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Codeine Withdrawal
I recently (two weeks ago) had microscopic back surgery. Although the surgical procedure was successful, I believe I am now paying the BIG price for those "wonderful" little pills that "held me over" in the interim for the severe pre-op pain that I experienced as well as the short period of post-op pain that I endured. I was prescribed Tylenol#3, Lortab 7.5, Lortab 10 and Percocet and LOTS of it. I was legitimately in a GREAT deal of pain! The problem was, the more pain medication I took, the more I needed (and the more I TOOK). NOW, I don't HAVE anymore. I also have no legitimate NEED for the pain medication to ask my physician for. It's not that I "want" to take the pills - but my "body" is telling me otherwise. I can't sleep at night. I'm breaking out in sweats and chills simultaneously throughout the day AND night. I'm extremely irritable, depressed and cranky. I am convinced that these are the symptoms of codeine/hydrocodone withdrawal. WHAT do I do about this? I can't STAND it!!! I have three children to take care of (two of them are babies). I can't take care of myself now because I am "sick" so to speak. I have been completely honest with my husband about this. He agrees that this is probably withdrawal, I need to do "cold turkey" (what choice do I have anyway?) and tough it out for the next week or so. IS THIS WHAT I HAVE TO DO or SHOULD I INVOLVE MY PHYSICIAN WHO PRESCRIBED THESE NASTY DRUGS IN THE FIRST PLACE? Like I said, what choice do I have but to do "cold turkey" and SUFFER anyway? You're prescribed all these highly addictive pain medications pre and post operatively. Then you're "cut off." Two days ago, he told me that he was "concerned that I was becoming addicted to pain medication." I think we're way beyond "becoming." I had my husband tell him that we were already concerned about addiction and I had my husband ask him what the symptoms of addiction and withdrawal were. All he told him was "daily, ongoing use." That wasn't the answer I was looking for. I wanted to hear PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS! Should I call my physician back and tell him that I am SUFFERING here??? My husband and I like and respect my doctor SO VERY much. We're not angry nor do we hold him responsible for this. We just want help in getting me "back to normal." I am TERRIFIED that I am going to go back into a "withdrawal" state again today. The last time I had codeine was 5:00 PM yesterday and I have NO more resources to prescriptions. I WANT TO STOP TAKING PAIN MEDICATION NOW! Would you please give me some GOOD SOUND ADVICE RIGHT AWAY SO THAT I MAY GET MY LIFE BACK??????? Thank You SO MUCH and GOD BLESS YOU!!!!! Sonya :-)
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Hi, great to hear about your tapering, keep up the good work and hang in there.
Cindy
Cindy
wow you have come along way by the sounds of it congrats on expecting your first baby....i am day 5 with tapering so still going ok finding it the best way for me..i actually woke up this morning and got up had a shower as i have a few things to do today and catch up with a couple friends..normally i would wake up with a feeling of dread come over me and think i can;t do all those things today but it was the panafen doing that too me..Even tho i'm down 5 days today i feel so much better knowing i'm doing something about it and i feel ok...just hope i can one-day come back and say i have done it i'm not taking them anymore ....
Why i had to quit
I Used to have a problem with codeine, i even tried to kill myself using it about 9 months ago. i took 35 Panafen Plus (avail. over the counter in Aus and has codeine in it) as well as 20 phenergan, which is an antihistamine (helps with allergy's and motion sickness) that has a side effect that makes you very drowsy, if i took 2 alone of the phenergan any other day i have fallen asleep easily and the first time i took it i drove home and almost crashed my car twice. as well as those two i drank a bottle of wine.
I remember feeling, very high when it all started to kick in then very very tired. after about 45 min ( i kept watching to clock) my pj's became very very itchy, not being able to take it anymore i took them off and turned on the aircon and fan but still with no releif. from there i just got hotter and hotter to the point where i was sweating. I went to the bathroom to shower and looked in the mirror, my head was spinning and i could barely walk or see straight. my head was buzzzing but when i looked in the mirror i was bright red, and i am talking about macdonalds red, from head to toe.
I was worried about it, but at the same time i knew that it want good for me and that is what i wanted. I had the stangest idea that when eventually someone found me i didnt want to look gross, so i somehow managed to wash my hair and shave my legs. as soon as i got out, i fell to the floor and hit my head. I lay there for a while but once again, i didnt want to be found laying on the bathroom floor naked. i managed to get back to bed and literally collapsed on to it. All i could remember was how much i loved my now boyfriend and that i wished i had done more to do anything, i thought about how my friends and family would try and contact me and that it could be days before anyone got worried enough to come over because i had a habit of not being the most reliable person to contact. I remember seeing a light and thinking that this was it; that it was all finally over.
When i woke up the next morning i was disappointed, and as soon as i sat up it became that i was going to be feeling the effects. it took me 2 days to be able to get from my room to the kitchen because i was that ill, i was extreamly thankful that the bathroom was right next to my room.
It was five days before i left the house and longer than that before i was able to function.
I eventually told my now boyfriend, who had tried the same thing a long time before (I had been the one to find him), and he took it hard, and i managed to tell my best friend as well. Six weeks after i had tried to kill myself i went to my doctor and asked for help. While i hadn't tried again the thought is always in my mind.
9 months later i have been seeing a psychologist and it has helped. I still have the urge to take the codeine but not for the same reason, went i took them i felt free and happy but when i look back at what has happened in the last 9 months i wouldnt have traded for anything, including my life. it hasnt been an easy road, and i dont pretend that from this point on my life will be easy but at the end of the day the memories that i wouldnt have had, and the things that i have learnt are far more important that a drug. its not easy, at first it is very very hard but slowly things are getting easier.
If my suicide attempt had worked i would not be expecting my first baby, nor would i have reached my 21st birthday.
The only advice i can say is that keep trying, use what ever method you can, even if that means failing a few times, as long as you try and eventually find your solution that is all that matters.
There are many things that havent happened yet and using codeine would have prevented me from living them
I Used to have a problem with codeine, i even tried to kill myself using it about 9 months ago. i took 35 Panafen Plus (avail. over the counter in Aus and has codeine in it) as well as 20 phenergan, which is an antihistamine (helps with allergy's and motion sickness) that has a side effect that makes you very drowsy, if i took 2 alone of the phenergan any other day i have fallen asleep easily and the first time i took it i drove home and almost crashed my car twice. as well as those two i drank a bottle of wine.
I remember feeling, very high when it all started to kick in then very very tired. after about 45 min ( i kept watching to clock) my pj's became very very itchy, not being able to take it anymore i took them off and turned on the aircon and fan but still with no releif. from there i just got hotter and hotter to the point where i was sweating. I went to the bathroom to shower and looked in the mirror, my head was spinning and i could barely walk or see straight. my head was buzzzing but when i looked in the mirror i was bright red, and i am talking about macdonalds red, from head to toe.
I was worried about it, but at the same time i knew that it want good for me and that is what i wanted. I had the stangest idea that when eventually someone found me i didnt want to look gross, so i somehow managed to wash my hair and shave my legs. as soon as i got out, i fell to the floor and hit my head. I lay there for a while but once again, i didnt want to be found laying on the bathroom floor naked. i managed to get back to bed and literally collapsed on to it. All i could remember was how much i loved my now boyfriend and that i wished i had done more to do anything, i thought about how my friends and family would try and contact me and that it could be days before anyone got worried enough to come over because i had a habit of not being the most reliable person to contact. I remember seeing a light and thinking that this was it; that it was all finally over.
When i woke up the next morning i was disappointed, and as soon as i sat up it became that i was going to be feeling the effects. it took me 2 days to be able to get from my room to the kitchen because i was that ill, i was extreamly thankful that the bathroom was right next to my room.
It was five days before i left the house and longer than that before i was able to function.
I eventually told my now boyfriend, who had tried the same thing a long time before (I had been the one to find him), and he took it hard, and i managed to tell my best friend as well. Six weeks after i had tried to kill myself i went to my doctor and asked for help. While i hadn't tried again the thought is always in my mind.
9 months later i have been seeing a psychologist and it has helped. I still have the urge to take the codeine but not for the same reason, went i took them i felt free and happy but when i look back at what has happened in the last 9 months i wouldnt have traded for anything, including my life. it hasnt been an easy road, and i dont pretend that from this point on my life will be easy but at the end of the day the memories that i wouldnt have had, and the things that i have learnt are far more important that a drug. its not easy, at first it is very very hard but slowly things are getting easier.
If my suicide attempt had worked i would not be expecting my first baby, nor would i have reached my 21st birthday.
The only advice i can say is that keep trying, use what ever method you can, even if that means failing a few times, as long as you try and eventually find your solution that is all that matters.
There are many things that havent happened yet and using codeine would have prevented me from living them
Day 3 with tapering down on the codeine tomorrow be 4 so thats 4 less im taking a day can;t wait until im down too none..But finding it ok at the moment as long as i stick at it because i really need to stop they have been making me feel sick lately so i will stick at this...It dos'nt seem as scary tapering off them than trying too just stop plus no w/d at the moment..Thanx 4 everybodys help pebbles
Hi,
I've not long had a discectomy and have been on cocodomal 30/500 (codeine 30mg and paracetomal 500mg) 2 tablets four times a day as well as nurofen plus which has 12.8mg codeine in per tablet- four tablets four times a day. The pain was so bad before and for a while after the op and the above pain relief were just about holding it at bay. I have started to come off the codeine bit by bit and have now got down to co-codomal 30/500 2 tablets twice a day and nurofen plus 4 tablets twice a day. I am feling achy and rough after 5 days of a halfed dose. Does anyone know should I be looking to cut the dose in half again now or wait until my body settles from the previous dose halving?
I am on antidepressants and have been for a number of years. I take amitriptiline for the nerve pain I still experience in my back and this seems to stop me from having any depressive symptoms. I can recommend this for those suffering from lowered mood.
I am so glad I am not alone in the codeine battle. It is such a horrible place to be in where you need the meds for the pain but then the meds themselves cause a load more problems too.
I've not long had a discectomy and have been on cocodomal 30/500 (codeine 30mg and paracetomal 500mg) 2 tablets four times a day as well as nurofen plus which has 12.8mg codeine in per tablet- four tablets four times a day. The pain was so bad before and for a while after the op and the above pain relief were just about holding it at bay. I have started to come off the codeine bit by bit and have now got down to co-codomal 30/500 2 tablets twice a day and nurofen plus 4 tablets twice a day. I am feling achy and rough after 5 days of a halfed dose. Does anyone know should I be looking to cut the dose in half again now or wait until my body settles from the previous dose halving?
I am on antidepressants and have been for a number of years. I take amitriptiline for the nerve pain I still experience in my back and this seems to stop me from having any depressive symptoms. I can recommend this for those suffering from lowered mood.
I am so glad I am not alone in the codeine battle. It is such a horrible place to be in where you need the meds for the pain but then the meds themselves cause a load more problems too.
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