Addicted to Codiene and am starting my to get of them today...

Treatment and medication
1

Hey peoples

I am 37, and am addicted to codiene, specifically nurphen plus. I live in australia where you can get it over the counter fairly easily.

I currently take around 80 tablets a day, and i am going to start cutting down each day the amount of tablets. I have an appointment with my doctor today and will talk with them.

I am just so angry at myself. 8 years ago I had an accident and was given endone to treat the pain. I got addicted to endone, and used nurphen plus to get of the endone addiction. 

I didn't set out to be a drug addict... i guess no one does. Now, I am stuck.

I am married, 4 kids, and feel like an absolute failure in life. 

I wish I never had that accident... because here I am stuck, feeling broken and low... I am not suicidal... I could never do that to my kids and my wife, but I just hate this situation.

I hate the wave of craving that hits me every 3-4 hours. 

I feel so lonely... I have no friends that I can talk too. I can't say what my job is, but if people found out I would loose my job for real. 

I came on here because I would love to talk with people who are going through what I am going through. I know I am not the only one who is having problems.

Also I have some questions:

How many tablets should I cut back each day?

What can i take to help with the withdrawls?

What should I ask my doctor for?

Thanks for your help.

Joel

2

Hi Joel. Don't be ashamed. I feel exactly the same. I'm in the UK where it is sold over the counter too. Like you, I can't tell people what my profession is because I would be fired. I hate myself for it because I started taking Nurofen + for shoulder pain and got hooked really quickly. 80 is a lot of tablets and I assume that amount would cause you stomach problems as well as the other problems you describe. I take 40 some days and my stomach cripples me at times. I guess we all know we are doing terrible damage. Check out the postings here from Rob. He has been great and has experience of addiction and recovery. He has helped a lot and now I am preparing to go cold turkey. I have tried cutting down but I always go back. Talking to your doctor is a great idea. He may be able to prescribe Codeine Phosphorate which could help because it's the ibuprofen that does so much damage but, ideally, you need to be off everything so you can get your life back. Hope this helps but do check Rob's comments. Best wishes. Drew x

3

Thanks so much... So wierd talking to someone about this, after 8 years of feeling so alone. Any ideas on how I can get hold of this Rob guy?

Talk soon!

4

Also, I have had an ulcer off and on. I am currently on some naxium for the ulcer. Not fun...

5

Hiya. I know it feels a bit weird... Rob posted a lot on here so hopefully he will see this and reply to you. I don't have an email address for him unfortunately. The important thing Joel is that you've taken an important first step. You have admitted you've got a problem and you're looking for a way forward. That is very positive. I really wish you luck on the journey to recovery x Drew

6

YOu too... man I feel just so much better talking to someone. All the best with your journey too. 

When are you starting cold turkey?

7

Hi again. Next week. I've ordered a guide to detox. It was recommended to me and apparently gives advice on different ways to detox. I need to make sure I'm clear of work etc. so I can just concentrate on getting through it. Drew x

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8

Hi zanojo,

My story is very similar to yours, same age group as well. I can't write much now as I have to go out but will give a lengthy reply later. Don't beat yourself up over it. These things happen, my addiction started with legitimate pain as well and I was taking up to 90 tablets a day until my stomach ruptured. Believe me, you do not want that to happen. Even though it was only 2 months ago that I needed emergency surgery I'm back up to 40 tablets a day.

Feel free to PM me, I'm in Adelaide. Have you noticed the change of rules for codeine products? It's monitored heavily now in SA just like pseudoephedrine.

W

9

This it something I posted here a couple of months ago

Hi all,

I know this is an old post but I wanted to share my story. I've been addicted on and off to codeine for a couple of years now. I was using up to 90 ibuprofen + codeine tablets a day.

9 days ago my stomach and small intestine perforated. It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. It began as a really sore stomach which I tried to ignore for about 10 hour by just laying in bed but at about 2am I got up to go to the toilet and the pain just snapped and became unbearable. I was practically screaming in agony. My wife called an ambulance and I was rushed to hospital. Morphine and Fentynl did nothing for the pain they had to hold me down so they could examine me because I was in so much pain. Stomach acid had covered all my other organs. The hospital gave me Ketamine as that was the only thing that did something about the pain. I was rushed into surgery to fix the holes and they has to flush my insides out to clear the acid that leaked.

After 5 days in hospital I'm home now but recovery is slow and I'm still in pain daily. Can't sleep because of it. I knew that ibuprofen can cause this but I never thought it would happen to me. Be careful guys, I wouldn't wish what I had on anyone else

10

Yeah it has changed here too... I just went to the doc, and the refused to give me a script for any codiene phosphate etc... just told me to go cold turkey... so upset....

11

I've gone cold turkey a number times in the past. Cutting down just doesn't work for me. I'll find a reason to justify taking more..

Immodium (loperamide) is a must at high doses to help with the dirreah you'll have when you stop. Ginger tea and paracetamol will help a little with the stomach pain, not much but better than nothing. If your doctor will give you sleeping tablets they will help you sleep. Hot water bottle to keep on your stomach also gives some comfort.

I've spoken to my doctor about going onto suboxone. DASSA (Drug and alcohol something of South Australia) also recommended this. They both wanted me to go into an inpatient recovery program but I told them I won't do that as I need to work and take care of my family. Hopefully I'll get my first script for suboxone later this afternoon.

Please feel free to pm me. I understand your concern about your job as well. I have a high level clearance and would hate to think what might happen if someone found out

12

You have to find a doctor that has experience dealing with people like us. I had a doctor tell me recently not to come back because he didn't believe I was taking so much nurofen. He thought you would die if you took 30, he's an idiot. I found another doctor who is fantastic, he said no to a codeine phosphate script as well but he was experienced with addiction and even had me come back to his office at 7pm to chat more. He didn't charge me for it, just wanted to hear more about my situation.

Have you read much about suboxone? There seems to be a lot of positives as well as negatives but in my case I think the positives win. I do not want to go through another perforation. It's the worst experience of my entire life. I didn't know how much pain a person could be in until that moment

13

I've gone cold turkey a number times in the past. Cutting down just doesn't work for me. I'll find a reason to justify taking more..

Immodium (loperamide) is a must at high doses to help with the dirreah you'll have when you stop. Ginger tea and paracetamol will help a little with the stomach pain, not much but better than nothing. If your doctor will give you sleeping tablets they will help you sleep. Hot water bottle to keep on your stomach also gives some comfort.

I've spoken to my doctor about going onto suboxone. DASSA (Drug and alcohol something of South Australia) also recommended this. They both wanted me to go into an inpatient recovery program but I told them I won't do that as I need to work and take care of my family. Hopefully I'll get my first script for suboxone later this afternoon.

Please feel free to pm me. I understand your concern about your job as well. I have a high level clearance and would hate to think what might happen if someone found out

14

I had a follow up endoscopy (5th one now) yesterday and while my rupture has healed I have another 2 active ulcers. Knowing that, I've still taken 40 N+ today sad

It's difficult

15

My doc said its the nurphen which causes the ulcers... so i asked her to give me a script for codiene which she said no.

crazy!

16

Hey Joel,

first off, well done for taking the step to getting clean, secondly, feeling a failure is perfectly normal, we all feel that way at sometime during our addiction, it will pass when your clean, I promise you that,

well done for going to the GP, as Drew says, you'll be put on Codeine Phosphate, do not take any more Nurofen or more importantly, the Ibuprofen part of it, you should also ask for a liver, kidney function test if not offered by the doc, it's nothing to worry about, just a blood test to make sure everything's working ok, they might wait and do it when your clean.

however, you must be careful with your CP prescription, the temptation WILL be there to take the lot in one go, so you will need Willpower!

the Doc will work out a withdrawl plan for you, so go with their advice. Good luck, and there will always be people on here to talk to if you need

and Drew, still psyching yourself up huh? Well WHEN you start, not IF, you'll  

find it helpful to talk on here, and the same goes for you about the blood test, when your clean go to the GP and tell them you've come off an addiction and would like reassuring that everything's ok, nothing to worry about, and don't listen to people telling you that your going to get brain damage, that wasn't helpful, so let me know when your going to start, you want to be clean for the good weather lol

17

Dude, you must go back the GP and ask to see the practice manager, that is verging on criminal negligence, tell them if you end up harming yourself because they won't support you, then your going to take them to court! I'm serious, or go to the ER at the hospital, tell them your in pain and the GP won't help, they will I'm sure

if all else fails, there is a way to remove the Ibuprofen from the codeine, but this is a last resort, let me know!

18

Hi robert20969,

I don't know where you live but here in Australia I have never seen a doctor willing to prescribe codeine phosphate as a harm minimisation approach with people addicted to codeine. I've had a perforated stomach, multiple ulcers and an active ulcer confirmed two days ago by an endoscopy and a doctor wouldn't give me codeine this evening.

19

Boy that is insane, I'm in th UK, have you tried threatening them with negligence? And the hospital won't help? Madness, as I said above, people can remove the ibuprofen to at least stop damaging their stomachs!

20

Haven't threatened them with negligence. The last time I went into hospital I waited 4 hours only to be sent home. A month prior to that I had been in pain and couldn't keep any food down. Lost about 15 kg in that month, there just gave me anti nausea drugs and then a sandwich. Because I didn't throw up they sent me home. 2 weeks later I had the stomach perforation and nearly died. The doctor I saw today even mentioned I could die but wasn't willing to prescribe pure codeine phosphate