Oxycontin withdrawl

[Scared931]

I got a friend that due to extreme and lasting pains has been on oxycontin for 8 years now.Recently,someone stole her pills.She is not due to have a refill in some time yet,and she knows for a fact that she will not have enough to last to her next refill.
As her friend,i am very concerned with what this does to her as she is in poor health as it is.She wants to get of the oxycontin as she found another drug that has been proven to have a good degree of effect on patients such as herself.
But when her doctor learned she was using oxycontin and had been for such a long period of time,she told her she could not stop now,as it was likely to cause her to have a fatal heartattack or stroke.Now that her pills are stolen,my friend and I are scared.Does anyone know of any other drugs that is available to keep her from having withdrawl?
I only ask this because I am worried that she will die unless she gets something that will keep her from getting withdrawl.So please,can anyone help me save my friend's life?

[road2recovery]

I agree with extrmeski, about filing a report...This has happened to someone i know a few yrs ago...He did file a report and the doctor had no problem with giving him another script....IF she has any underlying medical condition, then it can be dangerous to her health....I hope this helps...
r2r

[10356]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Your friend has a Dr. prescribing her med, can she not go to him/her and explain that her pills have been stolen? If not the Dr. who is offering a alternative drug? If the circumstances are so dire I would think she has no choice.. Other then what I have mentioned and highly recommend she might try splitting her pills in half wd will happen but not the full extent, then she might be able to use this opportunity to wean herself off and move to the alternative med.. I wish you both well and luck on finding a solution.. lesa

[mtgoat911]

she needs to contact her doctor, i have never seen a patient die from opiate withdrawl
however i have seen patients who had pre-existing illness such as heart disease end up in icu from opiate wd
i have gone the ct route many times, but after years of living with liver disease i began to get very ill from opiates and ended up in icu myself for methadone wd, which is very similiar to oxyc wd
get her to a hospital, thats all you can do
everyone has a different response, i cannot predict what wd symptoms anyone will have
it sounds like she needs a detox facility not another perscription
i decided to quit in 2004, the first year i had a ton of medical issues, illness/pain, the longer i stay clean the better chance my body has of healing
it would be in your friends best intrest to start this healing process sooner then later
good luck

[extrmeski]

There isn't anything that after being on the oc's for that long are going to bridge the gap for her until her next appt.  The best advice I can offer is to make sure that the police are involed in the theft, and have her call her doctor with the police report.  If her doctor has any compassion at all she will of course write her a script to cover the loss.  If insurance is an issue many times the doctor will write a different strengthso the insurance company wont see the"same" script for a period of less than the 30 days.
That is the only thing I can think of.  the other would be the emergency room but they will not be able to write for as long as she would need them to.