What Would Help Better

i am taking morphine 15mg right now.i have a very bad lower back pain. it doesn't help as much as it should. my friend that had problems with his back took oxycontin and he said that help him with his pain.would that be better and if so are there any down fall

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Opiates are generally less effective for skeletal pain than for say, gut pain and muscular pain. Oxycodone might make a small difference, based on the fact that the comparative doses for one drug and another aren't exact, so depending on your source of information, and your doctor's, the equivalent dose of one drug to the other might be effectively slightly higher or lower. The other consideration is that oxycontin is the slow release form of oxycodone, so if you haven't tried the slow release form of morphine, you could also give that a try. This could help alleviate the periods when the plasma concentration is low prior to the next dose, as morphine has a fairly short half life. Genetic differences can also cause variation in sensitivity to particular drugs, and some are naturally more or less potent than others. Drugs such as buprenorphine have been specifically designed as partial antagonists, which means that taking more than a certain level won't increase their effect any further, but this isn't true of morphine or oxycodone within normal limits.
The long term use of any opiate is problematic, so if your back problem is chronic, and unlikely to improve, you need to consider the implications. Opiates cause tolerance, (requiring ever larger doses for the same effect), and dependence, (causing withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking them). Addiction is a behavioral matter, (one can be addicted to gambling but not dependent on it), but many people end up both dependent on, AND addicted to, opiates. Severity of withdrawal symptoms obviously depends on how much you take, and for how long, although, if you reduce the quantity slowly, you can suffer a little for a long time, rather than an awful lot for 3-4 days. The effect of serious withdrawal is like the worst cold imaginable combined with a very severe case of gastric flu, plus the pain for which you originally took the drug on top, but without any remedy, other than giving in to temptation and getting even more dependent as a result.
Long term side effects include reduced libido and testosterone levels in men, which can even lead to gynecomastia (growing breasts). This wouldn't be a problem for you in the short term at your current dose, but check out all the possible side effects, so that you can make an informed choice regarding the risk/benefits. More information can be obtained on the internet, (Wikipedia etc), and by discussing it with a specialist doctor at a pain clinic. Be careful, because doctors vary in their depth of knowledge on any given subject, (even within their own speciality), as they have so much to remember, and their attitudes are also variable, so keep looking for second and third opinions, and remember that not all sources are equally reliable. If your condition is chronic, I'd advise you to try something like taijiquan or i quan, (pronounced ee chuan) , or perhaps yoga, as a long term method of alleviation. I quan can be practised with very little movement, (as can taijiquan if you understand it properly), but it's vital to find a good teacher who really knows what they're talking about, which isn't easy. Both can improve mobility and pain tolerance if practiced properly.

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OC'S would help better but they are extremely addicting

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Despite what Abi says, Oxycontin wouldn't really be any more effective unless you take more than the adjusted equivalent morphine dose, in which case you might just as well take more morphine. Nor would it be significantly more or less addictive. Some opiates cross the blood/brain barrier more readily so are more effective on the central nervous system (brain and spine) than others at a given dose, which means you can take a bit less for the same degree of pain relief, so the systemic side effects on the rest of the body are slightly reduced, but the difference is marginal. You could try physeptone (methadone) as it acts on a slightly different range of receptors which can help with some people in certain types of pain, and it has a very long half life, so slow release forms aren't necessary. It's still an opioid however, so all the same dependence and addiction problems apply. Not advisable for long term use really.

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