Rags,

Just based on my own experience my thoughts about Oxy tolerance is that the people who seem to have tolerance issues - needing higher and higher doses to get the same relief - well everyone I have ever met or talked to who had/have that issue take their oxycontin every 12 hours.

In the literature the drug company gives to the doctors it says something like "if the dose is wearing off before 12 hours then raise the dose"... well my doctor decided that made no sense. If a person is getting perfect pain relief for 9 hours and then it goes down the tubes, then why give a higher dose instead of decreasing the time between doses?

This is just based on my own experience, but patients on 12 hour dosing schedules have a lot more tolerance issues that those who are on an 8 or 6 hour schedule.

When I needed the 4th pill added I knew it was an increase in pain instead of tolerance because of an actual physical change. It wasn't just a pain increase that I was having, it was a pain increase in one body area due to a specific problem - so it was clear that it was an increase in pain and not tolerance.... but without a clear physical change it is hard to tell the difference, and when my doc and I can't tell we switch me to a different med for a while and then it becomes more clear about whether it is med tolerance or pain increase.


I would have stayed on the patch if it didn't cause the rash... BUT, I am glad it caused the rash because I get much better relief with far fewer side effects from oxycontin. I got good pain relief from the patch, and if for some reason oxycontin was no longer available then I would choose the patch over morphine products, but for me OC works the best. Don't know why, don't care why, I just know it works and works well so I'm happy