acetaminophen and oxycodone | Cigna (2024)

FAQs

Can you have acetaminophen with oxycodone? ›

Oxycodone and acetaminophen combination is used to relieve pain severe enough to require opioid treatment and when other pain medicines did not work well enough or cannot be tolerated.

A 2009 study found that the combination of oxycodone and acetaminophen was 1.5 times more potent than hydrocodone with acetaminophen when taken at equal doses.

It's safe to take oxycodone with paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin (do not give aspirin to children under 16 years of age). Do not take oxycodone with painkillers that contain codeine.

This depends on whether you are taking standard oxycodone capsules, tablets or liquid, or slow-release tablets. Standard oxycodone takes 30 to 60 minutes to work, but this wears off after 4 to 6 hours. Slow-release oxycodone can take 1 to 2 days to work fully, but the pain relief will last longer.

Some opioids may be comb​ined with drugs like Aspirin (ASA) and acetaminophen (Tylenol) to give more pain relief. Opioids often come as a tablet that you swallow. When used in ways they weren't meant to be used, they may also be injected, inhaled (snorted), or smoked.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid similar to morphine but up to 100 times more potent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is among the most abused pain relievers in the U.S. and the leading cause of overdose deaths.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classes both Dilaudid and oxycodone as “potent opioids.” However, generic hydromorphone has a higher potency than generic oxycodone and typically has a longer duration of action.

Percocet contains five milligrams of oxycodone, which is all released when the pill is taken. Percocet also contains acetaminophen (the drug in Tylenol), which can cause liver damage if you take a lot of it. Oxycodone-CR products contain only oxycodone. When taken as prescribed, the drug is released over several hours.

Oxycodone is marketed alone as OxyContin® in 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg extended-release tablets and other immediate-release capsules like 5 mg OxyIR®. It is also marketed in combination products with aspirin such as Percodan® or acetaminophen such as Roxicet®.

When should oxycodone not be given? ›

Oxycodone should not be given with any medicine containing codeine or morphine. Also avoid alcohol and other medicines that cause drowsiness (e.g. medicines to help with sleep problems, prescription cough medicines and other strong pain-relief medicines).

Individuals who abuse OxyContin risk developing tolerance for the drug, meaning they must take increasingly higher doses to achieve the same effects. Long-term abuse of the drug can lead to physical dependence and addiction.

Descriptions. Oxycodone and acetaminophen combination is used to relieve pain severe enough to require opioid treatment and when other pain medicines did not work well enough or cannot be tolerated.

An opioid sets off a chain of immune signals in the spinal cord that amplifies pain rather than dulling it, even after the drug leaves the body, the researchers found.

The overall quality of sleep can be adversely affected by opioids, such as Vicodin and oxycodone. A study conducted by Penn State University stated that patients reporting lower sleep quality were associated with intense drug cravings.

Carfentanil: Carfentanil, a synthetic opioid, is a 100-fold stronger version of fentanyl. It has 5,000 times the potency of heroin and 10,000 times the potency of morphine. There has been an increase in the amount of carfentanil in narcotics, and this substance nearly invariably results in overdose and death.

Dosages. In combination pill, 5 mg oxycodone and 400 mg ibuprofen every 6 hours as needed.

If you need additional pain relief, you can combine aspirin, naproxen, or ibuprofen with acetaminophen. However, do not take aspirin, naproxen, or ibuprofen within 8-12 hours of each other. Also, watch out for pain medications that might be included in combination products such as those used for cough and cold.

Meaning This study found that oxycodone did not provide superior pain relief compared with combination acetaminophen and codeine during the first 7 days of treatment despite a 6-fold higher dose of opioid being delivered in the strong opioid group.