Outpatient medication-assisted treatment for oxycodone, OxyContin, and Roxicodone dependence — for patients who started on a prescription pad in the OxyContin era and for patients whose current supply comes from somewhere far more dangerous. Four clinics across Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia, same-day appointments available.
CARF AccreditedLicensed in Tennessee & GeorgiaSame-day appointments availableConfidential from your first call
At a glance
How we treat oxycodone addiction
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Restoration Recovery treats oxycodone addiction — including OxyContin, Roxicodone, and Percocet (oxycodone+acetaminophen) — with FDA-approved buprenorphine MAT at four outpatient clinics across Tennessee and Georgia. Most prescription-pill patients respond well to daily Suboxone film or tablet; patients who have struggled with daily adherence or whose tolerance has climbed substantially often benefit from monthly Sublocade or weekly/monthly Brixadi injections. Sordo 2017 BMJ documents buprenorphine cutting overdose mortality roughly in half.
First visits include DSM-5 evaluation, COWS scoring, counseling intake, doctor evaluation, and medication ordering. Same-week appointments; TennCare, BlueCare, BCBS, UHC, and most commercial insurance accepted.
What Is Oxycodone?
Oxycodone is a semi-synthetic opioid, derived from the thebaine alkaloid of the opium poppy, used to treat moderate-to-severe pain. It is more potent than hydrocodone and roughly equipotent with morphine by the oral route. In the United States it is a Schedule II controlled substance — the most tightly regulated tier available for outpatient prescribing — which means no refills, a new written or electronic prescription every fill, and in Tennessee mandatory Controlled Substance Monitoring Database (CSMD) checks before every script.
The brand names matter clinically, because they tell you what formulation you’re looking at. OxyContin is the extended-release (ER) version, designed to release oxycodone gradually over roughly 12 hours, intended for around-the-clock chronic pain. Roxicodone, Oxaydo, and generic oxycodone HCl are immediate-release (IR) formulations, onset in 15 to 30 minutes, typically used for breakthrough or acute pain. Combination products pairing oxycodone with acetaminophen are covered on our dedicated Percocet addiction treatment page.
Of all of the prescription opioids, oxycodone — and OxyContin specifically — carries a particular weight in the history of the American opioid crisis. OxyContin was FDA-approved in late 1995 and marketed aggressively through the late 1990s and 2000s with the now-discredited claim that its extended-release design made it less addictive than short-acting opioids. By 2010, oxycodone distribution in the United States had grown more than threefold from 2000 levels. The pill-mill era of the 2000s Southeast — Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Georgia — was built in large part on loose oxycodone prescribing. Many of the patients who walk into our clinics today were part of that era personally. Others were born into its aftermath: an illicit oxycodone supply that looks like the pills from the pill-mill years but now contains fentanyl instead.
That two-era story is the clinical picture for oxycodone today, and it shapes how we treat it.
U.S. oxycodone distribution, 2000 → 2021
Morphine milligram equivalents per person, ARCOS
1.00×Year 2000
+280%2010 peak
−54%2021 vs peakfrom peak to today
Per DEA ARCOS data, U.S. oxycodone MME per person grew +280% from 2000 to a 2010 peak, then fell −54% from that peak through 2021. Pharmacies drove >94% of that pattern. The 2010 inflection aligns with the OxyContin abuse-deterrent reformulation, Florida’s pill-mill crackdown, state PDMPs, and the CDC 2016 prescribing guideline.
OxyContin cohort, pre → post 2010 reformulation
Primary drug of abuse, 2,566-patient NEJM cohort
35.6%Pre-reformulation
12.8%21 months later
66%switched opioidheroin most common
In the NEJM 2012 cohort of 2,566 opioid-dependent patients entering treatment, OxyContin as primary drug of abuse fell from 35.6% to 12.8% in the 21 months after the 2010 abuse-deterrent reformulation. 66% of former OxyContin users said they switched to another opioid, heroin most commonly — and heroin use in the cohort nearly doubled. Cutting the prescription supply without offering treatment pushed most of those patients toward other opioids rather than out of dependence.
From the OxyContin Era to Now
If you walked into an American primary care office between roughly 1998 and 2010 with ongoing pain, there is a meaningful chance you walked out with a prescription for OxyContin. FDA-approved in December 1995, the drug was marketed on the premise that its extended-release formulation made it a safer, less addictive option than short-acting opioids. Purdue Pharma’s sales force made that claim to hundreds of thousands of prescribers. It was not true. In 2007, a Purdue subsidiary pleaded guilty to federal charges of misbranding OxyContin in connection with those addiction claims. By then, millions of prescriptions had been written, and a generation of patients had become physically dependent on a medication they’d been told was safer than it was.
The DEA ARCOS distribution numbers on the left capture the arc. U.S. oxycodone distribution, measured as morphine milligram equivalents per person, grew roughly 280% from 2000 to a 2010 peak. Pharmacies drove more than 94% of that growth. That same 2010 was the inflection year — Purdue reformulated OxyContin with abuse-deterrent properties (crushing the pill produced a gel rather than a snortable or injectable powder), Florida’s pill-mill crackdown began in earnest, state prescription drug monitoring programs came online, and by 2016 the CDC issued its first formal opioid prescribing guideline. Oxycodone distribution has fallen roughly 54% from that 2010 peak through 2021. The prescription tap turned down.
What happened next is the NEJM cohort on the left. Researchers followed 2,566 opioid-dependent patients entering treatment before and after the 2010 OxyContin reformulation. OxyContin as their primary drug of abuse dropped from 35.6% to 12.8% in 21 months — a real success by the narrow metric the reformulation was designed for. But it was a supply-side success without a demand-side answer. Two thirds (66%) of patients who had been using OxyContin reported switching to another opioid, with heroin the most common response. Heroin use in the same cohort nearly doubled. A separate RAND analysis found that states with above-average pre-reformulation OxyContin misuse later saw hepatitis C rates rise by roughly 225%, compared with 75% in lower-misuse states — a fingerprint of the shift to injection heroin use.
That second chapter matters for every oxycodone patient on this page. If you were dependent on OxyContin or Roxicodone in the late 2000s and your access closed, you were one of the people that national statistic was measuring. And if you’re still in the illicit market today, the pill supply you’re buying isn’t what it looks like. The round blue “oxycodone 30” (M30) tablets circulating as street pills are now dominantly counterfeit pressings made overseas, containing fentanyl rather than oxycodone. Treatment that worked twenty years ago still works now — it just has to account for the fact that many patients who think they’ve been using oxycodone have actually been using fentanyl for a long time. That mostly changes the induction timing, which your provider sets from your COWS score at intake.
Sources: Solgama et al., Pharmacoepidemiology of Oxycodone in the USA (Pharmacology Research & Perspectives, 2026; ARCOS 2000–2021); Cicero et al., Effect of Abuse-Deterrent Formulation of OxyContin (NEJM, 2012, N=2,566 cohort); RAND Corporation analysis on hepatitis C post-reformulation (via STAT News, 2019); U.S. Department of Justice press release, The Purdue Frederick Company Pleads Guilty to Misbranding OxyContin (2007); CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain (2016; updated 2022).
Recognizing it
Signs of Oxycodone Use Disorder
Oxycodone use disorder is a medical condition, not a character flaw. For patients who started on a prescription — which is most oxycodone patients we see — it often isn’t loud. The prescription-opioid version of dependence frequently looks like a functional adult holding things together while the pills quietly run the background math. Common signs include:
Tolerance and dose escalation. The dose that worked when it was first prescribed doesn’t anymore. What started as one 10 mg OxyContin every 12 hours becomes two. What was two 5 mg Roxicodone tablets becomes three or four. The total daily amount has crept well above what was originally prescribed, often without a corresponding increase in pain relief.
Running out early. The 30-day prescription lasts 22 days. Then 18. Then 14. A pattern of “lost” bottles, “stolen” prescriptions, or early refill requests is one of the clearest clinical signals, and one of the reasons the Tennessee CSMD was built.
Breaking, crushing, or chewing ER pills. Extended-release OxyContin was designed to be taken whole. Breaking, crushing, or chewing ER pills defeats the release mechanism and delivers the full 12-hour dose at once. Doing this, or looking for pre-reformulation (“OC”) pills versus post-2010 (“OP”) pills, is a marker of both escalating misuse and physical dependence.
Doctor-shopping or multi-sourcing. Visiting more than one provider to keep supply steady — a family doctor, a pain clinic, urgent care, a dentist, the ER. The Tennessee CSMD now requires providers to check prescription history before writing Schedule II opioids, which makes this pattern far easier to catch than it was a decade ago.
Switching to cheaper or stronger alternatives. When the prescription access closes — a tapering pain plan, a provider retirement, an insurance change — patients commonly switch to illicit “30s” or “Roxies” off the street, to heroin, or increasingly (and usually unknowingly) to fentanyl-pressed counterfeit oxycodone. Many of our patients never imagined they’d buy drugs from someone outside a pharmacy and then did, because the alternative was withdrawal.
Withdrawal fear driving the next dose. Taking the pill not for pain, not for euphoria, but to keep sickness away. The morning dose before work. The extra pill before a holiday gathering because you know what 12 hours without one feels like. Life getting scheduled around the dose clock.
Loss of control. Deciding you’ll only take the prescribed dose today and not being able to. Making and breaking the same “this is the last bottle” promise to yourself, a spouse, or an adult child for months or years.
Hiding use. Taking pills where no one sees. Lying about how many are left. Stashing a reserve supply. Family members often spot the behavior around the pills before the pills themselves.
Continued use despite consequences. Using even when it’s costing you — financially, professionally, medically, legally, relationally. Continued use in the face of mounting consequences is one of the DSM-5 criteria for opioid use disorder.
You do not have to meet every item on this list. The formal DSM-5 threshold for opioid use disorder is 2 of 11 criteria in a 12-month period. Mild, moderate, and severe are all treatable — and earlier is almost always easier than later.
Oxycodone Withdrawal: Timeline & Symptoms
Oxycodone withdrawal is uncomfortable. For most healthy adults it is not life-threatening the way alcohol or benzodiazepine withdrawal can be, but it is severe enough that many patients relapse just to make it stop. The physical withdrawal is real — not a willpower problem — and medication-assisted treatment is built to prevent it instead of making you push through. Oxycodone’s pharmacokinetics depend on the formulation: immediate-release oxycodone (Roxicodone, Oxaydo, generic IR) has a half-life of roughly 3 to 4.5 hours, while extended-release OxyContin has a functional half-life closer to 4.5 to 5.5 hours with a much flatter blood-level curve. That distinction shapes the timeline you’ll actually experience.
First 8–24 hours after last dose
Early symptoms
Anxiety, restlessness, irritability, muscle aches, yawning, watery eyes, runny nose, sweating, and cravings. Sleep becomes difficult the first night. For immediate-release oxycodone the onset tends to be earlier (8–12 hours); for extended-release OxyContin it often takes 12–24 hours because blood levels were smoother going in.
Day 1 – Day 3 · Peak
The peak
Full picture: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, chills alternating with sweating, dilated pupils, goosebumps (“kicking”), muscle and bone aches, profound fatigue, and intense cravings. Heart rate and blood pressure rise. Insomnia persists. This is the window in which unmedicated quit attempts almost always fail.
This is the stretch MAT is built for — buprenorphine prevents these symptoms, so most patients never go through the peak unmedicated.
Acute GI symptoms gradually subside and appetite may start to return. Sleep is still fragmented and cravings remain strong. Low mood and anxiety often peak here as the nervous system re-regulates.
Week 2 and beyond · Post-acute
Post-acute withdrawal
Low energy, difficulty concentrating, mood changes, anhedonia, and intermittent cravings can last weeks to several months. For long-term prescribed ER oxycodone patients, this phase is often described as more diffuse and more protracted than short-term IR use — the nervous system is re-calibrating after years of smooth, steady opioid exposure. That doesn’t mean treatment isn’t working, and MAT dramatically shortens and softens this phase.
Two clinical considerations specific to oxycodone
Long-term prescribed ER oxycodone: patients stable on OxyContin at a prescribed dose for years often have the most protracted post-acute course and the highest relapse risk during the acute window — and are most likely to need coordinated pain management planning alongside MAT, which buprenorphine’s own analgesic effect suits well. Counterfeit-pill fentanyl exposure: if the “oxycodone” came from anywhere other than a pharmacy — street pills stamped M30, K9, or other oxycodone markings — fentanyl exposure should be assumed. Fentanyl clears more slowly than real oxycodone because it stores in body fat, so the buprenorphine induction window shifts longer, typically 36 to 72 hours rather than 8 to 24. Your provider measures COWS at intake to time induction correctly.
How We Treat Oxycodone Addiction
At Restoration Recovery, oxycodone use disorder is treated with a combination of medication and psychosocial support. Every opioid patient is evaluated for medication-assisted treatment because the evidence supporting MAT is overwhelming — more than a 50% reduction in fatal overdose risk, significantly longer retention in treatment, and sharply lower rates of illicit opioid use.
Buprenorphine + naloxone taken under the tongue. Buprenorphine is a partial agonist: it stabilizes cravings and prevents withdrawal at the same opioid receptors oxycodone was acting on, but with a ceiling on euphoria and respiratory depression. For many prescription-first patients, same-day Suboxone induction is clinically appropriate and dramatically easier than a cold-turkey attempt. The naloxone component is inactive when the medication is taken correctly; it’s included to discourage injection misuse.
A long-acting extended-release form of buprenorphine administered once per month at our clinics. Many patients transition from Suboxone to Sublocade because it removes the daily decision-making around taking medication, holds steadier blood levels through the month, and — importantly for patients whose dependence began with pill-taking — removes the pill ritual entirely. Per FDA labeling, Sublocade requires at least 7 days of transmucosal buprenorphine (Suboxone) before the first injection.
Brixadi (weekly or monthly)
Another extended-release buprenorphine injection with flexible dosing intervals. Brixadi’s weekly option can be helpful for patients still finding the right maintenance dose or who want more frequent clinic contact than Sublocade’s monthly cadence. Like Sublocade, Brixadi is ordered per-patient and administered at a follow-up visit once the medication arrives.
Individual counseling
Licensed therapists experienced in substance use disorder. Counseling for prescription-opioid patients often surfaces material specific to this pathway — the original pain event or injury, the relationship with the original prescribing provider, the shame of needing medication to function, the long arc of hidden use within a family.
Certified peer support
Specialists with lived recovery experience. Many of our peer specialists walked the same OxyContin-to-heroin-to-recovery arc our patients are walking, and that conversation sometimes opens what a clinical conversation cannot.
Intensive outpatient (IOP)
Clinician-led sessions several times a week for patients who benefit from more structure — delivered in a group format by design. IOP is the only group-setting service we offer, and it’s a separate, structured program rather than an informal group activity.
Integrated behavioral & medical care
Care for co-occurring conditions under one roof, including anxiety, depression, trauma, chronic pain, and hepatitis C. Hepatitis C in particular rose sharply after the 2010 OxyContin reformulation as patients transitioned to injection heroin use; for patients with that history, we treat it in-house rather than refer it out.
Chronic Pain & OxyContin Transition Planning
A meaningful share of our oxycodone patients arrive with an active chronic pain history — many on long-term prescribed OxyContin, Roxicodone, or generic oxycodone for conditions that are still real and still painful. Starting MAT does not mean abandoning pain management. Buprenorphine — the active medication in Suboxone, Sublocade, and Brixadi — is itself a potent analgesic. As a partial opioid agonist it provides real, measurable pain relief, and plenty of our patients report their pain is better controlled on buprenorphine than on escalating oxycodone, largely because their nervous system stops cycling through mini-withdrawal between doses.
When a patient has an active pain management relationship with another provider, we coordinate rather than compete. The goal is one consistent plan between us, the pain provider, and the patient — not two parallel medication lists that contradict each other. If you’ve been told you have to choose between recovery and pain management, that isn’t the clinical reality. It’s a conversation worth having at intake.
Most patients with oxycodone use disorder start MAT right in our outpatient clinics — buprenorphine can begin at the appropriate COWS-score window after last use, under clinical supervision. Some situations do need medical stabilization first; get those evaluated urgently, and we’ll get you started on MAT as soon as you’re medically cleared.
Not sure where to start?
You don’t have to be in withdrawal, and you don’t have to have stopped. Call and we’ll walk you through the first visit and time your medication correctly.
Your first visit typically lasts 2 to 3 hours and follows a four-step clinical flow. The COWS score is what times your first dose — you leave the same day with a Suboxone prescription.
01
Intake
Paperwork, a DSM-5 assessment to confirm diagnosis and severity (mild, moderate, or severe, based on the 11 criteria met in a 12-month period), and a COWS score to measure your current withdrawal state — the score guides whether you can start buprenorphine the same day or need a longer interval.
02
Counseling
You meet a counselor to discuss your use history — including the original prescription pathway if that’s how your use started — prior treatment, co-occurring conditions, and recovery goals. This is also where any active pain management relationship or OxyContin taper history gets documented.
03
Doctor evaluation
A provider reviews your intake, COWS score, and counselor notes, walks you through Suboxone, Sublocade, and Brixadi, and explains onset, side effects, and timing. For long-term prescribed OxyContin or Roxicodone histories, this is where transition planning — including any coordination with a pain provider — gets mapped out.
04
Prescription
You leave the same day with a Suboxone prescription. If you prefer the extended-release route, your provider orders Sublocade or Brixadi during this visit and you bridge on Suboxone until your injection appointment.
About 2–3 hours.You leave the same day with a Suboxone prescription.Bring a photo ID, insurance card, and a list of any medications.
What each step covers in detail+
Intake. A DSM-5 assessment to confirm opioid use disorder and its severity (mild, moderate, or severe, based on how many of the 11 criteria you meet in a 12-month period), plus a COWS (Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale) score to measure your current withdrawal state. The COWS score guides whether you’re clinically ready to begin buprenorphine the same day without risking precipitated withdrawal.
Prescription and injection ordering. You leave the same day with a Suboxone prescription. If you prefer the extended-release route, your provider orders Sublocade or Brixadi during this visit — we don’t stock injections on-site — and you continue on Suboxone as a bridge. Your injection appointment is scheduled for a follow-up once the medication arrives, typically after a short stabilization period on Suboxone (Sublocade’s FDA label requires at least 7 days of transmucosal buprenorphine before the first injection).
What to bring. A valid photo ID, your insurance card if applicable, and a list of any medications you currently take (including the specific oxycodone product, dose, the original prescribing reason, and any pain medications or benzodiazepines). Our guide on what to expect at your first Suboxone appointment walks through the process in more detail.
Why Medication-Assisted Treatment Works for Oxycodone
For many patients, the fear of withdrawal is what keeps them stuck. MAT removes that barrier — the medication prevents withdrawal rather than forcing patients to endure it — which is why it works when willpower alone doesn’t. Medication-assisted treatment is endorsed as the standard of care for opioid use disorder, including prescription opioid use disorder specifically, by SAMHSA, NIDA, ASAM, and the World Health Organization. Buprenorphine was actually most extensively studied, prior to the illicit-fentanyl era, in prescription opioid populations — trials like COMBINE and POATS enrolled patients whose dependence began with pills. For oxycodone patients in particular, the evidence base is deep. Large-scale evidence shows that patients with opioid use disorder who receive buprenorphine-based MAT:
Experience more than a 50 percent reduction in the risk of fatal opioid overdose
Stay in treatment significantly longer than those receiving counseling alone
Report fewer cravings and lower rates of illicit opioid use
Are more likely to maintain employment and stable housing during recovery
Have lower rates of infectious disease transmission associated with injection use
There’s a clinical advantage specific to oxycodone patients that’s worth naming. Because oxycodone is shorter-acting and clears more predictably than fentanyl, buprenorphine induction is typically smoother for oxycodone-first patients than for long-term fentanyl patients. The COWS window is more reliable (8–24 hours after last immediate-release dose, somewhat longer for OxyContin), the transition onto steady-state buprenorphine is usually faster, and most patients describe the subjective experience of the first medicated day as relief within hours rather than the rougher, longer induction that long fentanyl histories sometimes require. For patients who have been quietly dreading this step for months or years, that is often the most surprising part of day one.
MAT is not a replacement of one drug with another. Buprenorphine’s partial-agonist pharmacology gives it a ceiling effect on euphoria and respiratory depression that full agonists like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl don’t have. Blood levels stabilize, the daily cycle of peak-and-crash disappears, and the neurological noise that drove continued use recedes. Patients can engage in counseling, rebuild relationships, and return to work without the daily math of craving, dosing, running out, and withdrawing.
Evidence base: Sordo et al., 2017 (BMJ) mortality meta-analysis; SAMHSA, NIDA, ASAM, and WHO treatment guidelines for opioid use disorder; COMBINE and POATS prescription-opioid buprenorphine trials; and 20+ years of buprenorphine cohort and trial data.
Why Restoration Recovery
Chattanooga’s longest-running outpatient addiction treatment clinic. Our providers have decades of clinical experience treating opioid and substance use disorders in Southeast Tennessee — through the full arc of the OxyContin era, the pill-mill years, the 2010 reformulation, the heroin transition, and the fentanyl contamination of the pill supply that followed. We’ve treated every version of this clinical picture.
CARF accredited. The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities is the gold standard for outpatient addiction care — our accreditation is reviewed on an ongoing basis, not a one-time stamp.
One integrated team. Medical providers, counselors, certified peer support specialists, and psychiatric care under one roof — not parallel referral tracks that leave you coordinating your own care. For patients with co-occurring chronic pain, anxiety, depression, or hepatitis C, this matters.
Four clinic locations across Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia, with telehealth follow-up available for established patients.
Most major insurance accepted — TennCare, Georgia Medicaid, commercial plans, Medicare, and supplemental Medicare. Our patient services team verifies your benefits before your first visit so there are no surprises.
Same-day Suboxone appointments. You don’t have to wait weeks to start.
Licensed in both states. Tennessee and Georgia, HIPAA compliant, 42 CFR Part 2 compliant — your treatment is confidential from the first phone call.
CARF-accredited outpatient addiction care
TennCare, BlueCare, BCBS, UHC, Medicare & most commercial insurance accepted. We verify your benefits before your first visit — no surprises. Licensed in TN & GA · HIPAA · 42 CFR Part 2.
Restoration Recovery accepts most major insurance plans, including TennCare, Georgia Medicaid, a broad range of commercial plans, and Medicare (plus supplemental Medicare plans). Our patient services team can verify your benefits before your first appointment so you know exactly what to expect in terms of cost.
Don’t have insurance? Contact us anyway. We can help you explore options and will walk you through self-pay pricing. For a full list of accepted carriers and the verification process, visit our insurance page.
Four Clinic Locations
We operate four outpatient clinics across Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia. All locations offer oxycodone addiction treatment with same-day appointments available.
Telehealth follow-up visits are available for established patients who have completed their initial in-person evaluation. Phones are answered Monday through Friday, 9am to 4:30pm Eastern. After hours? The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and the free, confidential SAMHSA National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) are available 24/7.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I’ve been prescribed oxycodone for years?+
Long-term prescribed oxycodone patients are a large share of our opioid caseload. If you’ve been taking OxyContin, Roxicodone, or generic oxycodone on a prescription for years and you’ve developed physical dependence — or your supply has been disrupted by a tapering pain plan, a provider retirement, or a change in how your insurance covers Schedule II opioids — you qualify for MAT. You don’t have to be using illicitly to be eligible. The right move is not to stop on your own; it’s to come in, be evaluated with a DSM-5 and COWS, and build a transition plan with your provider that may include coordination with whoever is managing your pain.
Is OxyContin withdrawal different from immediate-release oxycodone withdrawal?+
The timeline shifts. Immediate-release oxycodone (Roxicodone, Oxaydo, generic oxycodone IR) has a shorter half-life, so withdrawal typically begins 8–12 hours after the last dose and peaks hard at day 1–3. Extended-release OxyContin produces a more gradual onset — often 12–24 hours — and many patients describe the post-acute phase as more diffuse and more protracted, because blood levels were smoother going in and the nervous system was re-calibrating from a steadier exposure. Both resolve on a similar day 5–7 curve for acute symptoms, and MAT with buprenorphine prevents the acute phase rather than forcing you to endure it.
What about fake oxycodone pills — I was buying “30s” outside a pharmacy?+
Assume they contained fentanyl. The illicit “oxycodone 30” (M30) pill supply in the U.S. is now dominated by counterfeit pressings containing fentanyl rather than oxycodone. If you’ve been buying pills stamped M30, K9, or other oxycodone markings from anyone outside a pharmacy — for months or years — fentanyl exposure should be assumed, regardless of what you thought you were taking. This doesn’t change the MAT plan; it does change the induction timing, because fentanyl clears more slowly than real oxycodone. Your provider will calibrate at intake based on your COWS score and use history.
Do I have to stop oxycodone cold turkey before my first visit?+
No. You shouldn’t stop on your own, and you don’t need to be in full-blown withdrawal when you call. For oxycodone, the target induction window is typically 8–24 hours after the last immediate-release dose, longer for OxyContin, and longer still for patients with mixed fentanyl exposure from counterfeit pills. The COWS assessment at your first visit tells the provider whether you’re clinically ready to start buprenorphine the same day without risking precipitated withdrawal. Keep taking your current dose until your appointment — your provider will guide the exact timing at intake.
Can MAT replace my chronic pain medication?+
For many patients, yes — and sometimes the pain control on buprenorphine is better than it was on escalating oxycodone. Buprenorphine is itself a potent analgesic — it partially activates the same opioid receptors as oxycodone without the euphoria, the same overdose risk, or the daily peak-and-crash cycle. Many chronic-pain patients find their pain is better controlled on buprenorphine than on higher oxycodone doses, because their nervous system is no longer cycling through mini-withdrawal between doses. For patients with an active pain management relationship, we coordinate rather than compete — the goal is one consistent plan, not two parallel medication lists. If you’ve been told you have to choose between recovery and pain relief, that isn’t the clinical reality.
How is buprenorphine induction different for oxycodone vs fentanyl dependence?+
Typically smoother. Oxycodone is shorter-acting and clears more predictably than fentanyl, which stores in body fat and can linger in the system for days after last use. For oxycodone-first patients, the COWS induction window is usually 8–24 hours after last dose, the transition onto steady-state buprenorphine is typically faster, and the subjective experience of starting treatment is more often described as relief within hours. For patients who have also been exposed to fentanyl through counterfeit M30 pills, the window shifts longer — typically 36–72 hours — and your provider calibrates at intake to avoid precipitated withdrawal. Both paths lead to the same place; the timing just differs.
4 clinics across Tennessee & North Georgia
Ready to start oxycodone addiction treatment?
Same-day appointments available, and most major insurance is accepted. Oxycodone addiction is survivable, and treatment works — whether your use started with an OxyContin prescription for back pain that never quite resolved, a Roxicodone script after surgery, or somewhere messier than either. You don’t need all the answers before you call, and you don’t need to be clean before your first appointment. Our team will walk you through every step, from your first call to your first visit and every follow-up after.
