symptoms of codeine addiction

Yes I've been refused sales from a couple of chemists. I use about 16 now, including the internet, to get round this.

Depends on the pharmacists feelings and judgement whether they serve you or not, but normally they don't like you buying it more than once a month maximum in UK. If you are still buying it fairly regularly, try not to make conversation with pharmacists, and buy some other random item - this will help make you stand out less.

You need to get a hold of yourself..I take codeine 30/500 its not the tabs making you ill, its your lack in controlling the substance as instruction. Get a grip

codeine is great is its pure form. its all the paracetamol they put in it that f**ks it up.

desstroys your visisits to the toilet and your stomack.

they do this on purpose,michaell othervise people would really abuse it

 

 

I really sympathise with your 100 tablets a day!! I was prescribed 30/500 about 4 years ago and became addicted to the feeling it gave me. I thought i was bad taking nearly 20 a day. i always run out early and have to make excuses to the doctors to have my prescription done early (am sitting waiting as i speak). Good luck

Talk to someone close to you Mum, Dad, aunty cousin, friend whoever so that you can get emotional support. Talk to someone to day it is the first thing to getting off. good luck

Talk to someone close to you Mum, Dad, aunty cousin, friend whoever so that you can get emotional support. Talk to someone to day it is the first thing to getting off. good luck

Hello Im a normal 24 year old male with a good job and family.I have been taking solpadol (30/500 Co-codamol) since i was 15.It started with just taking 3 at night to help me sleep but has now got to the point where im having up to 16 a day.It doesn't even have any effect on me anymore,i just have to have them.Ive tried giving up on my own but the withdrawal symptoms are terrible.Ive lost all my confidence,and 3 girlfriends because of my addiction.I have also been rushed to hospital twice for overdose when i also got addicted to tramadol and would take up to 30 tramadol 50mg tablets mixed with the solpadol for the high.They said i was lucky to live but although i managed to go cold turkey on the tramadol i just couldnt live without the codeine.Its now been 2 days since I have tried to go cold turkey again and I am really struggling to be honest.I havent been off of the toilet and for the rest of the days the cold shivers and muscle pain is agonizing enough to keep me in bed and make me want to die.My advice to anyone thinking of starting these is no matter how good they make you feel they will ruin your life.Im determined to beat them this time and get my life back on track.Good luck everyone.

I am 13 and addicted. That's right. 13.

 

Your best bet is to refer yourself to the local drug and alcohol action team. They will probably refer you to substitute prescribing clinic and you will be weaned off the co codamol with something like Methadone or Buprenorphine which will have less impact on your liver.

Hey there everyone. I'm a 23-year old female from Dublin, Ireland, and I found this topic when searching for 'Codeine withdrawal symptoms' and have been reading through a lot of the stories. The first time I had codeine was in 2011 and it wasn't actually prescribed for me. It was for my boyfriend, who was supposed to be using it for ongoing back-pain due to his profession over the years but he left it alone, not wanting to take it for any little pain. I had to have a wrist operation in December 2011, and he let me use the Solpadol to ease the pain from after the op but before I knew it I was taking it regularly even though the pain wasn't bad enough for that level of painkiller. I noticed the lovely floaty feeling it gave me and how happy I felt when I took it, but soon enough I became irrational and borderline psychotic, treating my partner like utter sh*t, harassing him about my own paranoia and spending hours crying and freaking out and never chalked it up to the fact that I ran out of Solpadol and had a dependency on it. I won't use the word 'addicted' because I didn't make the effort to get more, I just cut myself off and stayed away from it from then on. But the damage was done, not to my body because I never overdosed, but to my life. 

 

The next time I had codeine was by accident, as hilariously untrue as it sounds. I ended up with a massive blood clot in July 2012 that was nearly missed due to the doctor I went to misdiagnosing me so when I went to the A&E on another doc's orders, they were surprised that I thought it was a pulled muscle. The pain was agonizing, the worst pain I've ever had in my entire life, and the nurses gave me tablets while I had to wait the 33 hours which I found out later were in fact Tylex (codeine and paracetamol). I was terrified I'd get hooked, but for the week I was in hospital I needed them because no other painkiller worked. One night I had withdrawal from being taken off them, was hot and freezing, soaked in sweat, painful stomach cramps and begged to have them again because tramadol wouldn't work. When I got to go home, I was without them for about 6 hours and was so bad I probably looked like a junkie. I took them (2 tablets, 3 times a day) until September, then cut back to one 3 times a day, and had one full day of withdrawal which felt like I had about 5 viruses ravaging my body.

 

I had to return to hospital on October 31st with a potential lung clot, stayed again for a week and was put back on Tylex, and have been using it regularly (2 tablets 3 times, or sometimes 2 tablets once a day) and for the past 3 days I've stopped having any because I don't want to be dependent. I got the withdrawal again last night but thought it was the chills from a high INR level, but they were so bad today I thought I was going to faint and be sick, so the only thing I could do was sleep it off and go to the toilet to flush it out, pardon the grossness. As I write this, I still feel like c**p; I feel weak, my lung hurts, my leg aches, I'm too hot, then I freeze, my stomach feels hot and cold, I have a fuzzy feeling in my head and I'm starving then full. But I refuse to give in until it's too much, and the only reason I *will* give in, is for real pain, not for craving. 

 

I know my story probably seems very PG compared to people that are taking up to 100 a day(?), which to be honest baffles me as I get a mild high off the 2 I take every 6 hours and I know my body couldn't handle the dry-throat daze feeling of taking more than 2, but the point is there is a way to get through it. I want so SO much to feel a little high and have my pain relieved because the clot is still huge, the lung is still not dealt with and won't be for another 4 months (Irish healthcare red tape; I blame the government, not the people busting their asses in the hospitals) but giving in won't do me any good. Do I want to be shakily popping the foil for the tablets in another 2 years? NO. I want to be medication-free, healthy and better. Relying on the meds won't help in the long run, and as much as I want to just use the crutch of the painkillers, it won't be good for me in the end.

 

For those of you who are angry because nobody told you that codeine is addictive, take the initiative and do what I do: when you are prescribed something new, look it up, ask your doctor about it, look for forums like this with helpful info and stories other people have. Don't just take what you're being given. If I did that, I would have ended up with anti-inflammmatories in my system while on Warfarin, which would negate the effects and possibly cause the clot to get bigger (in the A&E, they weren't aware I was on Warfarin until I told them because they have to treat you as new until you're an inpatient so they had to cater to my case with the right meds).I know it's hard, and it sounds like I'm up on my high horse, but you can get through it. Sometimes you have to be hard on yourself, not so much that you'll buckle but enough to give you determination to get better. It's a dirty, difficult task, but in the end how worth it will it be to not feel the need to touch medication just to feel okay?

You poor, dear thing. Please tell your doctor what you have told us about your addiction and say you need help....go on, just do it and take what comes. It won't be easy but you'll manage and will be happier in the end. You can't go on like this. Please!!

Hi all - just found this thread whilst googling codeine withdrawal, and it makes me feel a little relieved taht there seem to be plenty of other people who are in a similar situation to me. I've been taking codeine pretty much every day for 15 years and more. It all got started when I was having a lot of trouble with my wisdom teeth and got prescribed dihydrocodeine a couple of times by the dentist. I was taking these for about 3 months prior to having my teeth removed and by the time I'd had that done and got over the surgery, well I was well and truly hooked.

STarted buying OTC pills (the 8/500 ones) and took these regulary for about 8 years. I've got a chronic condition that causes me some pain at times, plus I have had other physical problems so I convinced myself I did need to take these pills every day becuase I felt in pain, not realizing that the codeine itself was responsible for as much of the pain as my illness, if not more. About 7 years ago or so I had some other health problems (women's stuff!) that meant I was in a fair bit of pain again, so my GP starting prescribing the 30/500 ones on repeat. I've been taking them ever since, at first only 2 or 3 a day but for the last couple of years anything between 8 and 16 a day.

I have been pretty unwell over christmas and new years, had the norovirus then hot on its heels developed bronchitis - so I've been taking yet more tablets last couple of weeks, 15-20 a day. This has obviously made me run out of pills long before my gp will allow me to get a repeat prescription (supposed to get it after a month and I ran out 2 weeks in). Anyway, I've been out of pills for 2 days now, and because I'm broke at the moment I haven't been able to go out and buy OTC ones either. After 2 days I'm thinking this could be a very good time to try and kick the habit since I won't be able to get a repeat for at least another week, so I'm planning to do just that and go see my GP and ask her to take the codeine off the repeats list so I don't get tempted.

Its not going too bad all things considered, I've felt pretty ok all day today (day 2), just a bit groggy and tired, assuming this is due to lack of sleep as much as withdrawals, and also I've been taking Benedryl to help with the symptoms. Felt very bad last night at one point, didn't manage to get to sleep until nearly 6am because of the horrible restlessness and muscle spasms. Hoping I will be able to sleep a little better tonight, but absolutely dreading the next couple of days since the general opinion seems to be withdrawal is at its worst between 2 and 5 days. Fingers crossed I can get through it without relapsing, and I'm hoping if I can make it past the 1 week mark then the worst will be over!

Taper your dose very slowly and by 15-20 mg at a time. Going cold turkey will only create symptoms bad enough to push your average opiate addict back to using..

Hi everyone please please stop taking this rubbish my best friend died in 2011 and before she died we wasn't talking .. A big regret. She had a mega problem 3 boxes of 32 codeine and 3 boxes of ibroprofen a day and some diazapam as well. She was only 34 and she wouldn't stop she moved to a rehab hostel for help but the first night there it was too late she died i hope i can help at least one person to stop and get help. It's so sad i still cry today.

Go see a substance abuse clinic I was on 40 a day I've got bad liver n a bad heart now I was given a month to live thay give me subutex t help with the withdrawal I'm 36 n av bin trekin 30/500 40 a day fa nearly 13 year I av to go to a chemist daily to take the subutex in front ov somebody but it's working I've bin 6 days n not crave in it I no how nice thay used t mek me feel but now thay killin me n u to I'm ere if u need help any ov u that need help I'm ere it's the hardest thing to get hold but it's also hardest to stop but thay third t help u stop it n not go though the withdraws I suffer panicataks to n thay seem t be worse ATM but it will go gettin we'll is all I want to do now n I will help anybody that wants it be strong n TEK the first step it's the hardest

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