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Painkiller addiction?

5 replies

Schlumpadinka · 27/06/2008 17:14

I'm worrying that my DH has an addiction to painkillers but don't know if I'm over-reacting.

Every morning without fail, the first thing he does is to go to the bathroom cabinet to take a couple of paracetamol, or migraine tablets. Most evenings, he'll also take some paracetamol before bed, saying he has a mild headache and won't be able to sleep otherwise. He probably also takes more whilst at work - I know he keeps some in his desk drawer.

His approach to pain management is to take painkillers at the first sign of pain, as he says (and he may be right) that it's easier to treat the pain before it arrives, rather than retrospectively.

Even if he's right, surely it's not good to not be able to get through the day without taking pills? I've suggested he goes to the doctors as he always seems to have a headache but he says it's just lack of sleep and stress at work.

Has anyone gone through this themselves, or with a partner or friend? What can I do to help? Or I am blowing this up out of proportion?

Have namechanged btw.

OP posts:
CountessDracula · 27/06/2008 17:15

Does he take ones with codeine in them?
If so he could have a prob yes

CountessDracula · 27/06/2008 17:16

and the headache he gets will be codeine withdrawal

solo · 27/06/2008 17:20

My brother is/was addicted to pain killers with codeine in them, though he'd never admit it. He suffers with his back terribly and I feel like he pops them like smarties, but then, I don't take anything unless I'm screaming with pain for more than a day, and even then I'm reluctant.
I don't know what you can do really. He probably should talk to the GP, but you can't force him to do that. I hope he gets sorted soon.x

AttilaTheMeerkat · 27/06/2008 17:25

myweb.tiscali.co.uk/overcount/index.htm

Do read the above website. Overcount can help with such issues.

Its all too easy to become physically dependent on such things and it is often insidious in onset.

I would think that the painkillers he is taking is causing his headaches to arise. His approach to pain management is akin to dependence on the tablets he is taking.

Schlumpadinka · 27/06/2008 17:47

He sometimes take Nurofen Plus, so yes they have codeine in. But I think his staple is plain paracetamol, or these migraine ones which have caffeine and aspirin as well as paracetamol.

Thanks for the replies - my main worry is that he's going to start projecting this onto DS too. Whenever DS is grumpy he suggests getting out the Calpol as he might be teething. I won't have him dosing my baby up unnecessarily so he needs to get this sorted

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