Opioids Oxycodone (30M) weird effects

[Pixies]

Hey guys, first time posting here. Just had a few questions for a newb here. I've been on and off many, many opiods, various mgs, over the last several years, for my lower back pain. Piriformis Syndrome (Sciatica). Recently, my doctor and I have been trying to find a drug and dosage that works for managing my round the clock severe pain. After having been through most of them, Oxcontin* (40mg) 4 times a day, with 10-15mg Oxy IR x4 a day for breakthrough. Welp, my insurance doesn't cover Oxycontin, because apparently only one company makes it, yada yada yada, so now, while we wait to figure out another ER medication to use in its place, I was perscribed just a whole bunch of Oxycodone (IR). Currently prescribed 30mg x6 times a day. I have the M30's. Here's the deal. Day two of taking them, they made me sick. I wasn't feeling the euphoric effects I normally get, just cold chills, and anxiety like feelings. As well as the nausea and just general crappy feeling. I figured that day, I probably took maybe 1 pill over my max dosage for the day. I figured my tolerance was pretty high, but never have they just not worked for me, or made me sick. Not like I'm going to pass out, just anxiety and chills, and nausea. Has anyone had anything similar to this happen to them? Just wondering if it's possible my receptors are waaay overloaded and just not working correctly, because my body probably wasn't used to getting THAT MUCH oxy without having acip or taking with Tylenol or Advil. Looking for any advice as to what I should do. I've only taken about 90mg today, and starting to feel the similar effects again. My tolerance should be much high than this, but I also broke it up over several hours. Took the first 30 at like 8am. Felt fine, the 2nd one around noon, and felt almost no euphoria. My 3rd of the day was around 3:30 and it's already giving me that sick feeling. Any tips or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks guys!

P.S. - Not taking any other meds besides the Oxy, I stopped taking Advil with them. I also recently stopped smoking weed the other day, and my Clonazepams (1mg as needed) ran out right before I got this new script, as they were keeping my serotonin levels somewhat OK, until I got my pain killers again.

Thanks again for any help anyone has

 

[DaysNDaze]

I'd say it could be a sign of trouble in the liver. Something isn't metabolizing properly.

Could perhaps be withdrawal from the benzos.

 

[Pixies]

I'd say it could be a sign of trouble in the liver. Something isn't metabolozing properly.

Could perhaps be withdrawal from the benzos.

Thank you for the quick reply. I don't think it's an issue with the Liver, as I have been checking for symptoms of that. The benzo WDs I can get behind, but doesn't exactly make sense to me, wouldn't the opiate overpower the WD from such a low dosage of Benzos? I think the most I ever took was 4mg in one day, otherwise it was normal maybe 1-2mg every few days, not even constant.

 

[DaysNDaze]

Well you're taking the medication as prescribed, so in prescribed dosages, hypothetically it isn't supposed to get you high, especially since you already have a tolerance. The anxiety and chills could be residual benzo withdrawal and the nausea is a side effect of oxycodone.

 

[Raysu]

I think it's benzo wd. I've been on OxyContin, oxycodone, and clonazepam. The oxycodone can have side effects adjusting to a higher IR dose but IMO it sounds more like the typical rebound anxiety, nausea, uncomfortableness that comes from a sudden drop/cut off in benzos (especially cold sweats as that's not common from an excess dose of opioids). Yes some symptoms can be eased by opioids but not enough to make life pleasant, just to keep hell at bay...but you should be concerned at not having any in your system and the potential for seizures. Benzos need a taper so if you ran out you need to figure something out. Take it seriously because aside from alcohol wd, it's one that can prove fatal. The other thought is how you take the oxys (empty stomach, etc.) that can sometimes be an issue with a sudden jump in any given drug. Obviously taking a smaller dose can help differentiate if that's the case though.

 

[Pixies]

OK, I appreciate the advice. I will look into it more, talk to my doc, etc. I didn't think I would get them from only being on them a few months, and like I said, not even taking them everyday. Just before I had run out of pain meds, to help the sleep. It's just weird that the symptoms seem to come and go based around my dosing of Oxy. I am going to take 1 more 30 tonight at some point, and see what happens. Right now, I feel fine again, so it seemed to me that they came on after taking the Oxy earlier. I just wanted to make sure it couldn't be because of my receptors being overly full or something, as I continue to flood them, so to speak. Thanks again guys, will update.

 

[speedballs_over]

If you've taken clonazepam at that dosage you must have some tolerance, right? And how long did you take clonazepam until you ran out? You may very well be feeling benzo w/d. Even every other day or every third day use of a long lasting benzo can cause dependency. It's nothing to blow off, benzo w/d can be very nasty and present so similar to opioid withdrawal that you'd not be the first to confuse the two. I have.

Generally, opioids or opioid withdrawal will not mask benzo withdrawal to any noticable degree, particularly when you have a tolerance to your opioid dosage. One way to know would be to take clonazepam and see if it resolves the symptoms. Could you ask your prescribing physician for a few tablets to find out?

It sounds as if you're withdrawing from one or the other. If it's not the benzo then maybe bring those remaining tablets (as long as you haven't taken too many extra) back to the pharmacy and ask if they have another brand or can order one for you ASAP. I had to do this with a bad batch of Suboxone I got a year ago. They ordered me a different brand, we swapped out my bad pills when the new ones came in the next day. Pharmacist just took back 22 pills and gave me 22 of the different brand. All was good after that exchange.

Or maybe this dosing regime just isn't working for you. Perhaps methadone or fentanyl are worth looking into, as you've got a long term issue on your hands.

I wish you the best.

General harm reduction advice: when increasing the dose of either benzo or opioid when taking combined be aware of synergistic effects. The typical benzo/opioid warning.

 

[fslink]

Sorry for the short one liner I'm at work but the past 2 months my script of mallies (m30) I've had to swap for actavis (a215) due to them being total garbage. My local mom and pop pharmacy I fill them at said grapevine word is there's a bad batch of roughly 50,000 m30s that got mixed up somehow and only got 5mg oxycodone added and they are quietly recalling them. While that is secondhand info, I feel it is realistic as they did jack ass for me and I've been on mallies on and off for 5 years. Don't take a shit ton of them hoping for a buzz either as you may or may not have a bad batch and don't wanna risk overdose but do try to get them swapped if you can.

 

[Ilove2nod]

Yeah benzo withdrawl sounds like it might be the culprit here for you pixies. I have taken clonazepam at 3-4mgs a day for the past 4 years alongside buprenorphine. Whenever I have run out of my kpins and just had sub, I still had horrible withdrawls even after just not having them for one day. After that I had to go another 4 days(5 including the one day I just mentioned last sentence) with no klonopin once and felt like HELL. Bupe isn't a full agonist or anything but its still a partial agonist opioid, and I figured it might help a bit with the benzo wd but it didn't do shit to help. I learned a valuable lesson that time I took way too many kpins when I first got them and ran out a 5 days early and no one would fill my script because I ran out too early. One of the worst experiences of my life and it doesn't get any better after that first day. I would try my hardest to get some klonopins or any benzo before the full wds kick in, I am pretty sure that is your problem. If not that is also pretty disturbing what fslink said above me about the mallinkrodt 30s, I sure hope for your sake that isn't the problem along with running out of kpins. Good luck with everything.

 

[Pixies]

Yeah, something is def weird going on with my receptors. I am getting the "nod" effect, but none of the "euphoria" or "nice" feeling. I'm guessing it has to be benzos. So weird. It def feels like they are legit 30's, so I dunno how long this feeling will last, before I get my normal opiate feelings back. This sucks bad lol.

 

[fslink]

If you can't get more clonazepam for a while, you could try etizolam or clonazolam, benzo rcs which are easily obtainable online. Do a bit of research though as they are rcs for a reason. My kpin use was 2.5mg a day for 3 years and I would occasionally double that daily just because and be short at the end of the month and both of the above worked wonders. I also had limited success with phenibut, pregabalin, and other gabaergic drugs. They are easier to find or get a script for but won't kill wd 100 percent.

Another thing to think about is your kpin may have been not so much potentiating as synergizing with your previous oxy use thereby creating an effect you are used to and now without the added synergy your oxy feels off.

 

[Pixies]

That's what's weird though, guys. I'm having ZERO WDs from either drug. I'm not taking the oxy, because why waste it if it doesn't do what it should, and I haven't had Kpin in my system for going on 4 days now. It's really weird. I just don't have any of my cravings or anxiety. I just feel normal. It's sorta freaking me out lol...

 

[MrRoot]

Not to dicksize or anything but I took 160mgs of oxycodone daily for a long time and could still nod when I took 240-260mgs all at once so I really do think your receptors aren't overflooded or whatever but you are suffering from benzo withdrawals.

 

[Pixies]

I don't doubt that the benzos are having something to do with it, but as I stated in my last post, I'm having ZERO WDs or "cravings" for either medication, and it's been 4 days since last KPIN dose, and it was only 1mg.

 

[fslink]

Well personally I would consider you lucky as fuck if you've been taking benzos and 40x4+15x4mg oxycodone and now 6x30mg oxycodone daily for anything longer than about 47seconds and aren't experiencing any withdrawals at all, get out while you still can? (joke) evrn if you feel fine, there could be a inhibition of any number of cyp450 enzymes which are preventing it from properly metabolizing, especially since you are used to such a staggered dosing regime, my liver function tests regularly fluctuate from nafld to perfectly fine, consequence of using pain meds, idk but when I'm not using anything they stay baseline so draw your own conclusions.

There's only so much we can advise you without knowing your complete medical history and even then, most of us aren't doctors so all advice is anecdotal. With that being said, if you're sure you aren't wding, and your liver is fine, and your oxy feels legit, there's not much else we can tell you but go get checked out.

 

[fslink]

Only other thing I could think of offhand is to experiment with potentiation or a different ROA, but in the interest of HR, you really don't want to go from using as directed to (ab)using as desired, I've been down that road many times when it just wasn't working anymore and it never ends well. I just mentioned it since being in pain can drive someone to do crazy shit but as long as you can work with your doctor and pharmacist to properly manage your pain, that is always the route you should take.

 

[Pixies]

Yeah, it really is all about managing my pain at this point. My condition, Piriformis Syndrome is the piriformis muscle (the connecting muscle underneath your gluteus muscle, between your hips and your SI connected pelvic joint), is basically "spazzing" out against my sciatic nerve, and causing my entire lower backs muscles to "lock up" and basically not only cause debilitating pain, but also hindering basic daily activity. There isn't really a "cure" or surgery that can be done to fix this, let alone, they don't really know the causes of this. Tomorrow I will set up an apt with my psych doc about those meds, I want to just have some for "emergencies" or panic attacks, etc. Any suggestion about which I should go for, I would also appreciate. I've tried Xanax and K-Pins so far. Xanax def felt like it worked "better/faster", so I was hoping to maybe just get more of those, maybe go up to 2mg, and just save them. But I'm open to any suggestions like I said. I also had tried Valium 5mg before, but didn't feel like it did anything for me. Also, I've been prescribed about every muscle relaxer under the sun and they've all been basically useless to me. Or, just don't work at all. It might have something to do with my size, or my ancestry, as a doc once mentioned (I'm 6'5, 250). They gave me 8mg Dillys, 4 times a day, that I literally didn't even feel the effects. Though, a lot of people say that about taking them orally. I did try plugging them once, but still didn't feel that. My plugging methods also might be flawed, as I just use water, but never feel like it's enough to get all of the powder out of my plastic curved tip syringe (used as a water pick), as I will never shoot anything into my veins or snort. Anyhow, thanks for all the advice from everyone. I think my tolerance for Oxy is just really high at this point. I will update as I learn more this week, myself. Thanks guys!

 

[fslink]

Yeah in the army I got a few injuries that resulted in temp sciatica and even lasting roughly a month it sucked so I feel your pain.

As far as benzos go, Xanax does hit harder/faster but has a much shorter half life than kpin's 19ish hour half life so it really depends on if you need it for acute attacks sporadically or around the clock steady maintenance

 

[Pixies]

I think just acute attacks, that come on randomly. Or, if I come up a day or two short of getting my meds. It's so shitty in my state, because they won't even let my pharmacies fill 1-2 days before I run out, which is BS. Everyone in this state, docs and pharmacists included, are just fucking terrified of the DEA breathing down their neck. It's really shitty, especially for people with legit long term pain.

AND, this whole thing going on right now with Pardu Pharma, is just straight up bullshit for people like me. Many insurance companies like mine (and I have GOOD insurance), won't cover it because they aren't making generics? I guess? I still don't fully understand how only one company can be the only one to make Oxycontin*. Which, the first time I took it, was a miracle drug. Finally, an ER med that worked AND at least lasted 4 solid hours for me. Every IR Oxy or whatever else, I'll be lucky to get an hour/hour and 1/2 out of it. Really bad, because I already have anxiety, so waiting to take another dose it just hell on my central nervous system. At least my doctor finally understands what's going on, and is working with me the best he can. I really didn't expect him to prescribe me so much OXY in one day. I think I'm going to ask for MSContin though, next time I'm in. I've taken IR Morphine that just didn't work as well. And Morphine for me, gave me the most intense WDs I think I've ever had. I'm going to hope that, combined with some OXY for BT pain, works for me.

EDIT: Thanks again to everyone for their replies, and I wish those of you still dealing with pain, the best of luck. We're all in this thing together, and I wish the best for everyone who's suffered like I've suffered, no matter what the condition.

 

[fslink]

I think because of the stigma associated with oxycontin abuse many insurance companies shy away from it especially when it's prescribed at anything less than q12h dosing. My insurance won't cover it, but they DO cover zohydro (wtf) even though it's "brand new" and def not generic for a long time... Might check with your insurance and see if that's the case with them too and ask your pdoc