Which 12-hour time-release medications are most effective for chronic pain management?

Many people do find that their pain is under better control with long acting pain meds. This is because you have less "peaks" of medication. When you take a short acting drug, the entire dose of medication is released all at once and the medication rushes into the receptors and eases pain for an hour or two then tapers off and most people are back in pain before the next dose is due so over a 24 hour period, you are spending several hours in pain still. This rush of drug can increase tolerance in some people and some people end up taking their meds too close together because they dont want to be in pain for that hour or two until the next dose is due. A long acting dose can last 8-10-12 hours for most people and the dose is slowly released over this time so you have less rush of drug to the receptors. The people who wrote these guidelines think that this may help reduce abuse and tolerance (and it does in some people) I, myself, prefer to be on a long acting drug. It covers my pain better and yes, there are less "peaks and valleys" of relief. Instead of riding through pain every few hours, I may have only two times in a day that I feel more pain before my next dose is due instead of 4-5 times a day as with a short acting drug and some docs will give you some short acting meds for this "breakthrough" of pain. If you are doing well with Percocet which is oxycodone, the long acting form of oxycodone is Oxycontin. As far as what long acting works, it is different for everyone. You may just need to try them to see how they work for you. Your Dr should take your daily total of opioid you take per day, so at 5mg three time a day, that is 15mg, divide in half and give you that dose every 12 hours, so in your case, he would probably give you Oxycontin 10mg every 12 hours (they dont make a 7.5mg) But these guidelines are just that-guidelines. They are NOT laws and no one is making him do this! It is just considered "good practice" to follow the states guidelines. You can try a long acting drug. You may actually find it does better.