Oxycontin Dependance/Withdrawal Help

[galo]

Hello,

Im a little worried here.

I fell off the stairs at home last month and got a broken rib.
According to the doctors theres nothing I can do but to wait a couple of months as ribs usually heal on their own.

The pain is very bad though and they prescribed me oxycontin ER which I've been taking almost every night before bed for the last 5 weeks.

The dose they suggested is 10 to 15mg a day and I've never had more than that.

I don't think my body has developed any tolerance yet (15mg works great and I can sleep OK) but the pain still very bad if I don't take a pill at night.

If I keep taking the same dose 3 or 4 times a week until my ribs are healed (hopefully next month) am I facing a big risk for withdrawal symptoms when I stop?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Jekyl Anhydride]

Hi galo and Welcome to BL

Well I won't lull you into a false sense of security as opioid dependence & WD is rough business, but the fact you're at 15mg per day (all 15mg at night?) and are spacing it out to 3 -4 days a week I'd say that your chances of coming through with minimal WD symptoms are very good.

A way of testing this theory is to try and go an extra day without any OC if you feel up to it and aren't in as much pain as usual. The things to look for are watery eyes, runny nose, feeling of general malaise, diarrhea. Those are the general WD symptoms you'd expect if a physical dependence was developing.

At the rate you are going I'd expect a WD syndrome equal to a mild cold and a week of feeling a little run down after 2 months of 15mg every 3-4 days. Now this isn't a reason to not take your medicine if you are in pain. If a mild tolerance develops it's not that difficult to diminish with a plan from your doctor for a couple extra weeks worth of OC or similar opioid medicine to taper off with. If you were to take 5 mg every other day or so for a week or something similar to that, I doubt you would have to go through much of anything at all.

And again the low dose and 1-2 day breaks in between dosing make a huge difference regarding any substantial tolerance issues. If you were prescribed NSAIDs like Naproxen or Ibuprofen, they can be more helpful than you might think for the off days and when combined with the OC will increase the pain killing efficacy by quite a bit.

So IMO, take what you need when you need it and if you do develop a mild tolerance it's nothing your doctor can't help with, esp considering you seem like a very responsible user of opioid medications.

Best of Luck and Godspeed on Healing up

 

[galo]

Thanks so much for all that information.
I think I'm gonna try to add some NSAIDs and see how it goes.

 

[WuSconsinKnight]

While I have a brand new account, I've been lurking for quite some time. What Jekyl Anhydride provided is spot on, great advice. To help calm you worries even more, another positive thing is you are taking extended release version. This helps keep the peak plasma levels of the drug constant over 12hrs. It essentially helps you use a lower amount of active ingredient to achieve pain reduction. As compared to instant release where you get a faster and steeper plasma peak curve and quicker elimination from the blood.

Good luck and hope the ribs heal up quick!