'You want a description of hell?’ OxyContin’s 12-hour problem
The drugmaker Purdue Pharma launched OxyContin two decades ago with a bold marketing claim: One dose relieves pain for 12 hours, more than twice as long as generic medications.
Patients would no longer have to wake up in the middle of the night to take their pills, Purdue told doctors. One OxyContin tablet in the morning and one before bed would provide smooth and sustained pain control all day and all night.
When Purdue unveiled OxyContin in 1996, it touted 12-hour duration.
On the strength of that promise, OxyContin became Americas bestselling painkiller, and Purdue reaped $31 billion in revenue.
But OxyContins stunning success masked a fundamental problem: The drug wears off hours early in many people, a Los Angeles Times investigation found. OxyContin is a chemical cousin of heroin, and when it doesnt last, patients can experience excruciating symptoms of withdrawal, including an intense craving for the drug.
The problem offers new insight into why so many people have become addicted to OxyContin, one of the most abused pharmaceuticals in U.S. history.
http://static.latimes.com/oxycontin-part1/
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Opiates work like nothing else to manage pain, and I never had a problem getting off them. Nicotine is more addictive and harder to kick.
yourpaljoey
(2,166 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)What's the agenda? Does someone like pain?
yourpaljoey
(2,166 posts)Numbers show that a very very small percentage of patients get the addiction.
procon
(15,805 posts)before it ever gets to the euphoria stage. He had ordered a post op morphine pump for me, and I was worried about addiction. His simple little explanation seemed true, I used that damn morphine pump a lot, and while it was wonderful at blocking the pain I never felt anything high a buzz. Oxycodone makes me jittery and nauseated, I never found it to be as effective as plain old tylenol with codeine.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)If you were having side-effects you should ask your doctor for alternatives. I know what you.mean about that but wasn't on them long enough so that I had to switch.
procon
(15,805 posts)What you suggest wasn't the case. Even at low dosage, titering it down to halves, my body just does not like oxycodone. It happens, that why I mentioned the tylenol3. I've been lucky not to have had needed that Rx too often in my life.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)I have no idea, really.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)I absolutely adore oxy, and thus have not taken it since.
Too bad that PHARMA and their whores in dc won't legalize pot. The prescription opioid problems would all but disappear in no time.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)For me post-op oxy was a little challenging to quit but I managed.
I think oxy plays an important role in recovering from major surgery. I'd hate to see it banned altogether, the current hysteria over their use notwithstanding.