Codiene Addiction

[steve]

I have been a long term user of codiene for almost 20 years. I started with a severe case of sinusitis in my early twenties that eventually required surgery.

After my sinusitis was gone I found myself still taking cold tablets containing codiene. I had been warned by my doctor that this medication could be "habit forming" but I was just too embarrased to ask for help.

I've managed to stop a few times. It's always very hard. But starting up again is so easy. I had a bad bicycle accident about 6 years ago which got me back on big-time.

Currently I'm taking between 6 and 8 9mg codiene/500mg paracetamol per day. I feel good when I take them and bad as soon as I miss a hit.

For reasons I don't really know I've always tried to hide this habit from my wife. She knows I have them around but would freak if she knew the dosage I was on. I hide them in coat pockets, my bike bag, in the car, at work, in my workshop at home. I even stumble across caches that I'd forgotten about.

I even hide my habit from chemist shops by spreading my purchases out over about 6 or 8 of them so no one store recognises I might have a problem. This is bad ****!

I haven't bought any new stuff since just before christmas and all my available supplies ran out 2 days ago. (Believe me - I've checked!!) Here in Australia we can get this over the counter without a prescription.

I AM NOT GETTING ANY MORE!

I feel like ****. Insomnia, headache, high temperature, aching legs. But I know these will be gone in a few days if I can stick with it.

The REAL problem is how not to start up again. Can ANYBODY give me some advice. I'd love to able to ask my doctor or someone, but I can't even bring myself to tell my wife.

I really related to other people stories on this group. This stuff is incidious. I keep saying to myself "what harm can it be doing? - I feel better when I take it!" and gradually talk myself back into thinking it's OK again.

I wish it wasn't so readily available. I'm not the sort of guy who could make up stuff in order to get it via prescription. I guess I have to sort this out for myself. Somehow.

[RS, EdD, HVMA]

You also need some good answers to that question "What harm is it doing me?"  If you can't come up with why you should stop, then you have no motivation to stop.  Is it hurting your self-esteem?  Is it costing you money? Is it harmful to your health? Is it a burden to keep it a secret from the people you love? Ask yourself these and other questions and REMEMBER THE ANSWERS, because that's what will stop you from relapsing.  Also, getting some professional help might be in order.  Anyhow, I admire your determination. Best of luck.

[steve]

Well, I did it. I told my wife about my problem last night! It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. But as soon as I'd done it I wondered why I'd put it off for so long.

She was very understanding and had suspected I had a problem for some time. The extent of the problem was the only surprise.

Anyhow, we had a long talk, and she is very supportive in helping me stay off them. We'll give our best shot. I feel very confident  that we can do this. Probably for the first time since I got into this sorry state.

My withdrawl symptoms are lessening daily and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. And it's not an oncoming freight train like in the Metallica song!

Thank you Dr Steve and RS for your advice. Keep this forum going! It's a brilliant idea and gives assistance to people on a very tricky subject.

RS - Would you mind expanding on what the harmful effects of long term use of this kind of medication are? Apart from the psychological and physical dependence? I'd like to know some details on what damage it is doing. It will definately help me from starting up again.

[derek]

I am addicted to Propoxyphene based pain killers and I don't know how to stop. Can anybody help

[maria april 2000]

Ihave a problem with pain medication i have had
hip surgery, leg surgery and for them both i found
myself taking more and more tylenol 3 i don't want
this kind of life anymore but what am i supposed to
do about the pain. i am also on prozac and it seems
like the more i try to get off the tylenol there is
always something else if anyone can understand what i am going through please help me

[Maria]

i am addicted to tylenol 3please help

[Brian to Maria]

Please read the posts on this board.  Lots of people here are or have been going through similar things.  You should probably consult an addiction doctor to assist you in getting off the tylenol 3's.  In addition, if the pain is so great that you can't find other ways to deal with it, you should find a pain clinic.

[Dyana]

maria,
I have been on tylenol #3 for 10 years.  Last week I decided to stop! It was ruining my life completely.  Everything was revolving around getting another prescripion, making up false ailments to get the drug.  I spent so much time and money in doctor appt's, and filling prescriptions.  Just last week I decided to just stop cold turkey on my own.  I just now found this forum and wish I would have alot sooner.  It has been the week from hell and is enough to make me never want to go through this again.  I did not do a taper program wich sounds like it would have definately been a great help.  I had hid my addiction for all the years and i was just sick and tired of being sick and tired.  You can achieve anything you want to in this life if you just put your mind to it.  Find someone to confide in, thats what I did.  I sat down with a good friend of mine and confessed it all and asked him for support and help.  That is the key to recovery.  Consulting your doctor is a great idea, they can help in your symptom reduction.  It is not easy my any means but I can tell you your life will change for the better!  In just a week I feel like I am finally getting back to the old me.  So find a close friend or loved one, get moral support, and tapering will definately minimize your symptoms.  I had been taking xanax for a year also, just at night to get to sleep,   My doctor showed my how to taper to get off of it, that was not that easy either, but easier than cold turkey.  Good luck..talking abou;t it is a great start.  Do call a doctor, any doctor, or an addiction center for advice on how to do it safely.  You have already made it past the first step,,,accepting the addiction.

[BillyBazool]

You bunch of minor leaguers! I was taking 8 to 20 Tylenol #4's and plain fiorinal for about 15 years. I had a major problem with frequent migraines and these drugs were the only ones that seemed to work.
After 3 treatment programs I am FREE!!!!  All I take is Imitrex injectable and perhaps a few Motrin. I'm 47 and now feel 25.
Get help and 'if you first don't succeed, try like hell again until you do' Ain't easy but if I can do it ... You can to! Love yourself and do not give up. If you happen to fall back get up and try again. Good luck.

[ROY > ALSO CODEINE DEPENDENT.]

I take 20 of these pills a day, every day for the past year.
I have heard they will screw up my liver.I am married with 2 young children a wife and a bussines to run. I told my doctor about 6 months ago that I was taking around 8 a day, he was not concerned, I have ocipital neuralgia and some nerve damage in my rt arm and hand with pain, that is why I started taking the Tylenol with Codine in the first place. I have stopped taking these in the past for a month and the went back, stopped for a week and went back. The thing is , when I stop using them I am feeling like ****. I am on the toilet all the time and feel clammy sweaty and all around miserable. Is there some method by wich I can clean myself out and get rid of all this **** that must be in my system? I had a drug test done via blood sample about 6 months ago and it came back only to say that I was vitiman e deficiant. HELP ME..PLEASE! I can kick it if only I can get through the next few days. Can any one help with methods of doing this that have worked for you.

[Karisma]

I am in my 20's and am also codiene dependant. I have been using adco sinal co a generic of sinu-tab for approx 2 years I take these tablets everyday and i am scared of stopping because they make me feel so good. I started taking them in my early 20's as a hangover remedy and found myself consuming tablets wherever I could my friends have now noticed that I am constantly popping pills and often drowsy and incapacitated.......Today is my second day clean but its so hard....I wish that these tablets were not so cheap and readily available here in SA....Any advice would be greatly appreciated......

[Karisma]

I am in my 20's and am also codiene dependant. I have been using adco sinal co a generic of sinu-tab for approx 2 years I take these tablets everyday and i am scared of stopping because they make me feel so good. I started taking them in my early 20's as a hangover remedy and found myself consuming tablets wherever I could my friends have now noticed that I am constantly popping pills and often drowsy and incapacitated.......Today is my second day clean but its so hard....I wish that these tablets were not so cheap and readily available here in SA....Any advice would be greatly appreciated......

[Lost in Colombia]

I am codeine dependent for 3 years, this is available in Colombia, SA over the counter in unlimited quantities and very cheap.  I got up to about 20 30mg tabs per day and had always maintained a 300 to 400 pill backup supply but due to unforeseen circumstances my pill supply just ran out.  So, I have been going through withdrawal for 4 days now, horrible but lessening a little bit today.  I hope that I do not start up again and I hope that this withdrawal is over soon.

[Lost in Colombia]

For some reason it helps me when I write this, maybe due to my shame I have not told another person.  The chills are strange, the weakness is constant and a huge burden, the depression is profound, but I guess I do see the light a the end of the tunnel, If I start again I will be lost forever I think, the codeine is a powerful drug with the power to pervert my mind.

[kimmerz]

i am a 16 year old female girl, In May I got sick with intestine infectiona nd cysists on my ovaries I was hospitalized and given T#3 for the pain. I got out and everyday day ii was up at the hospital in pain and they could not figure out why it hurt so much. so I was taking t#3 for the pain all the time in July my neices were taken away and put into foster care and after that I started relying on the pills to make everything better I was taking 20-25 pills a day just so I didnt have to live with the fact that they are gone. When I first got sick I was 2210lbs and now I am 130lbs because the pills ate my stomach away. I just recently asked my family for help and my doctor and they said no and that I dont have a problem but I knew i had a problem so I turned to my ex boyfriend Josh for help. It has now been 10 days since I have taken my last pill and I feel great but its not esay if it wasnt for Josh I dont think I would be quitting the pills but thanks to him I am done. Josh told me the night i asked him for help that he knew my life wasnt over at the bottom of a pill bottle and now everytime I pick up the bottle that runs through my mind and I put them down.  Its not easy stopping    I mean I think  I should have relasped  a few times  but thanks to Josh I didnt . If  you are wondering me and Josh are now seeing eachother and it is going great I am so glad I met this man he is awesome. I love you alot Josh thank you for everything.  So please if  you have this problem please get help its not a get life to live.  

[kimmerz]

ok sorry for the spelling errors i was only 210

[dervishiii]

I have a 140mg per day habit  of Codiene/paracetemol. I get half from my doctor and the other half on the black market (at vast expense). It encourages me greatly to read from those of you who have or are kicking the habit.

Personally I have kicked every other horrible addiction I have ever had (apart from my boyfriend), but this is a toughie. From our friend in Columbia's reports, even enormous amounts of codiene are easier to kick physically than heroine, opium and morphine (all relatives of codiene).... all of which I have taken to the point of enslavement many years ago.

Pysychologically speaking the hardest addiction to kick was cigarettes!

So I take heart in the idea I now have, that codiene will be something easier than morphine and cigarettes. My New Years resolution is to stop this year - dammit!

To those of you who ask for help.......addictions are symptoms, each of us must personally discover why we are "ill or weak" and tackle the problems at the foundations. Not easy, I found hypnotherapy to be the most effective route.... therapy is horrible and takes too long and makes you focus on your faults too much.

We are beautiful sensitive creatures
and as such more susceptible to pain.
It's the world that's at fault really.


Peace, love and happiness for 2008..

[melvod]

i take between 48/58 a day of 30mg codiene phosphate, to get them i used travel all over the uk as a pest controller while im in a different city i either con/steal or another way which i wont tell you how because it will give you all ideas on how to get them but trust me i take them all the same im a father of 3 and consider myself to be a good man but i just say to myself i need them so whatever i do doesnt matter ive been taking them for about 19 years now,it only started with two a day kapake first but they contain paracetamol so after a few years i soon conned my doctor to give me a higher dose i didnt even realise at the start how addictive they were they took the pain away and made me feel invincible to all lifes challenges, i had a good life to, a house my own business  a savings account, now im divorced jobless and just about to be evicted from my present home, ive run out of the tablets today and i have decided to give it a go at kicking the habit again but ive tried 5 day dtox which basically i was a sleep for a whole 5 days managed to stay of them for the grand total of 3 weeks then when a problem came up i just turned to them to make me feel better,ive also tried acupunture cold turkey and even slimming down the mg's i truly want to stop i want my life back but and i know i sound like a moaning feelsorry for myself idiot but unless you have expierienced this addiction you can not judge any of us.please if anybody knows a way to stay off these demon seeds please tell me i and many others will be eternally gratefull.

[MFFMW]

The best way to kick your addiction is to start dealing with the problems that make you turn to the pills. Detox was a great start, but you should combine detox with learning how to cope. Maybe start talking to a friend, or if your embarassed, see a professional. Getting the right tools to deal with the problem will better enable you to handle it. I understand completely how it feels to depend on something to take you out of the situation, or make you feel better about it. But trust me when I tell you that after an addiction, it almost feels good to know YOUR dealing with problems at hand, not running from them.
Good luck to you.

[quest1200]

Im 25. had started taking Tylonal 3 as was perscribed for my dads migrain control at the age of 17. i would get a prescription of 100 pills every 3-4 months. They would only last a few days. Now im in the UK traveling, and it wasnt long till i found Nerophen Plus. Now im on 24 pills a day. i know they probably knocked 5 years off my life if not more. The only problem is i have a VERY addictive personallity. I take FAR too many ritalin for my ADHD. and when im not on them i smoke/drink.
Anyways. its gotten to the point where i know if i dont stop this habit, it could seriously damage my health, or inevitably kill me.
Ive done for months without, i know how u are so weak, and tiered for the first week. then after that all your **** (Litterally) comes out like 16 times a day. and then im fine. i focus on other things instead of how i can get some pills. but there is always a weak moment that drags me back. My girlfriend knows, and so do my parents. but im in denyal that they are doing more bad then good.
I dont think anyone addicted to this can do it in any other way than "cold chicken" (Just stop) its hard. but i know ill be thankful when im older.
Good luck to everyone else. and if ur parents, just do one thing. DONT GIVE YOUR KIDS ANY CODIEN!!!

[cliffy1111]

i hav had a 25 tablet a day of robaxicet with8 mg of codiene can somone tell me thr=e best way to stop this madness my back does not even bother me any longer

[TrayCee]

This thread is almost 9 years old.  You'll get MUCH better results if you just start a new one

[cliffy1111]

how do i do that