OxyContin and Withdrawal: What Users Say

• Chi...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• December 9, 2019

For Chronic Pain "I've been taking 80mg IR OxyContin for 15 years. With 30mg IR morphine, I have stage 3 lung cancer and colon cancer. My pain doctor stopped the 80s with no warning. I suffered for three months with withdrawals and had to go to the ER a lot. My pain has increased and the pain doctor won't do anything. He's scared of losing his license. Now the ER wants nothing to do with me. So I cry a lot sitting at home, wishing somebody would do something. I don't understand how they can't help me with the pain. I know they closed down Purdue, all those billions the lawyers took, but what about us, the people suffering from pain? Nobody cares about us."

• Mad...
• January 24, 2016

For Chronic Pain "I have been prescribed OxyContin 60mg for well over 6 years now. In just the last 2 months, I have gotten a refill. I know for a fact that either the manufacturer or where they get their medication through, there has been a shortage of the medication per the dosage compared to what it used to be. I don't know at what level this is occurring. Whether this is another government regulation that says if someone is prescribed 60mg tablets, the manufacturer is only allowed to put 30mg in that tablet? I have been on this same medication for a long time, and starting December 2015 and January 2016, my medication has been shorted. My body goes through tremendous withdrawal symptoms each month I refill this medication. I need an answer."

• mau...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• January 16, 2015

For Chronic Pain "Initially, it was beneficial in easing my chronic pain until I had a recent back operation. Now I am being brought down from a dosage of 120 mg per day and now down to 25 mg per day. Coming off it has been particularly stressful coping with the withdrawal factor, but I have recognized the withdrawal symptoms and am learning to cope with them on a daily basis with the help of my GP, who has also become my counselor and is helping me with this painful regression of dosage. It has been a period of 4 months so far, and I am hopeful of being totally free of the medicine within that same time frame. Although it helped me to get through the pain until the operation, it has been a very painful process of withdrawal. If possible, an alternative medication would be advisable."

• 1ba...
• January 11, 2010

For Pain "After a series of operations on my lower back, the nerve scarring caused chronic pain. After being prescribed one pain medication after another, I was finally referred to a pain specialist. In 2000, I was put onto OxyContin at 30 mg twice a day. After less than 3 months, I suffered very bad withdrawal symptoms after missing the morning dose. The pain during those hours seemed to increase tenfold. By 2003, the dose had increased to 60 mg three times a day. I have now been taking OxyContin for 9 years. I still have breakthrough pain that keeps me from most activities, and my heart and lungs have been affected. I would like to stop taking the medication but have bad withdrawals."

• Anonymous
• January 7, 2010

For Pain "I used this medicine under strict supervision at a pain management center after failed trials with Opana and Kadian, which made me ill. Vicodin was not strong enough as I have had open back surgery from my skull to mid-back to drain a spinal cord cyst called a 'syrinx.' My spine was arthritic and required struts to rebuild it; I now have chronic acute pain just holding up my head (max 5-6 hours at a time). I also have chronic low back pain, arthritis, and herniation with a tear. Thankfully, it relieved my pain and helped me function somewhat normally for 5-6 months. Then one month, the refill arrived two days late and I went through withdrawal, suffering horribly with dark suicidal ideation and depression. I got off it. Now on Percocet, not ideal."

• nst...
• January 1, 2009

For Pain "I've been on OxyContin for almost 4 years, with a dosage of 40 mg twice daily, supplemented by hydrocodone 10/500 three times a day. My diagnosis is severe skeletal trauma from a motorcycle accident and other car accidents. The OxyContin provides me with almost complete relief on a good day and makes my pain bearable on a bad day. The negative is the brutal withdrawal. I travel extensively for my job and take with me only what I need in a separate pillbox. I carry a copy of the prescriptions with me. I had 22 OxyContin and 30+ hydrocodones stolen out of my luggage. I didn't want to ask for a refill early because I couldn't get either the airline or TSA to acknowledge the theft and did not want to be labeled a drug seeker."

• mou...
• January 13, 2010

For Pain "I am a 47-year-old male who has taken this drug for 10 years (300 mg per day, every day). Yes, it will ease pain, but normally after 2 to 3 years you have to increase it. I was medically dependent within months. In late fall '09, the medicines just lost their effect by at least 50%. So I was faced with a 50% increase in medicines. I said NO! So I tried a medical detox place to start. After 90 hours there, they said, 'You have done great, we are sending you home.' I was so proud till 4 a.m. the next day. I threw up 90 times in the next 60 hours. I lost 34 lbs. in 8 days and had severe withdrawal symptoms for 2 more weeks. It has been 30 days since I started this, and I will never put that poison in my body."

• Exf...
• February 23, 2011

For Pain "I was on every pain medicine imaginable and even OxyContin for a few years. At first, I thought it was the 'wonder medicine' people talk about. After a while, though, it caused me more problems than it was worth. The strange thing was, if I took the normal (prescribed) dose, I would actually feel like I had more pain than if I didn't take it at all, so I was always trying to take more because if I didn't take it, I had withdrawals. Then I was always caught trying to take more to avoid the pain or the withdrawal. I finally got away from that and started taking methadone. A very small dose of methadone does fine with absolutely no side effects, no withdrawals if I don't need it that day, and no chasing the pain away."

• Izz...
• January 23, 2009

For Pain "My husband has been prescribed some kind of painkiller since the age of 11 due to football injuries as well as several auto accidents. Seventy-two broken bones throughout his life. About 9 years ago, a pain management doctor prescribed him OxyContin, and it has changed his life for the good as well as creating some unfortunate disadvantages. The withdrawal is horrible for him, but after a bilateral knee replacement, it definitely improved the quality of both of our lives. He is much more active than before and can do so many things that I had to do for him in the past. So with proper management by doctors, it has definitely proved to be a Godsend."

• Anonymous
• March 11, 2009

For Pain "Very good (one of the best in my experience) pain drug, but beware. It is VERY addicting with horrible withdrawal symptoms if you don't have help to get off of it."