There is a lot of bad info regarding what the differences in oxycodone and the other RX drugs in this class are. People speculate how these drugs are metabolized and post bad drug test info, or get the classification wrong. So here is some info on the organic chemistry of these drugs.
What is the difference in codeine, morphine, oxycodone, Vicodin, OxyContin etc?
The etymology of organic chemistry makes the names very descriptive, but before we go into that lets break the names into classes.
Name brand vs. Generic. Chemically these drugs are exactly the same but often people will call the timed release of a drug by its name brand, and quick release by it generic, So the drug Oxycodone is sold as OxyContin. This comes in two “flavors”; OxyContin IR and OxyContin SR. Both contain the drug oxycodone HCl but the IR formula is just the drug and binders that hold the pill together. The OxyContin SR or sustained release is oxycodone in some type of matrix that retards the rapid dissolving of the drug. This is often a wax or sugar matrix that the drug is dissolved into. Or in some cases just a special coating on the pill. The SR pills can be hazardous to IV because there is not a simple way to separate the time release matrix from the drug. This is a simple process with the IR pills where the pill is just dissolved in cold water and filtered. This also applies to OxyMorphone which is Opana and any other sort of time release version. Hydrocodone which is Vicodin etc etc.
For the rest of this article generic names will be usedto avoid confusion.
What is the difference in Morphine, oxymorphone, hydromorphone, and codeine, hydrocodone and oxycodone?
The classes of these drugs fall into the parent molecule: Morphine and Codeine. Those are our two base drugs that the other drugs come from. In the interest of factual accuracy , and because this is the internet where people nit pick; manufacturing oxycodone doesn’t come from codeine but that is beyond the scope of this article as we are more interested in the effects of the different molecules and that would add confusion at this point.
Morphine and Codeine are chemically very similar. They share a common arrangement of atoms and the differences come from changing a few Oxygen or O atoms and H or hydrogen atoms on the “backbone” of the carbon ring structure of the molecule. Substituting just a few of these atoms make the different drugs. These atoms change things like potency, duration, side effects, and the way they are broken down (primarily P455 CYP class of enzymes) which is important in knowing what’s in your urine for a drug test. If you google the structure of morphine and codeine or any of these drugs you will find they look almost identical.
Codeine family: gives us Codeine, hydrocodone and Oxycodone. Their relative strength is in this order. Hydrocodone has H atoms attached to the back bone while oxycodone has oxygens in place of the hydrogen. Changing these atoms changes the way the drugs bind to receptors in the brain and how hard it is for your body to break it down. Codeine can be thought of as a morphine molecule with extra methyl groups (CH3) attached to it. Codeine works on your body by going to the liver, having the methyl groups stripped off becoming a morphine molecule, then attaching to receptors in your brain. So the active drug is morphine but this process of metabolism is slow which results in less pain relief. You can’t IV codeine as you would be skipping the step of sending the drug to the liver. Codeine is good for coughs but relatively weak pain reliever, Hydrocodone is stronger and Oxycodone is strongest but less effective for coughs. Oxycodone often has its own panel on drug tests at pain management offices. Say you are on Morphine and Oxycodone. When the urine cup is read two indicators will come up: a generic opiate test for both, and a specific test for just oxycodone. No it does not test for oxymorphone, as some suspect it looks for free and HCl oxycodone. That way the doctor can tell if you are taking each drug as directed or if you are taking all the oxy at once/selling/not taking it, but spacing the morphine out. Oxy clears your system quickly and if it has been more than two or three days since you last took it the doctor will be able to tell. And you just royally screwed up your pain management and they can take further action against you like taking you off the oxycodone or putting you on a drug that’s less effective if they suspect over/quick dosing or “diverting” which means selling. Codeine is one of the main drugs in the poppy flower’s opium. Codeine is an opioid as its natural and an opiate which is any narcotic pain reliever. Hydro/oxycodone are opiates because they are synthetic.
Morphine is codeine’s stronger cousin. Moderately strong when taken orally very strong when IV. Heroin is very similar to morphine but it contains two extra molecular groups on the backbone to help it bind to the brain receptors. Heroin is just really fast binding morphine to your brain. For some reason this speed is key to relieving pain. Hydromorphone and oxymorphone following the same conventions as their codeine counterparts. But as we are starting with a stronger drug to begin with these analogues are much stronger. Oxymorphone can be 10X stronger then morphine.
So that’s the six most prescribed drugs in pain management, and their differences. As far as strength from weak to strong they are codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine (depending on delivery route oxycodone can be stronger) hydromorphone, Oxymorphone. One last topic is the suffix after the drug name like HCl or sulfate SO3. This is called the base and aids in the way the molecule is absorbed into the body and how water/oil soluble it is.
So all of these drugs are different and the way your body break them down is unique to each one, with some of the drugs changing into one another as they are excreted. Enzymes only work in one direction, because oxycodone can be broken down into oxymorphone that doesn’t mean oxymorphone can be broken down into oxycodone. Knowing these metabolic pathways is key to understanding how drug tests work. I beet many people have lost their jobs or suffered other consequences due to this ignorance that’s on the internet. Hopefully this clears that up.
What is the difference in codeine, morphine, oxycodone, Vicodin, OxyContin etc?
The etymology of organic chemistry makes the names very descriptive, but before we go into that lets break the names into classes.
Name brand vs. Generic. Chemically these drugs are exactly the same but often people will call the timed release of a drug by its name brand, and quick release by it generic, So the drug Oxycodone is sold as OxyContin. This comes in two “flavors”; OxyContin IR and OxyContin SR. Both contain the drug oxycodone HCl but the IR formula is just the drug and binders that hold the pill together. The OxyContin SR or sustained release is oxycodone in some type of matrix that retards the rapid dissolving of the drug. This is often a wax or sugar matrix that the drug is dissolved into. Or in some cases just a special coating on the pill. The SR pills can be hazardous to IV because there is not a simple way to separate the time release matrix from the drug. This is a simple process with the IR pills where the pill is just dissolved in cold water and filtered. This also applies to OxyMorphone which is Opana and any other sort of time release version. Hydrocodone which is Vicodin etc etc.
For the rest of this article generic names will be usedto avoid confusion.
What is the difference in Morphine, oxymorphone, hydromorphone, and codeine, hydrocodone and oxycodone?
The classes of these drugs fall into the parent molecule: Morphine and Codeine. Those are our two base drugs that the other drugs come from. In the interest of factual accuracy , and because this is the internet where people nit pick; manufacturing oxycodone doesn’t come from codeine but that is beyond the scope of this article as we are more interested in the effects of the different molecules and that would add confusion at this point.
Morphine and Codeine are chemically very similar. They share a common arrangement of atoms and the differences come from changing a few Oxygen or O atoms and H or hydrogen atoms on the “backbone” of the carbon ring structure of the molecule. Substituting just a few of these atoms make the different drugs. These atoms change things like potency, duration, side effects, and the way they are broken down (primarily P455 CYP class of enzymes) which is important in knowing what’s in your urine for a drug test. If you google the structure of morphine and codeine or any of these drugs you will find they look almost identical.
Codeine family: gives us Codeine, hydrocodone and Oxycodone. Their relative strength is in this order. Hydrocodone has H atoms attached to the back bone while oxycodone has oxygens in place of the hydrogen. Changing these atoms changes the way the drugs bind to receptors in the brain and how hard it is for your body to break it down. Codeine can be thought of as a morphine molecule with extra methyl groups (CH3) attached to it. Codeine works on your body by going to the liver, having the methyl groups stripped off becoming a morphine molecule, then attaching to receptors in your brain. So the active drug is morphine but this process of metabolism is slow which results in less pain relief. You can’t IV codeine as you would be skipping the step of sending the drug to the liver. Codeine is good for coughs but relatively weak pain reliever, Hydrocodone is stronger and Oxycodone is strongest but less effective for coughs. Oxycodone often has its own panel on drug tests at pain management offices. Say you are on Morphine and Oxycodone. When the urine cup is read two indicators will come up: a generic opiate test for both, and a specific test for just oxycodone. No it does not test for oxymorphone, as some suspect it looks for free and HCl oxycodone. That way the doctor can tell if you are taking each drug as directed or if you are taking all the oxy at once/selling/not taking it, but spacing the morphine out. Oxy clears your system quickly and if it has been more than two or three days since you last took it the doctor will be able to tell. And you just royally screwed up your pain management and they can take further action against you like taking you off the oxycodone or putting you on a drug that’s less effective if they suspect over/quick dosing or “diverting” which means selling. Codeine is one of the main drugs in the poppy flower’s opium. Codeine is an opioid as its natural and an opiate which is any narcotic pain reliever. Hydro/oxycodone are opiates because they are synthetic.
Morphine is codeine’s stronger cousin. Moderately strong when taken orally very strong when IV. Heroin is very similar to morphine but it contains two extra molecular groups on the backbone to help it bind to the brain receptors. Heroin is just really fast binding morphine to your brain. For some reason this speed is key to relieving pain. Hydromorphone and oxymorphone following the same conventions as their codeine counterparts. But as we are starting with a stronger drug to begin with these analogues are much stronger. Oxymorphone can be 10X stronger then morphine.
So that’s the six most prescribed drugs in pain management, and their differences. As far as strength from weak to strong they are codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine (depending on delivery route oxycodone can be stronger) hydromorphone, Oxymorphone. One last topic is the suffix after the drug name like HCl or sulfate SO3. This is called the base and aids in the way the molecule is absorbed into the body and how water/oil soluble it is.
So all of these drugs are different and the way your body break them down is unique to each one, with some of the drugs changing into one another as they are excreted. Enzymes only work in one direction, because oxycodone can be broken down into oxymorphone that doesn’t mean oxymorphone can be broken down into oxycodone. Knowing these metabolic pathways is key to understanding how drug tests work. I beet many people have lost their jobs or suffered other consequences due to this ignorance that’s on the internet. Hopefully this clears that up.