Help, ive got a drug addiction?!
Question: about 4 months ago, i got an injury and went to the dr. who put me on a codeine based treatment whilst i waited for surgery.
The injury is getting better by itself.
i have basically got addicted to codeine, but i dont want to get off it, in fact i don't know what i would do if i didn't have it.
The codeine contains paracetamol (acemin), i know this is more harmful so i separate it from the codiene by 'cold water extraction'. i use about 150-400 mg of codeine a day, is this a problem? what should i do?
Answers: about 4 months ago, i got an injury and went to the dr. who put me on a codeine based treatment whilst i waited for surgery.
The injury is getting better by itself.
i have basically got addicted to codeine, but i dont want to get off it, in fact i don't know what i would do if i didn't have it.
The codeine contains paracetamol (acemin), i know this is more harmful so i separate it from the codiene by 'cold water extraction'. i use about 150-400 mg of codeine a day, is this a problem? what should i do?
Tell your doctor you feel as if you are starting to become too dependent on codeine they will take you off of it and give you other pain medications. I know it's hard but you need to switch off of codeine unless you want to become a junkie.
Definitely taper off. You need to stop taking opiates, believe me, it can wreck your life.
First of all, you should take less than 4000 mg of acetaminophen per day, but this is also only for short terms (3 weeks or less), otherwise you're risking liver damage. The codeine by itself is actually not that harmful, but it is what you get addicted to. And you will get a tolerance and need more and more.
I think you're still at a point where you can taper off by yourself, even cold turkey. Be prepared for some diarrhea, sweating, tremors and insomnia, though. So you should probably get some Imodium. It'll take a few days to get through it, so do it over a weekend.
If you think that is too rough, try to set up a taper schedule, i.e. slowly lower the amount you're taking, e.g. 50 mg less every week.
If you continue taking codeine, you'll be at twice or three times of what you're taking now in a few months. You'll run into problems procuring your drugs, and then you need real help. Then you'll probably need to go to a doctor and go through methadone or buprenorphine treatment.
Stop now.
Codeine is addictive. I've been given prescriptions when I break bones, but never fill them. I just use Ibuprofen (Advil) because I know codeine is bad. You have to WANT to get off to kick it. It doesn't sound like you're willing to. No one can force you......