Question

[docd]

Is 350 mg a lot of oxycontin to be taking daily? 60 mg 5x's daily? Thanx! :)

[docd]

Thanx for that great information Jeff. I found that interesting; that the cost of this drug can be so expensive when purchased illegally. To include the patient that was taking upwards of 700mg a day? When you honestly put all this into perspective, all oxycodone/contin is...is synthetic heroin.

My personal hands on experience with this pain killer has been a "love hate relationship". The tapering down method of getting off this prescribed drug never really worked for me because I wasn't taking it for "pleasure" but instead for pain relief. So if I decided to stop taking this, I would do just that. Yes there was a lot of discomfort but I always new within about 3 days I wasn't really physically dependent anymore. Although having said  that, I understand that all of us just can't stop, and might need a tapering down method. The sad part of this whole story is that modern science has never really perfected the perfect pain pill. There's always going to be side effects and withdrawal symptoms to contend with. Especially when used for long term pain relief. What's your thoughts on this pain pill called Oxymorphone? I've noticed that a lot of doctors are starting to prefer this prescription for patients.        

[J T Junig, MD PhD]

Everything is relative-- but yes, that is a large dose.  Consider that Percocet tablets-- medications used to treat surgical pain in dose ranges of 1-2 every 4 hours-- contain 5-10 mg of oxycodone.  You are taking the equivalent of 70 of the 5 mg tabs every day, when the dose after major surgery would be on the order of 5-10 tablets per day.

The largest dose I've seen in a patient addicted to oxycodone is about 700 mg per day.  Most people addicted to oxycodone in my practice were taking around 200-300 mg per day.  The cost of oxycodone 'on the street', at least in my part of the country, is around a buck per mg-- so a 'habit' of 350 mg would cost a 'street user' about $300 bucks per day-- although most people taking illicit prescription opioids are either selling them as well, or getting them paid for by their health insurer.