Hey
@Pinkquartz 
Percocet is a brand name for a combination product. There are many drugs out there on the pharmaceutical market that have been patented as essentially "new" medicines that are, well, obviously not new at all. I have mixed feelings about products like Oxycodone/APAP or more broadly Opioids/NSAIDS and the like. In one way, they are beneficial due to their convenience. Both drugs, in this case, the Oxycodone and Acetaminophen are both used for their painkilling effects (analgesia), but both work in different ways, upon different systems in the body.
This convenience also leads to a great deal of unnecessary confusion for folks who really don't understand a lot about these things. For many of us here, these things are so second nature, we hardly think about them, to you and your mother, I understand that this is really not the case. It would be better, I feel, to educate and prescribe the Opioid alone, as this is the drug with the most serious and wide-ranging effects upon a persons health, personality and lifestyle. Most folks are already familiar with drugs like Acetaminophen as they are commonly used, effective, over the counter painkillers with good efficacy and limited side effects when used appropriately.
So, now you have someone asking questions abut "Percocet" specifically, when the real knowledge they need is 90% wrapped up in the knowledge of the Opioid. I believe it's easy enough for a doctor to say, "take xxxMG APAP with your Oxycodone". It also limits the ability of the patient to make smaller dosage changes more frequently for either drug.
On to your real question though. You should probably have a basic understanding of APAP, as stated above. Most people do. In regard to your wondering about side effects like: sleep problems, talking in sleep, general changes in lifestyle, that is almost certainly going to be related to the Oxycodone as opposed to the Acetaminophen. Frankly, I don't see what benefit or even significant difference is hoped for in switching a pain patient from Percocet to plain Oxycodone without Acetaminophen. For people with normal, healthy livers, I see no good reason to exclude the APAP and your doctor seems to be implying that there is some kind of huge difference between the two when at the end of the day, the difference is as simple and minute as you, I or any one of us being in pain and either taking or not taking a Tylenol for said pain. The cause and effect are rather simply and a medical doctor is not really required to infer such a difference, as a person should be able to infer for themselves.
In short, I really don't see what kind of groundbreaking conclusion they are hoping to draw from such a change. From my perspective, it could only lead to more pain? Is there something specifically wrong with your loved-one's reaction to Acetaminophen?
Use us like an object my friend, it's what we like!!!!
