Codeine withdrawal? HELP!

Hi. I have no idea when you posted this email but if you are still interested in in a solution from a previous addict then let me Know. I know how you are feeling !! Regards Cb

SPEAK TO YOUR GP, BE HONEST, GET HIM TO STABALISE YOUR CODEINE INTAKE WITHOUT PARACETAMOL, LOOK AT A DRUG CALLED SUBETEX TO AID WITHDRAWAL. I USED IT FOR A WEEK AND GOT OFF CODEINE, REDDUCES WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS AND STOPS CRAVINGS. I AM NOW ON A VERY LOW DOSE 7 DAY PATCH. I WAS ON A 30 X30 A DAY HABIT, USED TO TRAWL PHARMACIES, EVEN STOLE TO GET MY FIX, A CURSE, ATTEND NA AND LOOK AT THE PROGRAM, YOU WILL MEET A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY GONE THROUGH YOUR PAIN WHO CAN SUPPORT YOU. IT IS ABOUT ACTION AND TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN RECOVERY.

hi folks. I started taking prescribed codeine to counter the diahrhea from pantaprazole when I could have just taken probiotics but now I have been on 90mg for over 4 years and I want to get off it. reading this has given me hope as I am chicken and frightened of going cold turkey at home by myself.

OMG, its like your telling my story :'( ...IM LITERALLY SICK OF IT...I am in W/D as I type this reply...Im feeling so sick right now..I have IBS so the diarh makes it IMPOSSIBLE to eat ANYTHING..only water until my next refill. the difference is I am on T3's 350/30..I have taken as many as 4 at a time...no problem..now i look around to see if I dropped one somewhere...IM SICK OF THIS CYCLE! did you get help?

I've been in a place where I've lost control and a drug was driving me, hating it, but not able to stop and hiding it not just out of shame but because I was pretty sure they would try to stop me from doing it. It began to steal job, relationships, family. I couldn't couldn't stop alone because the drug itself was affecting my judgement. The only thing that helped was a 12 Step group. I would talk to a doctor about help with the withdrawl. Good luck.

I feel for u all I have been addicted to over the counter codiene products Nurofen Plus I was taking up to 60 per day for the last 7 years I did give them up for 8months back in 2008 but went back to using them after I shattered my arm , 2 days ago I looked at my children and finally admired I had a problem I was addicted I would drive hours to get pills at pharmacies that didn't know me! It was costing us so much money a d with my son having a disability we need every cent we can get to pay for his treatments, I haven't taken a tablet since 6pm Monday night it's now Wednesday, I'm feeling a little achey and flu like symptoms, I had an ok nights sleep tossed and turned a fair bit, but I'm willing to endure anything to be rid of this horrid addiction!! You have to have will power to say enough is enough! And u have to WANT to stop and not just doing it because u feel u have to!! I have personally taken the cold turkey approach and I seem to be ok, I'm just trying to stay focused and positive and reading all ur entries has made me feel so much stronger, thank u to all and good luck on your journey!!

you need to go to a drug and alcohol service. once you have been acessed, you will be able to either go on methadone, or sabutex tablets instead of codiene and then reduced over a reasonably short period time until your hell is over and you have your life back. it wont be nice-at all,but itll be worth it. by the way, im a mum too, i have four children.

I was a T1 addict for over 15 years and I had tried to quit many times but something would come up where I would go back to them. I was taking up to 60-90 pills a day at my highest use. I finally got so sick and weary of all the work and problems that this caused that I took action in earnest. I took my T1's 3 times a day (3 x 8 at the time) so I just dropped the dosage by one pill a week (i.e, 3 x 7 next week, 3 x 6 the next, etc.) so that the withdrawals would not be so bad. This took 8 weeks to get down to one pill 3 times a day and then none. Also, when I would drop one pill each week I would replace it with a regular Tylenol in my daily dosage. I still took the regular Tylenol after I quit since I do have pain to keep down. It was tough even after I quit but not as bad as a full dose cold turkey. After about 3 months of no T1's things got better and each day the withdrawals were a little less. I was just so sick of taking them and having to always buy them. I'm sure all of the pharmacists in town knew I was abusing them and I hated the looks and experience of buying them. I want to say though, before I got this plan to quit I prayed and asked God to help me to quit and I believe that he did. I feel better now and I don't miss all of the side effects that I had from abusing T1's. You can quit so stick it out. Your liver and kidneys will eventually give out if you don't quit and liver death is humiliating and extremely painful and prolonged. You can be one of the people that get free if you really want it and can see that it is possible. It is possible so go for it! Hope it helps ;-)

Feel so stupid, been on cocodamol for 5 year now. I want to kick the habit it just feels impossible. Scared to go to a doctors as my old doctors told me to just stop no advice no nothing. Seriously feel at a loss I have 3 beautiful children, I just can't cope with the withdrawels aswel as function if anybody has any advice its very welcome!!

Your story sound very familiar......I had a knee injury and after my doctor stopped the regular T3 I still had a lot of pain and my step mother gave me a bottle of T1's she had and told me I didn't need a scrip for them. Well it has been 12 and a half years and I take them 8 at a time (usually) and at 2 and half hour intervals up to about 6 times a day but in the last years it has been more I find myself forgetting when i took them and a couple of times I know I've double dosed. I used to only use them only after noon and never after 6 pm cause they cause insomnia but I found now I take them as soon as I wake and right up to with in a short while of bed time and even in the middle of the night. I don't get a "high" of them in fact I feel normal the time I feel different is when i run out. The funny thing is this last 6 years I have had a legal scrip for T-3 at all times, some times T-4's and lately even Morphine but what is strange to me (and everybody else) is I never abuse these in fact I usually have some left over. I believe I am addicted to the caffeine as well as the rest in fact maybe more so!!! I have been off them 3 days now and the full swing of the withdawl has hit but even with my allotted 3 T-3's per day it is hell. Most of the side effects I can handle but the 2 hardest are I wake in the night with restless leg and have a hard time sleeping and then during the day my legs feel fine but I have the tremors almost like a panic attack.

I understand. I was addicted to heroin for years when younger, got off that... got totally clean, then developed spinal stenosis... doc put me on 8 codeiene 30 mg a day.... like u, i have been taking them only to avoid the withdrawels, which to me... seem same as heroin... I hate being a pill junkie... i have tried to decrease.. which i have...has been over a week.. down to about 50mg codeiene a day now... got some other stuff to control the diareaha (sp)... but I think avoiding substututes is the best. They just seem to prolong the agony. I am also prescribed valium, which i take more of during withdrawel. I am going to hang in there n get off this stuff.. but i still have the bck pain to deal with.... there are many natural rememdies...that help, nothing cures my condition. Just keep trying, and when u r feeling awful, sweating, cramps etc... just remember...it WILL pass!!!!

I've been taking Potassium vitamins for the restless leg syndrome along with 800 mg of motrin and it's definitely helping. I'm on day 3 and so far that has been my worst side effect along with the anxiety. I mean I have the diarrea, runny nose, aches and pains, headaches but none of them are any worse than the normal flu. I just wish I could find something (non-habit forming obviously) to help me sleep this off. any suggestions?

What prey tell is PAWS , you have written a very interesting post , I too am not young but never using at your level but whent C/T 6 weeks ago and still feel like c**p , body just doesn't want to move ,no energy ,aching joints all over , maybe it's paws ?????

I'd like to help with some issues with withdrawal. I've found the leg cramps at night are hard but by accident i found out that if I did intensive leg workout exercises every day like walk up and down steps for 10min minimum my legs would be sore and it was a nice sore but it stopped any leg cramps I had. Also if you can go to a gym a leg workout is perfect and virtually allowed me to sleep every night. I havent been able to stop the gastro at this point but im trying a diet that just mainly meat and little carbs as the high protein will slow the digestive sysem up and so far so good. Tired going toilet and its like a grenaid going off in a mud swamp lol. But take one more thing on board. If you exercise to a level where u will sweat itll speed up the detox.  I hope some of this advice helps. 

Hi i'm Lou 

I have been a slave to mistress Codine for the past 5yrs. It all started with a mystery illness... I was prescribed Co-Codomol 30-500's 2 every 4hrs. It didn't take me long to build up tolerance so the dose was upped... Before I knew it I was being put on Dihydracodine (sorry if the spelling is not correct) slow release 30mg 2 per day... and it went up and up and up... I finally had to admit that I had a problem when I was taking up to 8-10 120mg tablets in one go... I would literally fill my hand with pills and swallow them down... I was referred to pain management who basically said "well you know you have an addiction & you know you have to stop, so here are a bottle of pills, here is a daily schedule... get on with it" So... I gave it a good go... and I have managed to get myself down to 60mg 4 a day... But now I am having real problems... I started to get severe irritation, like all the nerves in my body were working overtime, night time is the worst... It becomes shear desperation. So I have started the desperate cycle of getting my script, taking too much too quick, phoning the doctor, talking the doctor into another script and so on and so on... If I could just stop this irritation, I was doing so well. Even as I am typing this now, I am having to keep stopping to clench my fists, just to get a little relief from the awful feeling surging through them... Today I have taken 10 60mg DHC's and I am still crawling the walls... I am so glad I found this site, because reading through everyone's experiences has given me the extra glimmer of strength I need to keep going & get back on track & I now know that i'm not alone, as I have felt so lonely in this addiction. 

I hope we all break free from our chemical chains & for the ones who already have, you truly inspire me to never give up. 

All the best 

Louise W from Devon, England.