OxyContin being discontinued?

[torrancegal]

My doctor tells me that OxyContin is going to be discontinued. Does anyone know anything about this? I have been on Oxy for about 3 years now and have never felt the need to increase the dose that helps my neck and back pain. I am on 10 mg twice a day, but I cut back to half a pill morning and night (so a total of 10 mg once a day now) and just withdrawing from that was hellish (i know, its a low dose but everyone is different). Anyway, doctor says he isn't concerned about me and that whatever replaces it will be fine, but I'm really worried that I'll walk in one day and they'll say, ok here's your new drug without any withdrawal time (Where I live in the country there are no family doctors available so you can't make appointments...I see the same ones but it's a walk in clinic). Any thoughts on this?

[bkwrm679]

I haven't heard anything about this. I do know that the big name pharmacies in my area (CVS, Walgreens) stopped carrying oxycodone and oxycontin recently due to robberies. It's created a cottage industry for mom and pop pharmacies that mostly deal in opiates behind bullet proof glass and bars. They even have different bottles at the register so you can pick Ethex, Mallinkroft, etc. Here in Florida there was a shortage (I think it was all over) a while back because one or two of the major manufacturers stopped making them. I was on subs at the time so it didn't really affect me. Maybe someone else has better info.

[NautyOne]

What country?.......I have only heard of this in Mexico.

[Kevin_Bacon]

It won't happen -- another Urban Legend -- first I've heard of it. I can tell you that Purdue (the makers) got themselves sued back in the late nineties for claiming oxy wasn't very addictive (!) and other class-action suits are happening.]

To mollify the AMA and politicians, they discontinued the 160mg pill after a number of fatal O.D.'s, and promised to have a naloxone version of the time-release versions ready before 2005 or something -- this would've made crushing or snorting the tabs too unpleasant to describe. Still waiting on that one. Did I mention that Purdue is one of the sleaziest, lying, vile greediest units of BigPharma? It's hard to pick the worst of them, but Purdue gets my vote.

It will be interesting to see if all these corporate pushers can buy off Obama -- all they need for his predecessor's blessing was a bag of peanuts.

[avisg]

yes there has been talk about  taking certain narcotics off most of which have acetaminophen the as for straight oxy no that is new to me but I cant say it would be a shock to me

[Ryder_1]

I dont think they are discontinuing it, however I did hear from more than one doctor that they are working on reformulating it to make it harder to abuse. Basically they are trying to make it so the time release mechanism cant be beat.

[whitie]

I dont know about that...its mainly the acetaminophen they have talked about..but I can tell you big pharm runs the show and dont give a rats @zz about addiction. they know it wiped people out, and ruined thier lives.........but its a great money maker, just like the new sub system, great money maker !!!!!!!

I once heard one of the best surgeons in our area tell a patient that was humming him for oxies..........."that is a very dangerous drug.......I never prescribe that !!!" hes not the only one thats said it,thats for sure.so I would say the  docs are well aware of it.

[torrancegal]

I should have mentioned the country: I'm in Canada. My doctor was very clear about the discontinuation although it's not happening right away. I was talking to the nurse about it the other day too. Having seen these answers, I'll ask if it's a reformulation that's in progress. I don't care either way -- I just want to make sure there's a plan if they're going to switch me off it to something else. It is unfortunate though - I am not an abuser and it worked for me - but if they can come up with something just as good that doesn't have the side affects, I'd be all for that too of course

[Red931]

Because you are in Canada you were probably being prescribed the generic form of Oxycontin because of Socialized Health-care and costs. The (generic) form of Oxycontin has been discontinued. Pharmacies in the US were allowed to dispense what they had left but no more has been made.

My understanding for the reason was that there was problems found with the generic as far as the pills not working properly as far as the time released mechanism as well as potency.

Oxycontin (Purdue) has not been discontinued and is readily available in all mgs. except 160mg.

I also noticed that you posted that you are cutting the pills in half. You should not be doing this with Oxycontin as it is time released. You should only split pills that are scored or you will not be getting an equal dose of medication. This may be the cause of your withdrawals.

Are you sure you are not taking 10mg. of Oxycodone? It is the same medication, but not time released.

[sandee1818]

Thank you Red for mentioning that it is very dangerous contin in half as when you do this your essentially getting all the medication at once instead of over 12 hours as it is intended.
Cutting the pill is the same as crushing it because it destroys the time release that's intended.
I also am questioning if your taking the oxycodone or Oxycontin too. Oxycodone is not time release like the Oxycontin is.
I can tell you there are no plans to discontinue the Oxycontin here in the US. I was hearing this same rumor and called a Purdue representative and was told no they have no plans to stop making this drug.
The generics were stopped due to Purdue suing the companies making them and they won the suit therefore the generic companies are not allowed to make it any longer.
True there was a shortage of the short acting oxycodone and the IR version but that is over with now.
I hope this answers your question:)

[torrancegal]

thanks. As for cutting the pills in half, I only experienced withdrawal when I decreased the dosage. Now I seem to be ok but I do have to take the second half earlier in the day (lack of time release no doubt).  I prefer to continue to live with a certain amount of pain in order to not increase dosage and not get the constipation side effects that I expereinced badly before. And yes, I am definitely on oxycontin, but that's interesting about the generic question - I never knew Oxy was made by Purdue so I guess that's my next question to the doc! Thanks for all the input and info.

[torrancegal]

A related question: In the past three months I've been getting migraines - we have had rain one day, sun the next, so there may be a barometric component, but I'm wondering if Oxycontin itself over long periods of time can cause migraines as an additional symptom. I used to have the odd one before but now they are a weekly occurrence.

[sandee1818]

You know my first PM doctor asked every month if his Pt's was having headaches. According to him when your body becomes accustomed to a certain dose and your not getting enough pain relief you will get headaches. I do not know if this is fact.
Generic companies have been making Oxycontin again as I was asked if I wanted generic last month. I do not know if they had a back stock or if they are making them again.
Generics in my experience have much less potency. When Purdue sued the generics I think one company was allowed to make them.
I will check  on that.

[dazyrose]

hi
i heard the same thing..oxycontin and vicodin.  i take vicodin along with methadose for chronic pain given by pain control.  they say it is because people abuse these types of drugs that it is being considered.  i hope while considering they consider those of us who have to take these drugs to manage our pain and offer us some type of alternative if they do remove these from the market

[torrancegal]

So, I went back to the doctor for clarification and the story changed somewhat. He said no, the drug companies weren't discontinuing -- just his clinic was discontinuing (i know they've had problems with walk in drug seekers). So where does that leave me? He told me not to worry (mentioned two other drugs that I didn't quite catch) but said I wouldn't have to start withdrawing for a while as I'm going to try withdrawing from Epival first as I've gained quite a bit of weight since going on it, which unfortunately adds to the back pain. So I'm sorry -- looks like I added fuel to a possible urban myth...but he specifically did say Oxy was being discontinued the last time I was in. Sheesh.

[jvaaz]

i am on norco, not oxy, and i get a migraine type headache on my 2nd dose of the day. i use zomig for that. i could go on and on, but it would not be relevant.