Oxycodone Drug Interactions

Oxycodone can have adverse interactions and side effects when taken in combination with other drugs and medications. For example, interactions with other medicines can increase the patient’s risk of side effects such as drowsiness, confusion, memory loss or difficulty breathing.

Significant Drug Interactions

Oxycodone potentially increases the risk of serious alvimopan side effects such as severe allergic reactions, limb numbness and unusual tiredness or weakness. Therefore, patients who’ve taken oxycodone for each of the past 7 days should not take alvimopan.

Taking oxycodone with antidepressants may increase the risk of both common and serious side effects. As oxycodone can cause drowsiness, it may lead to serious problems if taken with other drugs that cause drowsiness, such as antihistamines. Of course this also means that oxycodone should not be combined with sleep medications, unless the patient’s doctor specifically recommends it.

Other Drugs and Supplements That Can Potentially Interact With Oxycodone

Iron supplements, multivitamins, calcium supplements, antacids and laxatives should not be used within 2 hours of taking oxycodone. Be aware that oxycodone may decrease the effectiveness of birth control pills and therefore a back-up form of birth control should be used whilst taking the drug.

Combining oxycodone with monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) such as isocarboxazid, phenelzine, rasagiline, selegiline and tranylcypromine can cause serious reactions. Hence, patients are advised not to use oxycodone and an MAOI within 14 days of one another.

There are several other groups of drugs that may interact adversely with this medication, including:

• Fellow narcotics or opioids such as hydrocodone/APAP and morphine
• Antipsychotic drugs such as chlorpromazine, haloperidol, Zyprexa, Clonazepam, Seroquel, and thioridazine
• Antidepressants such as Effexor, Citalopram (Celexa), Zoloft (Sertraline), Trazodone and Prozac.
• Sleep medications such as Ambien
• Allergy or cough and cold medications
• Antihistamines like Benadryl
• Barbiturate medications such as amobarbital, butalbital, pentobarbital, phenobarbital and secobarbital;
• Benzodiazepine sedatives such as alprazolam (xanax), chlordiazepoxide, clobazam, clonazepam, clorazepate, diazepam (valium), estazolam, flurazepam, lorazepam (ativan), midazolam, temazepam and triazolam
• Muscle relaxants such as baclofen, carisoprodol, chlorzoxazone, cyclobenzaprine, dantrolene and metaxalone

This is by no means a comprehensive list of oxycodone drug interactions. Patients should always consult their doctor on potential interactions with their current medications before starting oxycodone. The patient’s current prescription medicines should be taken into account along with over-the-counter medications, vitamins and nutritional and herbal supplements. It’s a good idea for patients to maintain up-to-date lists of all their medications for reference purposes whilst taking oxycodone.