Im writing this to give people hope!

Hi mu name is Allie and I'm new to this but i thought id share my experience in case it makes the difference for anyone recovering. I am 24 and currently at university and have a part time job too. I am now on day 2 of a codeine withdrawal. I quit cold turkey and yesterday and this morning were hell. Diarroeh and sickness constantly. I thought my stomach was trying to bring up an organ it was trying so hard.

Anyway I have read a lot on here about peoples experience with codeine c/t and most say days 3 and 4 are the days they turned a corner and I just wanted to share that I seem to have turned a small corner here at the end of DAY 2. I must admit I was up and down with my use which has been going for just under a year. Sometimes I would be taking over 300mg a day of straight codeine just to feel the high. I was always aware of the dangers of addiction and new I was addicted so I would taper down to 120mg a day. But the buzz always drew me back and I was up doing 300mgs again.

The reason for my cold turkey is Ive run out and after giving up on hunting the house for anything else I can take ive given in and decided right here I go, cold turkey. Terrifying, since it wasnt even planned but now ive turned my corner really quickly im so thankful that I started to do this. I'll list some thigns below that have helped me immensely through this process so far. I plan to kick this thing in the *** and live a normal life once again. I used to think well whats the point of quitting when it makes life so much nicer but it doesn't, thats the drug talking. It may take a few months before your back to an old happy self again because your brain has been depending on codeine to produce ur feel good hormones and now the codeien is gone it has to learn how to produce them naturally again.

Things that have helped me:

Motillium (for the sickness and diarreah (diarrhea))
Hot Baths (and showers if need be but baths are better, these help with the aches and jitters loads)
Water, water water
Vitamin B6 supplement
Dioralyte (or something similar, this is to replace all the elctrolytes and minerals that u lose from diarroeah)
Try and avoid people for at least the first day coz you are gonna wanna kill them or beg them to kill you.
As soon as u feel u can eat again, do it little by little it makes a difference.
And when u feel u can, go outside for a small slow walk just to get your body moving again.

I hope this helps someone out there. I feel your pain right now if you are going through anything opiate withdrawal as it is so awful but there is light at the end of the tunnel, it's just a really horrible tunnel.

[gnarly_1]

THANKS for your post people early on need to know you can get threw this despite how lousy
you feel keep your attitude good and you will pull threw this fine congrats on 2 days........Gnarly

[pops678]

great to see that you have turned a corner, i know some people say that the physcological side is harder to deal with, but in my case completely different.
on a bad ay i could take upto 1000mg of codiene, on a good 240mg, i also got sick of being a slave to the drug. it is always nice to know you are not the only one.
i think my abuse of alcohol in earlier years and 4 years of codiene have given my body a good kicking, the runs you spoke of i still have and im 5 weeks clean, the trouble being(not being intentionally gross)my stools are tarry and black, been to the doc, explained everything and she seems to think i either have a bleeding stomach or a tumor,so the fact you stopped when you did is really commendable. got to look on the bright side though, at least i can deal with this problem with out having to open a silver covered packet of poison..................................i have real contempt for OTC drugs, there should be more legislation on this ****......sorry to rant..............good luck..ps(what are you studying, my wife has just started her 2nd year in socail work at uni, im just nosey)

[dominosarah]

Congrats on 2 days clean!!  What are your plans after this part is over?  The mental game kicks in then.  Surround yourself with people who are supportive of your recovery.  Hold your clean time sacred as there is no happy ending with this addiction.  Keep us posted on how you are doing~~~~sara

[Jimmy1975]

Well Done and sounds like you have a good plan of attack ! Keep us updated please and we will provide all the support you need !  Jimmy

[AbiCat]

Wow its so nice one here, everyone is so supportive. At day 5 now and i dont know if im lucky or if the banana's have done the trick but the depression I was dreading has been so minimal. The only thing I am left with is the poops but I can handle them :)

I study animal management (covers behaviour, nutrition, health, genetics etc) at uni and this year coming is my last year. Think the stress from the first two years is what maybe led me to codeine. That and the fact I was prescribed it for intersticial cystitis (which is when u suffer from permanent cystitis pain because the lining of your bladder is weak and bleeds). So when codeine took away that pain and the fear I had of suffering from that, I am not suprised I got hooked on it.

To pops678: When can you find out what is going on with your stomach then? Thats an awful thing to have to go through when you've worked so hard to fight your addiction. Life doesnt half kick us when we're down sometimes.

I know now that the brain battle begins. I hope I stay strong. I just want to tell anyone out there worrying that life is just better on opiates than not on them, since quitting i feel awake again and I realise that I forgot myself this whole time. It's the hardest thing I ever had to do but also one of the best and talking to people on here and reading their experiences, even just to know you're not alone is a huge help. I think i lived on this forum the first couple days. Ooooh one question for anyone, i took some night nurse the second night to try and get some sleep (checking ingredients like 10 times) and it did help me with the crazy legs and insomnia but I was wondering if this was an ok thing to do? I literally only used it that one night but I wouldnt like to advise it for anyone else incase im just luring someoen from one dependancy to another.

PS sorry about the lengthy posts, im a rambler x

[melipops]

Hey great that you are still going. Keep on staying strong:)

[NeedsEncouragement]

What is night nurse?  I am on day 11 and still struggling to sleep.  I'm interested in anythign that might help me get a good night's rest!  Thanks!

[AbiCat]

Its a cold and flu liquid called Night Nurse. Im from the Uk so I dont know if you can get it in other countries but you can buy it over the counter here. It has Promethazine in it which is a decongestant and has a sedative affect. There's no codeine in it, the only pain killer it contains is paracetamol.

It really settled my head but I know others have found strong sedatives dont touch them and there insomnia carries on. Oh ive found some more stuff on promethazine (which is assume is the part that helped me sleep) on wikipedia. Here ya go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promethazine

Hope this helps you :) stay strong

[NeedsEncouragement]

I'm in the US and I don't think we have that here.  The promethazine is Phenergan, I think so that would make sense that it helps....thank you!