OxyContin (oxycodone) is a highly addictive opioid pain medication. Addiction to oxycodone can occur in anyone, even at recommended dosages. However, there are certain factors that put people at a higher risk of addiction. It’s important to follow your doctor’s instructions and to take the smallest https://ecosoberhouse.com/ amount of oxycodone for the shortest amount of time possible to lower your risk of addiction.

Kevin Drum

• Doctors wrote 5.4 million prescriptions for the painkiller in 2014, and according to a Purdue spokesman, 80% were for 12-hour dosing.
• The title of the series refers more to the challenge of recovering from an opiate addiction than getting addicted in the first place.
• Medication alone, there is some evidence to show that not everybody needs psychotherapy, but using psychotherapy or that one on one approach with positive reinforcement in good habits complements it very well.

Jack O’Connor says he ended his freshman year of college as an alcoholic. He went home that summer desperate to replace alcohol with something else. In 2012, 259 million opioid pain medication prescriptions were written — that’s enough painkillers for every American to have a bottle of the pills. As the overdose crisis evolves, communities of color in particular have experienced a surge in fatal overdoses – deaths that are often preventable. And most recently, COVID-19 supply chain disruptions led people to use whatever was available, causing a surge in overdoses from drug mixing.

Oxycodone

Opioid use disorder is a medical condition just like depression, diabetes or hypertension, and just like those conditions, it is most effectively treated with a combination of medication and counseling. Opioid addiction, or technically “opioid use disorder,” is defined as loss of control over use of opioids. This means that the person continues to use opioids despite negative consequences or is unable to stop using opioids despite wanting to. This person may also have a preoccupation with using opioids, obtaining opioids or craving for opioids.

Is Oxycodone Addictive?

Oxycodone is a semisynthetic opioid medication with potent pain-relieving properties that may be used to relieve severe pain that is unresponsive to less potent pain-relieving medicines (analgesics), such as cancer-related pain. It can be addictive and cause physical dependence and common side effects include sedation and constipation. Opioid dependence and some of the most distressing opioid withdrawal symptoms stem from changes in another important brain system, involving an area at the base of the brain—the locus ceruleus (LC) (Figure 2). Neurons in the LC produce a chemical, noradrenaline (NA), and distribute it to other parts of the brain where it stimulates wakefulness, breathing, blood pressure, and how addictive is oxycontin general alertness, among other functions. When opioid molecules link to mu receptors on brain cells in the LC, they suppress the neurons’ release of NA, resulting in drowsiness, slowed respiration, low blood pressure—familiar effects of opioid intoxication. With repeated exposure to opioids, however, the LC neurons adjust by increasing their level of activity.

Using these extra raw materials, the neuron can produce enough cAMP to offset the inhibitory effect of the drug and release roughly normal amounts of NA despite the presence of the drug. At this stage, the individual no longer experiences the same intensity of acute opioid effects as in earlier stages of abuse. He says chronic physical pain in addicts is often an expression of past trauma. “I say it will be the worst pain of your entire life for two weeks, but that will be the end of it. Meanwhile, we do 12-step and group therapy programs with them and intensive treatment of their withdrawal.” Pinsky, who is medical director for the department of chemical dependency services at Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena, Calif., tells WebMD he admits at least two patients a day for overusing painkillers.