I HAVE BEEN PRESCRIBED THESE DIHYDROCODIENE 30MG TABS 2 ...

Hey, Just stumbled across this after discussing my 'current situation' with a close friend.

I suffer from Fibromyalgia. Before I was diagnosed I was prescribed many different and varying pain killers. From simple paracetamol/ibu, anti inflams, tamidol, co-codamol, codeine tartrate, gabapentin, oramorph and now DHC.

The pain i suffer is from a brain irregularity, so if i have pain in my legs it doesnt necessarily mean thats where its going on (obviously). But my experiences are as follows;-

- The basic paracetamol and ibuprofen had no effect on physical pail i feel.

- Anti Inflamitories made me feel very lathargic, anxious and bad tempered. They also made me feel like i was yawning all the time which is rather enbarassing in the work place. They did nothing for the pains i experience

- tramidol, OH MY GAWD! these made everything 'weird'. On hte prescribed dossage (i dont remember the mg strength of them) I had trips, total white out of time, extreme short term memory loss. All this for MILD pain relief.

- co-codamol, gave very mild if noticable pain relief, if i took them on mass and against the reccomended dossag the pain relief became ok, i had certain aspect of my life back.

- codeine tartrate was a step up from the co-codamol, it was instantly better than the previous and things improved yet further for me. sadly side effect, the usual chronic constipation and fatigue resulting from insomnia insued.

- gabapentin, which i understand to be a nerve blocker. took things in a strange direction. it would give me shots of pain relief for periods that included what i would describe as 'shooting' pains (to the level if i were taking nothing. I didnt last long on these either as they remdered my legs to numb and weak to use.

-*by this stage my illness had progressed to a severe level i was effectively house bound unable to assend flights of stairs unaided*-

-oramporph 10mg/5ml, this totally killed my pain, but as you can guess turned me into a sofa bound turnip. social skills became monosylabic affairs, i lost my GF, had to move house. again chronic constipation, incredible itchyness on my head ears, eyes side of my abdomen. I lasted on this taking 150ml bottle within 5 days. After 3 months I came off it and started my rehab (I finally found a private specialist for my condition!!!)

- under his guidance and with my gp i was put onto DHC. 30mg. the initial max dosage was to be 8 tabs a day. After being very strict and only taking the 8 a day for a 2 weeks the pain was no better, but mentally i felt alert and bright. I was on hte edge of regaining my life. i consulted my gp and specialist and we agreed i should up the dosage to become 12 a day (after signing over that it was my responsibility for legal reasons). Since then my pain is literally just background hum. Annoying as humming noises are, they are far more bare-able than a full on FIRE BELL style pain. I do occasionally take up to 18 tabs in a day, but it is not often and i do drop back to the 12 a day there after. I have little to no side effects from them, yes on the days where I take the odd few extra i get a bit euphoric and itchy. All in all DHC has enabled me to gain my life back. In the 10 months I have been taking them I am now back in full time employment, I am able to go to the gym and partake in gentle exercise (no high impact sports for me!), i can go back to racing in my amateur dragleague, i have had the chance to be in a relationship (didnt last she was a bitch! lol).

I'm fully aware that yes I do have that addiction to them there. But this medication has enabled me to regain my life back. Having an addiction to something that works for me and my condition is more than acceptable, it just joins hte ciggarettes.

I wish everyone who is currently trying to cope with and kick their addictions. Having miss timed a repeat prescription I have felt the begginings of the withdrawl. Its not nice.

At the same time to those who like me, have regained

Be Very carefull with Dihydrocodeine. I broke my collarbone a few years back and I was put on Codeine, Tranadol and Temazepam to help me sleep. I easily came off the Tramadol, and then the codeine, but switched to diazepam and temazepam. I recently obtained some Dihydrocodeine and I would warn people of how addictive this stuff is. It will eventually take over your life wheather its getting them, being on them or withdrawing from them. I know Im in for a rough time ahead of me but theres no other way. I will stop before itis too late. Everyone learns from their own mistakes, butmy advice is only use Dihydrocodeine if you are in severe pain and have no other choice, or If you are using them for minor pain, dont take more than 4 in 24 hours and 2 weeks maximum or youwill have trouble getting off them. If you are using them recreationally, make sure you know what you are getting into. its not like tramadol. Its very addictive and habit forming, and is hell to come off them. Take care.

Dont go on Dihydrcodeine mate deadly stuff was on them for six weeks Nausia sweats loss of weight stopped them dead going through terrible withdrawal symptoms sweating tremors feverish diarhea stomache cramps been off them 5 days now and the withdrawal symptoms are easing thank god.Have severe osteoarthritus but would rather put up with the pain than take that crap was on 2 120 mg per day slow release tabs take them back to the chemist and get rid they are potential killers

I have been using DHC for years and have had the ups and downs as you all on here have?.I used to use around 900-1500mg per day as I can buy them readily on the street. If you want to totally come off them I found the best way was to take amphetamine at very low doses 5mg max which will elevate most of the symptoms you will go through (your not addicted but like anything, your body get used to it and feels it needs it but what most people get is just a come down, at 1 point I had them every week for 3 and a half years and at the time I thought it was hell) after about a week you should be ok.. BUT if you take DHC for PAIN then you will probably like me have to keep taking them (because they are good at what they do) and you should learn how to control you med use habit, there are several ways you can easily search for on the net. I was lucky enough to start dating a pharmacist a few years ago and she has taught me several ways to use my prescriptions correctly or get the most out of what I am given. E.g. **** is a good way of bringing your dosage down and take all the rubbish out of your DHC (and all other codeine based pain killers right down to Paracetamol) but if you are taking DHC to feel high I can promise you?.YOU WILL NEVER get the same high as you did the first time you took those 2x30mg tablets, and the search for it will lead you to stronger opiates so please be happy with your little buzz unless you truly want an addiction (withdrawal will kill you if you think DHC is bad). The last point I would like to make for now is READ and learn? you get a pamphlet with EVERY DHC prescription by law, so as you didn?t read them?. start now, there are millions of us painkiller users/over users and there are millions of post about them or using them?I will answer anything anyone would like to ask and hope you get help even if its just off other users like me.

[color=black:0e9adb3388][size=9:0e9adb3388][b:0e9adb3388][i:0e9adb3388](Sorry but Patient Admin have removed information from this posting, as it is the policy of Patient UK not to publish this information on this forum.) [/i:0e9adb3388][/b:0e9adb3388][/size:0e9adb3388][/color:0e9adb3388]

I have been reading all of the experiences people have written on here, and they have been making me laugh. People have been giving all sorts of excuses and blaming everyone but themselves for getting addicted to them but it is your own fault. I have been taking dihydrocodeine since i was 14 for rhumetoid arthiritus and having 2 prolapsed discs in my back from a biking injury, and have been in pain pretty much everyday since that age and i am now 22. I take anywere between 4-20 tablets per day depending on how much pain i am in. When i was first given this medication for pain relief, the doctor hadnt told me about the addictive properties of it, he just checked what meds i was on and just wanted to make sure i wouldnt have a problem with my breathing or anyting. So before i started taking it i had common sense and read the leaflet that came with it to check the side-effects and problems it may cause, and seen it was an opiod medication so knew it was potentially addictive. At first i only used them to relieve pain, then after about 2 years i started taking more as the high was nice as well as the pain relief, i was addicted to them taking around 15-20 per day and this went on for a while, but this was my own fault as i was taking them to get high. I then decided to stop taking them for a while, my own choice as things were starting to go bad taking that many per day. Withdrawal off this medication was not to bad as it was my choice to come off them and stop, i kept myself occupied with work and trying todo as much activity as i could, and this is the key, if you sit there doing nothing just thinking about dhc it will make the withdrawal symptoms allot worse than they actually are. Having the pain back acutally helped as the pain was in my mind, not when can i take more, or i want that feeling again, the worse effects i got was sweating, hot flushes, and muscle spasms every now again, and i only started to get the spasms when i was thinking of dihydrocodeine. I am now taking it again but i have self restrain, taking 8 maximum a day and only when i am in the most pain. People are saying dont touch this medication, tell your doctor no if he offers you it. But i say this is a really good pain medication if it is used properly, allot of people of blaming the doctor saying they were never told about it being addictive, but a doctor doesnt have time to sit there explaining all the side effects of all the medications, if he did you would need a 30 minute appoinment with them. The main point is if you have gone to the doctors and asked for a pain medication for relieving a moderate to serious pain, and have recieved an opiod pain killer and have taken it without reading the leaflet that comes with it to see the effects and side-effects of it and have gotten addicted to it, IT IS YOUR OWN FAULT AND NO ONE ELSE, IF YOU HAVE GOTTEN ADDICTED FROM THIS MEDICATION IT IS YOUR OWN FAULT AS YOU HAVE OBVIOUSLY TAKEN MORE THAN THE PRESCRIBED AMOUNT. What people dont seem to realise is that it is only pain relief, it will not remove the pain only dull it, painkillers are not designed to completely remove pain, only relieve it so it is manageable. And if it has not made a difference to your pain, the answer is not to take more, go back to your doctor and tell him, dont take the doseage into your own hands YOU ARE NOT A DOCTOR. This is a good pain reliever as long as it is used properly and taken in the right amounts.

Just to say thanks to Richard for writing with honesty about dihydrocodeine. I have been on this drug for more years than I can remember and almost went through the same cycle of drug taking as yourself but actually ended up on morphine patches which although worked completely zonked me out and I was unable to do anything. I eventually went back to DHC and will continue to use them though I am waiting for admission to a pain clinic very soon so will discuss medications with them. I am so sorry Richard that you have been through so much pain and I know you posted your message in February and it is now October but I felt the need to answer it. Many thanks again for sharing your experience.

[color=indigo:6586c8b7ee][/color:6586c8b7ee]I have just sat reading through all these experiences and been in tears with some of the stories. Just because I really didn't imagine there could be any one else out there as mad as I thought I was. I didnt really understand the nature of my problem until very recently, never admitted to myself that I was an addict and my fix was df118. Stupid really since I have been taking it for as long as I can remember lost my health, my marriage, my child, job (I was a nursing sister) home, most of my family, friends, basically my life has dissolved and I never fully faced my problem in all this time because I blamed every one I could, thought I had genuine legitimate need for the drug - which I actually really do- that my behaviour was within my control and I was in charge of my life. I have been in and out of hospital most of my life with serious health problems. 3 years ago I was in a coma on life support, no one expected me to come back. But I did. And that was when the reality of my life started to really sink in. I was vibrant, intelligent, energetic young woman now old scrawny scared to go out to see people, sitting on the sofa while my world crumbled around me. Litterally. The dirty dishes piled up, the washing never got done, when I lost my child (she lives with her dad) I lost the will to fight and have sat and watched all this happen. The walls need painting, evertything is dirty, I live in the lounge, but no one ever comes here so its really ok. HUH???? I have only been able to summon the energy to do one thing. That is maintain my prescriptions and source out other ways to get df118 when the prescription runs out way way before it should. I am on a wealth of medication that I dont take but I never miss my df118. Cos its oh so much my best friend. NOT! I have finally reached the point of realisation that I am a drug addict. Simple and plain and I cant excuse it anymore. The way I live disgusts me but I just cant climb out. I have a blood dissorder and many medical problems but I'm pretty sure some of those have to be directly related to my opiate intake. Thats after all what df118 is, an opiate just as heroin or morphine. Don't kid yourself that it is in some way less \"bad\" its worse because it has this very subtle way of taking everything before you even realise what the hell is really going on. If you take it everyday, and can't not take it, suffer withdrawal when you miss or run out of meds, no matter what dose you take you are on a very dodgy path. Trust me, I never started out a fool. I had everything I wanted, a man I loved, a job I loved a child I adored. But I lost it all because of the secracy and deceptive nature that is addiction. Not everyone becomes an addict, not everyone who takes a drink becomes an alcoholic, not all alcoholics are addicts- I myself cant tolerate alcohol and rarely drink, especially not alone. Yet I am hoplessly addicted to df118 and it has harmed my life in a way I cant begin to explain. I played violin in church, scuba dived in The Maldives, I was a nurse, passed with high marks, I was never an idiot and still I am here in this state of idiocy. I feel pretty much defeated right now. I want so much to change everything but I just cant anymore. I cant even manage to feed and wash myself with much regularity. I cant kid myself I dont know how this happened because I do, I put pills in my mouth and took above the prescribed dose because the feeling I had was so awesome I felt I could defeat the world. I am trying to be honest and I am struggling with the notion that I chose this path but I sure as hell did or I wouldnt have kept on doing it, I would have got help way way before it got this bad. Wouldn't I? I dont honestly know if I will ever walk out of this mess alive. I feel hopeless and helpless and physically weak, emotionally raw, totally traumatised by my life experiences. I go to bed most nights, on the sofa, asking God to please p

Interesting - I am glad I googled what I did as I am taking these ad hoc for pain. I dont want to take them as prescribed as the side effects are horrific (bowel congestion is the worst for me). I just had a steroid /pain injection in my spine two and a bit weeks ago so hoping it worked. I have to give it a little longer as I have had a rough couple of weeks at work and so had to do a lot of lifting/bending etc so in agony. I have taken a lot of pain meds in the last two weeks and I have to admit I didnt reaslise that my moods were potentially down to these. I am bipolar so I always put everything down to that or to the fact I work 60 hours a week upwards. I am hoping I wont need them as the injection will work (positive thinking lol). I dont like to take pain meds until I just cant bear the pain anymore but I am fortunate I have a really high pain threshold so I can do that, I am lucky. It must be horrible to have to rely on them so much. I have to say I am in a state today and thinking about double dosing as it seems it wont kill me as others on here do it .....lol I am guessing I am not alone when the pain is so intense you dont care anyway.

I am taking DF118, Tramadol & Co-codamol and to be honest I need them badly but not for any High, purely for the pain relief they give. I appreciate that they do make me feel better and make it possible that I can go out to enjoy the country-side etc.

I have really bad spinal pain and in my right knee too all due to Arthritis which is with me 24/7 and I would be a fool to stop them which would render me useless and no more would I be able to venture outside; and that feeling of being couped up is not nice at all, believe me. So in my book I'm never going to recover from Arthritis so why should I go without something that makes my life, livable.

When someone is in the same boat as I am, then ,and only then, can they talk for someone like me.

i do hope every one out there just realizes whats in this drug and the effects it as no wonder you are all addicted to it never take more than pescribed which is supposed to be only on a shorterm basis 3 to six week at the most

  firstly i am a retired nurse i lost a the sister of ward i worked with her from taking an overdose from doing what you all have or done this drug is a class 1 or  2 or B drug if mixed with certain other active ingredients and as to be registered under the dangours drug act in every country in the world exept some that is sold on the streets its original name is DF118 its got all these ingredients in them  codiene, paractomol, co-domol and pethedine.

its the worst drug any one could possibly take for long periods of time and the gp now's this you are all really playing with a dangerous drug here if taking more than perscibed this is why it makes you high its only a mild to modrate based on a scale of 1 to 7 and as to be supervised for the short term if your pain is not getting better then he should find a suitable alternative so you don't get addicted to it

the only way any one really badly addicted is to it go buying them of the street especially needs to be on methadone i would like to know if  have been crushing them up or taking them out of the capsule ??? im not accuseing you or any one else  this is the worst thing any one could do.

if this is done this is why its classed as straight opium or pethedine why dont you try to go and find a drug addiction clinic that will help or ask your GP to arrange to have you get the methedone from your pharmacy if you suffer from IBS  this should not be used and your gp should never perscribed this it can effect so many organs in yrs to come.

before any one takes any pain killer's they should read the instruction's it tell's you of the side effects plain enough this is were ppl go wrong they take them even when the pain subsides

  feeling sleepy and not to drive and why because they are potent they can cause you to have an accident this is because of the mixed ingredients in them . 

 there is such a thing as self control there are two many drugs out there come's with different side effects but not enough ppl knows what is mixed with the drugs we take not every one understands the effects they have on them

 instead of just pop more and end up as though they are like taking smartie's this is what causes so many deaths by over doseing which no one should up the dose without a dr knowing.

i sympathise with every one of you thats on this drug once you get them its should be 2 to 3 in 6 to 8 hrs every one should be tested every 6months for organ damage a dr will shove us of with any pain killer hes not bothered.

 he gets paid for every perscription he sign's if they did more investigating to get to the bottom of many aches and pain's can lead to poisinong the system's but they cover up by palming us of with drugs it can take yrs to find out the damage thats been caused but mins for overdosing.

i only had 1 doses of 5 mls through a sryinge i was admitted to hospital i was as high as a kite and daren't go to sleep for an angina attack i couldn't understand them giving me such a small dose and effect me that way so went again i refused it after that so imagine you lot thats taking handsful of this horribe drug

i no this is some time back about this question but im just trying to explain this really bad drug when i lost my ward sister from this drug i was devestated they found her in bed dead look it up its under DF118 witch is a controlled drug it should not be given to just any one.

.in many country's the dr can get fined or jailed if given longer than stated he should register every patient thats on this drug to NHS and  the goverment who is on them thats why you are by told by the gp you can only have them for a certain lenght of time.

 if they carry's on giving them this is why they stop it when ever they want then the addiction as already took over its too late then as ppl turn to trying to buy them from dealer's or net because the body's as got used to it.

one post says they were put on it in hospital its up to ppl to tell what drugs they are allergic to or make an excuse up you are allergic if frightened of telling the truth they can't make you take them especially if you have quit them. 

i hope you all can get of these terrible drug and take the methodone good luck to every one of you my dr wont even give you them as there is other drugs thats not in the same catogrey as these.

Hi reply to Christine you are wrong DH is a script only drug not a controlled

drug here. Ann