I thought OC was merely shorthand for OxyContin? I don't know because in the UK people are almost always prescribed a generic medication.
It's interesting to read the history of oxycodone. When it was first produced in Europe during the late 1920s it escaped legal control. It was produced as a compound medication in the form of 5mg oxycodone, 325mg aspirin and the perception was that it was merely an alternative to codeine. But it doesn't take a genius to realize that the aspirin could easily be removed and the first oxycodone epidemic occured.
Oxycodone first popped up in the US during the 1950s in that exact same formulation. Then it quickly expanded with oxycodone/paracetamol (acetaminophen) and latterly oxycodone/ibuprofen. So a user could pop two of each. In fact, the hard limit on paracetamol is best measured over 24 hours with the simple rule 'not more than 4 grams in any 24 hour period'. But you get the idea. People quickly realized that while at low doses oxycodone IS subjectively similar to codeine, but it's quiite different at high doses.
Then of course the third wave was entirely due to Perdue and their aggressive sales tactics. Apparently the KEY advantage of OxyContin was that it was supposed to relieve pain for 12 hours. Doctors were told that if a given dose didn't last for 12 hours, the patient simply needed a larger dose. Of course, new studies reveal that OxyContin's mean analgesic duration is just 9.6 hours so patients would end up on a roller coaster with euphoria for a few hours, analgesia extending a few more hours and then a couple of hours in which they would begin to go into withdrawal.
Now I ONLY consume oxycodone for severe chronic pain. I'm not looking for anything else. Recently a 24 hour formulation has arrived on the UK market. Onexila XL s supposed to be a once-a-day format but the BNF provides absolutely no information on the product. It used to be available in only one strength - 80mg. But I've noted that more recently 10, 20, 40 as well as 80mg formulations are now available. I am VERY tempted to ask about this product but I cannot find any data on bioavailability or on the true duration of action. I don't want to discover that it only lasts for 20 hours. I also considered asking about methadone but in the UK, Physeptone tablets are solely used to treat pain (being taken every 8 or 12 hours) whereas methadone linctus is solely used to treat opioid dependence. In the last few years there have been saveral shortages of the tablets BUT UK law means doctors cannot legally prescribe the linctus for pain!
