cocodamol addiction

Treatment and medication
1

i am 27 and since the age of 18 i have been taking them 30/500.i get them from my doctor every 2 weeks when.if i dont have any i cant get out of bed in the morning and i cant go out,im so moody and hate socialising,when ive got them im a totally different person im the happiest ever,im the life and soul of the party,i wont even go shopping if i dont take any cause i feel withdrawels and they are all i think about.its so sad cause i have 2 children,i take 12-16 a day and i take double the stated dose 4 at a time.im to scared to go the doctors and i dont feel strong enough to come off them myself.what can i do HELP!!

2

Hi there

The only help anyone here can offer is to tell you to see your GP ASAP.

Forget the addiction to codiene, what about the serious damage you are doing to your liver?

I agree with you, it is sad, if you continue taking these tablets like you are doing, your children won't have a mummy for much longer.

Paracetamol will slowly and very painfully kill you.

Seek your GP's help.

Melbi

3

Melbi speaks the truth

4

Hi again

I am that concerned about the huge daily intake of paractemaol you say you are consuming I have decided to post a link for you to show the seriousness of your addiction to cocodamol.

I don't think you have stopped and thought about the amount of paracetamol you are consuming :shock:

The sad thing here is that as you are not taking them to overdose (suicide) the chances of you knowing you have caused liver damage could very well come too late for you (and your children)

Please do take the time to read the link below and think back to when you posted abput being scared of telling your doctor - think about how scared your children would be if one day they wake up to be told they no longer have a mummy.

(Click Here)

Melbi

16 tablets a day = 6 days (tops) supply from a prescription of 100 tablets. You state your GP prescribes them for you every 2 weeks?

Just how many tablets does your GP prescribe at any one time? 224?

The total amount of paracetamol you are consuming in one day is 8000 mg. :shock: :shock: :shock: 56000mg a week :shock: :shock: :shock: 224000mg a month :shock: :shock: :shock:

Sweetheart, you are in extreme danger of seriously causing damage to your kidneys and liver :oops: :oops: :oops: If you haven't already done so.

Do your kids a favour and tell your GP 1) you are abusing the tablets and 2) what a jerk he/she is for allowing you to have so many tablets to allow you to abuse your body. :roll:

5

Yes you are taking a very near lethal dose every day :?

6

you've been given some great advice by the other ppl ere you must tell your gp about the high dosage your takin, but one more thing is the addiction its self which needs to be treated as with out this you can always relapse. i found that narcotics anonymous helped my plight with addiction i know your takin prescription medication, but addiction dont mind if its legal or ilegal its still addiction that left untreated can come back. wish you the best for your babies sake

7

Does your GP not monitor the number of prescriptions you request? He has a responsibility to do so. If he realised he would refuse to sign any more and ask to see you. Then he could help wean you off the medication.

8

hi guys thanks for all your advice,i took the step today and stopped taking the tabs but havent told doctor im addicted to them will i have bad withdrawels?

9

After taking that much coco for so long I think youll be climbing the walls a bit

10

I have Been Taking Codene Since I Was 15 & I Had A Serious Car Accident, I Was Allergic To The Codene So I Was prescribed Co-Codamol & The Reactions Stopped, I Am 19 In April & Have Been Taking these For Coming Up To Three years, I Dont Think I Could Actully Function WithOut Them, What Are The Long Term Damages & When I Take Them Of A Night Before Bed I Have Wierd Trippy Dreams, Is This Normal ??

11

Hi Co Codamol 30/500 Oh yes im addicted have been for around 20 years 10 to 12 a day At one point I was getting 240 a week off my doctor When they caught on to this after around 10 years { no joking } I was put on a weekly prescription of 56 So what did I do? Got the Lower dose 8/500 from the chemist £ 3.99 for 32 of the little soluable buggers to tide me over Of course the chemist gets to know your habbits So you move on Theirs a lot of chemists in glasgow Im still taking them I can stop for mabey a day { Headache Cramps } I wont tell doctor he would cut me dead I have 4 friends with the same problem We help each other when we run out If you can relate to this let me know AND good luck if your trying to come of them Robert glasgow

12

I too think i may be addicted to co-codomal 30/500. It started about 16 months ago when i was prescribed them for a very painful ganglion cyst. I have never exceeded the recommended dose of 8 tablets in 24 hours and have not taken them every single day in the last 16 months so i know my dependancy is not as bad as some people on these forums. I have generally only been taking them when the pain is severe so maybe every few weeks or so but i do find if i take them for more than a few days that i sometimes continue to take them after the pain has gone. If i don't then i become irritable, get really bad headaches, stomach cramps and diahorrea. I have read that these are withdrawl symptoms from these pills so now feel that i may have a slight dependency on them sad I am starting to feel really frightened about what these pills may be doing to my liver and kidneys. Does anyone think i will have caused any major damage to my body? I would be very grateful for any replies.

Thanks

x

13

GlasgowGirl26 Regardless of your (let's call it) 'dependency status' 8 Co-co a day is almost perfectly harmless and you won't suffer any ill health effects from it whatsoever. On the other hand those people who are guzzling 8 g, 10 g or 15 g (or more) of the stuff a day are effectively playing Russian roulette, they may well feel perfectly fine (yes even maybe for years) but they need to be strongly assured that one day it will turn around and bite them on the bum and they will become very very ill indeed...

Look afters

14

Thank you very much for your reply smile I never usually post on forums but i was scared of what these pills could be doing to my body. I have now decided I wont be taking any more of them because i do not want to go down the same road as some of the other unfortunate folk on here who now depend on them to function in their daily lives. Those people are certainly dicing with death taking ridiculous amounts sad Although they are very good painkillers when used in moderation, i feel that something has to be done about GP's prescribing them very willingly knowing how addictive they are sad Some GP's are effectively playing a big role in causing people to become dependant on these pills....HOW SAD!! sad

Thanks again for your reply

x

15

I am from the UK and have been on Cocodamol 30/500 for the past 6 months or so. I have osteoarthritis from the top to the bottom of my spine. It worked brilliant, i only took 2x tablets at night to help me sleep due to the pain in my back, as this kept me awake.

Anyway three nights ago i started getting pains in my stomach, my heart racing a bit and started having hallucinations. I put the hallucinations at the time down to the fact after a night shift i only had a couple of hours, so therefore was exhausted.

The thing is when i am off duty, i do not need to take them, when i don't i cannot sleep, i am restless all night but exhausted, as i am now writing this.

I rang my gp who asked me if i am still taking Naproxen, i said yes (not as often as i should), he then asked me to try 15/500 cocodamol and see if i get the same withdrawal symptoms. Why he didn't tell me to take one 30.500 is beyond me but there you go.

The pains in my heart were horrible, but as i said this has only started in the past couple of weeks.

Thanks guys biggrin

16

Hi. My story is slightly different in that I am addicted to Co Codamol 8/500. Are you all sitting down??? I started on CC 30/500 some years ago after a sports injury. I was sensible enough to tell my doc then that I thought I shouldnt take them as I liked them too much, but since I have been trying to find that chilled out feeling. So now before I go to bed I take 24 8/500 CC. GP says just cut down slowly, but rubbish. Any advice? PS recent health check says my liver etc is fine.

17

Your liver isn't all you've got to be concerned about, the liver is pretty resilient, no it's your kidneys that'll sneak up on you unawares Got any lower back ache yet?

18

No. Health check covered all organs etc. It does play havoc with IBS though. Major pain at the mo.

19

I'm sorry you are having major IBS like pain, I wonder if it's due to colon paralysis 'opioid bowel dysfunction' caused by the 24 x 8/500 Co-cos

20

Taking 24 co-codamol a day probably makes you constipated mirroring IBS. If you continue taking such high doses of codeine and paracetamol you will overdose. Please talk to your GP asap.