28 Mar Oxycodone Withdrawal Symptoms and How to Successfully Detox

Oxycodone is a prescription drug often used in hospitals, medical centers, and health clinics. It falls into a class of drugs known as opioids and is generally prescribed to treat severe symptoms of pain and discomfort.

While opioids such as oxycodone are effective for treating pain after an accident, surgery, or other medical procedure, they are also highly addictive. As such, you can get addicted to oxycodone even though a doctor has prescribed it.

If you or someone you love has become addicted to oxycodone and want to stop, you’ve come to the right place. This article will look at everything you need to know about oxycodone withdrawal symptoms, the detox process, and how to detox successfully. We will also compare detoxing on your own versus receiving professional assistance during detox and what the most beneficial would be.

Why is oxycodone so addictive?

Oxycodone is a prescription opioid known as an analgesic narcotic because it is used in the medical field. This drug sends signals to your central nervous system, specifically affecting your opioid receptors. When you are in pain, oxycodone intercepts and disrupts the nerves sending pain signals from the brain to the body. By interrupting and disrupting these nerve signals, oxycodone tricks the brain into thinking you are not in pain.

This is how all pain medications work, but oxycodone is more powerful and effective than most. Eventually, oxycodone can severely alter your nerve signals and receptors, making your brain think it needs oxycodone to function normally.

Additionally, when you use oxycodone for a prolonged period, you can get addicted to the euphoria and relief you experience. You may also start developing a tolerance to oxycodone and have to take increasingly larger doses to achieve the desired effect.

When this happens, you become physically or mentally reliant on oxycodone, resulting in a growing need and eventual addiction.

Common oxycodone withdrawal symptoms

Oxycodone withdrawal happens because your body has become dependent on the euphoria and pleasure you experience when you ingest the drug.

A sign of addiction is when you cannot control your need and desire to take oxycodone, even though it is causing harm to your mind or body.

If you or someone you love is addicted to oxycodone and wants to stop using it, you will have to go through a process known as withdrawal or detox. Withdrawal symptoms happen because your body has become dependent on oxycodone and is craving it. When your body doesn’t get what it thinks it needs, you can experience painful, uncomfortable physical and psychological pain.

Physical symptoms

The physical symptoms of oxycodone withdrawal occur not necessarily because you’re no longer taking your pain medication but because of your body’s reaction to the sudden lack of oxycodone.

Because of this sudden change, you may experience some or all of the symptoms of oxycodone withdrawal:

You’ll experience these symptoms within the first 24 hours of when you last took oxycodone.

These symptoms will be bad but not as severe or dangerous as those you’ll experience from hours 24 through 72, including the following:

The worst of your symptoms typically occur between days 2 and 3. While your symptoms may continue for several days or weeks, they are generally diminished and more manageable.

Psychological symptoms

In addition to painful physical symptoms, you may also experience uncomfortable, confusing, and painful psychological symptoms. This happens because oxycodone affects your brain just as much as it does your body.

You may start to experience these symptoms within 12 to 24 hours of when you last took oxycodone. Symptoms start gradually and worsen around the hour mark 48 through 72. However, if you can make it to the three-day mark, your symptoms will decrease and eventually disappear within one to two weeks.

Timeline for oxycodone withdrawal

Because oxycodone is a prescription drug, you’ll first start to experience withdrawal symptoms within 8 to 12 hours of your last missed dose.

From there, the symptoms gradually increase for two to four days before slowly subsiding after one to two weeks. However, everyone’s timeline and withdrawal symptoms differ and depend on several factors.

• How long you’ve been taking oxycodone
• How high has your tolerance become
• How often you took the drug throughout the day
• Your method of taking oxycodone
• How severely you misused oxycodone
• Whether or not you mixed oxycodone with other drugs or substances

Regardless of the factors above, most people will be over the worst of their symptoms within one to two weeks of when they last took oxycodone. However, it is possible to experience lingering symptoms, known as post-acute withdrawal symptoms, for up to two years after quitting your addiction.

How to overcome oxycodone addiction

Overcoming an addiction to oxycodone is one of the hardest things you may ever have to do. The physical and psychological symptoms of withdrawal are often enough to make people give in to their cravings and relapse. Therefore, it’s important to have a plan of attack if you want to detox successfully from oxycodone.

Have people around you

You may be incapacitated while going through withdrawal and need someone’s help to cope with the symptoms. Between nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cold sweats, confusion, and everything else, you may not be able to feed or care for yourself.

Additionally, it’s important to have emotional and moral support while going through oxycodone withdrawal. Having a support group of friends, family, and loved ones can provide you with encouragement and hope during the darkest moments of detox. Your support group can help keep you accountable during these moments and resist your desire to relapse and take oxycodone again. 

Find coping methods

While medications and a support group are great for overcoming withdrawal, the process will feel long and grueling. As such, you’ll need to find ways to cope with the cravings that accompany detoxification. Here are some of the best coping methods and distractions for oxycodone withdrawal.

Consider medications

Over-the-counter medications can help you cope with some painful physical withdrawal symptoms. Ibuprofen, Advil, and Benadryl may help ease headaches and body aches accompanying withdrawal. These medications can also help you get a good night’s sleep, which is essential for overcoming addiction. 

• Watching a movie
• Reading a book
• Listening to music

• Talking with friends and family
• Consuming nourishing foods and liquids
• Getting on a healthy sleep schedule

Oxycodone detox with professional assistance

Because of how affordable it is to go through oxycodone withdrawal on your own, most people give it a try. However, the physical and psychological symptoms are often more than people can handle. Therefore, oxycodone has a very high relapse rate unless you enlist professional detox assistance.

Going through oxycodone withdrawal with professional detox assistance is far more effective than trying to detox on your own. Here’s what professional detox includes.

In addition to the withdrawal process, professional assistance is also the best way to ensure a lasting recovery. The temptation to relapse into addiction will be extremely strong, especially in the early days after withdrawal. Professional guidance and help can give you the strength and support you need to retake permanent control of your life.