Codeine addiction

[Cissyandflora]

Can I ask has anyone got over codeine addiction? I have a ten year addiction and use more than prescribed. My life revolves around the drug. I am full of shame and only my sister knows about this irl. And she doesn’t know the extent. I’ve struggled with various addictions since my teens. I am now in my 50s. My gp called me and suggested I come off the drug. He said in my own time. And suggested coming in to start reducing in a few weeks. In typical addict fashion I am in a spiral of anxiety and can think of nothing else. Given the choice I would probably never stop. I take whatever I can get my hands on. Please do not pile in with criticism. I know I’m not doing the right thing. I feel a craving for mood altering drugs. I’ve used this to cope with everything in my life for the past 10 years. I am ashamed. I am mostly afraid of stopping and live in fear of my prescription being stopped. If I had to say the one problem with my addiction it is this- it’s the fear of not getting the drug.

I know there will be people who are impatient or angry with this type of person- me. But I really thank you for reading and please addicts help me if possible. Can I get off the drug? Please don’t berate me I don’t need that. If you don’t understand please don’t comment. I don’t mean that rudely. I’m just reaching out to strangers because I’m at a low ebb and I can’t discuss this with anyone irl.

I was addicted to tramadol last year, prescribed after surgery. I was taking up to 8 capsules a day.

I tapered down one capsule a day.

I felt achy and shivery in the week I reduced, then sore for a week, but by the third week I had no other symptoms other than minimal pain.

I am an absolute sucker for any kind of sedating drug, I have to be very careful now with painkillers, opiates and anti anxiety meds.

@muddledmidget thank you. I don’t feel the back issue is completely helped anyway. I also am overweight- can’t deal with that yet either. I’ve been overweight for years after being a slim person most of my life. That’s another issue though!

Hugs! It might be worth asking the GP if increasing your antidepressant dose would be worth considering.

Just here for support- don't have any decent advice I'm afraid, but certainly no judgment, addictions are total shit, going through it with my son. I don't know what the answer is, just try to keep trying and be brave, people love you. Good luck

Oh! Increasing antidepressants might be a good idea! I second that!

How about phoning GP or asking pharmacist if they can help with addiction.

Increasing antidepresents when your all ready on them doesn,t necesserily sound right aren,t you replaceing one addiction for another?

No, June, antidepressants are not addictive

Perhaps you need a total drugs review with your gP be honest. Perhaps your not on the right presription if your not getting relieve from the antidepresents. Perhaps you need to look at other strategies or perhaps different meds?

It is a very common addiction it is not your fault though I'm sure it is tiring needing it and very hard to imagine life without it.
Life would be better without it like every satisfying drug the more you take the more you need best face it now then find yourself buying them online or the street the addiction won't stop till you make a conscious decision and stop.
Planning to stop is the easy part putting it in action takes guts with the help if your family it is worth a try.

You can only fix one thing at a time! Some issues will be helped by fixing others, but you can't do everything at once, and sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees. I like an analytical approach to problem solving, so I use pros and cons lists to decide which course of action to take (could use this to decide if quitting codeine is a good idea for you), spider diagrams and flow diagrams to see how fixing one thing may improve other things (ie, if you could find a better pain relief for your back, you could cut down on the codeine. It would also improve your mobility meaning activity would be easier. This would make it easier to lose weight, and losing weight generally improves self esteem, so mood altering drugs aren't needed as a coping mechanism so often) I also like reward charts like a 5 year old as i like the visual reminder that yesterday I achieved something. Different things work for different people, writing can help, talking to other people, but these are some of my coping mechanisms

I totally understand op.
A few years ago I had cancer of the bowel and a third of my bowel was removed.
Sorry, tmi, but although I made a good recovery, once I got home from hospital basically I didn’t dare leave the house as if I needed the loo then I had about 20 seconds to find one.
I was and am prescribed codeine which as well as allowing me to lead a normal life seemed to me a miracle drug. Anxiety and dreading things vanished and I felt able to face anything.
I’ve been taking them for 8 years now and I am certainly addicted - both because of the original reason I took them and because of the absence of worry that they provide.
I used to supplement them with a cough medicine containing medicine called Pulmo Bailly but that’s no longer made so I have to use other methods to provide extra.
I’m a hostage to my addiction but I’m not sure what I can do about it because of the bowel issue.
You have all my sympathy op.

Just came on to add to numbers, really really common, particularly amongst women.
Ask your GP about alternative support.
Good luck OP and well-done for being so brave. You've got this.

Hand hold from me too I live with arthritis and this week has been agony, I try to be very strict with my codeine two yesterday night so none today but I can understand how it starts, on paracetamol four times a day from drs. Well done on the alcohol I’m dry 7 years now, 💐💐💐💐

Please please speak to your GP. It is possible to overdose on paracetamol by gradually taking just a little too much every day. They can prescribe alternatives, either codeine alone or some other sort of opioid substitution therapy. I understand how difficult this must be but it's so important not to take more than 8 paracetamol a day.

God you’re all lovely.

Being brutally honest, are you worried that if you stop the codeine you'll turn to alcohol again?

Don't be ashamed - talk to your sister and talk to your GP. Be as open as possible and they will help you. I love your username by the way - I used to like You're Only Young Twice many moons ago!

my.livewellwithpain.co.uk/resources/painkillers-me/

This website is good.

Very brave of you, OP. My mum has a pretty serious 6 a day tramadol problem. These mix with her antidepressants and other pain killers. She says she has to take them for fibromyalgia. There is at least 1 x A&E trip every 6 weeks for "headaches" and "back pain" after which she demands morphine before she leaves. She has put on about 7 stone and lost all of her teeth yet refuses to say she has a problem. I wish she were more like you.

I have a friend who is similar to you OP... it's been in her life for maybe 30 years .. she purchases it online from varying webpages etc.. I do worry about products not being exactly what they say they are and her well being

You sound like you have a very good GP..

And I certainly wouldn't beat yourself up about being overweight

[quote Cissyandflora]@Throckmorton thank you thank you so kind. Yes I am strong in some ways.
@muddledmidget I do take antidepressants too. I’ve been on them for over 20 years. They really help with my anxiety and mood. But still my stress is awful and I’m so sensitive. Any criticism or difficulty and I fall apart.[/quote]
Oh love, I'm sorry you're going through this. I'm a recovering addict - alcohol and benzodiazepines. I was too ashamed and scared to ask for help so tapered off them by myself. It's was hellish (but that is benzo withdrawal for you). I thought I was going mad at times, but I'm still here 6 years later and life is so much better now I am clean. If you can bring yourself to do it, I'd encourage you to speak to your doctor and confess what is really going on (so don't do what I did, basically!). Say that you want to come off (if you decide you definitely do) and need help with a tapering schedule. It's the best way - to taper. But you can do this. Well done on kicking the arse out of booze. That's a hell of a thing to have managed to do and you should feel so proud of yourself for doing so.

I quoted your post because I am the same as you. I am so over-sensitive it is ridiculous and I fall apart at any criticism or difficulty too. You explain it really well. These days I am learning to ride things out: that it is ok to feel a little or even a lot of discomfort and not try to numb or kill it. I still find it hard but it is getting easier all the time. Getting older helps hugely. I give less of a shit about unimportant things now. We can't learn these coping skills while we're using substances. It was like starting over for me getting properly clean, "it is actually ok to feel things"....

If it comes to it and you really cannot face speaking to a professional, there are tapering schedules available online. No one should do this by themselves if it's possible to get help, but I mention as I'd rather you felt you had options than did nothing (I hope that makes sense). But please, there is no shame in your addiction. The doctor won't judge and will want to help. Addiction to pain killers is so common these days - it really is. Your doc will have seen it all before and will not judge you for it.

Well done for reaching out for help OP. Please don’t be ashamed, everyone has their issues, absolutely everyone. Wishing you all the best.

Please please speak to your GP immediately as you have, in one day, today taken double the maximum dose of paracetamol. That will cause much more harm to you in the short and longer term than the codeine potentially.

I’ve been o a strong cocktail of meds for chronic back pain for many years. It’s bloody tough but you need to ask for a complete overhaul of your meds. That may involve adding other meds in order to reduce the paracetamol intake. They might look at adding anti inflammatory meds, nerve meds or additional antidepressants.

I cannot recommend more strongly that you get help very quickly. The addiction is an extremely common problem and the GP won’t just tell you to get on with it ( if they aren’t helpful you must ask for another doctor).

Best wishes, today is the day you began to change this. 💐