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Codeine addiction (Nurofen Plus)

Posted , 73 users are following.

nikki6895
nikki6895

Hey, so I'm addicted to codeine, I usually take 32 Nurofen Plus tabs every day at midday (in 1 go). This has been going on for a year but I started doing codeine in June 2011 after I had my wisdom tooth removed. Every day I tell myself this will be the last day I take them but of course this is never the case. My tolerance is so high now I don't even really get any effect from it. Sometimes I take up to 64 tabs in a day. Some days I get a buzz, others hardly anything. Anyone on here in the same position as me who would fancy trying to stop with me? Moral support & all that?!

9 likes, 488 replies

488 Replies

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  • leanne61785
    leanne61785 nikki6895

    Posted

    Hi Guys Ive been reading all your posts and i am in exactly the same position as all of you. I am addicted to Nurofen plus, i take anywhere from 30 tabs (on a good day) up to about 80...i feel disgusted in myself as i read that back to myself. thing is i could get by on 30-40 tabs a day, but if i have them, i take them!! Im a smart woman! I know better! but i cant help it i feel powerless sad I live in Australia and there is a pharmacy on every corner here. i kicked them once before, back in 2010, i was so sick one day, severe pains in my stomach couldnt even walk. And i couldnt even take the Nplus without vomiting so i was involuntarily going into the worst withdrawal it was HELL. I called my parents and my sister, confessed everything to themeverything to them
  • leanne61785
    leanne61785 nikki6895

    Posted

    hit reply accidentally lol so i fessed up to my family, organised my kids, & took myself to hospital. i told the doctor everything also. I had a little damage to my stomach lining but my pain was a combo of withdrawal and a bad urinary tract infection. i saw a drug counsellor which started me on suboxone. didnt like that it was just another drug to have to get off. which i did after 2 years (tapered off gradually) because i was due for major leg surgery. after my surgery the inevitable happened i got back on the pain meds. add to that i lost both of my beautiful parents Mum to cancer and then just 6 months later Dad had a heart attack (we say he died of a broken heart, he was lost without Mum) needless to say i dealt with all of this by swallowing fistfuls of pills...
  • leanne61785
    leanne61785 nikki6895

    Posted

    my laptop keeps freezing thats why i have written 3 separate posts! Anyway sorry for rambling i really want to start a tapering off plan..i noticed some of you are in the midst of your own tapering/getting clean journey too. One thing we all have in common is we want to be free of this poison. I cannot go cold turkey i have a job and kids and grandkids, i just cant check out for a few wks although i wish i could just get it over with.i'd love to know how you're all going?

    Leanne smile

    • Sarah0512
      Sarah0512 leanne61785

      Posted

      Leanne it's awful. This god forsaken runnish is killing us but we can't stop. I always thought I was strong enough to not need but I'm not. You say your a grandmother do your children know if your addiction?

      We can all do this together if we really try we have to be strong for one another xx

    • jamie72795
      jamie72795 leanne61785

      Posted

      Hi Leanne, hope you are well. I just noticed your post and your situation is quite similar to what mine was. Cold turkey wasn't an option for me due to work , kids etc. I tapered down and although I had a couple of lapses I kept at it and made it in the end. I never had any withdrawal symptoms and actually felt better go taking less pills. The truth is that if you are taking 1 or 2 pills less per day then the same the week after your body doesn't really notice then before you know you are takin half the dose that you were originally on. You never get the same buzz like you did when you first started taking pills so you don't really miss it. Tapering isn't for everybody but it's worth a try
  • Zoey6569
    Zoey6569 nikki6895

    Posted

    Hi Nikki, and everyone else who has posted.  I'm so glad I found you lot.  I live in New Zealand, am a 49-year-old woman who is also a health/social services professional, so I tell myself I should know better! I've been hooked on N+ for the last 8 years, to greater or lesser degrees, with some clean periods in between.   Too many stressors to go into right now, but in the last year my usage has gone through the roof.  I maintained 12 a day for a long time, now I'm on 25-30.  I've quit a fair few times too, but this time I need to quit for good.  I've been to some counselling for it, and probably need to go back.  No one (not my GP, not my partner) has ANY idea how much this has controlled my life.  Thanks for being here so I can vent, perhaps share some experiences and also learn from you all.  Like I said, I'm pretty good at stopping, but need a bit of help with staying stopped.  But I feel like it's the last chance saloon.  My kidneys and liver are okay,  but my GP has just put me on blood pressure meds (no surprises) there, so I've really gotta start facing how up to how much I'm poisoning myself.  I truly am the epitome of the clever, manipulative, sneaky addict, although I bet if all the pharmacists in my city got together and compared notes, I'd be very familiar to them!!! 
  • Zoey6569
    Zoey6569 nikki6895

    Posted

    Sorry to be confusing!  I just changed my nickname from GuitarGal to Zoey6569.
  • robert20969
    robert20969 nikki6895

    Posted

    Hi guys, having ben addicted to these bloody tablets in the past i have one piece of advice, if you cant bring yourself to the gp, as i couldnt, then you must stop taking the Ibuprofen part of the tablet, this is the dangerous part that will put holes in your stomach and wreck your Liver/Kidneys, Im not suggesting this so you can continue to abuse the codeine but to help you cut down eventually to zero without wrecking your body. Ibuprofen is Non Soluble and Codeine is soluble so the two parts of the tablet can be separated so you can take pretty much only the codeine and throw the ibuprofen in the bin. i did this and it saved my stomach until i managed to quit.

    this is the next best thing to going to the gp which alot of people cant bring themselves to do but carries the danger of people thinking they can 'SAFELY' continue to abuse, I hope this helps someome

    • Zoey6569
      Zoey6569 robert20969

      Posted

      Thanks for that, Robert.  It inspires me to consider asking my GP for codeine phos; she knows the situation.  A controlled withdrawal, supported by counselling, may be just what the Doctor ordered smile
    • robert20969
      robert20969 Zoey6569

      Posted

      Hi Zoey,like your self i got hooked on them twice but couldnt bring myself to go to the gp and went through two lots of hell going cold turkey, so the gp is the way to go 
  • jossie01879
    jossie01879 nikki6895

    Posted

    Hi there I am addicted to nurofen plus for 5 years I am tring to detox at the moment I am on my third day without any codeine products doc gave me paracetamol and 1mg alprazolam there not doing much as my head is thumping and I can't sleep withdrawals are bad any advice on how to kick this horrible habit
    • robert20969
      robert20969 jossie01879

      Posted

      Hi Jossie, well done for taking the first step, im not familiar with Alprazolam but i notice you can become addicted to it, so im guessing that the doc has put you on a gradual withdrawl program? if you have a husband/kids then this is definitely the way to go. after three days i was just starting to get the worst of the physical withdrawl symptoms and i decided to tough it out for a week as i am on my own. i dont know if youve got an "understanding" doc one who is not very helpful but they can give you things to help with sleeping, which was my worst thing to deal with, have they organised a blood test to check your liver/ kidney function is ok? good luck with your quest, anything you go through now will be worth it a million times over to get back to feeling human again, if you need any more info just ask, there are alot of people on here who have been through it all before, all the best

      rob

    • jossie01879
      jossie01879 robert20969

      Posted

      Hi Robert thanks for the support I do have a child I share custody with not am I only do it for me I need to do it for her alprazolam is basically xanax relaxers to help with the withdrawals this my 4th day and your right the worse is the sleep it's so hard but I know it will get better hopefully in the future did you do it cold turkey my doc said I will detox for a month slowly reducing the alprazolam til I'm clear from them any more tips or advice is much appreciated thanks again. How long are you clean now?

      Jossie

    • robert20969
      robert20969 jossie01879

      Posted

      Hi Jossie, 

      i was too embarased to go to the gp and the thought of trying to cut down over a couple of months was too daunting, also i am on my own so i could lock myself away for a week and go cold turkey, you literally cant function properly, when the withdrawl symptoms kicked in after two days, i was lucky to get an hours sleep over the whole night, feeling exhausted but not able to sleep. having to visit the toilet eight times a night, both being sick and with explosive diarrhoea didnt help with sleep.the sleeplesness lasted about five days, the toilet troubles cleared up after about three or four. i cant imagine what its like coming off heroin!

      during and after the dramatic physical symptoms of withdrawl, i felt absolutely awful, not even being able to muster the energy to put the bins out, just wanting to stay in bed all day, this lasted a good couple of weeks but slowly faded, being able to do a bit more each day. thats why i cant recommend cold turkey for people with a family.

      as your doing it slowly im sure you wont suffer much in the way of withdrawl symptoms, im sure someone on here who has done it your way can give you a better idea.

      it also makes a difference as to why you started taking the pills in the first place, if you took them for pain relief and just got hooked then you should be able to slide back into a normal life quite easily, if however, like me,you were depressed and took them to  "feel good" then not only will you have the normal withdrawl "down" feeling but you may have your old depressed state to deal with on top, its not a definite by any means but is worth bearing in mind.

      i tried coming off a couple of weeks befor xmas because i wanted to be "myself " for xmas day, big mistake, as i know now i left it way too late and felt awful so i went back on them for the xmas / new year week just to be able to function, i used january second as my first clean day and have been off them since and starting to feel human again.

      only advice i can give is to stick with it, there will be times when you will think about taking "just one pack" to get you through a bad day, but dont give in!

      drink lots of water,  exercise really helps to get the natural good feelings flowing again.

      sorry for waffling, good luck again and keep updating as to your progress if you find it helps, any questions etc

      rob

    • jossie01879
      jossie01879 robert20969

      Posted

      Cheers Rob cold turkey sounds brutal but I'm still getting all the same withdrawals as you last night was my worse night not only could I not sleep the getting sick but my head was killing me worse pain I had in a long it was brutal was crying in agony and cudnt hold down the 2 paracetamol I took but got threw it just about I started taking them when I broke my ribs was put on Tylex for a week then on to the nurofen plus I'm from Ireland and they don't even warn you about how easy you can get addicted this my 5th day now without them and I know if I even think of taken a pack I'll just remember last few nights and hopefully that will keep me away from them as soon as my headaches ease up I'll start jogging again fair play to you doing what your doing and keep it up sounds like you're doing great thanks for the support and advice as no one knows Im going threw this only my doc so it's good to talk to someone in a similar circumstances keep it going and keep me posted.

      Jossie

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