Medical Uses
Oxycodone is effective for managing moderate to moderately severe acute or chronic pain. It has been found to improve quality of life for those with many types of pain.
Oxycodone can also be used as an alternative to other opiates to treat severe diarrhea and diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome when drugs such as loperamide and diphenoxylate are ineffective.
In 2001, the European Association for Palliative Care recommended that oral oxycodone could be taken as a second-line alternative to oral morphine for cancer pain. There is no evidence that any opioids are superior to morphine in relieving the pain of cancer, and no controlled trials have shown oxycodone to be superior to morphine. However, compared to morphine, oxycodone causes less respiratory depression, sedation, pruritus, and nausea. As a result, it is generally better tolerated than morphine.
Read more about this topic: Oxycodone
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