Oxycontin Breathing Problems Possibilty (Top voted first)

I'm been on prescription OxyContin 40 mg 2x daily for pain for the past few years. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow because I feel that my breathing is not quite right, but I'm afraid of the repercussions! What is the procedure for this type of situation? Will the Dr stop the pills??? Will I need to detox?:(

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Hello, Vixen! How are you? What type of breathing issue are you having?

This medication can cause depression of the central nervous system, so it may cause your breathing to be more shallow and slower than usual, as reported by the FDA.

If it is causing it, you may just need to try a different medication.

Is this the only medication you're on?

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Hi Eric! Were you addressing me in your text, because I don't understand your advice?
Thanks,
Vicinity

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Thank you for your advice Eric, but any amt of oxycodone will not stop the detox feeling.
I've already tried that.:(

No disrespect, but are you a Dr.Eric?

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What does breathing depression feel like?
Can that goes on for weeks?
When does it become dangerous?
Will decreasing the dosage help?

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It's the only medication of that type that I'm on.

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Ps I feel as if I'm short of breath, and breathing more rapidly than usual.
Is that what may happen with the oxy, because I was told it doesn't present breathing issues thus way, but rather as an incident of severe dizziness and passing out?!
Very confused?
Also, what lesser strength drug could oxy possibly be replaced with, without suffering from withdrawal?:(

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Vixen in a perfect world 40mg of Oxycontin would give you 3.33mg or so of Oxycodone per hour in a continuous 12 hour release, but there's no perfect pill and the OC version of Oxycontin is far from perfect.
You could have your doctor reduce the dose to 30mg or 20mg one every 12 hours to see if your breathing being depressed by the medication is lessened. You won't be getting the withdrawal effects going to 30mg, but cutting it in half to 20mg probably would give you some withdrawal effect. Which would be mild for a few days.
You didn't say if you were taking other narcotic analgesics for break through pain. This is pain that spikes above what the continuous release medication is treating. That would also increase your depressed breathing issue if it's a medication issue.
Hopefully your doctor will just reduce your intake to 30mg twice a day to see if it is actually the Oxycontin causing your depressed breathing or try a different controlled release like ms contin, exalgo, or opana.
Please let us know what happens at your doctor.

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I'm not sure how the DR with take this request but the easiest option is to switch from a sustained release (Oxycontin) to an immediate release (Oxycodone) formula.

Fatigue, depression and energy levels are significantly reduced and this can often effect breathing.

The delayed release options also create an excess of the drug in your system in hours 2-4 and withdrawals in hours 6-8. This can also cause breathing and inflammation issues. It will also require a more rapid increase in your minimum effective dose. This is really just a terribly designed product that is only on the market to prevent injection (and increase profits)

The short acting obviously requires more management since you take it twice as often but you can take half as much and maintain a therapeutic dose without any of the euphoria.

The euphoria in the early hours with the oxycontin, combined with the return of symptoms & mild withdrawals in hours 6-8, are exactly how you would design a drug to get people addicted. It's such a perfect system because no matter how much you increase the dose you still end up with the same dynamic as well as the reminder several times a day for several hours that you can make a choice between suffering 20% of your waking hours, ...or not. All you have to do is stop resisting addiction.

The Oxycodone on the other hand is at full effect in 1 hour and with the right steady dose doesn't have to cause any high at all. If you forget or sleep through a dose you will have symptoms return but just for an hour. It takes a few days to work.

Pain killers work via different systems in your body. Your body will also have different systems of pain messaging with require different types of pain medication. As difficult as it can be I recommend trying different combinations. Finding the right medication for the specific system might allow you to educe the opiates Everyone is different but my experience might be a outline to begin some testing;

Oxycodone, 10 MG, 6 times a day has eliminated some spots in my hip and lower back so completely it can be a zero on the pain scale for weeks at a time. Once I found the effective dose there hasn't been any need to increase the dosage. I do take it with caffeine during the day and I drink a lot of water. I think both are very likely important.

Oxycodone is not really effective for migraine but Naproxen Sodium is pretty magical. Taken during the aura stage it reduces or eliminates the pain though I do have to take the normal actions of going into a dark room and trying to sleep. I've found that Milk Thistle extract taken during Aura instead of the Naproxen very effective in keeping the migraine from even happening. My first Migraine discovery was that alcohol 2 days in a row would cause a migraine on the 3rd or 4th day. Further testing found Migraines, at least in my case, to be related to liver stress. Milk thistle extract contains a substance called silymarin which is effective in treating liver damage and I've been really impressed with it's ability to quickly address early signs of liver problems.

Being on medication makes it especially important to baby your liver and to help make sure your body can keep itself clean. Caffeine, water, milk thistle and a host of other things can be done to make sure your body has the energy and things it needs to maintain internal function. Randon vitamin supplementation, especially in high doses is something to avoid unless you're paying attention to how your body is responding.

My third primary pain medication is Lyrica, It's cured pain I didn't think could be cured or moderated and works on systems the Oxycodone don't interact with. Off the charts mid back pain from damage and stenosis that ties my mid back to my stomach/lung muscles and some part of my digestive tract is never noticeably touched by any medication except lyrica, Ear aches from cold water or wind either don't happen or are reset to only happen in much more significant circumstances. Nerve pain when it goes beyond pins and needles also is well addressed with Lyrica.

I don't know how much your doctor will work with you and when they do it's usually limited to try this for a month and we'll talk but maybe offering to reduce your daily dosage of opiates in exchange for something that doesn't have a delayed release will be viewed as a compromise. Just realize the potential for suspicion of intent to inject or distribute will be a hurdle.

Withdrawals are not fun. If you can just spend a week or two in bed and drink a lot of water while trying not to eat any more than have to and avoiding meals before bed it's basically a bad flu in addition to whatever symptoms you were experiencing. If you are in a medical marijuana state, unassisted opiate withdrawals would be a good reason to get a prescription from a DR who specializes in Marijuana.

The key to remember is that inflammation is very dangerous, painful and unpleasant. Do whatever you can to minimize it. Not only during withdrawal but really any time. Opiates anti inflammatory effects are often a large part of their medicinal value.

PS - If you are going to have withdrawals do not go with a CBD strain of marijuana. If you need to be awake and active during the day it might be worth it but an indica strain will help you sleep more & and I'm pretty sure helps more with inflammation and with helping the brain clean itself.

Good Luck!

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whoops - 2 days will not cause any detox or with drawl but that is way too high a dose to start and is should be cut in half or at least by 25%

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Hi Vicinity,

That was a mistake. I wrote a long response that was held in moderation that was based on 2 years. I was going to repost a shorter version but somehow read 2 days the second time.

I was going to recommend switching to a version that is not sustained release. The Oxycontin will cause fatigue and depression while also getting you high in the first couple of hours following by mild withdrawals in the last few hours.

Oxycodone allows you to use less even though you have to take it more often but allows you to get relief while not getting the high or the withdrawals.

It also gives me energy instead of making me tired and there is no associated depression.

The DR might not like the idea of witching because of he abuse potential but the difference is night and day. I'll type out another post with the rest later today if they don't release it from moderation.

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As far as what to switch to and how much,

Try 10 MG Oxycodone 6 times a day (10 MG every 4 hours) instead of the 2 x 40 of Oxycontin.

You shouldn't have any significant withdrawals and will probably feel better right away.

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I'm not a doctor and certainly don't feel disrespected that you ask.

Doctors know frighteningly little about the medications they prescribe and get most of their information from salesmen, lawyers and administrators instead of medical studies.

I've been on these medications for years and my posts were based on my experience. I was still stuck in bed 24-7 on Oxycontin but am only in bed to sleep and can work or walk for miles on oxycodone. It was dramatic and immediate.

I'm not sure what dosage you took but oxycodone and oxycontin are the same medication with oxycontin simply being formulated in a way that is digested more slowly. Any withdrawals you feel should only be based on the reduction of the amount of the identical active ingredient in your blood stream. It absolutely does significantly reduce withdrawals but a dosage reduction does include some withdrawal symptoms symptoms as your body adjusts to a lower baseline level of the medication. You also have withdrawal issues related to timing as they only work for 4 hours before withdrawal starts as opposed to about 6.5 with Oxycontin.

It's possible that you were getting so heavily dosed in the first couple of hours on the oxycontin that your body is addicted to a higher amount than you realize but you aren't quitting anything switching from oxycontin to oxycodone. You are only changing the inactive ingredients they mix with it.

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