Dihydrocodeine addiction.
Posted , 41 users are following.
One last thing I need to say and then I'm outta here. I'm reading a lot on here about dihydrocodeine addiction...it's as bad as heroin addiction. Drug addicts...etc etc. Well, here is the truth, absolute. If you take dihydrocodeine at a high therapeutic dose for say 3-4 weeks daily, then you are physically dependent on them. And you will continue to be physically dependent on them until you stop taking them. BUT YOU ARE NOT ADDICTED! Addiction is a chronic condition, framed in an obsessive compulsion to repeat the bahaviour, in this case drug taking, no matter what detrimental effects the behaviour may be having on your life. Addiction means you lie, steal, rob to take ever higher doses of a substance, progressing through the stages of harm with administration (ie. from snorting or smoking heroin to injecting it). Ultimately you spend ALL of your time looking for money or drugs to the exclusivity of everything else. Addiction is defined by a chronic, unstable lifestyle that is out of control. If you are going searching for more and more scripts, or money to buy DHC AND TAKING EVER GREATER DOSAGES then you are addicted to them. Otherwise, you are physically dependent. Nothing more and nothing less. Please, no more of these comments about how being on a DHC script is as bad as being a heroin addict. I was a heroin addict for 20 years and believe me, it is FAR worse than being dependent on a DHC script.
6 likes, 146 replies
james43033 Guest
Posted
Addiction is addiction. It doesn't matter how we "acquire" the drug. The substance is irrelevant as well. I was a heroin addict for years but that doesn't make my addiction and worse, harder etc.I have been clean 8yrs now. The addict who robs and steals is no different to a middle aged women with a prescription painkiller or the teenager who is addicted to Diazapam or the alcoholic who lies in the street.
Addiction is about the way we feel. It's about the total dispair. It's all the negative feelings it's the whole 9 yards. Have some compassion instead of the big my addiction is worse than yours.
nelly86 james43033
Posted
Well spoken James i culdnt of said it better. I have never been on heroine but i am on DHC and tramadol and the WD is omg actull hell want to curl up and die hell. I will never accept that oh heroines WD is worse than your withdrawal from a painkiller ignorant statement to make so it is and actully made me angry reading it until i read your reply. Compassion is everything and thats why i come on this site. I dont want to read get over it Ive been through worse bc from what I've read and been through each and everyone of us are or was sufferd more or less the same agonized unadulterated torture.sigh.
angie86937 nelly86
Posted
No your right the withdrawal is hell on earth . My stomach feels like it's been in a fight with a baseball bat . There are loads of people who understand with me being one of them . I've slipped unfortunately and I'm back P to 14 dc a day . Not good . X
nelly86 angie86937
Posted
Its soul destroying isnt it angie. You are doin better than me i take so much that it culd take iut a small army 😞 i feel so ashamed of myself but then i take my DHC then i dont care im relaxedn feel al warm n cosy inside its a vicious cycle isnt it. I hope it passes for you quickly luv wee both have a long way to go but keep trying to cut down each day n hopfully one day wee will be free of this addiction. I like it on here as we are all the same. I feel my friends judge me. Oh how great it must be to be perfect eh 😉 (im being sarcastic) lol bc no one is perfect we are good people we owe it to ourselfs to beat this. Lets do it together. 💙💜💙
angie86937 nelly86
Posted
I don't even get the nice warm buzz anymore. Don't ask why I'm still on them when I don't even get anything from em anymore . Only people who have been there and got the t shirt are the only ones who really understand . Take care love xxx?🏼?🏼
kellie37632 angie86937
Posted
Hiya angie my name is kellie ... Reading your posts I had to comment .. I am totally the same as you.... I thought I was the only one ... I never comment but just had to.... If you fancy a chat with someone who gets it let me know , doesn't have to e for the world to see .... I don't have anyone to talk to openly about it and I'm finding it's getting out if hand now ...I'm a mum and have my own business but I'm seriously fighting a losing battle daily , I know it's gotten out of hand now and I'm no longer in control.... Would be really nice to speak to another person who as you put it bought the Tshirt ......hope your ok , well as ok as you can be living with this .....I know you get it that's why I've written to you... Hope you don't think I'm some weirdo lol ... I'm really not it's just I'm not in control anymore and would really like someone to speak to who understands .... Xx
suz67512 kellie37632
Posted
How are you Kellie? I have recently 'come clean' to my GP 😟
gary56171 Guest
Posted
ive come off them before 2 years ago cold turkey , i was represcribed them again 6 months ago and now my pains gone i am 3 days into cold turkey again the withdrawal is horrific but ive done it once i'll do it again. Hopefully another 3 days the major withdrawal symptoms will be gone . The only advice i can share is because I'm addicted to them taking stupid amounts each day i am not capable of tapering down and in my opinion most addicts are not capable therefore i choose cold turkey i will update in one week from now . Peace
gary56171
Posted
I am fine and completely clean again , i plan the following day every evening and write down ten things i need to do and stick to it , it's surprising how much its helps take the mind off the urge to pop a pill. Going to the gym three times a day at the mo to strengthen my leg ( it broke in three places after a motorbike accident hence the represcription of DHC.). After the 7day cold turkey i was ok again well enough to cope and the feeling you get from stopping and succeeding beats any high you get from the drug. Honestly guys it can be done as long as you want it , yes its hellish for a week but things do improve i promise you . If you want an Honest opinion I am here anytime to help in anyway i can. Be strong , Godbless
gary56171
Posted
suz67512 gary56171
Posted
gary56171 suz67512
Posted
very well thank you all the withdrawal symptoms have gone and i'm feeling very positive now , how are you?
chris37414 Guest
Posted
Hi there -I've found this post really useful - I never even considered that I would get physically addicted to Dihydrocodeine... but after taking it most days for about 9 months - between 30mg and 450mg a day for pain and recreational use..
I started noticing that I would get diarrhoea and low energy levels, awful anxiety and agitation a few days after stopping and would just start again.
Finally got to the point where I lost a job due to it - and came off it, it was really horrible. Didn't sleep much for days 4 - 11 - I am now day 14 and starting to feel better - but it was really unbearable.
I eventually did it by gradually cutting the amount of DHC day by day over 5 days - last day was 45mg and then I just went cold turkey.
The side effects were not as harsh as when I went from 240mg a day to 0 - that was even worse, loads of shivers, I slept for a day, and then couldnt sleep after that...
I would recommend coming off gradually to minimise the early day symptoms, and be aware that days 3 - 11 could be really tricky - insomnia, anxiety, bad diarrhoea, chills
Good luck
rick59713 Guest
Posted
totally agree, went down the rabbit hole with diconal and dexies and then spent 13 years on methadone and subitex and i wasn't as stable as i am now just taking 2 dhc 60mgs slow release a day but it stops the long lasting depression that i get with complete abstinence. Whatever gets you through the day with the least side effects. Hope you are well all this time after you posted this.
JohnRS rick59713
Posted
I have been a Temazepam addict for more than 10 years, getting up to 7 tablets per night (140mg) on some occasions (that's a massive dose). I have used DHC as a substitute to try to reduce the T dose by 5mg at a time (that's a quarter tab). Recently I have had some success and now, as of two nights ago, I have slept without any T. I'm on 2xDHC per night and I know from previous experience I shall have to be careful coming off that, but compared to T addiction DHC addiction is nothing. Once I tried cold turkey with the DHC - big mistake - 14 days of hell - DON'T DO IT. Be patient. Come down half a tab per step and stabilise for several days on the new reduced dose. Don't try to rush it and it will be OK. If it takes month to reduce by one tab then that's what it takes. My advice about the depression side of it all: Use supplements to counter that. I take St John's Wort, Vitamin D and 5HTP (Serotonin). Use those as antidepressants - for me they work really well. Take them every day whatever else is going on. Keep away from prescription antidepressants - just another additive to the toxic cocktail of medications. I shall stick on 2xDHC for a couple of weeks at least to be sure the T addiction is beaten, then come down from that half a tab for another week, then another half, and in 4 weeks I'll be sleeping without meds. Good luck all.