I’m going to get addicted to co-codamol

[Tiger35]

Obviously I don’t want to but I think it’s inevitable.

I’ve been in a lot of pain with my back, neck, shoulders since I was pregnant with my now 16 month old.

In the last couple of months I was finally starting to get a bit better with regular physio and one to one Pilates sessions.

I can’t go to either now and can’t just do a pilates video as I need loads of modifications and form checking so that I don’t hurt myself even more.

I have prescription co-codamol which I was trying to take sparingly only when I really need them but it’s been 3 weeks since my last sessions (had to self-isolate for a while before they closed down) and now I need them all the fucking time.

Does anyone have any experience with co-codamol addiction? Assuming this goes on for 3 months I assume I’ll probably be physically dependent on them by then? How bad is withdrawal?

Any tips from anyone else dealing with long term pain and unable to go to their therapy sessions? Or if you don’t have any tips and just want to vent about how shit it is please do.

I came off cocodamol after 3 years of continuous use as I have fibromyalgia. Actually it was dihydracodeine which I'd take with paracetamol.
Honestly I didn't find it that bad. The trick is to bring down to one a day then I think I went to every other day then stopped.
I was physically dependent but not psychologically addicted. The withdrawals feel like youre getting the cold. Hot flushes, runny nose, some cramping which I didn't find too bad and they only lasted a day or two.
I did have loose stools for a few weeks which led to me losing a little weight, nothing drastic.
I'd say the toughest part is you'll get aches and pains which make you feel like you need to take more but you don't - your body is tricking you. Keep stretching etc and in a few days they'll stop.
Honestly compared with what I'm doing right now (coming off venlfaxaine) it was a walk in the park

I have fibromyalgia and take between 0-8 every day and have done for 6 years. Mostly between 4-6, I'm not addicted. Some weeks I probably take 6-10 all week.

It's not inevitable.

I’ve been on eight cocodamol tablets a day (500/30 strength) for about two years (smaller dose before that) and I’m absolutely not addicted to them.

Sometimes I take less than the prescribed dose and have several times stopped them entirely for a number of days and substituted plain paracetamol, cold remedies containing paracetamol and/or ibuprofen for various reasons. I’ve also had stomach bugs during which I stopped all meds because I couldn’t keep them down anyway. This has never resulted in anything untoward that felt like withdrawal. It just meant the pain wasn’t controlled as well.

FYI, it took me twelve attempts over several years to quit smoking and I still occasionally use nicotine replacement, so it’s not that I’m magically immune to addiction.

You’re right to be cautious (as my GP tells me very time I ask questions ) but I really don’t think addiction is inevitable if you have a medical need for the pain relief.