Codeine addiction

[shouldbeinbed]

Thank you for the kind words and sharing stories too, that is what I hoped would happen with this thread & coming out on here feels a tad easier than standing up in a meeting

To be honest I'm quite proud of myself for finally coming off them properly after lots of stop/starting and kidding myself I was in charge of them. I'm happy to share my experience, its the old 'if it helps one person then it is worth it' adage.

Even since posting the OP I'm feeling better by the day, not popping aspirin to keep on top of the ever diminishing headache and (ugh bit) my guts are right and regular again - its a silly thing but this is probably the highlight for me as it was a rather unexpected side effect and constantly planning trips or rides around where I could relieve myself was hard work.

now to stop biting my nails...

 

[tyred]

My mother in law ended up in A&E ten years ago with a migraine and the doctor gave her co-codamol ten years later her GP is still writing repeat prescriptions. She feels a get up and go from them :-(

That's the problem, for me at least. At the time, I was very stressed, very down, had a lot of headaches, doctor couldn't find a medical reason (he was asking the wrong questions with hindsight) and I started taking Solphadeine soluble which I found helped the headaches and they also helped my moods and gave me a sort of temporary high, but I kept taking them until I felt hopelessly addicted to them.

I actually find it hard to understand why you can walk into a chemist's shop and buy them without medical supervision.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

My mother in law ended up in A&E ten years ago with a migraine and the doctor gave her co-codamol ten years later her GP is still writing repeat prescriptions. She feels a get up and go from them :-(

This is the terrible bit of it, my current knee consultant is the same - take cocodamol for a few weeks, give yourself a few days off and start again, you'll be fine. Nope.

Again I can empathise with the get up and go. I had exactly the same sensation but with hindsight only because I felt so bloody awful without my shot of fizzygood ©Dylan Moran in Black Books.

For all of the 3 day only warnings and the family of drugs it lives in, I really don't think the medical profession take its effects seriously at all, it is shocking that her GP is condoning opiate abuse. As @Mr Peps upthread mentions Codeine<Morphine<Heroin but it is the same family tree.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

@tyred I had a network of chemists over a 15 mile radius to keep under any individual ones radar, lucky me living in Manchester that meant a LOT of places I could go.

I would like to see these only sold or prescription dispensed with proof of name & address with a mandatory central database that would flag up suspicious use like me or lazy Dr's rubber stamping repeat prescriptions.

poacher/gamekeeper....

 

[vickster]

The amount of paracetamol would be of concern to me too, max dose shouldn't exceed 4 grams a day, not sure how much in solpadeine? I have had co dydramol, co codamol and tramadol from various GPs and orthopaedic surgeons to help with various joint ails. They make me dopey and constipated so only take occasionally at night, but at least once a week right now. Explained this to the GP but still prescribes 100 co codamol at a time to keep my cost down! I try to take as few painkillers as I can, but am taking something most days currently to deal with the latest injury! I have stopped the naproxen though, GP more concerned about the potential gastric side effects from NSAIDs than the opiates.

Very well done for getting off them and being determined to stay off them

 

[tyred]

To be honest I'm quite proud of myself for finally coming off them properly after lots of stop/starting and kidding myself I was in charge of them. I'm happy to share my experience, its the old 'if it helps one person then it is worth it' adage.
.

You can and should be proud of yourself. It is difficult to admit to yourself that you have a problem in the first place, harder still to find the willpower and self-control to actually do something about it and even harder in some ways to admit it on public forum.

 

[lesley_x]

Well done!

I took dihydrocodeine for legit reasons, prescribed by doctor for severe pain, for ohhh two years or so.

When I went on long term medication I had to come off it as it interacts with it. When I went back to see my doc and told him I was off dihydrocodeine (which was pretty hellish coming off) he actually shook my hand and congratulated me. I guess a lot of people don't manage it.

What amazed me is that doctors just continually wrote new prescriptions without enquiring how much I was taking and whether it was actually helping. I was very strict with myself and took no more than 2-3 30mg tabs a day, even during horribly severe pain.

 

[Cubist]

Well done for dealing with it. For the last three years i have been prescribed codeine and initially had to take two 30s four times a day, plus two 500mg paracetamol and 400 ibuprofen. Someone suggested taking cocodamol to keep the costs down, but I was worried about the high levels of paracetamol. The thing was to keep the painkiller levels up and not to let the pain creep back in. I have deliberately backed off all three doses. I had to take a PPI to stop the ibuprofen from giving me oesophagitis, so now only take one or two 400s a day. I have dropped the codeine slowly to one 30mg a day, taken with 2 paracetamol, and only take another if I absolutely have to. The levels of paracetamol in counter served paracodol is frighteningly high, and that will do more damage than the codeine. I have become increasingly aware that I am starting to depend even on the low dose of codeine, so I'm very very careful. The thing is the pain in my hips returns if I'm not very careful to keep some analgesic level in my system, and as surgery isn't an option, I'll have to keep up taking them.

The thing is, I had given up smoking for four or five years, and I mistook the codeine cravings for nicotine, and kidded myself I could have the odd cigar. I now vape a low dosage of nicotine in an eCig , which is helping to keep me off the cigarillos. Addiction is a terrible thing

 

[david k]

I had a bit of an addiction to these myself years ago and it is definitely not easy to stop.

I have an uncle who takes a truely scary amount of Solphadeine tablets, everywhere you look around his house, there are empty glasses with the residue of soluble Solphadeine in them, empty packets all over the kitchen worktop, the door pockets of his car are stuffed with spare packets, it's horrible, must cost him a small fortune and will kill him but there's nothing I can do if he won't admit to having a problem in the first place

didnt realise you could get addicted to these, how does it happen, and why?

edit, read some more now and starting to understand

 

[FlyingCyclist]

I got myself into a bit of a habit with solpadeine and it's boots generic equivalent for the last couple of years. I know the warnings and knew the long term effects of these sort of things but they do hook you in & it took me a while to decide that it was too much of a bad thing and quite a bit of willpower to stop taking them and get the effects out of my system.

I'm in a lot less pain routinely now and my permanantly upset stomach has sorted itself out. Going cold turkey was probably not the best way to do it and the physical effects have been pretty harsh for the last few week but I feel a hell of a lot better off these things than I ever did on them.

From around November 2013 I was popping Codiene tablets (the lower dosage you can buy over the counter) and having around 3 in ONE go because of pain from my leg ulcers. I was also taking 2-3 Amitriptylene tablets each night.

I then developed a new ulcer on the outside of my foot and it was seriously painful. I started to pop 5 tablets (30mg/500mg prescription) in ONE go, together with 1-2 Gabapentin (because the Ami' wasn't doing anything). Thankfully the pain ceased when it had healed a bit and I stopped taking them altogether.

 

[fossyant]

I'm currently on 30mg-60mg codeine and 1000mg of paracetemol at night. Sometimes need a 30mg in the morning. Like others have said, the docs just shrug, sign the prescription and let you go. I am hoping for a more permanent solution at the end of the month from the pain clinic (possibly a nerve block, or re-direction back for surgery), but it's the only thing that helps me sleep. Doc's, even though they say 2-3 days only, I've been on these for months. I put up with the pain during the day, but it's at night when trying to sleep that's an issue.


How much codeine is in solpadeine then ?

 

[sazzaa]

You know what, I think you learn an awful lot and become a better person for having come out the other side of an addiction. I'm all for at least one addiction in a lifetime! (I've had a few in my time, horrific things but I wouldn't change my past, makes me appreciate life now)

 

[stephec]

didnt realise you could get addicted to these, how does it happen, and why?

edit, read some more now and starting to understand

I've only just seen this thread and was going to ask the same thing, what is it that you get from taking them?

I've never really been one for pain killers, I've always had the opinion of over the counter stuff that if it's not restricted to prescription then it can't be that effective.

Luckily enough I can't remember ever being prescribed anything in the past either.

 

[vickster]

In the not too distant past, when I've taken stronger painkillers, co-codamol and tramadol (I find the first more effective and the second less, Erm, constipating), it's been at night, to help the pain (in knee, leg when lying on it) but much more so to help me sleep, either through the pain or the stress/worry about what has caused the pain both codeine and tramadol knock me out. When I need pain meds during the day, I stick to paracetamol and ibuprofen or naproxen

Paracetamol is very effective for pain and fever, but unless taken to excess, its side effects are quite benign, ditto ibuprofen for inflammation and pain (a therapeutic dose of naproxen is still Rx only).
Codeine and tramadol (and the other more potent stuff like OxyContin, morphine, fentanyl) have much more potentially serious side effects, drowsiness, respiratory depression and all of the gastric nasties that can occur, not to mention being habit forming/addictive

 

[sazzaa]

Tramadol is the king of space cadet prescription painkillers. I'd be scared to take that for more than a day!