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co codamol addiction an withdrawals

Posted , 60 users are following.

debs6955
debs6955

ive been taking co codamols 30/500 for over 5 years the last three years taking 2 four times a day , my doc told me to take them regularly as im alergic to asprin and anti infamatories , i have two town and buldging discs in my lower back , anyway i have suffered terible tummy problems weight gain and dependancy while taking them , always thinking about when i can take the next dose , not even in pain dont know if i was in pian i just took them bcos i was told to to keep my pain down , ive jsut had a stint in hospital for tummy problems , and i think these tablets have added to them problems without a doubt , i feel i dont need these pills for pain now more for addiction and habbit , anyway cut a long story short i came out of hospital yesterday i had taken none was ok day 2 today sever cramps , diareah , flu like symptoms , awfull pain shakes , anyway i taken paracetamol to ease the pain didnt touch it so i took 1 dihidracodine 30mg withing mins the cramps stopped , havent needed anything else so i think im over the worse of the withdrawals , i wont ever be taking them again , i feel like ive just taken the lining off my stomach , why oh why do the docs prescribe these pills so easily , i made my own choice to come off these pills i dont even take any more than prescribed amount but still i have never experienced pain and cramps like that in my life !!! anyone had the same problems ??

5 likes, 243 replies

243 Replies

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  • debs6955
    debs6955

    Posted

    Hiya all back again well I'm down to 2 doses of cc 30/500 a day been hard sticking to it and not taking more as ive got the same script they give me 200 at a time so that's hard to resist but I have even cutting down by half of what I was taking I still had the same withdrawals as when I first went cold turkey was nice but stick with it do it slower cold turkey is too harsh on your mind and body I drop down again soon by one dose the taper off I didn't follow exactly I drooped two doses at one straight off but I still have them other doses to stop the severe cramps then when I drop down next it will be not as harsh I'm hoping I'll let you all know my progress keep going guys we can do it we all have set backs but think positive it will happen in the end xxx
    • Lizzie46881
      Lizzie46881 debs6955

      Posted

      Hi Debs

      You are doing really well, brilliant :-)  It is hard isn't it.  I send you my best wishes for the day coming when you are off them altogether

      Lizzie xxx

    • debs6955
      debs6955 Lizzie46881

      Posted

      Hi lizzie it's really difficult I seem on a happy medium right now with the 2 doses it's keeping me pain at bay and also the constipation ect I was getting on 4 doses has gone I'll stay on this dose for a little while then go down by one more dose after about 2 weeks and it's also the habit all I kept thinking is when I was due my next dose where as now I know it's 2 lots that's it but you have to stay strong and stick with it but sometimes that's easier said than done but I'm in the right place right now so getting there slowly good luck I will keep everyone posted but this is on of the hardest things I've ever done it's a shame the doctors who readily prescribe these awful pills so easily don't come on and read these messages from everyone struggling with this might open there eyes a bit good luck hun xxxx
    • Lizzie46881
      Lizzie46881 debs6955

      Posted

      Hi Debs

      Sorry for the dealy in replying - two reasons, first is just that I've been dead busy in the real world and not on my Mac much, but secondly, I've been considering your post, and others like it, some thoughts...

      Its only a purely personal point of view, but having been addicted to co-codamol in 2014 and having gone ct and got off them, then having learnt how to use codeine safely, I wouldn't agree that they, or any addictive psyschoactive substance, such as benzodiazepines like diazepam, are inherantly awful, or evil as some others say.  I've found that they can be useful painkillers in the right doses..  If you are down to 2 a day and feeling fine, keeping your pain under control and not casuing nasty side effects, why not stick at that?  I had about a year, perhaps more, without any codeine containing meds but my fundamental pain issues didn't go away, it was just that I had mis-used the co-co for pleaure.  Eventaully I had a sensible conversation with my gp and she put me on 30mg codeine, up to eight a day, but, only gives me eneough for three weeks so I end up having one week off every month, which helps to avoid dependdancae and tollerance.  Yes, its a bad week as I have a lot of physical pain, but its worth it for the three weeks pain free.  OK, it might not work for anyone else, but its good for me.

      All the best

      Lizzie xxx

  • sandra51192
    sandra51192 debs6955

    Posted

    Hi.  I can empathise with you debs6955.   I've been taking cocodamol 4 x a day since October 2004, after a car accident.   I too have put on weight, and also now have Diverticular disease, which may or may not be as a result of taking these for so long.   I went through months of misery coming off them, then recently I was put back on them for 2 weeks and I'm in hell again.  Chronic headaches, flu like symptoms, cramps.  I am going back to my GP tomorrow I can't handle this anymore, I really can't
  • Jane-444
    Jane-444 debs6955

    Posted

    Hi Im so grateful to have come across this thread.....I too cannot stop taking these damned tablets.  Have been on 30/500 for a couple of years, I am prescribed them for myofascial pain and at the worst was taking 16 a day (managing to get repeat presciption every 3 weeks instead of 4 weeks and asking family for the odd few of theirs).  I know this is too much and honestly cannot say why I keep taking them ,its such an awful habit.  I NEED and WANT to stop, but find every excuse under the sun to take them....if Im unhappy ill take them to cheer me up, if im happy ill take them to make myself feel happier(!?) completely rediculous reasons, but reading this thread, Im glad im not the only one.  I now take 12 a day and refuse to take any more.  I am not sure about going cold turkey, I was on anti depressants for 2 years and had to be weaned off over a few weeks / months, so I may use this method of just having 1-2 tablets less a day over the next few weeks (maybe just my way of clinging onto them!!).  Interested to know if anyone else has come off them in this way and does everybody REALLY feel better now they are completely off them or do they find it a struggle and miss taking them??  I feel fine at the moment, just the odd abdominal pain which I put down to the tablets but I am free of my myofascial pain! Please offer me some support, I cant tell anyone I know about this, but really am determined to stop sad

    • Lizzie46881
      Lizzie46881 Jane-444

      Posted

      Hi Jane

      I was addicted to 30/500 co-co back in 2014 and went cold turkey, it was very hard but worth it, I felt better for it for a very long time, but eventually I went to my gp with severe pain due to a cracked rib and was put back on them again and it was back to square one, I'm going CT again right now as I type this, not nice, I pray that I'll be able to stay off them but sincerely doubt it, they are just too nice!

      Sorry if thats not the answer you wanted to hear, maybe you are a sytaronger person than me, I have a lot of mental health issues and this is one of my lesser problems.

      LOve

      Lizzie

    • Jane-444
      Jane-444 Lizzie46881

      Posted

      Thankyou so much for commenting....sorry to hear that you are back on then but you are right, they ARE too nice!!  I feel excited (not sure if its the right way to feel) that I have decided tomorrow WILL be the first day of weaning off them (i think thats going to be the way for  me) but I dread a day in the future , like you, experiencing pain and having to go back on them! All your CT work for nothing sad.  Dont know why Ive made the decision today but I think about nothing else other than this not being right and it needs to stop

      Good luck and youll get through it once again

      x

    • Lizzie46881
      Lizzie46881 Jane-444

      Posted

      Good liuck to you too, I know how hard it is, but you are making the right decision as I belive am I.  I think for each of us there has to be our own path to liberation, for some like me, who is useless at cutting down, it has to be CT, but a tapered approach is proably mores sensible if you have the will power. guess I don't!@!  Its like when I was trying to give up smoking back in the 90s, I kept on trying to cut down but just couldn't do it, but eventually just decided, hey, this is stupid and stopped, went through the withdrawala and haVE NEVER HAD one since, so why am I so weak when it comes to the co-co?  Guess its bevause it has a legitimate medicinal use and lets face it nits a good painkiller.  

      Anyway, I wish you well, keep in touch

      LOve Lizzie

    • Jane-444
      Jane-444 Lizzie46881

      Posted

      Well done of quitting smoking.....do you think there is ever a chance that once your addicted to co-co, you can stop for a while and then just take the odd one or two for the use of painkilling, or is it once you have completely stopped taking them you can never go back to that way of taking them? and just find another painkiller??  Well I have started to have less today, wrote a list of how many i will take at what time (im a 'list' kind of person) and i tick off when i have them, i already dont take any  before bedtime so i do go for about 14-16 hours without them everyday .  I do ache but i do physical work so not sure what has caused my aches today.  I plan to be taking half of what i normally take in about 2 weeks, which will be less than the prescribed dose anyway, and will be off them completely in a month (thats the plan).  Take it easy on yourself Lizzie and do whatever you think is right for you, youve managed to stop smoking AND come off the co-co once so a third time will be a breeze (!) . You can do it

      x

    • Lizzie46881
      Lizzie46881 Jane-444

      Posted

      Hi Jane

      I can only speak from personal experience, I have no medical training at all, but in my case the pull was so strong I couldn't just take the odd one, it was all or nothing.  I'm actually on dihydrocodeine at the moment, or thats what I'm just off, though will almost certainly have to go back on it for pain.  My battle is not so much to avoid taking it full stop but to keep myself to the prescribed doagae.  The pharmacy I use now is attached to the surgery and they monitor my use and won't let me have any more if I exceed my prescribed amount in a three week period.  I don't think there are any other painkillers as good as opiates, I've used NSAID's like ibuprofen and diclofenac but a. they weren't much use and b. they wrecked my stomach and now I can't take them anyway.  I don't get much relief from paracetamol but at least this time I've resisted the urge to buy OTC meds and overdose on them as I did once.  I was hospitalised in a&e  for a co-co overdose once and it was surreal, I had to have the paracetamol antidote by pumped infusion over 21 hours, I don't reccomend it, it wasn't a pleasant experience as I had an anaphalactic reaction to it and when my breathing wqent I was really scared.

      Going 14-16 hours without them is good, you deserve credit for that, the aches pass eventually as the body gets used to the reduced dose.  By the way, I'm with you on lists, I've got one on my desk next to me now for what I have to do tomorrow!

      God Bless

      Lizzie xxx

    • Jane-444
      Jane-444 Lizzie46881

      Posted

      Oh Lizzie you have been through the mill. I wish you all the strength to keep to your prescribed dose.....I often wonder: is it still considered an addiction when you are on the dose the Dr tells you to be on?? even if its 8 a day EVERY day?  I do hope you can try to keep to that dose and then maybe just half a tablet less every day, even if it takes months, half a tablet less is still LESS and still an achievement!  I do totally understand you saying all or nothing and the pull of it being so strong, its awfully powerful, too easy to take and to easy to regret afterwards.  Ive took some this afternoon and thought WHY!!?  it doesnt even have any effect on me!  I have just been asked by a friend if I needed any he was prescribed some and would let me have some, but I said no thanks! Ive got my repeat prescription today of 224 tablets and ironically am now on free prescriptions now ive decided not to take them!  I really feel for you having that awful time in hospital and wish you all the luck, willpower and strength to get through it.

      Keep up with the lists and write down every reason NOT to take them!!

      With love x

  • anne85735
    anne85735 debs6955

    Posted

    Hi I have been on co codamol for 10 yrs..i was given them for back problems ...i take  2 x4times a day maybe more if i cant remember if i took any.....i am on day 5 of withdrawel....i feel awful restless legs...flu symptoms..i have now got some magnesiam..and tonic water for the restless legs...i am also getting pins and needles in my wrist and muscle in my leg......i also have tingling in my face but am sure that is my sinuses....so glad i found this site..i dont feel so alone now i wont be taking them ever again thats for sure 
    • Jane-444
      Jane-444 anne85735

      Posted

      Hi how are you doing with coming off the co-co....Im still on mine, very slowly but surely having less.  Taking them is a real problem that people just dont realise until its too late
    • anne85735
      anne85735 Jane-444

      Posted

      Hi Jane. I am on day 6 still got flu like symptoms ...

      And restless legs ....driving me nuts....hope things

      Are better tomoz......you keep going girl we can both do it

      Anne xxxxxxxx I'm here if you need a chat xx

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