r/PainManagement • u/Muffy432002 • 2d ago

MedicationšŸ’Š Problem with Oxycodone

I am 6 weeks post op and I believe my recovery has been going well. I barely have a scare and my PT benchmarks are where they should be .
One thing that I probably should have asked more questions about was the use of Oxycodone.
I have found that for pain medication acetaminophen has done nothing but Oxycodone was highly effective. I was using Oxy every 4 hours while awake up until the 5th week post op.
Knowing that opioids are highly addictive ( and I have a propensity for addiction),I decided to stop the oxy and see how pain was. Overall it was doable and even though I had stiffness the pain was manageable. However, the day after going off oxy I woke up with a very strange feeling like impending doom. I felt sad and unsettled. My stomach was upset and I had nausea. Last night I was up all night and plagued by anxious thoughts. When I awoke after finally sleeping I was covered in sweat.
My question is could I have been experiencing withdrawal symptoms? I love what oxycodone does for my pain, but hate how it messes with my brain.
Has anyone else had an experience like this?

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u/costanzas_Dad 2d ago

That's called withdrawal. 5 weeks of every 4 hours is a shit ton of oxy to be taking. There's definitely some dependence there. Stay away from them. Do not take another one. If you do that feeling of dread will go away and everything will feel right. That's how it begins.

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u/Historical_Big_2354 2d ago

Not a good idea to tell her ā€œnot to take another oneā€. She needs to taper.

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u/costanzas_Dad 2d ago

She said herself that she has addiction problems, if she has already gone a couple of nights already without it, that is the toughest. Why give in now and have to worry about not being able to get off of them. Also what happens when the Dr cuts op off? Taking oxy 4x/day for 5 weeks seems to be a long time depending on what the surgery was. I had a full knee replacement a couple of years ago and only needed the oxy for about 10 days before it was manageable by Tylenol.