I quit Codeine.

Hello folks.

I quit codeine. This came after 7 years of taking a very high and strong amount. I was an actual addict and was hopeless to control it, at one point I even made peace with it and didn't try to stop. My issue was I didn't want to stop, I didn't have time to withdraw, i didn't have the will power to taper, and I have never ever told anyone that i have this problem. Factor all of this in and it becomes almost impossible.

I went cold turkey once, it didn't work. Yes you might get OFF the chemical, and once withdrawals are over you feel physically fine, but that's half the battle. The psychological addiction still exists and its there waiting to bite you. I always think of going cold turkey as being similar to travelling in a fast car, and pulling the hand brake to stop the vehicle, chaos.

Here's how I quit. And it was relatively easy. Bare in mind i had a big problem.

It was a mix of slight cold turkey, leading to a smaller dose. and tapering.

I learned that I didn't have the ability to taper, I always ended up taking my normal amount.

I would have a day where i would completely stop, I would let myself suffer for two days then take a much lower dose than before. The new, lower dose stopped the withdrawals completely, and helped with my psychological craving. I would take this new lower dose for a week, completely stop for two days then resume an an even lower dose.

I did this until I was on such a small amount of codeine, that when I finally decided to stop, I felt nothing. Couldn't believe it. This method works because you are taking lower doses and tapering, but psychologically you are becoming less dependent. Once you start taking really small amounts, your mental dependence is almost gone.

I hope this helps someone. I struggled trying to find a way out of the addiction for a long time, I wont be making the mistake of taking codeine ever again.

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