This medicine may cause a serious type of allergic reaction called anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention. Call your doctor right away if you have a rash, itching, hoarseness, trouble breathing or swallowing, or any swelling of your hands, face, or mouth while you are using this medicine. Appropriate studies performed to date have not demonstrated geriatric-specific problems that would limit the usefulness of oxycodone in the elderly.
Oxycodone disease interactions
Overdoses involving opioids killed nearly 47,000 people in 2018, and 32% of those deaths involved prescription opioids. Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are taking this medicine, it is especially important that your healthcare professional know if you are taking any of the medicines listed below.
Do Not Mix Alcohol and Opioids
Do not presoak, wet, or lick the tablets before you put them in your mouth. Tell your doctor if you take recreational drugs while you’re taking oxycodone. Grapefruit juice can affect the strength of the oxycodone in your body and cause more serious side effects.
Other medications can affect the removal of oxycodone from your body, which may affect how oxycodone works. Before taking oxycodone, tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are allergic to it; or alcohol storage ideas to other opioid pain relievers (such as oxymorphone); or if you have any other allergies. This product may contain inactive ingredients, which can cause allergic reactions or other problems. Nausea, vomiting, constipation, lightheadedness, dizziness, or drowsiness may occur. Some of these side effects may decrease after you have been using this medication for a while. If any of these effects last or get worse, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly.
More About Drugs and Medications
You may have trouble concentrating or performing mechanical skills. Small amounts of alcohol can make it dangerous to drive, and when you mix alcohol with certain medicines you put yourself at even greater risk. Combining alcohol with some medicines can lead to falls and serious injuries, especially among older people. This can lead to bradypnea (abnormally slowed breathing) and respiratory depression (where carbon dioxide levels increase in the body while oxygen levels fall). Among the possible consequences of this are fainting, bradycardia (slowed heart rate), respiratory failure, heart attack, coma, and death.
- Contact your care team if the problem does not go away or is severe.
- If your symptoms return, the person should give you another dose of naloxone.
- Dizziness or severe drowsiness can cause falls or other accidents.
- If you have pain, you have a medical reason to take pain medication.
Drug Interactions
However, if it is almost time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and continue your regular dosing schedule. Do not take more than one dose of the extended-release tablets or capsules in 12 hours. Do not stop taking oxycodone without talking to your doctor. Older people are at particularly high risk for harmful alcohol–medication interactions. Aging slows the body’s ability to break down alcohol, so alcohol remains in a person’s system longer. Older people also are more likely to take a medication that interacts with alcohol—in fact, they often need to take more than one of these medications.
If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines. Before having surgery, tell your doctor or dentist about all the products you use (including prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, and herbal products). Keep this medicine in a safe place to prevent theft, misuse, or abuse. If someone accidentally swallows this drug, get medical help right away. You may report side effects to FDA at FDA-1088 or at /medwatch. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist.
To prevent withdrawal, your doctor may lower your dose slowly. If you have ongoing pain (such as due to cancer), your doctor may direct you to also take long-acting opioid medications. In that case, this medication might be used for sudden (breakthrough) pain only as needed. Other pain relievers (such as acetaminophen, ibuprofen) may also be prescribed with this medication. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about using oxycodone safely with other drugs. Oxycodone is an opioid medication that treats severe pain.