.

Eminem - ecstasy
After the usual blunts & cognac, takes half an E before every stage performance to "loosen up" more


Dr Timothy Leary - LSD
The Harvard Professor kick-started the psychedelic revolution after turning on, tuning in and dropping out more

Charlie Parker
B-bombs (bronchitis inhalers) were the jazz maestro's introduction to drugs


Adolf Hitler
Couldn't function without daily methylamphetamine injections into his buttocks by his ever-diligent, ever-present physician, Doctor Morell. Also took cocaine eyedrops - fact fans.

Anthony Eden MP
British Prime Minister 'lived on Benzedrine' throughout the 1952 Suez Crisis.


Judy Garland
Hollywood's favourite drug starlet. Developed an amphetamine addiction after using it to keep her weight down. This soon led to a parallel addiction to barbiturates taken to make sleep possible.


Lenny Bruce
The frantic beat comedian was prescribed benzedrine for narcolepsy, but soon, inevitably, acquired a large recreational habit.

River Pheonix
Owned the Viper Rooms nightclub with Johnny Depp. Died of an overdose after taking a speedball (heroin and cocaine mix).

William Borroughs
William Burroughs' extraordinary novel, Junky, details his addiction to the drug and the lifestyle he led in pursuit of it. It is, he says, "the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy"

King George V
Not a user per se, but was euthanised with opiates. In fact, a mixture of opium and cocaine did it for the father of our Queen.

Thomas De Quincey
Made a career out of his opium habit, wrote the florid Confessions of an English Opium Eater and had an irrational hatred of the Chinese who populated his dreams.

Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker was a virtuoso alto saxophonist who hit New York aged 20. He created the modern jazz sound, veered back and forth between heroin and alcohol addiction, and was dead by the age of 34. The doctor who declared him dead estimated his age to be between 50 and 60 years old.

Therhino , Thats just a fraction of the list but right to the point!!!

How long does one have to be on oxycodone, or any opiate for that matter to become dependent on it? Isn't there a way to titrate or dose down to avoid withdrawl symptoms?

Eminem - ecstasy
After the usual blunts & cognac, takes half an E before every stage performance to "loosen up" more

Lenny Bruce
The frantic beat comedian was prescribed benzedrine for narcolepsy, but soon, inevitably, acquired a large recreational habit. >>

More 'Fun' Facts:

Eminem got out of rehab last year for an addiction to sleeping pills. But when his career first started, he was notorious for rapping about "homosexuals and Vicodin." (Those of you who listen to Em will get that one.)

Lenny Bruce OD'ed on Morphine/Heroin. Did anyone see the movie "Lenny" w/ Dustin Hoffman? That lurid photograph at the end was real. Very disturbing.

Brilliant comedian, though...

Sure, it ain't no thing. Just taper down from whatever to nothing, in whatever time frame feels comfy for you. Easy and painless. At least thats how it's supposed to go..... Actually it's easier to just quit, tapering where you reduce enough to make a difference just prolongs the withdrawal. If you wanna quit try to cut your usage as much as you can for a week and then drop it. Trying to work some complex painfree taper schedule to kick the habit is something that people always talk about trying but I've never heard of anyone actually sticking to the schedule and following through,please, prove me wrong aight?

Hi, there - Here are a few questions from a newcomer to this site. Based on what I have read in the OCS threads and in the OC threads, substance II are not dispensed via OCS (and I have found no IOPs that have it in their list). Therefore, assuming one has all the necessary medical records to demonstrate the need, how can one find a physician who is willing to prescribe OC? It seems that sympathetic physicians are probably sufficiently hard to find that they are not discussed on public boards. Any suggestions from those more experienced than I would be greatly appreciated.

I'm pretty sure dear Watson would have kept sherlock in check with possible drug abuse. Sherlock was a fictional character.

I'm sure checking out oxy now and then for the odd headache or sprain/strain wouldnt cause any dependency problems. They should have it OTC right next to advil and tylenol.

<<It takes A LOT of documentation and history to be prescribe CII these days. Christ, even CIII is tough enough now. >>

I'm sure that's true, but it seems to me, unless someone is on hospice (i.e. a doc has issued an opinion that they have 6 mos. or less to live), OC is not prescribed. That's cause docs are pretty confident they won't get sued 'cause some addict got his clammy hands on the drug, crushed it, got a 12-hour dose in one snort, then dropped dead. What irks me is that OC was made for people with chronic mild to severe pain, and per the discussion thread above, there are no long-term side effects ('cept for addiction, which is an individual variable). Anyway - I know there must be some docs in this land of the free who will prescribe it (when justified) - just wish I knew where they are... Does anyone have any recommendations for alternate meds w/like effectiveness and no dopey side effects (that do not contain codeine, which gives me a headache)?
Thanks for the feedback. So glad I stumbled upon this site.

my Father in law is at home under hospice care and he's getting close to passing..He has non alchol cirrosis of the liver. his stomache is swollen really bad from his liver not working and he is in or was in alot of pain.. they gave him oxycodone.. I know nothing about this drug. Will it be good enough for his pain.. its not like he can tell us .. They also gave him ativan for his restlessness. they prescribed him that before the oxy.. anyone have any insight for me?