Whether oxycodone use is legitimate or illegal does not affect a person’s addictive potential. The body gets used to this drug and adapts to it, but it is very prone to addiction due to the opioid and its tolerability. What behavioral, psychological, and physical symptoms occur when someone develops an addiction to oxycodone?

Brain Effects from Opioids

During this time, the brain reacts to the flood of synthetic dopamine and stops producing its natural dopamine. Sufferers notice that the euphoric effects are more muted or disappear altogether, leading to increased dose. When taken daily, people cannot feel joy at all, but rather a sense of hopelessness.

As with any potent opioid, oxycodone abuse can lead to an overdose, but withdrawal symptoms are usually signs of chemical dependence rather than a symptom of addiction.

This event would constitute a medical emergency requiring immediate intervention. But oxycodone overdoses often contain other substances, such as alcohol, which further escalate the emergency. We always recommend seeking a medical detox program to alleviate the very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. These can quickly derail any sobriety plan. When it’s time to get help for OxyCodone addiction, the first step is to complete a detox program.

During the detox, the person receives various medications that can significantly minimize the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. Medical detoxification provides the necessary medical intervention and emotional support to get you to the other side.

Dangers Of Long Term Oxycodone Abuse

Oxycodone is a prescription opioid that is part of a family of painkillers, or “painkillers,” that work by changing the way the brain responds to pain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is often sold under OxyContin and Percocet’s brand names and is prescribed for treating moderate to severe pain.

Oxycodone has a high potential for abuse due to the user’s euphoric feelings, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Surprisingly, even taking the drug as prescribed can pose a significant risk of addiction, according to the U.S. health agency CDC. Addiction can lead to an increase in tolerance and eventually addiction. At some point, you need more to get the pain relief you want, so you build up a tolerance.

Withdrawal symptoms occur when the drugs are stopped, but at some point, the user tries to get off the drug and becomes the perpetrator.

Recreational use carries a higher risk of overdose, as it often speeds up the uptake of large and dangerous amounts of the drug. It has a high potential for abuse and can cause serious side effects such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches, nausea and vomiting.

Oxycodone is available in various forms, including prescription, over-the-counter (OTC), and controlled release, as well as a prescription.

Brand Names For Oxy

Some brand names include OxyContin, Roxicodone, Percocet, Percodan, and street names like Oxy-kicker, blue, hillbilly, and heroin. It is a powerful opioid painkiller and is offered as paracetamol, aspirin, and ibuprofen.

These side effects can worsen with increasing dose, making users uncomfortable, and making them uncomfortable. There is evidence that the use of oxycodone can cause breathing problems, and significantly slowing breathing rates can become life-threatening in people with chronic pain, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Of course, the long-term effects are different for everyone, but oxycodone can be very useful in severe chronic pain for some users.

Psychological Dependence

Oxycodone is a Class II drug, which means it is highly addictive and has the potential to become addictive. This psychological dependence often stems from the feeling of euphoria that users experience first. Of course, some users still want to feel the same feeling as when they first used it, hoping to improve the effects. Therefore, it is not safe more frequently than your doctor has prescribed, and it can lead to long-term dependence.

Oxycodone abuse ultimately causes the brain to adapt to new inputs, explaining the transition from control and compulsive consumption. The physical dependence on oxycodone involves adapting to the continued increased presence of the drug in the system. Specific physiological processes are impeded over time if this drug is not available. Tolerance is evolving from this phenomenon, which means it will take more to achieve the same effect.

It is common to become addicted to oxycodone and other opioids, and the combination of these products carries an even greater risk. Of course, prolonged use of medication combined with oxycodone or paracetamol can lead to severe liver damage. This risk can increase if the OxyCodone / Paracet-Amino Acid combination drug is abused simultaneously with alcohol.

You can develop an addiction before you think about it, and if you or someone you love has developed it and are not sure what to do, don’t hesitate to call for help today. Our experts are available for questions and would like to guide you in the right direction.

LONG TERM EFFECTS OF OXYCONTIN ON THE BRAIN

People who abuse OxyContin develop a physical tolerance for the drug. As result, they may need to take larger and larger doses of the drug to feel the same effect. Each pill can be expensive, and some addicts may find that they’re spending hundreds of dollars each day just to feed their addictions. To keep costs down, some addicts switch to heroin. It sounds implausible, but many studies suggest that OxyContin can work as a gateway drug, exposing users to the more significant dangers of more potent drugs, such as heroin. For example, a small study conducted in Ohio and published in the journal American Family Physician found that many heroin users were prior users of OxyContin. These respondents stated that they likely would not have tried heroin unless they had used OxyContin in the past.

• Heroin addiction is severe and can cause: Incarceration
• Homelessness
• Brain damage
• Infection

Some people who abuse heroin need to take replacement therapies for the rest of their lives, as their bodies can no longer function without some outside form of therapy. It’s a devastating addiction most people would like to avoid at all costs.

Does Oxycodone Kill Brain Cells?

We do not know if oxycodone kills brain cells or not.

Doctors, researchers, and medical experts DO NOT YET KNOW exactly what effects prescription opioids may have on the human brain. When you take oxycodone, certain changes occur in the brain. As explained by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, these drugs act by attaching to opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord. Chemically, oxycodone blocks the transmission of pain messages to the brain. Oxycodone also causes you to feel high by acting on the reward system in the brain.

Side effects of prescription painkiller drugs include drowsiness, slowed breathing, and slowed heart rate. However, these effects pass once the drug is out of your system. Still, other symptoms occur that affect the brain when you take oxycodone over time. Researchers looking at the neurobiology of oxycodone effects in the early 2000’s found that continued use of oxycodone produces

• Addiction, or intense drug craving and compulsive use.
• Dependence, or the need to keep taking drugs to avoid a withdrawal syndrome.
• Drug liking that overrides executive brain functions.
• Tolerance, or the need for increasing drug amounts for initial therapeutic effect.

Can You Reverse the Effects?

Experts are still not sure.

Most of the acute effects of oxycodone resolve upon cessation of use. If you are oxycodone-dependent, this means that you can benefit from medical help as you stop taking oxycodone. Uncommon step-down dosing, tapering protocols, and withdrawal therapies can help you as you remove oxycodone from your system.

However, the long-term damage to your brain is still unknown. A 2011 study written by Stanford University’s Jarred Younger showed that when people with chronic low back pain were administered oral morphine daily for 1 month, they experienced significant changes in the volume of several critical areas of the brain (some got bigger and some got smaller) compared to those who received placebo. Even after stopping the morphine and measuring for up to 4.7 months later, these changes persisted.

As scientists investigate further, one thing is certain: oxycodone is a problem drug in the U.S. In 2014, almost 2 million Americans abused or were dependent on prescription opioids. Every day, over 1,000 people are treated in emergency departments for misusing prescription opioids.

Whether you are a beginning user or looking to stop for good… we’re behind you! Know what you risk so that you can avoid long-term damage. And, ask us if we can help further.