Nursing Teaching on Side Effects of Percocet Use

Nurse educated the patient and caregiver on the side effects of using Percocet as follows:

  1. Nausea, vomiting, and dry mouth: These are some of the most common side effects of Percocet. Taking Percocet with some food can minimize the effects of nausea and vomiting. Liberal intake of water with Percocet helps preventing a dry mouth.
  2. Constipation: Percocet slows down the bowel movements heavily and leads to constipation. Constipation is one of the most common and unpleasant side effects with Percocet use.
  3. Drowsiness and dizziness: Percocet produces and intense feeling of drowsiness and dizziness, as a side effect to modifying the pain perception of brain. Patients can also experience hallucinations and mood changes due to Percocet use.
  4. Anaphylaxis: A rare, but serious anaphylactic response can occur for Percocet. Patients can present with extreme itching and rash, swelling of the face and throat, dizziness, bronchoconstriction, and difficulty breathing. This is an emergency and medical attention should be sought immediately, without any delay.
  5. Hepatic damage: Percocet intake can lead to hepatic injury, thus compromising liver function. Hepatic injury and altered liver function can result in increased bilirubin levels in the body, resulting in itching, jaundice with yellowing of skin and sclera, dark urine, altered metabolism with nausea and vomiting, pain in the right upper abdominal quadrant, and fatigue.
  6. Respiratory depression: Percocet affects the respiratory center in the brain through action on the opioid receptors in the brain. This induces slowing down of respirations and the breathing pattern can become irregular. This can result in reduced gas exchange with elevated carbon dioxide and reduced oxygen levels in the body. Overdose of Percocet can also cause respiratory arrest.
  7. Feeling of high and addiction: Percocet, in the process of altering the perception of pain in the brain, promotes more dopamine in the brain. Increased dopamine in the brain produces a feeling of high, by interacting with the brain’s reward circuit. This feeling of high, experienced by the individuals on Percocet use, becomes highly desirable and thus adds the potential for addiction to Percocet. This makes Percocet one of the most commonly abused drugs. Tolerance and addiction: Individual taking Percocet at a recommended dose for prolonged time develop tolerance to the drug and experience blunting of the therapeutic response to Percocet at that dose. Diminishing therapeutic response prompts an individual to increase the dose of medication intake, to derive the desired effect. This sets the cycle for addiction and abuse
  8. Withdrawal syndrome: Reducing your dosage gradually over a period is the preferred way to quit Percocet. Sudden withdrawal from Percocet may induce intense unpleasant sensations, such as, nausea, vomiting, intense muscle aches, sleep disturbances, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea.
  9. Skin rash: Percocet intake can result in mild skin rash and dermatitis.