Cocodomol addiction

Posted , 4 users are following.

My Husband has been taking Cocodomol for over 10 years now , he suffers from spondylosis and arthritis. His Doctor has sent him for many xray.I know that he is in lots of pain and can sometimes be in bad moods because of it but i feel that his addiction to the painkiller has made his moods a lot worse. My husband gets a months perscription of cocodomol which is 224 tablets and has taken them all in 5 days, He takes 20 cocodomol tablets at once about 3 times a day , so by the end of the day he has taken 60 tablets. When he has run out of his own painkillers he takes his mums cocodomol perscription and then its many trips to different chemists. I have been to the doctors 3 times with him over the last 10 years and at first they stop them and give him other medication for the pain but he ends up going to see the doctor that prescribes the cocodmol for him again. He know longer lets me go with to the doctors because he knows i will tell them about his addiction. I now just have to put up with addiction and try and help him when he wants help. The addiction has certainly put a strain on our marriage and family life. The children who are 18 , 21 and 24 have all noticed and commented that they find it hard to chat to there dad and that he has changed.I feel that i am becoming depressed because of the atmospheres his moods create. He has been given appointments for physiotherapy but he does not bother going as he says it does not work. I found this forum and felt that i had to share my story and read about others who are in simular situations. 

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • Posted

    Would showing your husband this site be helpful? Knowing he is not alone and the problem is common may alleviate some of his worries.

    Feel for you and your family

    • Posted

      Thanks for your reply Karen my husband know about this site and i have sometimes read out other peoples storys to him. He just say that he feels people dont believe how much pain he is in and that the tablets are the only things that help him. Sometimes when he has taken to many he gets really bad sicky headaches and has to go to bed to sleep it off. He has constant diarrhea which he takes diarrhea tables to help. I often feel like hes on edge and about to snap which then puts me on alert to try not to annoy him or say the wrong things which could end up starting an arguement. I try not to go on about his addiction now because it causes atmospheres in the family house which the kids and i have had plenty of. I feel like my life is just stuck in this horrid addiction. I have mentioned to him that if the pain is so unbearable then he needs to go the Doctors every week and tell them, I have even offered to go with him but he says no because he knows i will tell them about his addiction and they will stop his prescription. He has been through a couple of cold turkey withdrawls and he was in bed for a week each time with sweats,vomiting, aching joints and feeling hot then cold. I sometimes feel like i have had enough of this life and want to leave it but then i think what kind of wife would i be leaving when i know that he has a problem and i have to carry on hoping he will one day kick the addiction. 

      Thanks for listening sam

  • Posted

    Your husband doesnt seem to want to change hun. Alotnof people on here  including my self have a problem with codeine and are trying to change it he has to be doin damage taking that amount surely if he can go to x amount of chemists for a fix hes not in as much pain as he makesout,? The sad truth is unless he wants help he wownt take it. I know I wasnt as bad as 60 a day but certainly 30 I didnt accept I had a problem even though deep down I knew afrer 3 years I finally acceptednit but didnt want to change only recently have I seen th effect ob my family and I am tapering off them.the painkillers will definitely be the caude of his moods he is becoming more and more tolerabt to them and he isnt getting the high he once was so even woth such a high doesage he is probably still getting some withdrawel symptoms.i feel for you watching your husband chose a nasty drug over his family have you tried telling him how it makes u feel?  
    • Posted

      Thanks for the reply Samantha I have told my husband many times how it makes me feel but it just seems that he puts his tablets before me. He often makes me feel like i dont exist and i am something he has scrapped off the bottom of his shoe. I find my self trying to please him to create a nicer happier atmosphere in the home. I have found my self crying at work because sometimes there are really bad days were he has made me feel worthless and paranoid about my self. I dont want to make this about me but the addiction has certainly changed my husband because when we first meet 22 years ago he was a happy and easy going person that loved life, he loved cycling and going for walks together with our dogs. He enjoyed doing things as a family like camping holidays and days out. We dont do any of that now. Life now is  lots of arguing and atmospheres and doing things seperately, I do understand that when he was first given the pain killer he wouldnt have know how addictive they where, I guess that i am hoping one day he can see what its doing to us as a couple and family and get help before it does serious harm to him 

      Thanks for listening sam

    • Posted

      I fel very sorry for you. People like you husband and me lie about our " pain" not just to you but to ourselves we convince ourselfs we need them and the slightest pain we have is 100xs worse in our head. If your husband gets through his prescription in 5 days and say his mums 5 days too then the other 18 days isbhe taken nurforen plus or ibeprofen and codeine? Codeine usually causes constipation but as your husband is on such a high dosehe basically suffering from withdrawel 18 days a month and when he takes to many is probably in bed feeling sick because he has overdosed on paracetamolthe damage he has likely done to his liver is scary. Is he ever overly nice and chatty after a fix? You need support your husband has th addiction and you are suffering big time.  I had to see what it was doing to my family and for them to give up on me before I decided to fight this. But you are taking all this on your shoulders I bet you dont want to go gome from work somedays wondering what mood he is in what the atmosphere is like and being extra nice cause he is so irratable and as your there you basically his punch bag not physically bit emotionally.  He has the problem not you please dont let it ruin your life to. You have been an amazing wide to him far too good. Ypur life is now ruled by his addiction.  Have you not thought of leaving him as awful as it sounds but maybe he needs to lose everything to realise his problem. Get his life back and you make your life aboutnyourself and children til he is ready for support to fight for his life because right now hes given up he has chosen  this nasty drug over you your children everything im not saying he is a bad person I was him at one time and im not fully clean but im down to 6 a day sometimes four yes I get some withdrawel symptoms but its worth it dor my family but a few years ago I would have made every excuse about the pain or I need them try and hide taking them. Its making your life hell and you have done nothing wrong rolleyes
  • Posted

    As karen said I would trt encouraging him to talk to people in similar situation as his therrs are literally thousands of people and when ur husband was first prescribed he probably  wasnt warned against the dangers of codeine and how addictive it is x
  • Posted

    hi scoop

    you are not the guilty person here i think you need a medal to stick what youve stuck you will be the one that will end up on anti-depressants then get yourself into the same ways as him if you not carefull by the sounds of it he his slowly killing himselve and taking you with him and your the one sitting back and watching it but no disrespect to you take your self away from this and your family i feel sorry hes got this far but you can only take so much of been a wife to him one day he will snap if he can't get any then god help you he could literally do any harm to you or the kids do you have to take this.

    im sorry but ive no sympathy for him choose if hes got pain or not you dont no if hes as the pain hes conviened himself he as this is why he is taking so many he wants a good shake up by you finding a way to get a place for you and your family before there is a muder commited i no what pain i have and feel like i want to take more of my pain killers but i value my life obivious he dosent or he wouldnt treat you like he dose

    i lived with some one very much like him he couldn't give his drug addiction up we were the same as you i eneded up on antidepressants through him after 40 yrs im still on them as they are an addicted drug but with me been on them that long they darent take me of them but i only take 3 /5mgs a day but im an highly strung person to start with but i had had enough of the way my husband treat me like a bit of sh*t to put it bluntly if i hadent have got away from him he would have killed us all he was on paracetomol and codeine and any pain killer he could get his hands on he was popping them like sweets i really no what you are going through but get out leave him to it you will see the change in him there are some ppl that want help and others dont hes one of them i suffer with spondalosis and another incureable disease ten time worse than him that eventually kills all the nerves of its a bit like MS but i dont take no more than i should they are co-drydomol i take 8 a day i have to snatch sleep when i can but the one thing i did after 20 yrs of marrage got out of it with my 3 young children he now his walking around with another women he soon got help to be with her.

    now im getting on with my own life and my children will not have anything to do with him they were frightened to come home from school when i was with him just in case he had killed me he even got to the pitch he made the kids go to ppls house borrowing tablets and if they didnt get any for him he would start on them he was like a lunatic you will snap one day like i did and get away from him i feel the pain for you its like dreaming again of what i went through please dont take any more from him you are too good for him .

     don't stay any longer its hard at first as you will worry whats he doing hope hes ok but the next thing he will show is face as though well i didn't torture them enough thats what i really felt he was doing to me

      i cryed every night slept on my own with my kids in one bedroom he would get me up just to till he went to sleep im not saying hes going to do as my husband did.

    but it took him a few months to get another women but you have only once to show him whatch how quick he pulls out of it even if he dosent then you show him how happy you and the kids are.

    all the best and good luck you need it.

    christine.

    (((big  huggs ))) take some advice of some one thats been there.

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