Hi all. I am on here as a last resort... I am looking for support, advice and hoping you could help me.
I initially started taking Tylex as prescribed by my GP when I broke my Coccyx bone about 10mths ago. I was prescribed 6-8 per day, but very quickly built up a tolerance. And I convinced myself that I was taking them for "pain" and not because I couldn't stop. I took up to 16 of each a day and like that warm, fuzzy feeling they gave me. Sleep was no problem, if anything I was constantly tired. My own GP just stopped my prescription and I've been getting them from a friend of mine who was taking them for chronic pain.....
My local chemist approached me last week and advised that I seek help to deal with the amount of Tylex I've been taking. I was shocked and embarrassed initially and walked out crying and very upset. But since then I haven't taken any and I am getting very bad physical and mental withdrawals. My legs are constantly jerking, I have night sweats like u wouldn't believe and I cannot get any sleep no matter how hard I try. My appetite is all over the place and I don't know how I feel inside my own skin anymore. I feel like I am losing my mind and I can't take these feelings.
I am starting counselling tomorrow for this and other issues, but I just wanted to seek help and support from others on here who might have been through this.... is there another side? A better place?
Hello. How on earth did the pharmacist know about the number of Tylex you take when you take your friends tablets? I hope the pharmacist didn't speak to you in front of other people. That would have been so unprofessional. You are going to feel absolutely rotten by going cold turkey, but well done getting this far. It is better to gradually reduce the drug then hopefully you don't get such awful withdrawal symptoms. You'll get response on this forum from people who are going through or have been through this. Take care
Hi
I was collecting the Rx for my friend. And he spoke to me when there was no-on else around. I absolutley DO feel awful. Can't function in work or at home with my children. I don't know whether to continue as I am and get it over and done with, or go to my GP? And advise at all is greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Why don't you go to your GP and ask him to refer you to someone who can help you wean yourself of these tablets? There are organisations in the NHS who do this all the time. It's almost impossible to do it on your own without having the drugs prescribed for you.myou have children so you need help.
I have made an appt fr today.... Hope it goes ok. Thank you
Good for you, so pleased. Keep in touch and let me know how you get on.
I too think you should discuss this with your GP as you've got children to cope with, which, in itself, isn't always an easy job.
The symptoms you describe sound pretty familiar and you do eventually get over them, but it isn't easy. I've now been off codeine completely for just over 5 weeks and still have some after-effects from it which I've been told could last for several months. The sweats, restless legs and panic attacks passed in 2 - 3 weeks and things improve each day.
I tapered my dosage down over several weeks which, I think, made withdrawal less severe.
So yes, of course you'll come out the other side - however long it takes - and it's definitely a better place to be in!
This is a common problem with some people that have surgery of injuries. Lucky for you you didn't progress onto heroin or oxycontin which I have seen before.
You can become addicted to codeine after 3 days. Here in UK we have a similar drug cocodamol 30/500. It's good you stopped as while you were getting high on the codeine you would eventually have wrecked your liver with the paracetamol/acetaminophen.
You need a reduction withdrawel programme.
Good luck
Thank you for your advbice Roz & Walter, it is VERY much appreciated. I just feel so despondent and disapppointed in myself. I am what I would hope, a very good person. ANd I try to live my life as best a mother I can. I don't kow how I have reached this point in and I am scared. My 2 children ARE my life and I can't beleive that I have jepordised their future as well as my own, in a completely selfish way.
But the advice you have both given me is a lot of help and it is great to know that there is support and advice out the there... evenfrom strangers!!! So thank you form the bottom of my heart
Addiction has no boundaries no matter if you are a saint or a psychopath.
Looks like the problem is being nipped at the bud and put it down to experience. Our chemists are highly trained and well aware of the potential for dependency and the advice he gave you was sound.
It's not like you are going around asking strangers for 20p to get your next hit of heroin. It is a lot more common than you think and there are a lot of decent folk hiding addiction to painkillers and pharmacy hopping around different towns so they can get their boxes of drugs without raising suspicion.
Please don't think you've jeapordised your children's future. Through no fault of your own you've become addicted to this terrible drug, codeine. You are now doing all you can to do something about it. You will conquer this in the end. Be positive. I take codeine phosphate for Rheumatoid Arthritis and have done for months. If there ever comes a time when I can't get it prescribed I know I'll have problems.
Codeine is a dirty drug and should never be given out so freely on prescription - it's relatively cheap which is why it's so widely prescribed. It only takes a short while to become addicted although you don't recognise it as addiction at first and, when you do, you go into denial; we've all been there. Doctors don't warn you about this either.
Don't be disappointed in yourself, instead be proud that you've taken the first step towards getting it out of your system. You haven't been selfish, just duped by the pharmaceutical companies.
Keep posting so we know how you're progressing.
I sincerely wish you well.
Unlike many people on this forum, I would have to say that it is possibe to be on co-codamol 30/500 and not get addicted. I have been on it on and off for 10 years for very wide spread moderate to severe pain. I normally only take 2 tablets twice per day, and on a really bad day might go up o 4 times per day. I have never been tempted to take more than that no matter hw severe the pain. I have to say therefore from a personal perspective that if you are prescribed co-codamol do not assume ou will get addicted - you may not and it is effective.
You are absolutely right gill, I know people who take it just occasionally but you could still be addicted and not aware you are by taking 2 a day. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and have to take it regularly for pain, and I am in severe pain at times but if I have to stop the codeine I do not know how my body will react.
So how do you know if you are addicted? I always thought if people were addicted they took too many of whatever it is and that is why I have assumed I am not addicted. How do you define addiction?
I agree I take 2 in the morning sometimes the same in the evening.
I only get a limited amount every month anyway so abuse is not an option.
You may have a well balanced sensible personality and not vulnerable to abusing drugs.
The only problem I have with them is constipation.
Hi Gill,
I, too, only took the prescribed amount of co-codamol 30/500 (over a period of 4 years), not once did I go over the limit as I was afraid of the effects of paracetamol on my liver. I also varied the dose from once to four times a day according to pain level. However, according to the colorectal consultant I saw in December 2014, they were the cause of the pretty bad digestive/bowel probs I'd been having and he advised me to stop them and see what happened. I did so and, after a couple of days, I realised, much to my amazement that I'd got withdrawal symptoms and headed to this site to check things out. Matron's right, you can be addicted without ever realising it, codeine is, after all, an opiate all of which cause dependence to some degree.
He.lo gill. Addiction is when someone has a craving for the drug, they may wake up feeling they cannot face doing anything without it so giving them a "high" or making them more confident.
The drug gives them a feeling of euphoria that they enjoy.
without their regular dose they be agitated or they feel their body is craving for the drug.
Taking the analgesic when not in pain.
I get a set amount of codeine monthly for pain in my joints (Rheumatoid Arthritis). I sometimes need to take the 4 doses a day but often 3 times. Because of my constant pain it's difficult for me to know just how dependent I am on the drug. Some people don't even know they are addicted until they have to stop taking the medication. I have a friend who took 2 Co-proxamol tablets every morning. Once GP's were no longer allowed to prescribe them and her supply ran out she had terrible withdrawal symptoms. Her GP helped her withdraw but he admitted that 2 a day over a long period of time can cause dependence, that is why we should all be alert to this. GP's seem to happily prescribe these drugs (often because they are cheap) unaware of what is happening to their patients.
