Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid can cause sleep-related breathing disorders such as sleep apnea (breathing pauses during sleep) and sleep related hypoxemia (low oxygen level in the blood). The symptoms can include breathing pauses during sleep, night awakening due to shortness of breath, difficulties to maintain sleep or excessive drowsiness during the day. If you or another person observe these symptoms, contact your doctor. A dose reduction may be considered by your doctor.
Tolerance, dependence and addiction
This medicine contains oxycodone, which is an opioid. It can cause dependence and/or addiction.
When Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid is used for long-time treatment, tolerance to the medicine may occur. This means, that you may need a higher dose to achieve the desired pain relief. Do not change the dosage without consulting your doctor.
This medicine contains oxycodone which is an opioid medicine. Repeated use of opioid painkillers can result in the drug being less effective (you become accustomed to it, known as tolerance). Repeated use of Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid may lead to dependence, abuse, and addiction, which may result in life-threatening overdose. The risk of these side effects can increase with a higher dose and longer duration of use.
Dependence or addiction can make you feel that you are no longer in control of how much medicine you need to take or how often you need to take it. You might feel that you need to carry on taking your medicine, even when it doesn’t help to relieve your pain.
The risk of becoming dependent or addicted varies from person to person. You may have a greater risk of becoming dependent or addicted on Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid if:
- you or anyone in your family have ever abused or been dependent on alcohol, prescription medicines or illegal drugs (“addiction”).
- you are a smoker.
- you have ever had problems with your mood (depression, anxiety or a personality disorder) or have been treated by a psychiatrist for other mental illnesses.
If you notice any of the following signs whilst taking Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid, it could be a sign that you have become dependent or addicted.
- You need to take the medicine for longer than advised by your doctor
- You need to take more than the recommended dose
- You are using the medicine for reasons other than prescribed, for instance, ‘to stay calm’ or ‘help you sleep’
- You have made repeated, unsuccessful attempts to quit or control the use of the medicine
- When you stop taking the medicine you feel unwell, and you feel better once taking the medicine again (‘withdrawal effects’)
If you notice any of these signs, speak to your doctor to discuss the best treatment pathway for you, including when it is appropriate to stop and how to stop safely (See section 3, If you stop taking Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid).
Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid has a dependence potential. If the treatment is stopped too suddenly, withdrawal symptoms such as yawning, dilated pupils, tearing, runny nose, tremors, sweating, chills, anxiety, restlessness, feeling your heartbeat or muscle pain may occur. Other symptoms also may develop, including irritability, backache, joint pain, weakness, abdominal cramps, insomnia, nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea, or increased blood pressure, respiratory rate or heart rate.
If you no longer need treatment, your doctor will gradually reduce your daily dose.
Your doctor will weigh the possible risks against the expected and needs to be evaluated in relation to the benefit. Ask your doctor if you have any questions about this.
The active ingredient oxycodone hydrochloride, like other highly effective opioids (strong pain killers), has potential for abuse. The development of psychological addiction is possible. Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid should only be used with particular caution if there has been a history of alcohol, drug or drug abuse.
Particularly in high doses, increased sensitivity to pain (hyperalgesia) can occur, which does not respond to a further increase in the dose of Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid. Your doctor will then decide whether to reduce the dose or switch to another strong pain reliever (opioid).
If you need to have an operation, please tell your doctor that you are taking Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid.
Contact your doctor if you experience severe upper abdominal pain possibly radiating to the back, nausea, vomiting or fever as this could be symptoms associated with inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) and the biliary tract system.
Similar to other opioids, oxycodone can affect the body's normal production of hormones (such as cortisol and sex hormones). Symptoms may be severe abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, low blood pressure, extreme fatigue, lack of appetite and weight loss. If you have these symptoms, contact your doctor, who will decide if you need to take hormone supplement
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking, have recently taken or might take any other medicines.
Concomitant use of Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid and sedative medicines such as benzodiazepines or related drugs increases the risk of drowsiness, difficulties in breathing (respiratory depression), coma and may be life-threatening. Because of this, concomitant use should only be considered when other treatment options are not possible.
However if your doctor does prescribe Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid together with sedative medicines the dose and duration of concomitant treatment should be limited by your doctor.
Please tell your doctor about all sedative medicines you are taking, and follow your doctor’s dose recommendation closely. It could be helpful to inform friends or relatives to be aware of the signs and symptoms stated above. Contact your doctor when experiencing such symptoms.
The risk of side effects increases, if you use antidepressants (such as citalopram, duloxetine, escitalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine, sertraline, venlafaxine). These medicines may interact with oxycodone and you may experience symptoms such as involuntary, rhythmic contractions of muscles, including the muscles that control movement of the eye, agitation, excessive sweating, tremor, exaggeration of reflexes, increased muscle tension, body temperature above 38°C. Contact your doctor when experiencing such symptoms.
The risk of side effects is increased Oxycodone Hydrochloride G.L. Pharma liquid is used at the same time as medicines that can affect brain function
Medicines that affect the way the brain works include:
- sleeping pills or sedatives (e.g. hypnotics or sedatives, including benzodiazepines)
- medicines for depression (e.g. paroxetine or amitriptyline), including those belonging to a group of MAOIs (please also see Section “Warnings and precautions”),
- medicines for allergies, motion sickness or vomiting (antihistamines, antiemetics),
- medicines for psychological or mental disorders (such as psychotropic drugs, phenothiazines or neuroleptics),
- Medicines used to treat epilepsy, pain and anxiety such as e.g. gabapentin and pregabalin.
Please tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking any of the medicines from the following list:
- muscle relaxants used to treat muscle spasms
- medicines used to treat Parkinson's disease,
- other strong pain relievers (opioids),
- cimetidine (a medicine for stomach ulcers, indigestion or heartburn),
- medicines for fungal infections (such as ketoconazole, voriconazole, itraconazole or posaconazole),
- medicines for bacterial infections (such as clarithromycin, erythromycin or telithromycin),
- medicines from the group of protease inhibitors to treat HIV infection (e.g. boceprevir, ritonavir, indinavir, nelfinavir or saquinavir),
- rifampicin for tuberculosis,
- carbamazepine (a medicine for epilepsy or seizures and for certain types of pain),
- phenytoin (a medicine for epilepsy or seizures),
- the medicinal plant St. John's wort (also known as Hypericum perforatum),
- quinidine (a medicine for irregular heartbeat),
- certain medicines to prevent blood clotting or to thin the blood (such as coumarin medicines).