Codeine addiction (Nurofen Plus)

will damage your organs get help

I have seen my GP and I'm getting codeine phosphate to help me.

Tonight I forgot that I needed my codeine prescription from the pharmacy, my GP only prescribes it every other day and he prescribes 16, 8 a day of 30mg

Anyway, I was talking to my mum about my prescription and a family friend who is.also my son's Godfather started making loads of comments,why do you have to get it now? Why do you keep having to take tablets, you don't need codeine.

I know it.sounds silly but I'm sick of people judging me when they know nothing

Maybe I'm too sensitive but I'm very upset by it, he.said so many things and kept making snide comments that I'm very upset

How can I deal with this if he starts again.

I suffer from severe anxiety and been diagnosed with PTSD and to be honest I don't feel that I want to carry on anymore, I'm sick of everything, thinking of death a.way out is the only thing that keeps me going. Thanks to all xx

I want to warn all of you of the dangers of taking Nurofen plus. This is my experience.

I started taking them about 9-10 years ago, first off just taking 3 at a time which increased over the years to anywhere between 15 to 30 in one go and visiting pharmacies each day. I started having mild stomach problems which I put down to heart burn,  indigestion, acid reflux, went to the doctors eventually and he put me on Nexium. I never did tell him I was taking so many Nurofen and no one else knew, it was my dirty secret and I was so ashamed of myself. Fast forward to  last year and my stomach bloated so much one night with excruciating pains, I had had these pains and bloating twice before but never that bad and thought it would go away. It didn't and for months while waiting to see a specialist, I put up with the pain which would come and go but mostly stayed. I had all tests done, xrays, ultrasounds, blood tests except for a scan. It got soo bad, my stomach was sore all day and got worse after eating, it was so bloated I looked pregnant.I would burp and food from the night before would start to come up.

The day I took myself to Emergency I had vomited and saw undigested food and tablets that hadn't broken down in my system, these tablets weren't Nurofen but other medications I was on, even vitamin tablets I had taken  3 days prior to the day I vomited, I knew then something was very wrong, nothing I had consumed was breaking down. I was taking up to 10 laxatives a day and nothing was happening, they were also amongst the food when I vomited.

While in emergency they did the tests again but also did a scan which showed a gastric ulcer which had grown over my stomach outlet resulting in extreme bloating and of course the terrible pain. They had to insert a tube down my nose and down my throat and into my stomach to get all the food out! That was very distressing having that shoved down your nose, for 5 days my stomach was drained, I was nil by mouth for those days. On the 5th day I went in for a Endoscopy ( camera down stomach) where they began opening the outlet, it perforated so they had to stop, another 4 days passed and another Endoscopy was done, the outlet had started to grow over the outlet again and once again as they tried to open the outlet, it perforated again!! Another 4 days and they started again and got it to open, this time to 15milimetres, just enough for the food to get through which is the minimum size.

I was so desperate to get out of hospital by then that they started me on light solid foods, (previous to that after the nil by mouth it was fluids only) I thought I was fine, saw the specialist who said it may grow over again but we will schedule you for another endoscopy in about 6-8 weeks time, you can go home but if you feel pain again, come back.

I figure i was cured, on new medication and felt sure it would heal the ulcer....., not so.... I have only been out of hospital for 3 weeks and am having to go back in, I have been taking codiene Phosphate  for the pain but every time I eat, the pain starts again, everything I went through before has started. The bloating, the constant burping, and the terrible pains.

Before I first went to emergency I had started to wean myself off the Nurofen, please don't go cold turkey, from experience when i was a lot younger from being addicted to pain killers, i can tell you it is really a horrible experience, it will start with restless legs and will escolate to you feel like you are about to climb the walls, pulling your hair out, please get proper help as I have been told by a drug councelor that people can also have convulsions. Even after you get off pain killers from addiction, for months or in some cases weeks, you will lack energy, I swore back then I would never touch another pain medication again, but stupidly I did.

Apparently I have had this ulcer for a few years, if you have any stomach pain, you can be sure the Nurofen is doing some sort of damage. So here I am, trying to puck up the courage to go back to emergency knowing they will shove that tube down my throat again, knowing that this time they will have to cut my stomach, take the scarred tissue (from the ulcer) and re-attach my stomach to the intestines which will be done (hopefully) by keyhole surgery, knowing that I will have to spend more time in hosptial and I am not one who enjoys even one day in there, it is total boredom.

So my advise and I could go into more details about the pain and everything else but you probably get the idea they are doing you a lot of harm when taken for long periods of time, when taking more than prescribed, when taken on an empty stomach. I will never touch them again, far too much pain that went on for years on and off except for the last several months where it was basically constant pain. 

One more thing, they do cause acid reflux, this will dry your mouth out and begin to destroy your teeth.

Get help, don't let it go on for too long and end up like me and many others.

Good luck, go to a doctor who can advise you what to do, the doctor won't judge you, from what I've read, this Nurofen addiction is very common.