I seriously threw out my back a day or so ago. Ibuprofen did zero for it, and so I took two of the oxycontin I had a few left over from a dental procedure I had done a year or so ago.
It helped a little with the pain, but not nearly as much as I imagined it would, but it made me pretty drowsy. I’ve been having a terrible time getting to bed lately. Would using oxycontin a few times at bedtime to knock myself be ill advised, or no big deal?
IANAD, but no it wouldn’t be a good idea. Mainly because in my experience narcotics are great sleep aids at first, but you build a tolerance pretty quickly and the effect wears off. Traditional sleep aids would probably be a better choice
I have been on morphine and percocets for years. At first they put me to sleep, but now I suffer from insomnia even while using large amounts of them. Us they drain your energy when you are awake.
If you use opiates/opioids to get to sleep with any regularity you’re going to end up at least physically dependent eventually. Then when you quit you’ll really learn what insomnia is :eek:
But if as you said you’re using them for temporary severe pain yea take them.
In my experience opiate induced sleep is not nearly as restful. I wake up looking and feeling like a zombie.
Slight hijack for a good story: I was watching TV with a group of people right after Michael Jackson’s death. They were speculating on which drug killed him, and oxycotim was leading the vote.
The next news story was the death of spkesman Billy Mays. I remarked “If the Oxycotin doesn’t kill you, the OxyClean will.” Total group crackup.
Lots of people feel more awake and vigorous when using oxycodone, the active ingredient in Oxycontin (which is a trademarked time-release version). I do. So does a recovering addict I know.
Oxycontin is crazy addictive and definitely on the “Throw away immediately” list when you are done with it. If it’s not helping your pain, don’t put it in your body again, and don’t keep it.
Don’t do it.
I don’t see what the big deal is. I was prescribed it after surgeries or after breaking bones. I keep it around as a “just in case”. It helped out after I strained my back and ibuprofen wouldn’t dull the pain enough to allow me to sleep.
I know my own limits. After having a nerve repaired surgically, I noticed that I needed more of the drug to get the same level of pain relief. At that point I re-evaluated my pain management strategy and used it only at night when the pain was at the worst levels.
It’s a tool. If you can’t use a tool correctly, don’t use it. Know your limits. The fact that OP is asking if it’s ok makes me think he probably isn’t going to become an addict using his old oxy to help him sleep following a back injury.
If the back doesn’t get better in a week, go to a doctor. If it is just a few nights, use it.
Let me put this another way then. There’s a Federal Law against using this medication for purposes other than those for which it is prescribed. It’s a Schedule II drug - which means it has legitimate medical uses but is in the very highest category for risk of abuse.
Playing around with off-label uses of highly addictive drugs is unwise. the only way to find out that you “can;t handle” the tool is to become addicted. By the time you realize that, your life may already be ina downward spiral and you may or may not be able to pull yourself out of it. Don’t take the risk. There are plenty of OTC sleep medications available.
I wouldn’t. Sleep aids can be addicting in general, (everyone loves a good nap) and the DEA says Oxycontin “may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.”
If you had some heroin laying around the house, would you use that as a sleep aid, no biggie? Because oxycontin is basically a legal, regulated version of that drug.
The best reason not to take it, aside from forming dependence, is that with oxycodone and other thebaine derivatives, once your body gets used to it, which happens fairly quickly, most people find it to actually be stimulating. It will keep you awake.
Ambivalid: opiates are opiates. There is nothing inherently bad about one as opposed to another, including heroin. The only negative thing about it is that because it’s illegal, anytime anyone acquires it, it’s ipso facto impure and of unknown purity because it was made by criminals as opposed to an FDA-licensed drug manufacturing plant. If, like in some countries, it were not a Schedule I (absolutely illegal) substance and medical heroin (diacetylmorphine) were available, then there would be nothing wrong with taking it for any valid purpose. And unlike oxycodone, morphine and morphine derivatives like heroin actually have a lasting sedative effect once your body is used to it.
Most people are way too brainwashed to ever be convinced that there’s nothing inherently wrong with heroin.
Meanwhile many of the sleep aids people do take, like xanax, valium, etc, are addictive as well.
That’s hardly a fair characterization of drug usage. Not everyone takes an opiate and gets addicted. I realized I was becoming sensitized to the drug and adjusted myself accordingly, it wasn’t that hard. I fully realized the risk potential.
How “off-label” is this use? OP is in pain, OP wants relief from pain. When I take an opiate, it does not actually dull pain that much for me, just makes me forget about it long enough to be able to get through it. It happened most noticeably with fentanyl after surgery, the nurse asked my pain number and I answered honestly, that it was a 7, I just didn’t really care that I was in pain. For some people (me) that is what an opiate does, makes the pain bearable enough to get on with other activities (sleep) or makes you loopy enough that you sleep through it.
As I understand it, the OP is saying that she doesn’t need pain relief, or isn’t using it for that - but only to help her sleep.
If you have other options like melatonin, Benadryl, hot milk or CNN, I’d suggest you try all of those first. OxyContin is an incredibly addictive painkiller, and its addictive properties really kick in when you don’t have any pain for it to kill. You’d have to judge the risk for yourself, I guess.
Were I in your position, I’d put the OxyContin in a safe place and keep it handy for the inevitable collapse of civilization.
Yes, that could be very painful. 
It’s addictive and insidious. It ensnares some people and not others. People can’t tell it’s happening. Having seen what somebody went through with this, Im not so sure this drug has been worth it for humankind overall. And I speak as a kidney stone and spinal surgery victim.
Sorry, but I need to point out the post/username combo. Gotta love it.
Carry on.
I started needing Percocet (codeine + tylenol) in order to get to sleep after I’d gone through extensive burn surgery and the massive amounts of morphine, dilaudid, and other opiates that were administered for the surgery and recovery process.
There were a couple of weeks in the hospital where I didn’t sleep at all that I was aware of. There may have been some microsleep events that I just don’t recall.
Opiate withdrawl insomnia is some of the worst insomnia you’ll ever experience.
**grude **
This.
Sounds like a lot of bush-it- usa. Playing doctor and raiding the medicine cabinet. Surely you have some cough medicine or nighttime alcohol cold medicine that you can add to the remedy.