Oxycodone
RoxicodonePubChem CID 5284603 · 3D model
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Attaches to opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord that the body normally uses for its own natural pain-relief signals, blocking pain messages and producing a sense of relief and calm — the same activity responsible for its risk of slowed breathing and its potential for dependence.
How it works
Oxycodone is a strong opioid painkiller. It fits into the same receptors in your brain and spinal cord that your body's own natural pain-relief chemicals use, turning down pain signals and producing feelings of relief and calm. Because it works so directly on the brain's pain and breathing control centers, it carries real risks of dependence and, at high doses, dangerously slowed breathing.
What it’s used for
Oxycodone is prescribed for pain severe enough to need an opioid, when other pain treatments haven't worked well enough or aren't appropriate. It carries a boxed warning — the FDA's strongest safety warning — covering the real risk of addiction, abuse, and misuse; the danger of slowed or stopped breathing, especially when starting the drug or increasing the dose; the risk of a fatal overdose if a child accidentally swallows even one dose; and a heightened risk of dangerously slowed breathing, sedation, coma, or death when combined with benzodiazepines, other sedatives, or alcohol.
- Mechanism
- Full opioid agonist, binds mu-opioid receptors to block pain signaling
- Drug class
- Small molecule
- Therapeutic area
- Analgesic / Pain