Posted , 5 users are following.
Hi, ive been taking panadeine extra for a few years but the last year almost every day, usually to elp me sleep ar to get rid of frequent slight headaches. I had a liver ultrasound and liver function test 6 months ago and both were normal. Is this level of daily codeine and paracetamol use dangerous? thanks
0 likes, 18 replies
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tim52832 mikeaust
Posted
Hi....you are allowed to take eight co-codamol tablets during a twentyfour hour period and co-codomol or Kapake as they are often known as contains 30 mgs of codeine and usually around 500 mgs of paracetomol, Panadeine contains about 12.5 mgs of codeine and the same amount of paracetamol as co-codomol. It's the paracetamol which damages both the liver and the kidneys and it's the codeine which heips you to sleep. Codeine is turned into morphine in the brain and this has a relaxing, feel good feeling. The amount you are taking at the moment would be very unlikely to cause you any liver damage, but, the longer you take anything which contains codeine, the more you will have to take to achieve the same effect, Everyone on this site started off just as you did and before you know it you have developed a full blown addiction. A codeine addiction is almost as hard to beat as a heroin addiction. If yiu could stick to taking the amount you are already on, you would be very unlikely to develop any health problems, but to be able to stay at this amount would make you a vey unusual person indeed, as tolerance is built up amd you need to take more for the same effect. The problem with taking more is that yiu have to take tablets which taken together contains a large amount of damaging paracetamol to get the codeine. I know you won't want to hear this, but a quiet word with your doctor explaining you need panadeine to sleep at night and he may well put you on a reducing dose of pure codeine, until you natural sleep rythem kicks in. He will also put you on a tapering off dose of panadeine. I can assure you that you are not alone and people from all sections of society are taking products containing codeine and paracetamol and are havivg great difficulty in kicking the habit. I was addicted to nurofen plus or co-codomol if I could get it for 15 years, and like you I began to take them to help me sleep. I thought I had found the secret of relaxing into sleep at night, but I soon had to take more and then I found myself in real trouble. A months course of the proper withdrawl medication from a sympathic doctor and you will save yourself a huge amount of troble in the future. One fact is worth remembering: last year almost 500 people died from paracetamol poisioning in the U.K. while two died from overdoses of codeine. I was you and countless other ordinary decent people are also you, please see your doctor as this problem is so common he or she will have dealt with it many times before and so far only a handful of people have managed to kick the habit withoit help.I can only wish you the best of luck and I'm sure with a little help from the right sourse, you'll sonn have no need for codine. Best wished Tim
mikeaust tim52832
Posted
Hi Tim thanks alot for your reply! I havent taken any panadeine for 2 days and seem to have a slight constant headache
my Dr has been prescribing me temazepam for a while after i explained my panadeine use to try and sleep. I was trying not to take the temazepam every night as i was worried the dr would stop prescribing it if i was taking it too frequently. I saw my Dr oday complaining of nausea and slight pains in my right side, also insomnia. He is concerned about my kidneys??? he said temazepam can damage the kidneys and wouldnt refill the prescription
mikeaust tim52832
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Is this level of codeine use enough to cause withdrawal symptoms? only slept 3 hrs and still have a constant headache,feeling unwell
Drew1961 tim52832
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tim52832 Drew1961
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Hi Drew1961, I am completely clear now,, but what started as a great way of relaxing in bed as you drifted off peacefully to sleep soon became a waking nightmare as it probably is for you now. It got to the stage for me when I'd take ten co-codamol in the morning, maybe a few more guring the day and eight or ten at night, But the codeine had long since lost it's ability to send me to sleep and I'l lie in bed att night feverish and half sick from all the tablets. You end up taking the tablets just to make you feel some way normal. In my case co-codamol became very hard to get so nurofen plus was and is available over the counter. This has far les codeine per tablet than co-codamol, But if I took 24 nurofen plus in the morning, the withdrawl symtems wouldn't kick in until 24 hours later. Nurofen plus contains the same amont of codeine per tablet as panadeine. Now there are restrictions on nurofen plus and you have to undergo a griling from the pharmacist before he/she decides to give them to you and if you go into the same shop, we'll say, once a month you'll be refused. However I was lucky or unlucky enough to come across a few synpathic pharmacists and they knew how hard it would be for someone who was taking codeine based meds for years to suddenly give them up, Now even this has been stopped and as Ireland, where I live, won't allow codeine based meds to be sent through the post, even the internet was out of bounds. I tried cold turkey and it was torture; Constant running to the toilet, severe headache, restless legs in bed which I couldn't keep still, severe aches and pains in my joints and the lowest of sounds almost deafening. Three days of this and without any sleep and I was done. I used whatever energy I had left and had a shower, dressed myself and went to the doctor, He informed me that 90% of people who try cold turkey fail and a few of these actually die from having codeine deprived seizures. He arranged a reducing dose of codeine and some meds to address the withdrawls. I was completely free of codeine based products in five months, I feel much better of course, but I'll never again be the man I was before all this started. It takes something from you that can never be replaced, as well of course as the financial cost. It's only now I find my ambition beginnng to return, and the future seems a little brighter at last. Don't for one second imagine that your doctor or any doctor you chose, has not dealt with this problem before, lt's almost as widespread as the common cold. Even here in Ireland a few years ago, it was discovered that instead of middle housewifes having afternoon tea parties, they were having nurofen plus parties. Hard to believe, but true. And it was because of this it was realized that drugs weren't confined to the lower classes on street corners.....many of these well off ladies had to enter ptivate treatment centres, ...So by telling you doctor the whole story, he will provide the proper meds that will make it much easier for you to kick this habit which will onlty get worse and steal years from your life.....Best regards Tim
Drew1961 tim52832
Posted
Thanks Tim for such a comprehensive reply. I totally understand. I used NP as a way of tackling my shoulder pain. In fact, a pharmacist recommended it. I found that just a few tabs gave me a little relaxing high which I quickly came to reply on. I has got to the point where I need 16 tabs to get me going in the morning and others during the day. I fear that even if I kick this, I will never be the person I was. I keep trying to cut down but then as soon as I need to function normally, I go back to my original level. That's why I'm tempted to go cold turkey. Shut myself away for two weeks and sweat it out. My GP wasn't very helpful. He didn't take it seriously. I went to a local Rehab Charity who told me to cut down daily but offered no other way of doing this. I am fearful and stuck. I know my stomach is in a mess and I've lost so much weight. There is nowhere I can go to detox either, unless anyone here knows of anywhere. It has also crippled me financially. How on earth do I stick to a programme of cutting down? Drew x
Drew1961 mikeaust
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mikeaust Drew1961
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mikeaust
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ive also been taking pariet for the last 2 years, i seem to have all the symptoms of kidney disease
nikki48530 mikeaust
Posted
Hi mikeaust,
If you've been taking codeine everyday, even though a very small dose you will notice withdrawal symptoms. I was taking 30 N+ a day, 60 at my worst and the withdrawals were hell. Your symptoms may not be as severe as someone who takes a substantial amount more but you will feel them.
Your body has become so used to getting the codeine everyday so it won't be too happy about having it taken away. You may notice you'll have headaches, insomnia and restlessness but because you are taking a low dose these symptoms should pass quite quickly.
It's also useful to note that when you are treating headaches or various other types of pain with strong medication such as codeine, your body can actually manifest this pain when you don't take it. Also, excessive use of codeine can give you headaches. So in turn the treatment becomes the true culprit to your pain.
May I ask what you are taking the pariet for? Pariet is quite rough on your liver I found this out when I was taking nexium. I almost had complete liver failure.
What kind of symptoms of kidney failure are you noticing?
Nikki
mikeaust nikki48530
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mikeaust nikki48530
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mikeaust
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tim52832 mikeaust
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your level of intake is very small and this is highly unlikely to either effect your liver or kidneys, Countless people suffer from headaches and these are mostly brought on by stress. and it may seen strange but long tern use of codeine based products. even in small doses can cause headaches..And of course trying to increase the dose only makes the headaches worse. Paracetamol in cecomended doses is 500mgs doses to ease headaches. A codeine addict who have to buy meds which contain paracetamol are always sold ptoducts such as co-codoamol which contain 500 mgs, which in itself is faitly harmless' However when several; dozen tablets whch containing codeine and paracetamol are taken, then he prpblems arise. 500 mgs of paracetamol alone does not cause too much damage. But when a codeine addict comsumes a box of tweny four nurofen plus, they are also ingesting a huge quanity of paracetamol. In a 24 box of nurofen plus tablets a retired DR friend of mine said that the anount of paracetanol is trelve thousand mgs.....Asked about what effect this amount would have on the person involved he replied just how damaging parcetamol is. Constant heavy use leads to severe liver and kidney danage, often before the age of sixty , Like my friend at the start of this post, instead of lowering the blood presure, this huge amount of paracetamol raises it to often dangerous levels and the person becomes hot, sweaty and feverish durig the night and experiences headaches which often come back the next day from timt to time. Many people are campaining to have parecetamomol but on the poisions register as almost 500 mostly yound peope, died from comsuming to much, so Ii's a dangerous sunstance indeed, The number of people, mostly young women who died last ueat from Codeine intoxification was believed to be around 30, and most of these infotnutate ladyies deceloped anemia and various intestinal bleeds cause by the codeine ....So God bless you all and If you want to ask me anything, I pronose to answer, when I have the time,Best regards Tim McCaffrey
mikeaust tim52832
Posted
Thanks so much Tim for your amazing replys! I took 2 more tablets today after putting up with a headach all day and only being able to sleep 3hrs a night for the last few nights. I managed a 1.5hr snooze but woke up with the same headace
The dr just gave me doxepin to help me sleep so hopefully my headaces will be better with a long sleep? I dont take panadeine to get high just to try and get rid of headaches,sleep and relax a bit