April 1, 2007 - 5:11am
i was wondering if oxycontin is legal in the U.S. i didn't think it was, because when i went to mexico with a few friends one of them bought some at a pharmacy there because he said he couldn't get it in the U.S. but i think he might've also said that you can get it, but only in small amounts of mgs. the ones he was looking for were the 160 mgs. i was just wondering if they were legal in the states, and also what are the effects of the drug? he didn't seem to be too messed up. more like he was very tired.
April 1, 2007 - 11:43am
#2
i have also heard of many
i have also heard of many mexican pharms selling "neo-percodan" as oxycodone. in fact, it is exactly what guitar player mentioned, equiv of darvacet.
all thoughts and opinions expressed are those of my own and should not be mistaken for medical advice. i am not a doctor nor a pharmacist. all medical questions should be answered by a licensed pharmacist, doctor, or primary care manager.
April 1, 2007 - 4:03pm
#3
I personally would never buy
I personally would never buy from an out of country pharmacy (except maybe Canadian), but you have to admit, if the mexican pharms are selling different combos as oxycontin, they're making us Americans look shameful in the fact that we'll buy whatever we can get our hands on.
April 1, 2007 - 7:39pm
#4
160 mg, holy moley. If this
160 mg, holy moley. If this is not some sort of counterfeit, it could pretty easily send someone into a coma. An opiate-naive patient, such as a person who just had surgery, might get two 5mg percocet pills and feel close to pain-free for 4 to 6 hours. In long-acting form, that would be one 20 mg oxycontin, every 12 hours. The 160 would be like taking 8 of the 20's- not something you want to do. A 160 mg pill taken by mouth is going to be very dangerous, and quite likely deadly if it is abused, which is probably why they are not manufactured in the United States any more.
April 1, 2007 - 7:55pm
#5
floot-tooter,
floot-tooter,
Actually, the problem they had with the 160mg tablet was not with those who were taking them by mouth. Per the sites rules, I am not going to post what those problems were, even though we are all aware of oxycontin abuse.
160mg is a ton of oxycontin, but some patients need it. Thanks to the people who decided to make recreation out of these pills, the 160mg versioin was discontinued. And, in all fairness to the long acting meds vs. short acting meds; it's very difficult to say that X amount of regular release meds would equal X amount of continuous release meds. Perfect example of this is with Fentanyl.
Gtrplayer
April 2, 2007 - 12:49pm
#6
Gtrplayer, I do realize that
Gtrplayer, I do realize that there are legitimate pain patients, who are obviously NOT opiate-naive, that need high doses of opiates to control their pain.
I also realize that the 160 oxycontin would be a bigger problem when abused then if taken by mouth.
My point is that 160 mg oxycontin, even if taken properly, is a huge amount for someone who IS opiate-naive, (Or someone who took 5 mg Percocet last month when they had knee surgery, or whatever) and could kill or put such a person in a coma. I think the Fentanyl patches in their highest doses would pose a similar problem, and are labeled DO NOT USE in opiate naive patients, for this very reason.
And yes, the sustained-release formulas cannot be converted as 'the same' as an equivalent amount of immediate-release. Each individual will absorb the drug into the bloodstream at his/her own rate, and the kidneys and liver will filter the drug out of the system at their own rate, not to mention that different bodies will not all have the same level of pain relief from an equal dose. Then there is the difference between the amount of drug that is available to be absorbed by the body, which will be different between the sustained- and immediate-release formulations. And that is before we start discussing the filler material, dyes, etc in the pill.
My point here is that 4 percocet (at its weakest usual strength, 5 mg plus 325 mg APAP) in 12 hours is the same amount (in mg, as labeled) of oxycodone released by a 20 mg oxycontin in a 12 hour period. And 20 mg of oxycodone in 12 hours is a whole lot different than 160 mg.
April 3, 2007 - 8:49pm
#7
My youngest son was in a
My youngest son was in a motorcycle accident 3 yrs ago. One of his legs was ripped off and one of his arms has enough damage that it will never be of much use to him. He has extreme phantom pain. He takes 80mg of oxycontin 4 times a day with endocet in-between for breakthrough pain. He takes 2mg of ativan and 2 ambien in the evenings and still never sleeps. He takes a "soup" of various other meds during the day (anti-inflamitories, anti-depressants, etc). He gets all of this from his pain management specialist. I am always worried he will accidently overdose because he has built up such a high tolerance and nothing has ever completely managed his pain. The one thing he hasn't tried (for reasons I won't go into now--would make this much longer than it already is!) is one of those moraphine pumps that are inserted under your skin and you refill them about every 3 months. Has anyone had any experience with them that they could share with me. Or, anyone with phantom pain who has gotten any relief from anything?
Thanks,
Lyn
April 3, 2007 - 9:49pm
#8
similar problem
I know everyone is going to say this should be in a new post all its own so it doesn't get lost or confused with others, but just a comment to you machinegunjoepeturb, what happened to your son is VERY similar to what happened to my cousin. Somewhere around 3-5 years ago my cousin and one of his friends were in a motorcycle accident. His friend had severe brain damage a died a couple years ago while my cousin had his arm almost ripped off and he's left with no use of it, only hanging bone, muscle, and tissue. He has gone through the whole regimen of different pain meds, anti-everything, etc. For a while he resorted to illegal drugs to try to numb the pain and has gone through bouts of low points. He really hasn't found anything to help either with all his problems. If you want to talk about this more you should start a new post to get more input.
The 160mg Oxycontin has been discontinued, so your friend will not find a 160mg Oxycontin that has been made recently, in the US.
As for the Oxycontin your friend claims to have bought in Mexico, I'd be very careful. A lot of what I have read about says that Mexican pharmacies will market a tablet as oxycodone/oxycontin, when the active ingredient in the pill is usually Propoxyphene and acetaminophen.
Also, when your friend said that he "can't get it in the USA", I don't think he meant it was unavailable. Oxycontin is still in production and is still available with a valid prescription.
Gtrplayer