I've been taking this medication in various dosages off-and-on for approximately 5 years due to cancer, chemotherapy, and post-chemotherapy pain. I currently take the 7.25 MG oxycodone + 325 MG acetaminophen formulation. At this point, I am fairly close to giving it up entirely. It's not because the medication is ineffective, but rather it's because there is seemingly no consistency in terms of the quality of the batch you receive. I discovered rather quickly to avoid the Alvogen brand; the nausea was unbearable and it usually took about 2 hours for what was supposed to be an immediate release tablet to start working and would peak about 1 hour after that.
The Rhodes Pharmaceuticals brand has been the one I've gotten the most. At first, it would reliably start working about 45 minutes after taking it, which is not quite "immediate," but also not unusual for me in terms of most medicines. I of course developed a tolerance to it over time, but it was still decent at controlling my pain. Most side effects were mild, except for the extremely negative impact on my libido. While this is of course not great for a married man in his 30s, it was a trade that I was begrudgingly willing to make since I could complete everyday tasks without hurting and be more active with my family outside of the home.
Over the last two years or so, however, (let's say the summer of 2020 to the present) the Rhodes variety has seen a marked decline in quality control and product consistency. Some batches have presented me with essentially no side effects but little analgesic help. Others have been normal. Some begin working with almost alarming speed (30 minutes) while others take an aeon (2.5 hours) and lose effectiveness quickly. For 3 of the last 5 months, though, the side effects have been much worse and my pain is barely managed. I am frequently nauseated, regardles of when, whether, or what I have eaten in relation to taking a pill. I have so much fatigue that I struggle to complete basic tasks, regardless of how much I slept the night before. What little sex drive I had before is essentially gone, which is putting a major strain on my marriage. As a cancer patient in remission, I get bloodwork done every three months and have frequent office visits, so there's nothing new going on with me healthwise that's been detected. I frequently take breaks of 2 weeks or longer from taking this medication, and surprise, basically all of these issues go away when I do this.
If I had to compare the feeling I get taking this medication now to anything, it would be the post-anesthesia hangovers I would have immediately after waking up from my surgeries. The anesthesia I received, of course, was fentanyl, so I'm genuinely beginning to wonder whether Rhodes has got some type of contamination (unintentional or otherwise) in their precursor when making these pills. I hate to say it, but at this point I'm ready to get my life back from the thing that's supposed to help me get my life back.Read More Read Less