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30-60 pills a day.

Posted , 7 users are following.

LIZBRD
LIZBRD

Hey. So I've been taking Panadeine Extra (Paracetamol 500mg, codeine 15mg) for only a few months now but I'm already highly addicted.

I started taking it for knee pain I've been having as a result from work (I work in a warehouse). At first it was purely for pain, but then I noticed if I took a couple more I'd get an awesome buzz off them and I liked it. Pretty quickly my dosage increased. The last couple weeks I've been going through 30-60 pills a day. I take them in 10-15 intervals. If I want to get really f***** up I'll take 30 in one go.

Before it was this bad (roughly 20 a day) I did speak to my doctor about it as my partner was worrying about me and I needed to figure out why I was having the knee pain in the first place. She sent me for a MRI and I've got loose knee caps and a lot of fluid. I've got to go to see a specialist, but I can't afford to do that. She gave me a script for Voltaren 50mgs which I initially just chucked in my handbag and didn't give a second chance.

But today is my second day going cold turkey.

And it's not great.

I've got back pain, and walking around the house/outdoors for longer than 5 minutes is painful. I am taking the script of Voltaren that my doctor gave me but it doesn't do much. I'm at my boyfriends house this weekend so I'm unable to just sneak out of the house and run to the chemist, but I fear that as soon as I go home tomorrow for work that the first thing I'll do will be go to the chemists and do my rounds to stock up. And how am I meant to work? They know I have knee pains BUT they think my capabilities are more than what I actually should be doing (because I've been so hopped up on pain pills I haven't been feeling anything so ive been working as normal). It's not as if I can tell my boss "oh yeah I'm detoxing right now". That will blow any chance of this promotion I am chasing out the window.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I'm not really sure what to do.

1 like, 17 replies

17 Replies

  • Jan999
    Jan999 LIZBRD

    Posted

    I'm sure others will have better advice than mine but I think the best way is to reduce your tablets gradually. Going cold turkey is awful and very painful. You need to draw up a plan reducing gradually every week then every day until you don't need the codeine anymore.
  • Chalarni
    Chalarni LIZBRD

    Posted

    I agree with Matron. I was prescribed codeine and bought cocodamol on top. 60 tablets a day is equivalent to taking 90mls of morphine. I was taking up to 120mls. In the end I came clean with my Doctor. I now take slow release morphine and I'm down to 40mls a day. This has taken about 7 months. If you're aiming to come off cold turkey you could take supplements to try and help with withdrawel symptoms and have have immodium at the ready. Otherwise my advice is to come clean with your GP.
  • LIZBRD
    LIZBRD

    Posted

    I know all the steps to reduce my intake, but the thing is, I don't want to.
    • Jan999
      Jan999 LIZBRD

      Posted

      Well if you don't want to it will be difficult. Even professionals working with people with addictions will say they are wasting their time with anyone who "doesn't want to".
    • LIZBRD
      LIZBRD

      Posted

      (Sorry, it posted before I was finished)

      I know all the steps to reduce my intake, but the thing is, I don't want to.

      Thank being said, I must want to if I'm reaching out about it?

      My partner thinks I've got depression, and yes, it's something I've had in the past. Could this just be it showing itself again? I don't have anything to be depressed about? I'm in a wonderful relationship. I've got the love and support from him. He's trying his hardest to help me with this. But as soon as I'm home I revert back to my old ways. (We live approx. 1.5 hours away so seeing him every day isn't plausible).

      Honestly I don't know why I'm doing this to myself. I knew as soon as I started that I would become addicted to these. I knew it.

      On one hand I want help because I know this can be life threatening especially with the amount that I'm consuming. But at the same time I really don't give a sh*t. I'm not out to kill myself though? That's not my intention at all. I don't want to die.

    • Jan999
      Jan999 LIZBRD

      Posted

      One of the treatments they use to help people with an addiction is antidepressants (I knew a lot of staff who worked in an addiction centre through a previous line of work I was in) and it definitely helped. There are a lot of new antidepressants now that they claim do not cause addiction because obviously you don't want to be causing another problem! If you're prone to depression then it would be worth seeking help with this.
  • LIZBRD
    LIZBRD

    Posted

    Since trying to stop over the weekend, I'm back to approx. 30-40 a day. Now more than ever I am feeling very nauseated. Before I never felt this bad. All day I've felt like I've needed to vomit. It's been 7 hours since I've last had any and I feel so sick right now. I want to take more to stop me from feeling sick, but I worry that will only make it worse.
    • jamie72795
      jamie72795 LIZBRD

      Posted

      Your story is pretty much the same as mine except I took Nurofen +. It took me 16 years to kick habit and like you I needed the pills so I could do my job, if I went cold turkey I just couldn't do anything and was mentally and physically wrecked. I managed to stop by tapering down my intake slowly and instead of withdrawal symptoms I actually felt better and my mood improved which surprised me. I missed out on a social life with friend as I couldn't really have a drink due to my stomach being wrecked by ibuprofen and seemed to spend half my life driving round different pharmacy a to buy pills. Also now I can actually go abroad on holiday without smuggling a weeks worth of pills hidden in luggage hoping my wife doesn't find them. Even if it took u a couple of months to taper off the pills it's better than being stuck on them for years to come. Good luck I hope you manage to get sorted out and if I can do it anybody can!
  • mle7437
    mle7437 LIZBRD

    Posted

    Don't take anymore. I've had first hand experience with addiction and depression and I know they can be a viscous cycle. If you truly want to stop them you'll need help. Speak to your GP and be totally honest. If not for yourself then for your partner.
  • mle7437
    mle7437 LIZBRD

    Posted

    In regards to the promotion issue, you could tell your boss that you're having an averse reaction to the painkillers and the doctor has said to cut back on manual labour. Also mention that you're not sure how long it will be before they can find you the right painkiller, but they're working on it now.
  • robert20969
    robert20969 LIZBRD

    Posted

    Hi Lizbrd, 

    i hope you are ok, having been both depressed and hooked on nurofen plus not once but twice i understand how your feeling, from what ive read i really dont think that at the moment  your mentally strong enough to try going cold turkey, it takes immense determination to get through the first week and a relapse is highly likely in your case.

     as others have said, you really do need to see the gp and get yourself on a gradual withdrawl program, i know its hard making the appointment and going through it but it will be well worth it, youll avoid all of the suffering and wont be poisoning your body with the paracetamol.

    if you just cant visit the gp then you must stop taking the paracetamol/ ibuprofen because this is what is doing the damage to your body.

    there are ways of separating the paracetamol/ibuprofen from the codeine content of the pill, this must be used as a last resort only, as it may lead to a continuing addiction!!

    good luck and if you need any help just ask

    rob

  • LIZBRD
    LIZBRD

    Posted

    Hey guys.

    Update on my situation.

    So 3 days ago I admitted myself to hospital.

    I was unable to cut back myself so I had to get help. I spent 3 days in hospital with no Panadiene.

    It was hard. Not not as hard as I was expecting though. I had minor withdrawal which was really surprising.

    My knee pain was also very minor. But that was because I have been laying in a hospital bed for 3 days straight. Safe to say as soon as I walked back to my car and got home my knees were killing me.

    The real test will be how I go out when I have it so very accessible. It's going to be hard. It's going to be really hard. Nothing will make me feel as good as what they did. I've got to learn to live without it.

  • mle7437
    mle7437 LIZBRD

    Posted

    Well done for realising you needed help LIZBIRD. That's a brilliant first step. Now the hospital are aware and you can see you don't need the Panadine to survive, even though it's tough.

    How is it going with work? Have you told them and what have they said about it all?

    • LIZBRD
      LIZBRD mle7437

      Posted

      I still have not returned to work. I will be going back on Monday.

      They know my knees are sore, but when I return in going to tell them basically everything. I obviously will leave out a few details, but I'm basically going to tell them I was taking too many to cope with the pain. We shall see how it goes. rolleyes

    • Jan999
      Jan999 LIZBRD

      Posted

      Good luck for Monday. They will be impressed with your honesty I'm sure.
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