"New" OxyContin Formulation

I have not had a problem with any Oxy formulation before or after. A few others? You betcha. But so far, this is one medication that has been my saving grace.

The dose and everything has been the same right?

Are you talking about since they adjusted it to be ineffective if tampered with?







M.

Merrida - yes, the one that's supposed to change to a gel if it's tampered with. It was only released here last month, but I think from my googling that you guys have had it in the US for a few years now?

M&G - what do you mean? Surely if there is a specified 'mg' amount contained within the tablet, then the companies would have to meet that level to within such a small +/- amount in order to meet quality assurance?

L

Hi Laura I had and notice I say "had" been on Oxycontin for many many years in fact I was first prescribed it in the late 90's. Later on when they reformulated it a few years back, I immediately noticed that the pain relief did not last as long, only about eight hours. I had been taking it every 12 hours from the beginning. I talked to my doctor about it and he told me that allot of patients were having the same problem, and so he started prescribing it to me every 8 hours and I had remained on that schedule ever since. As I mentioned I have just weaned off of it, as I am going for my trial for getting a pain pump, and they won't let you be on pain meds until they put the pump in. Hasn't been a real good week for me. Luckily last fall before I moved I had with the help of my PM doc weaned down from 40 mg every 8 hours to 10mg every 8 hours. I wanted to try and go off of them altogether but could not do it as the pain was to great. I hoping that the pain pump will help I am also on a pretty high dose of Baclofen orally (30 mg every 8 hours) and I understand they can also put that in the pump at a much lower dosage.

Laura when a person experiences nausea with Oxy and allot of other pain meds, allot of times it is dosage related, and they should start you off on a very low dose and slowly increase it, that will often prevent the problems with nausea. I had the same problem when they first put me on it. My pain doctor told me that was a pretty common reaction with allot of pain meds, and it would usually go away in time, once your body adjusted to it, but it is much more pleasant to wean a person up to a therapeutic dosage and hopefully avoid the nausea and sick feeling!.

White Beard

Laura I go in for my trial tomorrow, actually today as it is after midnight. They are going to inject morphine into my spinal canal, they to told me I would have to stick around for a few hours after they done the injection to see if it works, the doctor there told me if I have any problems with it, ( as in itching or some other reaction), then they would try it with dilaudid. I do hope it works, right now I should be sleeping as I have to drive close to 200 miles to my appointment for the pump trial. But instead I am pacing the floor and trying to sit and type this as I have a pretty good amount of pain in my mid and lower back and my legs, and thus sleep evades me!. This is the first time I have been completely off of all pain meds in over 15 years. So to say the least this is a relative new experience fir me!

Since you have been on Oxy for quite some time I am not sure why your getting sick from it, but it could be the new formulation that is giving you problems. Everyone is so different in the way they respond to medications.

I hope it all works out for you! Good to see you posting again!

White Beard

alsoinpain, It's for the active ingredients. There have been 2 different members, that I remember posting a link to that info here. I am one of them, but I can't remember who the other one was.

This article is discussing psyc meds, but it applies to all generics.

"Janicak explained that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements around bioequivalence of generic products are fairly strict: a generic must have between 80 percent and 125 percent bioequivalency to its name-brand product—a window of 20 percent less or 25 percent greater potency." (6th paragraph)

Physicians Question FDA's Confidence in Generic Drugs' Safety, Efficacy-
psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/newsArticle.aspx?articleid=110993

"Unless otherwise indicated by a specific guidance, this guidance recommends that the traditional
BE limit of 80 to 125 percent for non-narrow therapeutic range drugs remain unchanged for the
bioavailability measures (AUC and Cmax) of narrow therapeutic range drugs."

Bioavailability and Bioequivalence Studies for Orally Administered Drug Products — General Considerations-
Bioavailability and Bioequivalence Studies for Orally Administered Drug Products — General Considerations

This has nothing to do with the "new" oxyContin formulation but it reminded me of something I encountered. I take Oxycodone for Restless Legs (20 mg). For years my pharmacy provided the medication in 5 mg doses. But a new pharmacist came in, and began stocking Oxycodone in 10 mg tablets and that is how they filled my RX. I noticed an immediate change...or should I say it was evident the medication was not controlling my Restless Legs. I could not get the pharmacist to change me back to 5 mg tablets and had to actually have my doctor specifically request the RX be filled with 5mg tablets. And everything was fine again. Don't know if it was in just one of those games my mind plays or if there was something different about the formulation that caused the medication not to work properly. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this before

Laura,

I was switched over to the "new formulation" of tamper resistant back when it first came out in the US.

You are absolutely correct Laura!! I had exactly the same problems as you and it also - for me - did not last as long as the original formulation. There are several of my meds that make me nauseous, so it does get trying at times.

In my situation, the nausea finally eased up. My PM doctor dismissed my complaints and I suffered for quite awhile with this problem. I have tried all of the other opiate meds except for methadone and oxycontin has always seemed to work the best for me. Opana ER - the original formulation worked for me also before they changed it and made it tamper resistant. The generic Opana ER still works good for me, but my insurance will only pay for brand. So instead, my insurance company gets to foot the bill for the brand oxycontin, probably comparable to the brand Opana ER. Anyway, I was on the Oxycontin every 12 hours and also got 2 oxycodone for breakthrough pain per day. I found that the Oxycontin was only lasting 8 hours and to get to the next dose, I had to use my bt pain meds.

That PM doctor retired from the practice I go to and he was the only PM doc I had ever seen before. I was transferred to a CNP in January 2013. During my first visit with her she upped my oxycontin to an every 8 hour dose and also upped my bt meds to give me something to be able to turn to when needed. I had been being very inactive and I was having problems with my ADL's due to the pain. Since that time I have gotten better with my ADL's, still cannot do them all - but I can try and then my husband will step in and help when I need it. I have been able to be a bit more active and my weight has dropped by a little over 30 pounds. All positives so far.

So in answer to your question, my nausea due to the med did decrease over time. I agree that my pain level did go up a notch or two, but with the additional meds I was prescribed has gotten better over time.

Hope this helps!
Trudy