Oxycontin vs hydromorphcontin

[luckygirl317]

Hello all, I haven't posted for a long time. I was wondering the difference (strenghtwise) between oxy & hydromorphcontin ( long acting).  I was on hydromorph last year and switched to oxycontin & oxy IR this spring in an attempt to keep overall dosages down. The oxy seemed to escalate quite rapidly vs increases needed when I was on hydromorph products. Which is stronger? Which is slower to build up tolerence to? Is it different for different people? I stopped taking oxy on my own, & basically brought them
to the dr. & said I wasn't taking these. I had had a very very strange week of no sleeping, confusion etc. .. My husband & I figured it out to be the addition of lyrica. Before then I had never had any "stoned or high" behavior. I'm on a much lower dose per mg than the oxy (30,20,30 and 10 mg of oxy IR up to 3 a day). Now I'm on hydromorphcontin 9,6,9 mg & 3 mg twice a day of hydromorphone. We're still working on the exact dose as I'm having quite a bit of discomfort still. I'm on all this because I have crohns:  don't respond to most meds for it & it's caused arthritis like inflammation in my low back & larger joints. I can't take anti-inflamatories mostly I wait till the flare up is really bad then treat the symptoms & take prednisone (which is awful stuff). I should add that I had almost a foot of bowel removed and am probably going to have more surgery in the next 3-4 yrs. Sorry this is so long I didn't know how much back ground is needed.  But the basic question oxy or hydromorph which is stronger, which is slower to build up a tolerence for? Thanks

[emwave]

I'm not a doctor, so keep that in mind.  Mg for mg, hydromorphone is definitely stronger than oxycodone.  It is hard to figure out exactly because you really need to add in a cross-tolerance when comparing the two and that varies person to person.  If you use the lowest "medically acceptable" cross tolerance, 10mg of oxycodone (not long acting) is equal to about 3mg of hydromorphone (again, not the long acting type).  If you don't use any cross-tolerance (not recommended), 10mg of oxycodone is equal to almost 4mg of hydromorphone.
Bottom line, mg for mg, hydromorphone is stronger than oxycodone.  
And tolerance build up is different for different people.
If you want a more technical explaination of cross tolerances, etc. just pm me.  I hope this helps and I hope you feel better.