Codeine addiction (Nurofen Plus)

Well done Teresa, for wanting to be rid of your addiction, if you've read the forum, then you know your far from alone in what your going through, there is lots of help available, all you've got to do is ask, I've been through withdrawl twice, both cold turkey, I just wanted to quit as soon as possible.

your Christmas will be a very special one, if you manage to quit, I can promise you that, along with everyone who has managed to rid themselves of this horrible addiction. So good luck, and please ask any questions you like, or if you just want to talk to someone, there will always be someone who will be willing to help!

all the best, SerBronn

Hi Teresa. Many thanks for your posting here. As you can see, we're quite a community now. We all help each other and many of the letters here contain great advice. You really are not alone so don't be ashamed. I understand exactly what you are feeling. The day I decided to take painkillers was the worst day of my life. I am still working on solutions. I can't bear to keep shopping miles away for codeine. All my money goes on it and it's ruining my health. Good luck and let us know how you get on. love Drew x

Hi, Thanks for replying to my post. So relieved to know i am not alone. Found it so useful so far reading all posts.  

Cold turkey you are very brave. Hoping you are still codeine free.

Day 3 now and feel ggod but sure its cause i've only cut small amount out of my daily intake.(16mg) but however small its still a step in right direction. I think next week when i start reducing every other tab taken to just 1 will be a reality check to me but im hoping i can carry on a beat this. I still have to carry on as normal as none of my family are aware, im just too ashamed. I've always been seen as the strong never need no one type so i plan on ridding myself of this Devil tablet and never touching it again. Heres to a great xmas. 

Hi Drew. I feel better now knowing that there are people out there in same situation as me. 

I think when you start to shop miles for codeine and start to write down where you last went and how long ago you went to that pharmacy you know you have got a serious issue. I have been kidding myself the past 6 months prenting its under control when really im under its control. It restricts your life and i am constantly thinking when did i last take a pill? I always strive for that buzz but that has long gone. 

Hope you are beating this demon and are staying strong. I bet all this struggle to get off this is so worth it and once we are codeine frre we can live a healthly happy life where we are not shopping around for drugs and getting funny looks but are spending what precious time we have with people that matter.

Teresa, Your welcome, and thank you for responding to the response! You'd be surprised the amount of people who ask for help, and when help is offered, they don't even bother to acknowledge that you've answered them, I'm not brave at all, I just have to get things over with as quickly as possible, I am single, with no children, so I can go a week without functioning as a normal human being, the real brave people, are those with a husband / wife, and or children, it must be so hard to do, especially if your doing it in secret! And everyone of us goes through the " ashamed" feeling, it's perfectly normal, it will pass as you progress with your goal!

you wont ever regret any tough times that you might go through, hopefuly by tapering you'll avoid the worst, but please keep going, the new you is a prize worth fighting for, believe me, it's impossible to explain how much better you will feel, it might take some time, but you will get there, as always, feel free to get in contact, you can always PM if you prefer, just keep up the good work

Ser Bronn

Hello Rich. Thanks for your post. It's really helpful to hear your story. You have raised one thing that has always puzzled me. I managed to get hold of Codeine Phosphate and I thought this would be an answer and allow my body some recovery from the horrible Ibuprofen. Like you, it didn't work. CP just made me feel drowsy and awful. I don't understand why. I though NP was just ibuprofen and codeine. It has a different affect altogether. As you say, it makes you wonder what else they put in it. Somebody suggested it was caffeine but I can't see caffiene on the ingredients. I have tried cold turkey but it was so hard. I have also tried cutting down but it also creeps up. I am going to attempt it again soon. I have to plan it because I know I can't function normally when I quit. It's impossible to be normal around my family or at work. If I don't get a plan, I will fail again. Take care and I wish you lots of luck. Drew x

HiRich,

Codeine Phosphate didn't work for me either. Short run down on my story, I had to have half my stomach removed due to an ulcer that grew over the gastric outlet due to taking NP for years. I was put on morphine tablets for the pain (after the op) which I became addicted to but after my doctor threatened to stop writing scripts I bought over the counter Panadeine Extra which did not give the same feeling as the morphine which after a while the morphine only made me lethargic and gave terrible migraines.

Yesterday I took 8 NP which had been here for months and I swore I would never take them again.  Thinking only 8 wouldn't do a thing except keep the withdrawals away, they gave me a lift and next thing I had all this energy again. Only 8 yet I can easily take 7 or 8 morphine which is a lot stronger and get more of a lift from just 8 NP.

There is something definitely in them compared to codiene phosphate or Panadiene Extra or morphine.

I originally thought it was a mind over matter thing and honestly didn't expect to get anything out of only 8 NP which I hadn't touched in months due to specialists orders "never take Ibuprofen again"

I've even thought about going into detox but how does one explain that to family and friends who would be shocked to find out and then thought after detox going to all chemists and asking not to be given anything with codiene in them.

Thanks for the information Rich, I will ask my Dr or a Dr at the same practice about Subutex, probably best to see another Dr. as mine seems to no longer have any understanding of addiction and at least by seeing a Dr at the same practice, they have my records on the computer. All the best and take care of yourself, Sue xx

 

Hi, Rich

I just wanted to say i have been taking insane amounts of N+ then oxycotin then tramadol and back to N+ for over 10yrs finally i ended up in hospital needing a blood trans fusion, while there a doctor decided to put me on the subutex program. It worked great i stopped the N+ instantly but i was then trapped on subutex, which was much much worse. Its totally controlled and is nearly impossible to get off, you have to get each dose from the same place everyday and is near impossible to leave home overnite. My life was a misery and i was treated like a criminal. Please really research this process fully as its a massive commitment and for me was a massive mistake.

Hi Dan,

Sorry to hear of your predicament; and thankyou for your concern. When I first went onto subutex, I had to take it everyday, there and then, a procedure that like you, I found degrading, felt like I was being judged and that very much shaped my day into its centre being drug related - which I was tyring to get away from, but the daily routine prohibited that line of thought.

I am aware of just how strong subutex is; and I am aware of its incredible half life too. But I will say I began on 6mg per day and am now down to 4 mg per day. When it gets down to teeny bits, I shall be taking advice from a good friend who used subutex to come off heroin. May I ask how many N+ you were taking and what dose / plan did they put in place for your subutex program? Personally, my prescribing doctor is happy for me to pick up twice weekly and I know how much that was better for me psychologically, as, like I mentioned, I too was on a daily supervised regime at first. And, I'd rather have the subutex than boxes of N+ any day!

Thankyou for getting in touch and for your warnings. N+ is filthy stuff.

Rich 

Hi rich,

I was taking a minimum of 2 x 30 packs a day.

My experience with subutex was bad. I had know idea about the drug and there was no real plan. They started me on 8mg and i went up 2mg twice a week till i was on 28mg. I had no idea that was a high dose. After a few months i asked when i could stop the drug and was shocked to find out the doctor had no plan for me to stop and told me to get used to it for the next few years! I ended up secretly dropping my dose and getting off it but it was the hardest thing ive ever been through! And worst of all im back on N+ like before.

Hi Dan,

that is a crazy amount of subutex - no wonder you had a bad experience - I was 48 pushing 64 N+ per day, and they started me on 6mg for 2 months before reducing. I've researched a lot about subutex, but although I'm no medic, I guarantee that all the prescribers and workers I know would agree with me that 28mg is an insane amount; and very wrong too. You know as well as I that N+ is not your desired route and I would definitely seek a second opinion on this - there is a limit to how much subutex is effective, and the rest is overdose? Hang in there, there is a route out.

All the best,

Rich

Hi all, 

I asked my doctor about Subutex and he said it was like Methodone, is that correct?

I was addicted to prescription medication in the 90's and was put on the methodone program, it was a nightmare too, couldn't go anywhere, had to pick it up each day from a clinic along with many good people but also many people that abused the program. After a long period of time they did allow me to pick it up from a local chemist but no way would my doctor even discuss me going on this subutex now. 

I didn't touch anything for years after that then had pain and saw NP at a pharmacy, bought some and the rest is history.

I'm still taking morphine tablets due to having half my stomach removed from years of abusing NP. Still trying to get off the morphine tablets.

I hate this addiction! It takes such a terrible hold of a person and the only time I have any energy is when under the influence of opiates, when I run out I take over the counter Panadeine extra which do nothing except upset my stomach and stop withdrawals, fall into depression, lose appetite and basically wait until next doctors appointment, then comes the embarrassment and humiliation of not only seeing the doctor but also feel like the pharmacists are judging me and thinking "she was only filling the same script 5 days ago". 

What a viscious cycle.

Take care everyone, there has to be an answer somewhere.

Sue 

 

Just want to add the doctor changed the medication from the slow release (over 12 hours) to the one that takes effect within 1/2 hour. The slow release, after taking them for a long time did nothing except make me feel lethargic.

Even though the slow release are stronger, for some reason these other ones actually give that "lift".

Get yourself some clonidine 1mg, they will really help with the withdrawals from the opiates like the cold sweats, the heart palpitations, the anxiety, and the restlessness. Also imodium will help with any stomach issues (because it's made with opiates but formulated to not cross the blood brain barriers). Using these really helped me kick a 300mg hydromorphon + 100mg diluadid a day habit.

You can do this and get back to a normal life without opiates. I've been clean over 2years now after a 10+ year addiction and not once have I considered or even thought about using and going back to that life again.

Hi Shawn. Where do I get Clondine? Is it prescribed. Imodium is available in the pharmacy I think. Thanks so much. D x

Thanks rich,

I will say one thing about the subutex tho, while being on it i really did feel great for the first time in years. my head was clear and i felt normal again as of i was drug free. It was just the daily routine of going to the clinic every day before work and it was next to impossible to leave home over night. Neurofen and codine are a vile drug and should never have been so readily available.

Hi dan are you totally off the codeine then?! Xxx

Hi Rich, thanks for your message. Yes it's been over a year since I posted but time has whizzed by and nothing has changed, my addiction is as strong as ever.. I'm planning once again to stop over Xmas. I've been trying to reduce down but that never works as when I don't take enough to get a buzz my appetite for more just increases and I end up taking another packet. I feel the only way to stop is to maybe go on holiday to a place I can't buy any until the withdrawal effects have subsided and ask the doctors to regular drug test me after that to keep me on the straight and narrow. It's funny you say about codeine phosphate not being the same, I totally agree but no one can tell me why! I'm on a codeine phosphate reduction programme now but as they don't give me a buzz I still top up every day with N+.. Nikki 

Hi Nikki

Good to hear from you. You are exactly the same as me. Every time I reduce, I end up taking more to get the buzz back. I have used CP but it's not the same. I have asked lots of people why not and nobody can tell me. CP just makes me feel groggy. I always go back to NP. Like you, I keep thinking that I need to get away somewhere. Somewhere where I can get away from everyone and where there is no NP. I am trying to plan something but it's not easy. I don't want to tell people why I am going away and I will also miss work and lose money but I know unless I have a NP holiday, I will carry on until something dreadful happens with my stomach. Love Drew xx

I know, I'm shocked nothing obvious has happened with my health as yet. My kidneys and liver are still working fine (had these tested) and although I used to get stomach pains here and there I've not had these for quite some time now dispite increasing my intake - sometimes I kid myself that maybe my body has just got used to the vast quantities of meds! Do your friends and family know about your habit? What part of the country do you live, if you don't mind me asking? I'm in Essex

Hi Nikki. I am in Essex too. My family know a little but not the fullextent of it xxx