Nurofen plus withdrawal

[chewey]

Hi everyone - I have just come across this forum - and would like to ask help and advice.  I have been taking nurofen plus (ibuprofen + codeine sulphate 12.8 mg per tablet) for 5 years - I take about 24 tablets per day (all at once - like the feeling along with the pain killing effects)
I must give these up - for I understand this is addiction - and must find another way to deal with pain.
I guess nurofen is much like tylenol (2? 3? 4?) - dont know which one.
So on Sunday I took 24 and on Monday I took 12 - felt lousy today and took another 12 - the plan is to stay on 12 for 3 days and then go to 6 for 3 days.
Do you think this is feasible?  I have to continue working and functioning - I have a family of 4............ So - I cannot just go c/t.  I am thinking that perhaps cutting to 6 on Thurs might be too much, but I am due to go to the US on the 14th for a week with my daughter - work and fun - and I want to be off for that trip.
Any advice would be so helpful.
Thank you in anticipation
chewey

[gsutton]

Hi

Naltrexone, I agree is very useful and if it is keeping you clean then I would agree that for you it is a 'miracle drug'.
However, a Liver Function Test (LFT) is indicated before Naltrexone is started for a variety of reasons.
Well done to everyone who is doing well.
It is easy for professionals to 'downplay' the seriousness of Codeine addiction as our working day will be dominated by Heroin and Crack users.
If you need support your local drug service should run some kind of psycho-social programme to help equip you with the psychological tools to stay clean.
We have just launched an on-line programme that will be really useful for people who work or do not feel that the usual approaches are suitable or attractive.
I cannot recommend NA strongly enough. I send my clients along to the local groups and the majority attend time and time again.
You will be taken seriously and people will help you.
Never underestimate the power of the 'share'.

Best wishes to everyone

G
Substance Misuse Specialist  (Suffolk UK)

[anyeasyway]

Get as many tools as you can. But I can't stress this enough, when you are 5 days clean start taking Naltrexone. For me any my many many relapses I regard it as a miracle drug. Not only does it reduce your craving for all drugs including alcohol, but it also clears your mind from the never ending prison that is addiction. I take it every day, its not addictive, and most of all it works! Any GP will give you a script if you tell him what you want it for.

Please Please try it!!  

[Steve115]

Hello all. Found your stories incredible and it's actually nice to feel they are people out there like me. Hello. I've been addicted to Nurofen Plus for 13 months now. 500mg/12.8 Codeine.  I started taking them for headaches and loved the warm relaxed feeling of them. I am from the UK and my nurofen plus would cost £7 every 2 days or so. It started small like 4 a day then just recently been doing 20-24 a day for 5 months. I've had no liver ache or any problems. Apart from a few funny stomachs here and there. I've been wanting to stop for ages. But I've plucked up the courage and gone cold turkey. My last Codeine hit was 20 hours ago and I'm feeling fine. I know withdrawal symptoms will kick in soon so I've substituted nurofen plus with just normal paracetamol I haven't yet taken any form on painkiller in 20 hours I'm going to see how I feel. I suggest taking vitamins and liver milk thistle after you give up as this will fight illness and withdrawal symptoms and milk thistle will repair your liver back up in no time. I used to take Nurofen plus to feel happy and confident. I would take 4 before a job interview and it would work! But humans can't live like that. I know how it feels. If anyone reads this I hope you find my post helpful and good luck to anyone out there quitting or taking. I'm 20 and Male.

[Addicted007]

The only workable plan is not to take the first n plus. In my experience just one was never enough and even 32 became too few.

I tried to stop on my own hundreds and thousands of times and never got beyond 2 or 5 days.  I ended up with a perforated bowel, perotinitis, bleeding ulcers; I was at death's doorstep and in hospital intensive care for ten days because of what I had done to myself.

This experience showed me finally I am an addict....the most important knowledge I have today over and above my two degrees. I will and do not take any tablets with any traces of codeine or caffeine today. I will not take tramadol etc as from my experience with n plus one would never be enough.

With the help of narcotics anonymous I have been released from that dark depressing all consuming self destroying world of n plus. I was never going to win; it was going to kill me.

I will be two years clean on 5 may 2013.

[Addicted007]

Coming off n plus is very difficult, I know! My view is that it is better to aim to be 100% clean and not stop one drug just to cross addict to other drugs which can equally be just as harmful...that's my view!

[JeanJM]

Tell your Doctors that you are addicted to such a huge amount of N+ and they WILL provide Codeine for a slow taper because of the damage the ibuprofen could be causing. You will feel so much better tapering off the pure Codeine I know I did.

You could also ask for Dihydocodeine Sustained Release tablets as they have a half life of 12 hours. You don't get high off these but it keeps you from withdrawing but unfortunately for me personally they made me extremely sleeping.

I know of a lady who was eating 100 Nurofen Plus pills daily until her stomach erupted and she nearly died. They had to remove most of her stomach due to the damage the ibuprofen has caused, don't let that happen to you.