⚠️ Someone who is "snoring" heavily and cannot be woken is not asleep. That is an emergency.
Call 112 now⚠️ Warning still current (Trimbos, April 2026): counterfeit oxycodone containing nitazenes is still circulating.
Read the warning →Stopping oxycodone after long-term use is not a matter of willpower. Your body has adapted, and undoing that takes a plan, time and someone who monitors it. This page explains how a supervised tapering schedule works, what to expect, and what to say if you do not know how to start.
Do not stop abruptly if you have been using oxycodone for more than a few weeks. Your body has adapted; stopping suddenly causes severe withdrawal symptoms and increases the chance that you relapse or start looking outside regular care.
There is another risk that is often underestimated: your tolerance drops quickly once you have not used for a while. If you then go back to your old dose, that same amount can be an overdose. That is exactly why supervised tapering is safer than going cold turkey.
harder to stop than to start with an opioid, in the words of a specialist in the Zembla documentary. A statement, not a measurement.
Quote from Zembla, not a research figuredeaths from opioids in 2024, against 40 in 2014. The highest year was 2023, with 178.
Statistics Netherlands, processed by Trimbos / National Drug Monitor, reference year 2024people received oxycodone through community pharmacies in 2024. So you are far from the only one dealing with this.
Zorginstituut Nederland (GIP), reference year 2024 · reimbursed outpatient use onlyThe GP is the only one who can create a tapering plan and refer you onwards. They have a duty of confidentiality, share nothing with your employer, and cannot report you. What they need is an accurate picture of what you are actually using.
You do not have to have a well-formulated story. This is enough:
"I have been using oxycodone for longer than intended and I am using more than we agreed. I do not know how to stop on my own. I would like a tapering plan."
If it helps, write it on a note and hand it over. Many people find it easier to write down than to say out loud, and a GP has heard it before.
A supervised taper usually takes weeks to months, depending on your dose and how long you have been using. Withdrawal symptoms are unpleasant but not dangerous in themselves, provided you go down in steps and someone monitors you. What is dangerous is stopping abruptly on your own.
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Every plan is different, because it depends on your dose, how long you have been using and what else is going on. But the outline is almost always the same.
How much do you actually use per day, including what you take outside the prescription? For how long? This is the basis of the whole schedule. A schedule based on an understated dose is guaranteed to fail.
Do not be ashamed of the number. With tolerance, the dose can rise quickly, sometimes within weeks of starting. What that looks like from the inside →
Usually a reduction of ten to twenty-five per cent per step, followed by a period of stability before the next step. The pace is set by what your body can handle, not by a calendar. Long-acting forms give a more stable level and are often easier to taper with.
Restlessness, muscle pain, sweating, nausea, trouble sleeping and a general sense of illness are normal and temporary. Your GP can prescribe something for the worst of it. Say when a step is too heavy: the schedule is adjustable, and that is the point of doing it under supervision.
If you were given oxycodone for real pain, that pain does not disappear by tapering off. A good plan addresses both: the taper and a pain approach, through a pain clinic, physiotherapy or other medication. Tapering without a pain plan is the main reason people relapse.
Is there more than pain, such as low mood, anxiety, a busy head or sleep problems? Then the oxycodone was probably damping that too. Tapering brings all of it back, often at once. Tell your doctor, because then the plan needs more than just the taper. Why that works this way →
Most people do not taper in a straight line. A step back does not mean the plan was wrong; it means the pace needs adjusting. What matters is that you say it, so the schedule can be changed instead of you quietly starting to top up again.
When tapering off you almost always have medication left over. That looks like a detail, but it is not: what stays in a drawer is the easiest starting point for a relapse, and at home it is the biggest risk to someone else.
Every pharmacy takes back leftover medicines, even ones you did not get there. You do not have to explain anything and there is no charge. If the pharmacy is not an option, your municipal waste depot accepts them as small chemical waste.
Not down the toilet and not in the household bin. Opioids do not belong in the sewer, and in a bin they are within reach of children and animals.
For a small child a single tablet can be life-threatening. Keep the box high up, out of sight, preferably locked away. Not in a bag on the floor, not in the bedside table, not loose in a pill box on the table.
Has a child swallowed something anyway? Call 112 or your GP immediately, even if the child still looks fine. Do not wait and see: with opioids the symptoms may only start after one to two hours. Take the packaging with you.
Physical dependence on an opioid is not a matter of discipline. Your body has adjusted its own pain regulation to a substance coming from outside. Undoing that takes time, and during that time your body protests.
People who succeed do not have more willpower than people who fail. They have a plan, a pace they can sustain, and someone who knows about it. That is what makes the difference, not character.
And if you have already tried and it did not work: that says something about the plan, not about you.
That is very common and it is important to mention. Opioids damp not only pain but also tension, low mood and restlessness. If that plays a part for you, tapering becomes harder, because you lose more at once than just pain relief. That is not a reason to avoid tapering, but it is a reason to make sure the plan also addresses that other side. Say it; it changes the approach.
It varies a lot from person to person. For some it takes months, for others tolerance sets in during the first week after starting: the same amount does less, and the dose rises within days. Anyone who has previously struggled with alcohol, medication or other substances is at greater risk. That is a conversation that belongs before the first prescription, not after. Already further along? That makes it no less treatable, but it does make it more important to involve someone.
Not if you have been using for more than a few weeks. Abrupt stopping causes severe withdrawal symptoms and greatly increases the chance of relapse or of buying outside regular care. The withdrawal itself is rarely life-threatening, but what people do to escape it can be. Always taper in consultation with a doctor.
That depends on your dose and how long you have been using. Think in weeks to months, not days. A common approach is a reduction of ten to twenty-five per cent per step, with a period of stability in between. The last steps are often the hardest; a liquid form allows much smaller reductions than a tablet.
Restlessness, muscle and joint pain, sweating, chills, nausea, diarrhoea, trouble sleeping and a general sense of illness. Also anxiety and low mood. Unpleasant but temporary, and they say nothing about your willpower. Report them, because the schedule can be adjusted and something can be prescribed for the worst of it.
"I have been using oxycodone for longer than intended and I want to stop, but I do not know how." That sentence is enough. You do not have to explain everything at once. A GP has a duty of confidentiality, shares nothing with your employer, and has heard this before. If speaking is hard, write it down and hand over the note.
Oxycodone can cause drowsiness and dizziness and affects your reaction time. When starting or increasing the dose you must not drive. On a stable, long-term dose different rules apply; discuss that with your doctor. During tapering, symptoms can return that make driving unsafe again.
No. Alcohol and opioids amplify each other's suppression of breathing. That combination is one of the most common causes of a fatal outcome, even at doses that are not dangerous on their own. The same applies to sleeping pills and tranquillisers such as benzodiazepines.
Ordinary tablets, capsules and liquid start working within an hour and last four to six hours. Slow-release tablets, recognisable by additions such as retard or MGA, work for about twelve hours. That difference matters when tapering: long-acting forms give a more stable level.
Contact your GP or midwife about this as soon as possible, and in the meantime do not stop on your own. Stopping abruptly during pregnancy is risky not only for you but also for the baby: withdrawal can trigger premature labour. A baby exposed to opioids during pregnancy may develop withdrawal symptoms after birth, and there is treatment for that. This calls for tailored supervision, not for cutting down by yourself. Be honest about how much you use; that determines what is needed.
Yes. From around the age of 70 opioids act more strongly and for longer, which increases the risk of drowsiness, confusion and falls. Interaction with other medicines plays a part more often. There is a knowledge document on reducing and stopping opioids for this group, arising from the Dutch multidisciplinary guideline on polypharmacy in older people. Ask your pharmacist for a medication review: that looks at all medicines together rather than at the oxycodone alone.
Ask explicitly for a tapering plan and say you want it in writing. If that does not work, you can register with an addiction service yourself, or ask for a referral to a pain clinic. You can also switch to another GP practice. Getting stuck between care providers is exactly the pattern Zorgfuik documents.
The help page lists who is reachable today, including anonymous options, and what to say if you do not know how to begin.