Dihydrocodeine addiction

Thanks Ann ,

How many DH were you taking a day ? are you off them now ? 

Hi I never really took more than about ten a day I was on them for a couple

of years even when not in pain. I cut down to just a couple then new years

eve decided no more had flu like symptoms for about eight days and upset

stomache not sleeping weell but after that each day got easier.

i think if you make your mind up to stop them that's half the battle.

i hope you can get sorted with help from GP . Keep us posted good luck.

ann 

Hi ann, Thanks for the info I have a GP appointment for Tuesday 24/03/2015 so I will see how I get on fingers crossed I get some help 

 

Hi, good luck with appointment,just be honest, I'm sure it

will go well you seem to have made up your mind to do something about it.

that can only be a good thing. Keep us posted. Take care Ann

Hope your getting on OK Robbie haven't been on a while as I have been detoxing and I am now down to 6 dihydrocodeine from 12. This is as low as I can stand it. Do you live in the US? I hope they don't discontinue them in the UK. Xx

Hi Robbie i have been taking all these meds for years MANY YEARS !!  and to be honest with you I only get the Tramadol and Pregabilin  (lyrica ) on prescription from the doctors the other 2 co-codamol and dihydrocodeine I buy online and have been doing so for years,  my GP used to give me the co-codamol but he decided I was on too many drugs and stopped them, my body said otherwise so I started getting them elsewhere  and my GP has no idea about the dihydrocodeine at all ! I added them when my body got used to what I was already taking it is not advised !!!! my GP only prescribes me 100 Tramadol 50mg tablets evey 3 weeks and 84 Pregabalin 50mg every 3 weeks I buy the rest dihydrocodeine,co-codamol and the extra Tramadol I need myself  online  I went to my Gp yesterday and never told the truth to him just said I thought I needed help getting off the meds he knows about,  he looked at me as if I was mad ! as i never put in for meds early or anything so he does not know I am an addict ! and he just told me to lower the amount I am taking and that I should have no probs in doing so ! so I totally crapped out of telling him what I am REALLY taking  and so I left the surgery without the help,  you see I dont think I REALLY am ready for a life without meds or for any of my family knowing about my addiction which is very sad but if I accept the help my family may find out and I cant take the look in their eyes when they found out  I have actually been taking meds for the best part of twenty years , I have now bought the Modanifil 30mg tablets and am planning on doing it myself when they get here  Apparently these meds help you get clean but are for people with Narcolepsy students use them to stay awake while studying but they are also known for helping people get off opiates ! instead of taking ur usual meds u take these only (200mgs ) and only use the dihydrocodeine to help with jumpy leg syndrome and other probs  you get with withdrawals , So I should take 200mgs of Modanifil when i wake up and nothing else until bedtime when I would only take between 4-6 dihydrocodeine  to stop the jumpy legs and let me sleep and then i should lower the dihydrocodeine till I am off them  thats how easy its suposed to be ! anyway I suppose I will find out when I try it , since Monday I have cut out all Tramadol and co-codamol its tough and I feel kinda as If I am in a dream not quite here if you know what I mean I have cold sweats, hot sweats and need to pee more often and I feel shaky also for some reason the hairs on my arms feel the need to stand on edge every so often go figure that one ! I can deal with it since I am still taking 10 dihydrocodeine and 2 pegabalin as soon as I wake up and the same again at about 5pm  ,  I havent had to leave the house apart from when I went to the doctors so probably would not be quite as easy if I had a job to hold down so when the Modanifil get here it will only be the dihydrocodeine and pregabalin I am taking and It should be easier ! well thats the plan anyway Thanks for replying Robbie  x     

Hi Tracy, I too have been on a lot of meds and still am, however I would strongly recommend going to your doctor. I tried to do a total detox off dihydrocodeine as I was just sick of them ruining my life. I was predictably very ill and in extreme agony physically and mentally. I was taking in the end 10 60mg tablets per day prescribed and other 30 mg not prescribed (what I bought basically). My doctor basically gave me a choice of whether to go on methadone for a couple of weeks or stop tablets and live in pain or try and detox he also inexplicably upd my dosage. I have already had one failed detox. I refused the methadone and I have also refused to live in pain. What I have done is reduce my tablets to 6 30mg per day. This was really hard. I won't reduce them further because I am in too much pain and my doctor agrees but I feel so much better and proud of myself for reducing them to this level. What basically shocked me was my doctor telling me that the amount I was taking warranted a methadone prescription. I have lost my job, friends and damaged my relationship with my son and other family through taking this drug the onus is on me as a person to be more responsible but dihydrocodeine is so addictive. I urge you to please go to your doctor admit the ugly truth and get into a detox programme, the medication you are taking and I thought I took a lot is too much to detox by yourself. I feel for you I really do because drug addiction ruins your life and others around you. Just reducing my opiate intake has made so much difference I've started to clean up, wash my hair, cook dinner, and go out the house but when you are so heavily medicated these tasks are impossible and unimportant. Please feel free to inbox me if you need any more support. I wish you well. Xxx

Thanks Maria ,  Thankyou for your kind words and for your concern I really do appreciate it

belive me i know what it is like to try and get clean i have tried and failed many many times and I already knew about the methadone idea as my younger brother is / was a heroin addict and is on methadone and has actually would you believe been offered by the doctors dihydrocodeine to get off the methadone as he has been on methadone for over 10 years now and is still taking 75mgs of this every day and the doctors offered him these drugs to get him off the methadone !

this is just my latest attempt at trying to get clean and to be truthful it actually is because of the cost to keep my drug taking going that I am trying to get clean not because I am a mess I function very well on all of these hard to believe maybe but it is True  I have been taking them all for that long a time now that i need to take them to be normal when i am taking all these drugs I am fine I run my own business and am a mum to 2 teenage boys my house is clean all dinners made, beds made, dinner on the table it would be a huge shock to all my friends family and husband to know what an addict i am they think I take about 4 50mg tramadol tablets and 2  50mg pregabalin a day you see I do not look or act the way an addict taking as many drugs as me should !! thats part of my problem housework the business and everything in between suffers when i try to stop taking these drugs I get that ill I need to take to my bed for days sometimes weeks but at these times I pretend to have some bug or whatever is going around at the time !  my doctor would probably pass out if he knew what i was taking but as I said before I have stopped the co-codamol and the Tramadol for the past few days and I am by no means saying that its been a walk in the park far from it I am actually typing this from bed the first day was living hell I was sick infact it was coming from both ends not nice to say i know but its true I spent most of my time in the loo the stomach pain was almost unbareable the hot sweats, cold sweats I had a fever, the shakes body jerks, head pain, body pain , palpitations I could feel my heart beat in my throat !  couldnt eat or sleep every horrible thing you can think of plus the nagging in my head telling me this would all be over and I could get back to normal if i just gave in and took the bloody pills !!! but I havent YET but I do have them there in my bedside table but as i said already ive been here before plenty times but this time ive heard of a new way to do it and that is by taking these Modanifil pills and I am going to give it the best chance of working by trying to be on as little different meds as I can when they get here  , absolutely no-one knows about my addiction just me and the people reading about it on here but thats because i function normally on these meds my hair, nails, make-up always imaculate I am a Junkie I just dont look or act like one , my life is perfectly fine while I am on the meds but thats because I have built up a huge intolerence over the years I know It sounds stupid but if it was not costing me so much in money to keep this drug addiction up I probably would not even be trying to come off them sad as that sounds I do not see the point in lying about it ! I like how I feel while taking meds always have but it is just getting too costly in money , surprisingly my life otherwise is going great also health wise the worst thing I have is Arthritis which iswhy I am on pain meds in the first place I have just had a full body check up as I was worried that something must be wrong somewhere after all these years and came through it with flying colours exept the lung function test but that was expected I am a smoker I am age 40 though my lungs are 54 so I have been advised to quit smoking  if only they knew the whole story  heart health fine, blood pressure fine kidneys fine, liver fine maybe I am just lucky and my luck surely will run out I know this !!  I will never be free of meds but I would like to be taking less meds so if I could get to be taking say 200mgs of these Modanifil tablets and 2-4 dihydrocodeine 30mg tablets a day for the rest of my days instead of ALL these meds I am taking now then I would be more than happy believe me so this is why I am going to give it my very very best try without anyone finding out how bad my addiction is if I fail then I will go back to my GP and accept any help he is willing to offer    

I do wish you well in your recovery Maria keep well xx 

Hi Tracy,

i understand a bit where your coming from, I know someone who was a heroin addict who then took methadone and other things she was buying 

them off others, she went to GP was honest with him, he did prescribe DH 

a high dose a day and when she got right down a small amount of methadone, she said it wasn't easy by any means but she was determined to get off them and she did do it she's been clean for over three years now it

can be done. I wish you well but I do think if your GP knows and is there to

help you it would be an added incentive. I  hope you get to where you want to be soon. Take care Ann

 

Hi Tracy. I understand if you are a functioning addict, I honestly don't know how with all the meds but well done for keeping things together. I worked for the government for 16 years and I am in the process of retirement. I was sort of a functioning addict but the depression that accompany's addiction along with having no money and the feeling of being in an endless cycle of addiction, chaos and unpredictability finally caught up with me. I have wanted to reduce my dihydrocodeine intake for years but never had the courage because I thought I had it managed and could function. Its what you can do when your brain isn't fogged I know you think you can function perfectly well but honestly its where you can go after you get it managed. I was an appeal writer for the government. I am now doing astro physics and studying the planets. I am reading again which has always been my greatest gift to retain information but when you are on so many opiates it is simple you don't retain it!. You seem a determined person, I hope you get it managed and I wish you well with your recovery. As I said I am not completely free of dihydrocodeine and I won't be I am in too much pain, but I know it is managed and its at the level where I can cope with pain. I'm still in pain but its beareable and I'm getting used to it.

If your detox plan doesn't work please consider coming clean with your doctor they do understand as they know you can buy medication off the internet if you tell him what you are taking they will give you the equivalent but with a reduction programme in place. I did mine myself as I've told you my doctor was quite prepared to put me on methadone or leave me to get on with it or increase my dosage. Suffice to say I see a different doctor now,good luck xx

Thank you Maria, I wish you well and all the very best in your recovery its just a shame after everything you have been through you are still in so much pain , but at least you have your life back and this is what I am also trying to do I just wish to do it without causing any hurt or pain to everyone around me who love me very much and I them

I saw first hand the pain and destruction caused in my Mother and Father when they first found out about my younger brothers addiction it tore the heart from both of my parents as they had no idea of what was going on and they both fell apart almost divorced through it and their lives have totally changed both my parents used to have many friends and a social life of their own they were and still are great parents they were fun loving and did not have any real problems in life

when they found out about my brother first there was the no way its impossible maybe he is taking softer drugs but Never heroin he cant be he openly says himself how he hates drugs and whenever he sees a heroin addict in the street he talks of them with disgust !! then when they finally accepted the truth they tried to find all help possible for him but he was in denial and would not seek help they even went as far as going to drug dealers houses firstly warning them not to sell him drugs any more (not that the dealers listened or cared ) then eventually going back to these very same drug dealers to buy Methadone for my brother to try and clean him up themselves !! he still would not go to the doctors , and at one point my Father was actually seriously thinking of becoming an addict himself his thinking was that he could somehow understand better and that he would go through the withdrawals with my brother so my brother knew he had someone who loved him going through this with him and that he wasnt on his own and that maybe this would somehow help my brother as he would not feel so desperate and alone , My Fathers in his late 60's though was around 48 years old at the time and a strong man at that but when he shared his idea with the rest of the family my Mother told him she would divorce him if he did and she ment it ! who can blame her my Father cried that night and it was the first time I had seen this big strong hero of mine look so defeated and lost it broke my heart, my Father now is half the man he used to be has lost about 5 stone in weight and is now on medication for depression , there is no more laughter in his eyes and he never sees his friends anymore he spends his days trying to help my brother its terrible to watch, my Mother is not much better though she does seem to handle it better than my dad she just holds everything inside and trys to carry on as normal , my brother did go to his GP  about 2 years after my parents finding out and was put on a methadone programme properly but he is still on a very high dosage and has no interest in lowering it any he still takes other drugs such as valium and smokes cannibis like its going out of fashion so to me this says he is more then happy to stay as he is while our parents fall apart

so you see I could never let them know that I too am an addict I think it would end my dads life and I could not ever live with the guilt so you see this is why I have to at least try and get sorted on my own I hope you understand a little better now  keep well

x  

Hi Ann ,

Thank you for your reply,

Even just reading about others struggles and also success with getting clean from this terrible drug and how they are dealing with and living with an addiction to DHC is helping me I appreciate everyones help and advice and if I fail to sort out this addiction by myself I agree I will have to come clean with my GP

you take care too x   

Wow what a heart breaking story. How awful for your parents I now see where your coming from in not telling them. My thinking toward s your situation is that if you go to your doctor quietly, you do not need to tell your family as it is doctor/patient confidentially. You could reduce your intake on the quiet.

It is so hard in the beginning to tell someone your an addict but just doing so and seeking that help is such a big release.

How is it going with your method of rrecovery the modanfil? I think you are extremely brave.

I also found that this site is helpful when you make the decision to stop or in my case reduce. You know your not on your own and a lot of these people on this site have recovered from worse situations than my own it is very inspiring. Xxc

Hi Tracy,

thanks for your reply, I am a mother to ason and daughter who have both

had addictions it does tear family's apart and cause lots of heartache.

i am sure when your ready you will get all the help you need.

i wish you well please keep us posted on how it goes good or bad.

take care Ann

no  i in the uk......i am from newcastle area and it is in this country that they are supposed to be stopping it so only surgeons and hospitals can prescribe it as they say it has been flagged up as a problem drug.......i could of told them that the idiots!!!! am going to see my doctor this week i will let you know what shes says....take care cheers robbiexx

which company online do u get your dihydrocodeine from tracy? i thought they were xpensive? thanks robbie....ps al speak more soon as i sort new laptop as this one is ****!!!! and am going outside to smash it up!!!thanks robbie xx

Yes please tell me how you get on. Good luck honey. Xxxx