Is oxycodone stronger than hydrocodone?

I think there is much misinformation being presented here and in other forums. Firstly, oxcodone is available as a time released preparation (oxcyontin) and as a mixture of oxycodone and tylenol (percocet), and oxycodone and ibuprohen (percodan). Both oxycontin and percocet/percodan can be abused, and they of course, addictive. Further, there is also a misconception that both are very hard to come off of. While there do exist individual differences, w/ a slow tapering regime, or failing that, the administration of suboxone (a semi-synthetic opiate with partial agonist and antagonist actions), a person can somewhat easily come off these and related drugs. I know, because I did.

you know i see every saying this and that well just so you know oxycodone is the generic drug for oxycontin..... do more reserach i take alot of pain meds and do alot of research so here is the info for you

Oxycodone
Generic Name: oxycodone (ox i KOE done)
Brand Names: ETH-Oxydose, OxyContin, Oxyfast, Oxyir, Percolone, Roxicodone, Roxicodone Intensol

I have been on percocet 10mg and now Iam on oxycodone hcl 5mg which one is stronger

many of you need to stop presenting this information to people who are looking for accurate answers. or maybe people should just find a means of a more reliable source to get answers. but to many of the guests, let me just clear this up.
hydrocodone is most commonly prescribed w/ tylenol, and this is known as lortab. oxycodone is only slightly stronger than hydrocodone is most commonly prescribed w/ tylenol, and this is known as either tylox (capsule) or percocet (tablet). oxyCONTIN is in a whole nother ballfield than these combinations of opiates and acetominophen (tylenol). and no, guest, it is not hardly a synthetic form of heroin. it is a time-released form of oxycodone, is 90% opiate, and is extremely powerful. it should only be prescribed for INTENSE pain.
in my experience, i have found hydrocodone to be more helpful with pain than oxycodone. be very careful listening to these responses, some people do not know what theyre are talking about.
i recently got out of rehab for oxycontin, morphine, percocet, lortab, etc. addiction, and hate to break it to dean, these opiates are EXTREMELY hard to get off of. after long term use, they are one of the most dangerous drugs when talking about dependence, tolerance, and withdrawal.

There is so much misinformation here, I cannot begin to sort it out. I will tell you I am a medical professional with prescriptive authority; I am also a pharmacist (PharmD, to be exact). PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ask your physician or healthcare provider WHY you are taking what you are taking rather than taking something different. Please SPEAK to the pharmacist when you pick up your meds. The pamphlets on the bags are not all-inclusive. And please, take the advice on this forum for what it is...many good-hearted people who share a terribly common disease...PAIN. I do not have time to dissect this post and correct all the errors, but I want to point out that drug names followed by HCL really means nothing. HCL means hydrochloride, which has to do with the chemical make up of the drug.

Honestly, I think this is a rather dangerous post and hope everyone uses common sense and remembers it is a message board. There could be an 11-yr old on the other end of the PC. Please be careful with these medications, as they can enhance--or take--your life. It is very, very frustrating to be in chronic pain (and I know--I have had both knees and hips replaced {totally} due to severe arthritis and I suffer from severe lupus and Crohn's disease, and that's jus the tip of the iceberg. Pain makes people desperate. People in pain will take any advice they can get, esp. if they feel it will help them, as living with chronic pain is a horrific existence.

I think this site is a great place to promote hope and to support each other, but for topics like these, you really need to seek out a licensed professional. If you printed this post off and took it to your local pharmacist, I guarantee he or she would gasp--and counsel you on your meds to make sure you totally understand what you are taking and why. Please be careful...ma

you people need to get your facts straight stumbled on to the sight trying to see how many other makers of roxy 30 are to stop making them all hydrocodone is compounded with something it is illegal in us to have it by its self norco are 10/325 tylenol oxycodone is a little stronger than hydrocodone oxycontin is the same thing as oxycodone except for it is time released the makers of the drug have nothing to do with it. fentynal is the strongest pk out their 50 plus times stronger than morphine then oxymorhone then hydromorphone and don't forget about stadolit might be stronger than fentynal i can't remember so be sure u know what u are talking about before u get some greeny (haha greeny) killed

I guess I must be one in a million.... I have had severe back problems (still do), back surgery and a trigeminal neuralgia (excuse spelling) leading to brain surgery. Through the years, I have taken 5/325, 10/650 mg perks to 30 mg roxi's and time released 40 mg oxycotin, plus 325 mg somas, 10 mg valium and 100mg neurotin (seizure meds)... I never became addicted to any and was very happy when the pain was eased up to where I did not need pain meds daily... I am so glad that I did have the medication to take when I was in pain... From reading what people are saying, I must be lucky. But I'm sure other people get pain medicine without becoming addicted... Can someone explain it or does it come down to choice???

I take Oxycodone 80mg 2xa day&Oxycodone 5mg break threw 4 max a day! I will take 1 80mg with 4-5mg frist thing in the morning that is when my pain is at its worst! Ive Fibromyalgia+DDD.+Nerve damage+Faild spinel surgery and some other health matters! Im finding what I take does the job but not all the time! I live in Portland,Or the help I need from you all is this-Finding a Doctor here who treats me right! I ve had some great docs however they leave or my Insurance has changed its very scarey trying to find a doc when you are on these meds and every 30 days need to have them filled! some docs dont refill till the last day and i had a few docs that would give me a break and have a few more! What kind of Doctor should i look for and what should i ask him or her ect... before I change? I have had some docs that make me feel bad for taking meds to down right crazy! Most docs here your on contract&drug testing thats fine but,A doc who cares and is there for me! Any-one who knows of a good Doctor in Portland,Or let me know! THANK YOU! Oh by the way if you come back with a bad drug test here they cut you off your meds! I for one dont worry about it but I dont think thats right a good doc should find out what is wrong ect... Any way just talking outloud! Best luck to all of you who are in pain!

The Guest who mentions the difference in milligram amounts that can create the equivalency between Percocet (oxycodone apap) and Vicodin (hydrocodone) made an important distinction, even though Percocet is stronger at lower dosages. Some drugs are stronger, but it's the dosage amount that makes the difference in how strong your medication is, if you are prescribed less or more. It's true that doctors will try to prescribe the most optimal treatment based on what type of pain is presented. Chronic pain calls for different strategies. I have Crohn's Disease, RA (rheumatoid arthritis), fibromyalgia and a few other problems. Because of the Crohn's I am not supposed to take any aspirin or any other NSAID because of the corrosion & destruction to my digestive tract which is already badly damaged. So no aspirin only acetaminophen (tylenol), so my breakthrough pain management is Percocet 10 mg/325 mg tylenol. Unfortunately, acetaminophen is hard on the liver - so anybody on percocet (not percodan -- the kind with aspirin) should not abuse their percocet because especially over time, the damage to your liver really has an accumulative effect. Of course any medication over-used/abused will be damaging. Also, pain med choices matter individually, for example, I get no relief from morphine, and my doctor says, some people genetically just don't have the neural wiring to make certain drugs effective. I still find that rather weird, but it was reassuring to have my doctor explain that to me. Having a smart doctor is great. Actually she was one of my surgeons, so i think they are especially pain savvy. I have learned that for emergency visits, that 1.5 - 2 mg of Dilaudid is the most effective for me since i am already pretty opiate tolerant. I was put on Demerol for awhile at one point, and i had terrible headache. And my doctor (the one who knew about how come some people just don't feel morphine and also put me on Dilaudid - which is now the primary one I am on in the hospital - explained to me that Demerol isn't so great for long term - and i was on it for 2-3 weeks - it's best for very short term only. So I was getting all those horrible headaches for nothing. And the quality of pain relief was so much better with the Dilaudid she switched me to - and as you can see, a 2 mg dose is quite small, but Dilaudid is very strong.)

So when I am not in the hospital, my primary pain management is a fentanyl transdermal patch. The benefit is that it doesn't have the UPS and DOWNS of pills that wear-off. Also, it avoids the digestive system altogether (a special benefit for me w/ my particular problems) as it releases from a patch into your skin, and then into your tissues before it hits your bloodstream. It is so powerful it's measured in MICROgrams not milligrams and is highly dangerous and could easily kill a non-opoid tolerant person. My patches are 75 mcg Duragesic (the brand name for fentanyl). So I have 75 mcg Duragesic for primary pain and Percocet 10/325 for breakthrough. Duragesic is ideal for severe pain like mine that is chronic - it even states on the label, not for post-operative or short term pain treatment. For someone with pancreatic cancer, and of course doctors make their choices but it would also be ideal for cancer, I admit everyone also has different natural tolerance and then even more that develops over continued use. So physical addiction is a given. Ideally you have a pain management specialist who is good and can titrate you down to wean you off. I don't know many people who are once on them stop needing them. It's like a problem that hardly goes away. Sooo why is it so hard to find a good doctor?

A lot of lobbying and attention is currently being paid to UNDER prescribed pain meds for some of those who need it. Bush passed legislation to take that decision further out of the hands of doctors and make doctors more vulnerable to legal problems. Perhaps those who are still suffering will see some relief, my heart goes out to anyone who cannot get adequate pain management. Your best bet is to get a copy of your records (should document your problems and reflect your current pain med plan) from your current doctor and phone a pain management specialist and explain that you would like a consultation for the doctor to review your regimen and devise a more effective way to manage your pain. I know so few take new patients! I got lucky in that mine set me up on this pain management plan and i am followed by my GP on a monthly basis. I can typically show up 3 days early but it's true, no refills and no scripts without a visit. It's scary to be on pain meds and have something interfere with that. Withdrawal is so awful - luckily fentanyl leeches out of your body even slower, which helps some. The other thing that I agree with is people like us who need pain meds for chronic pain rarely get any "psychological high" from our meds, because when you are in pain, it only seems to help a little or a lot but it's just not the same as what it's like for recreational users looking for a high. Well that's certainly a lot! I hope something I had to say from my experience can be of benefit, I think we all know and share the grief that goes with just trying to get our pain treated adequately, never mind the actual health needs themselves. Best wishes to all who suffer, that they have an enlightened doctor who cares.

Ive been studying medication for 15 years as an RN.
To answer your question in simpler terms
hydrocodone is a generic vicodin which contains 5mg of
Opiod derivatives. (vicodin) is name-brand which is patent protection
and contains 2.5 more mg of opiod in it because the pill is compressed
and holds more density,for slow release,also hydrocodone is made semi-
synthetic which means it is made isolated from the acetaminophen,so it is not as strong.Oxycodone is made the same way with 5mg of opiod and acetaminophen but is not semi synthetic so when it is consumed,the acetiminophen and opiod deravetives affect you symotaneously,making it more stronger than hydrocodone,however a regular semi-synthetic name brand vicodin that contains 7.5 mg of opiod has the same pain relieving effect as a regular synthetic 5mg percocet.

Oxycodone IS stronger that Hydrocone, the FDA considers oxycodone to be schedule II substance, meaning 'scripts have to be written each time, no refills can be called in or faxed in. Hydrocone is schedule III, Schediule I is the highest, Hydro refills can be faxed in or called in even refills on the original 'script.

The above poster is correct, Oxycontin is a time released Oxycodone, the same drug as in percodets, indocets, etc.

I think lots of confusion comes from the brand names like Percocet(oxycodone) and Oxycontin, also Oxycodone, which is the drug name, thus the generic name.

with Hydrocodone Vicodin is a brand name, so is Lortab, Locet, Norco, etc.

OxyCodone IS OxyCodone, whether it contains HCL( Hydrochloride), Aspirin or Acetaminophen it is what it is. The other ingredients are just binders or "cut" to dilute or give the OxyCodone time release properties...OxyContin is name brand (Perdue Pharma)/ OxyCodone HCL is generic; same drug. Just like Percocet/ OxyCodone 5mg/500 APAP, same thing; name/brand generic.

Wow, there is so much misinformation on this board that it scares me. I am an MD from Canada. Here's what I can tell you about these drugs:
Oxycodone and Hydrocodone are both semi-synthetic narcotics. In most people oxycodone is a more potent mu-opiod agonist...this means that in most people oxycodone is a stronger pain killer. In chemical terms oxycodone and hydrocodone differ by one atom. Oxycodone is actually 14-hydroxy hydrocodone. Both are related to codeine in chemical structure but are far more potent than codeine.
Hydrocodone is only sold as a compound drug...this means it is compounded with tylenol (acetominophen, apap, paracetemol), or aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drugs. Oxycodone is available as a compound drug such as Percocet (oxycodone and acetominophen), in various dosages, and is also available as the sole active ingredient. This formulation can be known as OxyContin (A trademarked name). Most likely the name is derived from the usage of MSContin which is Morphine Sulphate time released tablets.
OxyContin is oxycodone that has been formulated to slowly release the medication over a twelve hour period. The time release has nothing to do with the coating, the time release is due to the fact that the pill dissolves very slowly in the digestive tract and releases the drug as it dissolves. The reason OxyContin is dangerous is because it is available in high dosage (80mg) which is 16 times as much oxycodone as a percocet (5mg oxycodone, 325mg acetominophen). If the pill is crushed or chewed or broken into pieces the drug is available to be absorbed all at once. This dosage could be fatal to people that are not opiate tolerant.
May I suggest that you please get your information from your doctor or your pharmacist and not from this board. I know that people like to share their experiences and love to talk about what they THINK they know, but this could be an issue of life and death, and certainly addiction. Please, please, please talk to your physician or pharmacist about these issues. Use a reliable source of information when making decisions about which pain medication to take.

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.