Hi there, Just wanna introduce myself. Could really do with some advice before my situation gets out of hand, i realise i do have a problem and wanna resolve it. Been taking prescribed codrydamol 30/500s for around 6 months now and i feel dependant on them, when i try to stop i have withdrawal symptoms and it's really bothering me. i'm on repeat prescription as i had surgery while back but in reality i'm only taking them now to escape the pain of stopping. I would value any advice from you guys. I consume about 15 per day
Curb, you certainly have a physical dependency on the pills, and from you wrote, it is possible that you have already crossed the line into addiction. The key thing to bear in mind here is that addiction is progressive. If you do not address it now, it will slowly eat away your entire life.
Most of us, having crossed into addiction, struggle with this for years and waste a lot of time and lose many opportunities and abundance in life in the process. Most of us die in active addiction. Each person on this board who is clean is a miracle, an example of beating the long odds against the Enemy.
My advice is to get off those pills ASAP. I got involved with pain killers while on cancer therapies. When the time came (and it came sooner than I would have preferred to admit) I spoke to my oncologist and we developed a plan for weaning off the drugs.
If you find that you are not able to stick to a taper schedule, well then, congratulations! You are now a member of the least exclusive club in the US, addiction. If you are an addict the advice is the same--you need to get off the drugs ASAP, but you may have to consider other alternatives, such as a detox. Most of the addicts on this board with decent clean time simply went cold turkey. It is horrible, but you will be done with the physical withdrawals in a week or so.
If you are an addict, you will likely go through withdrawal only to return to the drugs within a few weeks or months simply because life does not seem worth living without them. The process of learning to live sober is much more involved than simply getting "clean", and inevitably involves some plan for personal recovery. The happiest people on this site appear to be those who attend NA or AA. Some prefer to "white knuckle" it.
I can tell you more about recovery if you are interested. Others can offer suggestions on how to cope with the symptoms of withdrawal. Our suggestions tend to be holistic: hot tea, meetings, warm baths, Charmin Extra Soft, etc.
Please ask questions and stick around. We are a very caring community. We want to help you through this. You may not like what we say, but we are rarely accused of BS around here.
All the best,
August
Most of us, having crossed into addiction, struggle with this for years and waste a lot of time and lose many opportunities and abundance in life in the process. Most of us die in active addiction. Each person on this board who is clean is a miracle, an example of beating the long odds against the Enemy.
My advice is to get off those pills ASAP. I got involved with pain killers while on cancer therapies. When the time came (and it came sooner than I would have preferred to admit) I spoke to my oncologist and we developed a plan for weaning off the drugs.
If you find that you are not able to stick to a taper schedule, well then, congratulations! You are now a member of the least exclusive club in the US, addiction. If you are an addict the advice is the same--you need to get off the drugs ASAP, but you may have to consider other alternatives, such as a detox. Most of the addicts on this board with decent clean time simply went cold turkey. It is horrible, but you will be done with the physical withdrawals in a week or so.
If you are an addict, you will likely go through withdrawal only to return to the drugs within a few weeks or months simply because life does not seem worth living without them. The process of learning to live sober is much more involved than simply getting "clean", and inevitably involves some plan for personal recovery. The happiest people on this site appear to be those who attend NA or AA. Some prefer to "white knuckle" it.
I can tell you more about recovery if you are interested. Others can offer suggestions on how to cope with the symptoms of withdrawal. Our suggestions tend to be holistic: hot tea, meetings, warm baths, Charmin Extra Soft, etc.
Please ask questions and stick around. We are a very caring community. We want to help you through this. You may not like what we say, but we are rarely accused of BS around here.
All the best,
August
First thing i just wanna say thank you for your reply and i feel better for accepting that there is a problem. Secondly 3 years ago i recovered from heroin addiction colk turkey and never looked back. After my operation i knew it was risky being prescribed codiene kind of pills but i thought short term it would be alright as i needed some form of relief but low and behold i'm kinda hooked. I've had the will before to stop an extreme habit and that is the way i wanna do things now but i live with an amazing woman and i think she would be gutted to know the situation im in now. I live a normal life abut still day to day i use these filthy pills. What i would love some advice on is how to ease the pain slighty and how to go about this without being noticed? The time out suffering isn't too much of a worry but i need to be able to function to some extent and what would likely help me if that makes sense.
Thanks for your input once again
Thanks for your input once again
Curb, August here again. I cannot be of much help to you there. I was in chemo when I went through it and all I remember is that I went to a lot of meetings during the withdrawals.
Curb, I know you pride yourself on having the will power to stay off opiates, but we addicts have funny ways of deluding ourselves in that regard. A classic is to switch drugs and tell ourselves that we have it under control.
I have more will power than most. I will avoid getting into a urination contest with you on that one. I am here to tell you though, that no one has enough will power to resist the call of addiction permanently. Temporarily, yes. But sooner or later we tend to fall back.
Hang in there. We have some regular PhDs around here on the subject of withdrawal and hopefully some of them will offer you the suggestions you are looking for. In the meantime, welcome to the board!
August
Curb, I know you pride yourself on having the will power to stay off opiates, but we addicts have funny ways of deluding ourselves in that regard. A classic is to switch drugs and tell ourselves that we have it under control.
I have more will power than most. I will avoid getting into a urination contest with you on that one. I am here to tell you though, that no one has enough will power to resist the call of addiction permanently. Temporarily, yes. But sooner or later we tend to fall back.
Hang in there. We have some regular PhDs around here on the subject of withdrawal and hopefully some of them will offer you the suggestions you are looking for. In the meantime, welcome to the board!
August
Hi Curb,
Welcome. The way I see it is you have a couple of choices. You can either bite the bullet and toss the pills in the toilet and give it the big flush. Hunker in for a week or so with the "flu", then move on.
OR, you can tell your wonderful women the TRUTH! I know novel idea, tell her that you have indeed become dependant and need some support to get off. I think what August said was so so right. If you just put a band-aid on your gaping wound....it won't heal properly. It's okay to admit that you have a problem. In fact it's a big thing to do. Seek recovery my friend.
I have never done heroin, thank god.....cause who knows where that would have landed me. But I think opiates will kick your BUM in the same way......the difference is they sneak up on you....lull you into a nice warm fuzzy place...then before you know it.....you are in active addiction displaying many I think of the very same behaviours that you had while using H.
No shame in admitting that you have a problem. The shame is knowing you have a problem and not working towards fixing it.
Get honest, seek recovery. You may be pleasantly surprised and your women will support you and help you to the other side. Recovery is for life. Addiction is too. You just have to decide what side you wish to live your life on.
Personally I don't believe in tapering, it never worked for me. It kept me in a constant state of w/d and all I did was watch the clock to wait for my next fix. Not fun. Many have tapered successfully, it just depends on you. To stop taking pills, you need to stop taking pills!! I know genius....right? Stop c/t if you can. Get all the comfort meds to help you through, it's tough. Then, what about getting on with the real issue. Find a program that will help you remain clean. Getting clean is the easy part. Staying that way can be tricky, as you already know.
Big HUG.
Welcome. The way I see it is you have a couple of choices. You can either bite the bullet and toss the pills in the toilet and give it the big flush. Hunker in for a week or so with the "flu", then move on.
OR, you can tell your wonderful women the TRUTH! I know novel idea, tell her that you have indeed become dependant and need some support to get off. I think what August said was so so right. If you just put a band-aid on your gaping wound....it won't heal properly. It's okay to admit that you have a problem. In fact it's a big thing to do. Seek recovery my friend.
I have never done heroin, thank god.....cause who knows where that would have landed me. But I think opiates will kick your BUM in the same way......the difference is they sneak up on you....lull you into a nice warm fuzzy place...then before you know it.....you are in active addiction displaying many I think of the very same behaviours that you had while using H.
No shame in admitting that you have a problem. The shame is knowing you have a problem and not working towards fixing it.
Get honest, seek recovery. You may be pleasantly surprised and your women will support you and help you to the other side. Recovery is for life. Addiction is too. You just have to decide what side you wish to live your life on.
Personally I don't believe in tapering, it never worked for me. It kept me in a constant state of w/d and all I did was watch the clock to wait for my next fix. Not fun. Many have tapered successfully, it just depends on you. To stop taking pills, you need to stop taking pills!! I know genius....right? Stop c/t if you can. Get all the comfort meds to help you through, it's tough. Then, what about getting on with the real issue. Find a program that will help you remain clean. Getting clean is the easy part. Staying that way can be tricky, as you already know.
Big HUG.
Welcome Curb-
I think it's a common occurrence[or either denial] to think one opiate will have less power than another.Codeine is Heroins uglier sister.They are both opiates and both addicting.
You ask... I've had the will before to stop an extreme habit and that is the way i wanna do things now but i live with an amazing woman and i think she would be gutted to know the situation im in now. I live a normal life abut still day to day i use these filthy pills. What i would love some advice on is how to ease the pain slighty and how to go about this without being noticed?
A normal life is not being addicted to pills.It has nothing to do with willpower.Subterfuge and coming up with ways to create diversion is an addicts
modus operandi.A life change is in direct proportion to how you think.
I had to get honest with myself.I didn't have too many friends left so that wasn't an issue.Getting clean and sober means coming up with other ways not to put substances in my mouth.I've had some major dental surgery with only prescription Motrin.Guess what?.........the s*** works.It's simply not immediate gratification.
My suggestion to you since you're asking for advise is to come clean to your partner and maybe try out an NA meeting.It's not a complicated task but your addict brain will convince you it is.
I hope you take some action.
Good Luck
I think it's a common occurrence[or either denial] to think one opiate will have less power than another.Codeine is Heroins uglier sister.They are both opiates and both addicting.
You ask... I've had the will before to stop an extreme habit and that is the way i wanna do things now but i live with an amazing woman and i think she would be gutted to know the situation im in now. I live a normal life abut still day to day i use these filthy pills. What i would love some advice on is how to ease the pain slighty and how to go about this without being noticed?
A normal life is not being addicted to pills.It has nothing to do with willpower.Subterfuge and coming up with ways to create diversion is an addicts
modus operandi.A life change is in direct proportion to how you think.
I had to get honest with myself.I didn't have too many friends left so that wasn't an issue.Getting clean and sober means coming up with other ways not to put substances in my mouth.I've had some major dental surgery with only prescription Motrin.Guess what?.........the s*** works.It's simply not immediate gratification.
My suggestion to you since you're asking for advise is to come clean to your partner and maybe try out an NA meeting.It's not a complicated task but your addict brain will convince you it is.
I hope you take some action.
Good Luck
Telling lies and keeping it a secret from my husband kept me sick for a very long time. And as August said, it is progressive. The longer you stay on them, the harder this is going to be. You'll start needing more and more. You were so blessed to be able to get off of heroin, this is a piece of cake compared to that. Flush em. Cancel your scripts, tell your dr and then sit down with your lovely girl and tell her the truth. It only hurts a little. Yep, you'll be sick for awhile but that doesn't last forever. Biggest thing is finding some kind of recovery program so that you'll stay clean, that's the hardest part.