Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum.  ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.

Addiction: Substance Abuse Community

This community is a place to share information and support with others who are trying to stop using drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco or other addictive substances. Discuss with others, the symptoms of addiction, addiction recovery, ways to quit like tapering and cold turkey, and withdrawal symptoms. If you are interested in general "chat", please visit our Addiction Social Community.
Post a Question Back to Forum
 | 
MedHelp Member's Question

Oxycontin

by Gerald, May 06, 2000 12:00AM
I was put on Oxycontin just a week ago and I feel much better and I decided to stop taking them.In march I had part of my left lung removed due to a pneumothorax.The doctors had discovered through exploratory surgery I had a Bleb which is a weak spot on my lung,and had caused its collapse.This is a very painful condition which you may know requires a chest tube.I had 2 of them.The first one did not work (after the collapse)so surgery was needed.It was sucessful.i am now and have been recovering for quite a while.While I was in the hospital they gave me 800 MG of motrin,that didn't help,then they tried lortab 7.5 it seemed to ease the pain,every three hours or so I would get mephaghan by IV.This was the cadillac while I was there.I was on lortab 7.5 when I got out for about 2 weeks and then lorcet 5/500 for about 2 more weeks.I have been off lortabs and all for 3 weeks now.The type of surgery I had (Thoracicopy) Usually takes up to a year to heal fully.I cannot bear to be on Painkillers that long for fear of addiction.The Doc gave me some Oxycontin a week ago and that stuff is powerful.I needed a little something to help because of the nerve damage that was done during surgery.I seemed to hurt constantly.Some good days some bad.Now when I stopped oxycontin my whole body especially where wounds from surgery are seemed to ache.I can't sleep.I went to a pain specialist 2 days ago and he hit me up with some cortizone around the wounds and gave me some remeron to take at night.The shots helped a good bit when I got them and the remeron knocks me slap out at bedtime.is the aching feeling that I am having part of withdrawels?Is there any type of vitamin or medication I can take that will help with this if it is?I can't imagine being an addict after taking 9 oxycontin in a little over a week.I have takin lortab in the past for tooth extractions etc. and have never hurt when I ran out or quit taking them.I am beginning to believe that the pain I have is genuine because of the type of surgery I had,I just want to be sure.Any advice will be appreciated, thanx.
Member Comments (14)

by tom to gerald, May 06, 2000 12:00AM
I too had a pneumothorax but not the complications or post-op pain that you're having.



As for withdrawal from oxy (or any narcotic)? If anyone knows the chapter and verse of it, I do. Here's the laundry list of symptoms and things that help:

-- muscle aches all along both arms and legs (heat, in the form of a bath or jacuzzi, is very effective - do it as often as you can).

-- listlessness -- no energy, yawning, difficulty concentrating (only time seems to help -- sorry)

-- depression, combined with a vague, unfocused panic (valium, klonopin, librium - any benzodiazipene-family drug; some say the non-benzo Robaxin helps, which is certainly easier to get than valium; I recommend Soma if you are going with a non-benzo)

-- all-body sweating, hot and cold flashes (time, again)

-- diarrhea (good news -- over the counter Imodium is excellent, but don't be conservative on the dosage)

-- craving for more oxy (proper treatment for the cause of the pain and AA).

gerald, stopping the oxy certainly won't CAUSE the pain, but it may heighten your perception of it, especially if your mind is really after more oxy)

Long-term reliance on opiates to relieve pain also depletes your body of its natural ability to cope with pain. This will come back, again, only over the passage of time.

It's easy to just say this from my armchair, but it sounds like you need to either spend more time with your current pain specialist or try a new one. Does your surgeon know you're in such post-op pain?

That's about all I know ... hope it helps. Take care.

by Gerald to Tom, May 06, 2000 12:00AM
I am still curious if I could be having some withdrawels after being on oxy for only a week. As for your advice, thanx every bit I can get mabe will be useful.As for My surgeon,I do not see  the one who did the operation anymore I just Use my regular Doc.Yes he Knows and he is the one who put me on oxy.If it persists much longer I am going to have a nerve block done on my spine and numb all the back pain altogether for a while.This should help according to the anesthesiologist I am seeing.Thanx again.

by tom to gerald, May 06, 2000 12:00AM
I'm not a doc, but I really don't think one week of oxycodone will addict anyone. However, you were on the lortabs/lorcets, i.e., hydrocodone for a month. Oxycontin contains oxycodone. Lotab contains hydrocodone, both are narcotics with about the same effect on the body and brain. Oxycodone is a step up from hydrocodone in both analgesic and addictive power. Read all the posts on this site about Vicodin addiction. Vicodin is essentially identical to Lortab and Lorcet. They are both composed of hydrocodone and tylenol. So, you're really coming off of at least five weeks of narcotics. You certainly could be experiencing withdrawal. However, it should be short-lived, since you're not a long-term user. The advice I gave you on how to handle the symptoms still applies. Good luck.

by Gerald to Tom, May 07, 2000 12:00AM
Thanx for the advice Tom Good Luck to you to!

by Joe, May 07, 2000 12:00AM
hi i doubt very much that your addicted, i have been addicted to pain killers for 10 years and i find it almost impossable to go on without them don,t get in the rut i,m in good luck...joe

by Mojo, May 11, 2000 12:00AM
Is oxycontin the same as Percodan or Percocet?  Mojo

by tom to Mojo, May 11, 2000 12:00AM
it's time-release Percodan without the aspirin and caffeine additives. Never tried it. Sounds nice, though.

by J.Gino Lebro, May 14, 2000 12:00AM
If you were on any hydrcondone or oxycodone, for that time. You will fell withdrawel symtoms. Remember the Dr's have to give you what takes the pain away. But they need to learn that after, they should learn how to ween you off the right way. It can be done without discomfort. I had to it off methadone because the clinic's don't know how to , or don't care. I have detoxed many useing the same drug they are addicted to. I may be doing something illegal, but someone has to do it right.

by Going price of OC 40, May 21, 2000 12:00AM
People in Miami are useing a special chemical to remove the coating from 80mg oxycontin then, they grind 100's of them into fine white powder. There starting to mix it with cocaine and extasy. Sometimes a little heroin to make the users hooked faster. It's gonna be the epidimic in high school. It's being packaged in small sneak a snort vails. A 1/4 gram of straight oxycodone goes for $150. Mixed with coke and X, it can sell for $750 gram. Outragreous when an 8-ball of good coke used to go for $150-250.

by Karen, May 21, 2000 12:00AM
Oxycontin is oxycodone as in Percocet without the tylenol and in a larger time-released dosage (your body rarely runs out). Oddly enough, these are supposed to be less addicitve that percocet, et al, that is possible I suppose, but I read frequently that people chew them up which makes them decidedly worse that Percocet as they are no longer time-released.  This is my understanding.  I have been on them for about a year.  I was on Percocet before, but the dosage I required went too high and the Tylenol is murder on the liver.  



Oxycontin is not a drug to fool around with as one can discover on this site. I am not a doctor. My opinion is that all people who take it become addicted physically. It is an opiate; it is powerful, and for those who don't know any better, it seems safe if it comes from the doctor.  Well, just because it requires a prescription doesn't make the addicted person any less of a junkie. I am not passing judgement unless one is using it for recreation.  I have heard it described as the most wonderful miracle, bringing a fairly normal life to one wracked with pain, and I have heard people suffering horribly to get off it. So much depends on the individual.

by Kenzo