Is oxycodone stronger than hydrocodone?

Dear Canadian MD, Thank you for caring enough to expend the energy to help clarify for pain patients. I am in sever pain and have not been able to get really good pain managment or drugs info. since my first doc. quit his practice 3 years ago. I lived in NM and now Colorado which has got to be one of the most ignorant punitive paranoid places for anyone who need/uses drugs. I can not find good information or medical managment. The one and only doctor I found who would even work with me is truly undereducated in pain management. No Doc here does anything other than injection shots which is useless to me. This is the bigist problem. Our society dosen't understand chronic debilitating pain. Nothing, not once in all those years ever made me high and never did I feel like I wanted to increase dosages of anything. I went from useless and bedridden to functional and putting my life together for myself and my child. Only relief didn't last because of weird side effects that gradually developed over time

I tried many many neuroleptics... Lyrica, Neurontin, Sevella, Pristiq, Respiridal, etc, nothing worked for me and they had horrific side effects. Finally one worked for me, literally overnight took a great deal of the pain away although not entirely, and that was Cymbalta. My great Doc at that time added low dose Methadone (5mg X's 2 daily) with occasionally taking Hydrocondone for breakthrough pain. That gave me my life back. Literally I was a mother and functioning human again. But after 4 1/2 yrs I started to develop myocolonic electronic like jerks down my legs. I kept lowering the Cymbalta dose but eventually had to with draw completely. This left me with low dose Methadone ( 5mg X's 2 daily) and having to increase the Hydocodone 10/325 up to to 2-3 daily which dosen't manage the pain at all. While the Myocolonic jerks went away, I had also started to develop an agitated restlessness in my whole body that seemed to be concentrated in the groin area but spread out everywhere. I felt like I wanted to tear my skin off to get out. Ending Cymbalta did nothing for that. I started lowering the Methadone thinking it was related to that but things only got progressively worse. This nasty orrfic agitation has now progressed to almost 24/7 and also in weird creepie tingeling sheets even along my skin and which has became progressively unbearable. I started lowering the Methadone thinking maybe it was related to that drug. There are no experienced pain Docs here and the two I was able to consult, hadn't a clue. I decided to take myself off the Methadone and have been doing a progressive withdraw. But the pain has become disabling again, and these 'Heebie-jee-bies' as I call them, have only gotten worse. I'm wondering now if the Methadone withdraw is actually causing it. I feel I'm back in hell but now the meds that restored my life are destroying it. I don't know what is related to what and there is no one to guide/medically manage me. The pain and all else is so sever now and these creepie crawlies so unbearable, I've become suicidal. I am down to .5 mg X's 2 daily of the Methadone, but scared to go lower because of this creepie agitaton. The Hydocodone 2-3 a day is not managing the pain. I am a single mother who is barely functioning and the last of my savings is being drained away because I can not work. I am terrified for my daughter and myself. Dose anyone out there have any ideas??????Please

I would like to clarify that oxycodone HCL 5 is time released. I just came back from my doctor. He believes in one medication not two to do one job. Vicodin has tylenol. Your doctor can phone that in. Hydrocodone hcl is without.

hello,there are many myths&opinions,among doctors,patients&pharmacist about opiate painkillers. I personally have been prescribed most of these including most of the newer non-narcotic painkillers. Currently, I take 15mg oxycodone, 1 up to 5x day as needed. There are days when I do not take any. I have several bad discs and bone spurs in the back and neck. Most pharmacists and doctors will tell you that generics are just as good as name brand, but I know for a fact with all hydrocodone products and oxycodone products, after long time use, it usually takes to 1 1/2 or more tabs generic to one name brand. I have had some doctors and pharmacists to agree with this. I have been taking these medications almost daily for 15 years. I have also had fentanyl patches and I have never had a high or euphoric feeling from these and I also take them with soma or valium. I believe, if you only take pain medications when you have serious pain that it is unlikely that you would become addicted, but not impossible, but very easily to od from getting too tolerant and doctors not prescribing strong enough pain medication. If you are taking any of these medications, be very careful because everyone is different and there is no one size fits all as some physcians would like to believe and good pain management doctors are hard to come by but oxycodone is definately stronger than hydrocodone.

Thank you,
from somebody who knows from years of experience

I have been taking Hydrocodine for over 10 years, I have tried the Oxy but way to strong, actually the statstics have been proven that more people overdose while using Oxy then they do using hydrocodine, Vikodin is not as strong as Hydro either, it comes in a 5.5 mg I have had to take 2 of those for my back, yet a 10 mg of Hydro is to strong for me go figure, for me its 7.5 mg of Hydro for my back nothing else was as good or was to strong.

Neither of you know what you are talking about. First, To the poster right above me, you should practice what you preach, what you posted feigns ignorance of the worst type.

Oxycodone Hydrochloride IS the MAIN ACTIVE INGREDIENT in OXYCONTIN. Oxycontin is simpy a TIME RELEASE formulation.
Percocet is ALSO Oxycodone HCL, combined with APAP, and in INSTANT RELEASE form. THEY ARE THE SAME DRUG. PERCOCET IS THE SAME DRUG AS OXYCONTIN, PERIOD.

Second, Oxycondone is NOT "synthetic heroin". First of all, Heroin is Semi-synthetic, it is DIACETYL MORPHINE, A modified form of Morphine. Oxycodone is COMPLETELY synthetic, made from Thebaine. Both are totally different from each other.

Third, To the first 'guest', your post is nearly 100% accurate, BUT. You mention a time release COATING. There is no such thing. The time release mechanism is INSIDE the pill, mixed evenly into the matrix. In NAME BRAND Oxycontin (not the generic) the time release is WAX based. The coating on ANY tablet or pill is simply to identify the pill with a color, and in some cases to protect the pill from the elements (AIR, Light, etc..)

You guys think its no big deal but you can really get someone hurt spreading inaccurate information about drugs, so if you dont know what you are talking about.