Oxycodone- is it a big deal?

[Cicero]

A local television program tonight concentrated on all the addictions caused by this medication. It was flagship show and has some credibility so it will have a lot of traction.

However, what I can't quite grasp is the addiction factor. After a major operation about 18 months ago I was prescribed Oxycodene.

It was, I suppose, alright for pain relief.

But there was nothing more. It never made me feel like I needed more of it, or would even ask for another prescription.

I understand medications affect people differently but to me it was a big nothing.

[astro]

They gave me a ton of it when I injured my tailbone years ago. I had the same reaction as you. It relieved the pain somewhat, but it wasn't all that. Some people must get a huge rush from it. I gave most of them away to a friend recovering from prostate surgery.

[lost4life]

I don't know much about it, but don't people crush it up and get the whole effect at once? That might have something to do with it.

[Chicagojeff]

I used it with no issue after my patella tendon surgery.. I have however seen and made arrest involving it and stolen perscription pads.. I think if it wasn't this for some people it would be something else..

[Khadaji]

I have had it many times. I noticed the last time, when I went cold turkey, that I had pretty severe withdrawals and if I need it again I will ween myself off instead of going cold turkey. Indeed, I'm pretty sure I had withdrawals every time, but wasn't as aware.

While taking it, it did not make me high, but did muddle my brain. It was hard to read or even watch TV when I was on it.

One guy I know told me that a couple of doses with a bit of whiskey will make you feel gooood. I am not convinced that he was kidding, he may indeed have taken it this way. If so, I didn't want to hear the details.

[Shagnasty]

I had a prescription after surgery once and I felt the same way you did. After I got better, I still had some left so I am ashamed to say that I tried to see what the fuss was about by crushing three times the prescribed dose. It made me feel off but not in a good way. I still don't get it.

[Cicero]

If it was a choice of oxycodone and sex, sex would always win out.

For me. With the right woman. Or even an average one. (She would have to be to accommodate me).

[Ferret Herder]

I think it depends partially on your situation, too. I got a prescription for Vicodin (hydrocodone plus acetaminophen/paracetamol; not oxycodone) after breaking my wrist, and realized after taking a dose that I didn't really care that my wrist was broken and that I'd have to cope with all of the related issues. I can see how someone in a bad life situation might enjoy the release from anxiety, if oxycodone is anything like that.

(Twenty minutes after taking it, however, I threw up. Trying it on both full and empty stomach gave the same result, so I stopped taking it.)

[Bob Ducca]

It's made so that the effects are time-released. Not much to it when taken normally.

Supposed to feel better than heroin and sex combined when it's crushed and snorted.

[BetsQ]

I had some prescribed recently by an ER doctor for a bout of shingles. (Ouch.) I was taking them as prescribed when I went to see my primary care physician three days later. She was a little surprised at the quantity I'd been taking and suggested I ease up. I switched to ibuprofen, which did the trick at that point. No trouble stopping, but while I was taking it, I slept pretty much all the time. I was happy to be asleep at the time, but a three day nap is not something I'd see much interest in taking drugs for recreationally.

[Telemark]

People who are abusing are not taking it as prescribed. As others have mentioned, it is crushed up and snorted, giving an intense high that isn't really comparable to the pain relief you get when taken normally.

[Rigamarole]

Y'all are nuts. I've taken it the regular way (ingested orally, not snorted) and that stuff makes you feel great.

Snorting pills is actually really horrible since pills are made up mostly of binding agents that wreak havoc on your nasal canal. When I was in high school I tried it with a different kind of pill and it burned like hell.

[Fretful Porpentine]

It probably depends a lot on your body chemistry. Personally, I could totally see how people get addicted to opiates after I got my wisdom teeth out. Yeah, it pretty much sends you to sleep, but in my case it was blissful sleep, kind of like hugging a warm blanket o'happiness around you.

I told my mother this and she thought I was completely insane. (Of course, she did have the puking side effect, which, I'm sure, makes the whole experience a lot less pleasant.)

[irishgirl]

Also, you were all in PAIN when you took it. It was doing what it was designed to do- dull the pain and allow you to feel normal.

Take it when you don't have pain and it will make you feel like you are wrapped in a nice opiate blanket- warm, fuzzy and numb.

Not to everyone's taste, but for those who like it, a big plus.

Don't use Oxycodone much here except in cancer patients- we're all about the codeine. Codeine ischeap, horribly constipating and usually mixed with paracetamol (acetominophen) so the addicts die of liver failure long before they overdose on the codeine.

[VunderBob]

My wife is clinically addicted to Oxycodone, which she takes for chronic pain related to lupus. She doesn't get a buzz from it at all, but she *IS* a real witch whenever she misses a scheduled dose.

Oxycodone is formulated as a time release, so just taking them won't get you very high. Crushing them, however does defeat the time release, and that's what the abusing addicts do.

As for me, Vicoden leaves me stupid whenever I take it, so I never did it for more than a day or two after the 3 surgeries that prescribed it for me.

[RickJay]

I started a thread on this very subject:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...ight=oxycontin

I think the simple answer is that some people are vulnerable to opiate drugs and some aren't. I shrug them off like they're potato chips. For some people they're hideously addictive. For most, somewhere in between.

[VunderBob]

Originally Posted by Fretful Porpentine

It probably depends a lot on your body chemistry. Personally, I could totally see how people get addicted to opiates after I got my wisdom teeth out. Yeah, it pretty much sends you to sleep, but in my case it was blissful sleep, kind of like hugging a warm blanket o'happiness around you.

I've had a couple of occasions to push naloxone to cancel a narcotic overdose. The patients that get it tend to wake up real fast and get violent because I just brought their chemical bliss to a screeching halt.

[Vinyl Turnip]

Originally Posted by Bob Ducca

It's made so that the effects are time-released. Not much to it when taken normally.

Supposed to feel better than heroin and sex combined when it's crushed and snorted.

Let's be clear that what you're talking about is Oxycontin, a brand name for a high-dose, time-release formulation of oxycodone generally prescribed only for severe chronic pain. The pills are relatively tiny.

Oxycodone itself is also prescribed in immediate-release form, either with or without aspirin or APAP (acetaminophen). Most people are familiar with oxycodone/APAP (aka Percocet), which if you attempted to snort it would probably leave you with a noseful of sticky, snotty sludge and overall feeling pretty miserable about life.

[Gagundathar]

My dear bride recently suffered a compression fracture of the L3 vertebra and she was prescribed Oxycodone. Oxycodone is not time-release. That is Oxycontin. When you crush Oxycontin, and then snort it, you get a high similar to snorting heroin.

Both Oxy drugs are physically addictive and accompanying withdrawal symptoms.
If you just drop Oxycontin or Oxycodone 'cold-turkey' you can die.
I say this because when she was first disgnosed with CML, the chemo caused such horrible pain that she was prescribed Oxycontin. She them heard about how horribly addictive it was, and waited until I was out of town on business to stop taking it without her physician's knowledge. Three days of horrible shaking and nausea later she was no longer addicted, but when the rest of the family was informed we all went ballistic.

When you have REAL severe pain, addiction is a manageable side-effect.
The popular media's representation of these drugs as 'too dangerous to use' is the worst kind of yellow journalism.
In other words, my wife almost killed herself because Rush Limbaugh's addiction became a cause celebre.
Even now, it makes me angry.
Not at her, but at the thoughtless media.
Babbling talking heads with no thought for the consequences of their pronouncements.
Urrr...

[Minnie Luna]

I slammed my thumb in a car door and had to have the nail drained. The Dr. gave me a script for Vicodin. Made me higher than a kite. Took one to get rid of the immediate pain, didn't take anymore.

Post-surgeries I was given percocet. Didn't get me high like the vicodin, but did allow/help me to sleep while in pain. I did get IV Fentanyl after my last surgery. That was some good stuff. Still in pain, but didn't care too much.

I personally can see how you can get addicted to any and all of the above. The high from vicodin and fentanyl was definitely there, but not so much with the percoset for me.

[kiz]

Originally Posted by RickJay

I started a thread on this very subject:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...ight=oxycontin

I think the simple answer is that some people are vulnerable to opiate drugs and some aren't. I shrug them off like they're potato chips. For some people they're hideously addictive. For most, somewhere in between.

This.

My husband was prescribed it when he had dental surgery a few years ago. He took it and had no noticeable relief. He didn't become sleepy nor dopey.

OTOH whenever I'd had to take it I become sleepy, dopey, and everything in between.

[Surly Chick]

I don't get high from either Vicodin or Oxycodone, both of which I've taken following surguries. I do, however, get very itchy. I suspect I'm allergic to it.

[dzero]

I like opiates because in the right dose, they can make me a lot more productive. Hydrocodone seems to work best for this especially if it is timed release. A little odd I suppose but then the amphetamines I take for ADD sometimes put me to sleep.

However people vary widely in their propensity for addiction - as has been observed. The only thing I have ever had a nearly unbreakable addiction to was nicotine. I think opiates are pleasant enough but only about as much as the first few minutes of a nice hot bath. The bonus is that you get more than just a few minutes of pleasure.

I did however find Ultram to be extremely addictive - so much so that I couldn't even wean myself off of it without getting very upset and agitated. I finally had to take an opiate to get off it w/o withdrawal. Then stopping the opiate was no problem at all.

[ReticulatingSplines]

I've wondered the same thing...for some reason I never get addicted to substances. I can't even get hooked on cigarettes.

I can, however, get addicted to gambling or porn.

[CrazyCatLady]

Oxycodone's about as big a deal as booze, or nicotine, or cocaine, or porn, or gambling, or shopping. People use those things all the time without it turning into a big hairy deal, but other people develop very destructive addictions to them, and the difference is in the people themselves.

[Unauthorized Cinnamon]

Funny, I've got a bottle of it sitting on my desk here, which was originally prescribed in . . . November of last year. So that must have been for my gall bladder surgery. I still have some from my appendectomy 11 months prior as well. I have taken it once or twice for a headache or to try to get to sleep. It was neither pleasurable nor particularly sleep-inducing. In fact it seemed to disturb my sleep so while I felt dopey and uncoordinated, I also didn't rest deeply.

Tussionex cough syrup is awesome if I'm having coughing fits in the night, but other than that I don't think opiates really do it for me. I recall codeine doing nothing for my intense throat pain when I had mono, and keeping me up all night as well (quite a feat for a mono patient!)

[InterestedObserver]

My mother (70 yrs old) has been on this stuff (and/or generic variations) for years. She is CLEARLY addicted and it DOES affect her functioning (slurred speech, excessive sleeping, inability or decreased ability to handle her own care and feeding, etc..)

I also have reason to believe she is taking more than she should (supposed to be every 12 hrs, as needed, but somehow, she ran out of what should have been a 2 week supply in less than a week ..I know this since she fell and broke some bones a few mths ago and ever since I have been rather intimately involved in advocating for her, including taking possession of all her meds at the hospital...she like to went NUTS when I refused to give her her old meds after they changed her meds and dosages around, and a HUGE aspect of it was that she wanted her pain pills since the new ones "just don't work as well"...despite being the SAME drug minus the aspirin Thing is, I really think, she just wanted them so she could have a larger supply and "hide" her consumption levels...her tactics were JUST like any other addict in trying to secure their fix ).

I made her an appointment with a new primary care Dr. for this week and will be going with her. I really want an answer to WHY she is even ON this shit. Yes, she's "old". Yes, she has diabetes, mild arthitis, and other health issues and is on 8 other prescriptions. But she has gone downhill, physically AND mentally FAST in the last few years and from what I can discern from the records, these pain meds have a lot to do with it.

As for me, only time I have done such drugs was after a wisdom tooth extraction. They gave me Dimerol, and I said to myself, "WHOA! I can SEE how people get addicted to this shit!" I was still in pain but I didn't care. I took the last few recreationally and then wisely avoided all such substances ever after.

[StusBlues]

From the responses above, can we conclude that folks like Rush Limbaugh who do all sorts of illegal things to get Oxy--even when they have a perfectly good prescription for pain relief--are crushing the pills and taking them for psychotropic effects? Of does taking it regularly just do it for some people?

FWIW, I've been prescribed both Oxy and Vicodin in the past, and my experience is pretty much the same as those above. It worked for pain a bit better than Ibuprofin--both when it was prescribed and when I'd take a pill or two for a headache month's later. There was certainly nothing like euphoria.

Then again, I don't like alcohol for the same reason, so maybe intoxication just isn't my thing.

[StusBlues]

I posted my comment just before InterestedObserver. Thank you for sharing, and I certainly did not intend to disrespect your mother.

[InterestedObserver]

Originally Posted by StusBlues

I posted my comment just before InterestedObserver. Thank you for sharing, and I certainly did not intend to disrespect your mother.

Understood. Thing is, my mother doesn't drink or do "drugs"...always been very much opposed to that. But she IS a classic addictive personality (smoking like a chimney, drinking her diet coke constantly (diet since she developed diabetes and could no longer drink regular) and otherwise just very habituated to her "routines" and habits.)

She sees her pain meds as just like any of her other prescriptions and resents any implication that she is a JUNKIE, but she clearly IS and needs them to a degree far beyond any other medication.

Fact is, she gets stoned and sits on the couch watching tv and smoking and drinking diet coke and doesn't eat or clean or do ANYTHING else unless forced to. She begged off on both her grandson's recent HS graduation and her granddaughter's birthday...after being invited and seeming thrilled, she called up last moment and begged off. I expected it. Same old shit. Sorry to harsh your buzz, mom. Yeah, I have her number. And I intend to do my best to help her, even if she hates me for it

p.s. I can "disrespect" my mother enough for the both of us.

[StusBlues]

Originally Posted by InterestedObserver

Understood. Thing is, my mother doesn't drink or do "drugs"...always been very much opposed to that. But she IS a classic addictive personality (smoking like a chimney, drinking her diet coke constantly (diet since she developed diabetes and could no longer drink regular) and otherwise just very habituated to her "routines" and habits.)

She sees her pain meds as just like any of her other prescriptions and resent any implication that she is a JUNKIE, but she clearly IS and needs them to a degree far beyond any other medication.

Fact is, she gets stoned and sits on the couch watching tv and smoking and drinking diet coke and doesn't eat or clean or do ANYTHING else unless forced to. She begged off on both her grandson's recent HS graduation and her granddaughter's birthday...after being invited and seeming thrilled, she called up last moment and begged off. I expected it. Same old shit. Sorry to harsh your buzz, mom. Yeah, I have her number.

So you're saying your mom isn't getting high in the Robert Downey, Jr. sense--she's just pretty much out of it via the meds she's taking and likes it that way?

Sorry, mate. I hope your upcoming doctor visit goes well.

[guizot]

Oxy is a bigger deal now than before because of its confluence with the use of cheap (black tar) heroin coming from Mexico that has surged recently. Someone who has started smoking the heroin will start smoking the pills when it runs out. (Or vice versa.) It's common for teens to get the pills from their parents' medicine cabinets, and once they learn that it's a viable substitute, they find ways to buy the pills on the street (about $45 each, or so), or across the border.

Addiction stemming from legitimate prescription--as far as I know--hasn't become any more of a big deal than it has always been.

[dzero]

I've never done heroin so I don't know how valid the comparison is, but I was always under the impression that it was qualitatively different. For example, before heroin, supposedly there were many people who were addicted to smoked opium but still managed to lead productive lives. For whatever reason, that doesn't seem to be possible with heroin.

[guizot]

Originally Posted by dzero

...before heroin, supposedly there were many people who were addicted to smoked opium but still managed to lead productive lives. For whatever reason, that doesn't seem to be possible with heroin...

It's possible with heroin, too. I know a couple of recovering opioid addicts, and both of them explained that--because of other issues (depression, in their cases)--they could function (in school and work) only when they actually were using.

What brings an addict to crash are as much the means and circumstances of obtaining the drug as the physiological effects of the drug itself. Both of these guys were dealing in order to pay for the habit, and they got caught--one in heroin, the other in doctor script pads for Oxy. The easier it is to get the drug--and the more socially acceptable it is to use it--the easier it is to lead a "productive" life.

Of course, eventually, by the time someone is spiking, they're not functioning at all, and they don't even try to.

[Chimera]

I've been prescribed Vicodin several times and it doesn't do jack for me. When I got it back in July for my back injury, the Doctor looked rather alarmed when I gave her a dirty look and said "it really doesn't do anything for me". I figured she thought I was fishing for something stronger, so I let it drop and took the stip.

But frankly, I would have rather had Tylenol-3's. Codeine does wonderful things for me.

Bottom line is that different drugs do different things to different people. There are a couple of other drugs I've been prescribed over the years - can't think of the names off the top of my head, but I'd know 'em when they were named - that would make me say "Sorry, doesn't do jack for me. Give me something else." Not because I want stronger, but because it doesn't affect me like it affects others.

[belladonna]

Originally Posted by Surly Chick

I don't get high from either Vicodin or Oxycodone, both of which I've taken following surguries. I do, however, get very itchy. I suspect I'm allergic to it.

Probably not allergic, itchiness is a very common side effect of opiate use.

And just to add to the discussion--oxy can also be crushed and injected, with a high very similar to heroin. If anything, it's a little "better" because you know exactly what dose and purity you're getting unlike with drugs bought on the street. When I was strung out, I used the two interchangeably depending on what was easier to get.

[BigT]

Then there are people like me, who had to taper from taking an eighth of a teaspoon. Scared me to death. Then again, I'm very opposed to altered states.

[chizzuk]

I've never been on either Vicodin or OxyContin (though I'll probably get some when I get my wisdom teeth out), but my brother on Vicodin was highly amusing.

He would have a perfectly normal conversation with you and then 2 minutes later have no idea that any interaction had taken place. It didn't make him act overtly loopy, but he couldn't keep a train of thought. I put a Simpsons episode on for him the night after he got home from the oral surgeon and he got frustrated and asked me to turn it off because he couldn't tune in long enough to keep the thread of the story. He got off the stuff as soon as he could stand it.

[Hirka T'Bawa]

Originally Posted by Gagundathar

My dear bride recently suffered a compression fracture of the L3 vertebra and she was prescribed Oxycodone. Oxycodone is not time-release. That is Oxycontin. When you crush Oxycontin, and then snort it, you get a high similar to snorting heroin.

Oxycodone is the generic name of the drug in "Oxycontin". Oxycontin is just formulated into an extended release form (hence why people crush them). While Oxycodone is also available in immediate release forms, such as Percocet, Percodan, Roxycet, Oxycodone IR, etc. The "high" is similar since they are both opiates and work on the same receptors in the brain. The main advantage to heroin is that it is more lipophillic so the dose crosses the blood-brain barrier faster allowing a faster onset of action, a higher peak, but a shorter duration.

Both Oxy drugs are physically addictive and accompanying withdrawal symptoms.
If you just drop Oxycontin or Oxycodone 'cold-turkey' you can die.

Actually, this is not true, opiates are not one of the substances you can die from while going through withdraw. The withdraw symptoms might make you WISH you were dead, but the withdraw isn't actually life threatening.

Opiates are one of those substances that can affect people different ways, and the way they effect them is different at times. If you are in pain, the opiates will normally help the pain, but if you are not in pain, people will normally have more of the euphoria with them. There are also some people who really get the euphoria, and some who don't really feel anything from them at all. It all depends on the individual.

As for the types of opiates, they all do the same thing, the only real difference in effect is the potency of them. However, Codeine is slightly different. It is metabolized into its active form (Morphine) in the liver, and there is a ceiling effect where the liver just can't metabolize it fast enough, and you won't get any more of the "opiate" effect (interesting though, codeine works as an anti-tussive as the parent compound, and doesn't require metabolism)

[Rysdad]

The doc prescribed Oxycodone for my back pain. It says to take 1 - 2 pills per day.

Pfft.

I have a very high tolerance for narcotics. Doses that would knock a linebacker down barely take the edge off for me.

Basically, for me, oxycodone doesn't relieve that pain, it just makes it so that I don't care about how much it hurts.

I should also add that I become rather forgetful, so I can't take 'em at work (where most of my pain occurs). It's either forgetfulness or "I don't give a fuck-ed ness."

Whichever, it doesn't make for a good workflow.

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by guizot

It's common for teens to get the pills from their parents' medicine cabinets, and once they learn that it's a viable substitute, they find ways to buy the pills on the street (about $45 each, or so), or across the border.
.

Holy shit, I took almost a thousand dollars street value to the navy dispensary to dispose of safely?

Damn .. I could have used the money [joke]

[Pai325]

Demerol knocks me out. Morphine and oxycodone? Nothing. I haven't got the faintest idea how or if any of them are related - but if I were in pain I'd want something better than the last two, and I usually react strongly to low doses of medication.

[california jobcase]

Had a couple failed root canals pulled this morning. Used to get by on ibuprofen but I can't take that any more due to the Coreg, so I'm liking my hydrocodone/acetaminophen right now.

[guizot]

Originally Posted by aruvqan

Holy shit, I took almost a thousand dollars street value to the navy dispensary to dispose of safely?...

I heard they were doing that. You know what they do with those pills?(.pdf)--Unholy shit.

[DxZero]

Comparing hydrocodone to crushed up/snorted Oxycontin is like comparing being shot with a pellet gun to being shot with an ICBM. For me, in the bad old days, I was snorting an obscene amount of Oxys every day and still occasionally making it to class. I never got physically nauseous from it like some do, but I did get the itching. Of course nothing could compare to the feeling when I got the right dosage into me. At first, it was like being really buzzed but stronger. I would just float on my own little cloud and life was just something happening to someone else. Too much though and I would lie down and struggle to breathe. Like my body would forget to breathe and I would have to force myself to take a breath. I can't even describe how scary that is-when you kind of drift off into you own world and realize after a minute that you haven't taken a breath in over a minute. Then in another moment, the same thing happens again. This can go on for hours and you're scared that you might just forget all together and that'll be all she wrote.

I don't know if the high is comparable to heroin (never tried it), but from descriptions I've read it sounds pretty similar to what I felt on Oxy. It only took two trips to the hospital and a seizure for me to finally quit it.

I don't necessarily think I have an generally addictive personality either. I can drink regularly, but have no need to ever drink again. I don't gamble and while at one point I was a heavy smoker, I quit that pretty much cold turkey with no need to go back to smoking. However, for whatever reason, pills are my weakness. Oxycontin and opiates in general being first and foremost. If I ever injure myself to point where I need to be on painkillers, I would do everything I could to make sure they were not opiates, even if it meant having to go without altogether.

[even sven]

I think it's a body chemistry thing. Some people just don't mesh with downers I've taken opioids medically and besides pain relief and making me sleepy they've never done much for me. I don't really see what is so special about being sleepy- it happens to me every night, without fail. Sure. that "the whole world is comfy pillows" feeling is nice, but not really that nice. If I want to sleep, why not sleep for free without bad consequences?

I've taken Xanax for dental-work related anxiety, and it's made me so detached that I could have a complicated root canal and not care at all. But I didn't find the drug particularly enjoyable.

Caffeine, however, will trigger euphoria in me on occasion. I don't dare to take stronger stimulants. Different strokes for different folks.

[aruvqan]

Originally Posted by guizot

I heard they were doing that. You know what they do with those pills?(.pdf)--Unholy shit.

I have a septic tank and a well, I dont flush anything other than toilet paper and human waste, and we use biodegradable soaps,and don't dispose of random chemicals here.

[El Nene]

I was prescribed the stuff after my vasectomy. I took a couple and felt amazing. It scared me how much I enjoyed it so I got rid of the rest. Luckily I didn't need anymore after the first two wore off. It seems over-dispensing the stuff is common. I was given a prescription for 20, when 5 would've been overkill.

[LurkMeister]

I had a tooth pulled last Thursday and the dentist gave me a prescription for Vicodin. It makes the pain more bearable, but doesn't make it go away completely. I'm not sure if I'm just one of those people that it doesn't do much for, or if the pain would be really bad if I hadn't taken it. The dentist also said I can take Aleve along with it so I've been alternating, which may also have something to do with my reaction.

[Gagundathar]

Originally Posted by Hirka T'Bawa

Oxycodone is the generic name of the drug in "Oxycontin". Oxycontin is just formulated into an extended release form (hence why people crush them). While Oxycodone is also available in immediate release forms, such as Percocet, Percodan, Roxycet, Oxycodone IR, etc. The "high" is similar since they are both opiates and work on the same receptors in the brain. The main advantage to heroin is that it is more lipophillic so the dose crosses the blood-brain barrier faster allowing a faster onset of action, a higher peak, but a shorter duration.

Actually, this is not true, opiates are not one of the substances you can die from while going through withdraw. The withdraw symptoms might make you WISH you were dead, but the withdraw isn't actually life threatening.

Opiates are one of those substances that can affect people different ways, and the way they effect them is different at times. If you are in pain, the opiates will normally help the pain, but if you are not in pain, people will normally have more of the euphoria with them. There are also some people who really get the euphoria, and some who don't really feel anything from them at all. It all depends on the individual.

As for the types of opiates, they all do the same thing, the only real difference in effect is the potency of them. However, Codeine is slightly different. It is metabolized into its active form (Morphine) in the liver, and there is a ceiling effect where the liver just can't metabolize it fast enough, and you won't get any more of the "opiate" effect (interesting though, codeine works as an anti-tussive as the parent compound, and doesn't require metabolism)

I appreciate the correction. Her doctor was very concerned that she had gone 'cold-turkey' without consulting him and not because he is a control-freak (well no more than any other good doctor).