I've been fighting this on and off for three years in a week I can take up to and more than many many co codamol. I do it to make me sleep, to escape, even tho I'm prescribed sleeping tablets daily dispense. I know I'm OD'ing but not to die. I've OD'd many times to die and that never worked. I just seem to swap one unhealthy coping mechanism for another.
Anyone have any advice. I sometimes get liver function tests when I'm honest with the doctor so far I've been ok.
x x x x
Last edited by tibette : 07-08-2008 at 09:33 PM.
Reason: I wrote numbers
You need to stop doing this. The way to do it is to go and speak to your doctor, tell them the truth about how much you're taking, why, and what it makes you feel like both when you do and don't take them. They will then hopefully put you on a plan to wean you off them but it won't be easy
You need to stop doing this. The way to do it is to go and speak to your doctor, tell them the truth about how much you're taking, why, and what it makes you feel like both when you do and don't take them. They will then hopefully put you on a plan to wean you off them but it won't be easy
I've been good the last 2 days I haven't had any at all. You're right i WILL DEFO HAVE TO TAlk to my doc again about this. I'm so stupid
Does the doctor help when you talk to them about it?
Do you have general problems sleeping or is it when you just want to sleep because you can't deal with what's going on?
Last year I went through a phase of taking a few Nurofen or whatever to get me to sleep because I just didn't want to be awake. Sometimes it would be in the middle of the day. I couldn't deal with how life was at the time. If i wasn't taking painkillers i was drinking.
Enough about me.
I reckon it'd be better to see about sorting out what you're escaping from when you take the co-codamol. So you don't feel like you want to escape anymore.
I know you're addicted to the co-codamol. It's prob' the codeine in it.
I agree with animad. A plan to wean you off the co-codamol would be really good. If you felt upto it (=
Sorry i've rambled on loads.
{{codiene-ish hugs}}
Does the doctor help when you talk to them about it?
Do you have general problems sleeping or is it when you just want to sleep because you can't deal with what's going on?
Last year I went through a phase of taking a few Nurofen or whatever to get me to sleep because I just didn't want to be awake. Sometimes it would be in the middle of the day. I couldn't deal with how life was at the time. If i wasn't taking painkillers i was drinking.
Enough about me.
I reckon it'd be better to see about sorting out what you're escaping from when you take the co-codamol. So you don't feel like you want to escape anymore.
I know you're addicted to the co-codamol. It's prob' the codeine in it.
I agree with animad. A plan to wean you off the co-codamol would be really good. If you felt upto it (=
Sorry i've rambled on loads.
{{codiene-ish hugs}}
Catherine xxxx
Nope my psychiatrist and others docs have never really offered me advice on how to help myself stop this just that I need to stop it, well DUH I know that myself lol.
I take them when I'm bored like now, I take them when I feel low, I take them during the day to just go sleep to escape, I'm escaping life I think, my thoughts, my behaviours. Yeah its the codiene I'm addicted to I mean its either cutting or starving myself or binging, or over exercising or taking lots of co codamol. I'm so ******* complicated
x x x x
"you treat a disease, you win, you lose, you treat the person I guarantee you win everytime, whatever the outcome" - PATCH ADAMS
it's alright. you're not complicated byond help. i get the gist of it. its crap that they dont help u come off something ur addicted. speically when codiene is so bad for addiction once ur hooked...i wud imagine.
its all self damaging behaviours.
but to be more specific, i wonder if looking up online somewhere there wud be advice on how to come off codiene once ur addicted to it. i didnt think these days it had to come to that. i despair of the doctors etc about these things sometimes.
seems like to take them to deal with pretty much everything,..and when ur bored. i know what thats like kinda. i've abused my medication pretty much ever since i had the control in which to do so.
r u prescribed co-codamol or do u buy it?
wish u didnt feel like you want to escape life. i wish u had a life that u wanted to live rather than constantly escape from.
hopefully chat to u sometime soon.
no person is too complicated to be helped. i try to tell myself that anyway :S
Depending on how much you're taking, how often you're taking it, etc., it can actually be very dangerous if you're not weened off of it and have a doctor monitor your health. I've heard of a bad enough addiction possibly causing seizures and other issues. Although if you've gone two days free with no problems I'm not sure how likely that is, but it is something that should be considered and you should speak to your doctor about wanting help for your addiction.
You're going to continue increasing the number of tablets you're taking due to your body creating more and more of a tolerance to the drug. But it is very dangerous and you are likely to cause major damage to your liver because of the acetaminophen in the tablets along with the fact that the other ingredient is a respiratory and CNS depressant and so therefore can cause serious harm if enough is taken.
Most addictions are to escape something. Being in a 'normal' state isn't enough, or is too painful, and so people turn to drugs, otc, prescription, whatever. Here in California you cannot obtain anything containing codeine in any form otc, it is [almost] always a controlled substance and must be prescribed.
I know how it is to be addicted to it as I've been struggling on and off for the past six years with an addiction to hydrocodone. It's really a nice feeling to be able to escape into the numbness and sleep away the depression and miserable feelings of the day, but it also gets old. Every time I return to the addiction, and get clean again, I feel so much better, even if I am worse.
I've also found that the tablets tend to increase my depression, while I'm taking them and for a few weeks after I stop taking them. It takes a while but eventually things calm down and you begin to feel 'normal' again, which I doubt you've felt in a long time.
Make sure you talk to your doctor before you do serious damage. I've had liver tests come back normal 18 hours after an OD that should have raised the levels significantly. It doesn't mean that there is no damage done already, even if it is mostly insignificant at the moment.
You're not complicated, not at all. To me you are 'normal'.
I don't want to make this a really long message but it may end up being, so I apologise in advance.
In May this year I was fighting an addiction, to exactly the same thing as you. It was one of the worst times of my life. I took them for the same reaons as you. I took them to make myself feel better, to get through the day. I took them when I was bored, before I left the house and after I ate anything. I'd tell myself I was 'in pain' just so I wouldn't feel guilty for taking them. If I didn't take them I couldn't do anything, I couldn't concentrate. It was horrid.
Co-codamol is from the same family as cocaine and as you probably know they are extremely addictive. I can't explain how much I understand and how much I want you to get help, to make this better. If you feel comfertable talking to your doctor, do. If not you have us on RYL. You are not alone, we understand.
You're not stupid; you're human.
Asking for advice/help is the first step to beating an addiction.
You're not complicated, not at all. To me you are 'normal'.
I don't want to make this a really long message but it may end up being, so I apologise in advance.
In May this year I was fighting an addiction, to exactly the same thing as you. It was one of the worst times of my life. I took them for the same reaons as you. I took them to make myself feel better, to get through the day. I took them when I was bored, before I left the house and after I ate anything. I'd tell myself I was 'in pain' just so I wouldn't feel guilty for taking them. If I didn't take them I couldn't do anything, I couldn't concentrate. It was horrid.
Co-codamol is from the same family as cocaine and as you probably know they are extremely addictive. I can't explain how much I understand and how much I want you to get help, to make this better. If you feel comfertable talking to your doctor, do. If not you have us on RYL. You are not alone, we understand.
You're not stupid; you're human.
Asking for advice/help is the first step to beating an addiction.
Thank you hun, I've written another post on here, as I did go to the doc, she's given me 8 co codamol per day and taking me down 1 per week, but its really not going well, I bought my third packet today, I'm not going to tell the doc that cos altho she is really nice she pretty much said she couldn't stop me from buying the OTC. So am really not sure what to do right now. Are you over the addiction? Any tips?
x x x x
"you treat a disease, you win, you lose, you treat the person I guarantee you win everytime, whatever the outcome" - PATCH ADAMS
I'm an alcoholic in recovery. I am powerless over the alcohol. Then I've looked at my life and what feelings I wanted to escape. I've tried to resolve those feelings, or just accept them too. Right now I'm worried about a friend, to the point my heart hurts sometimes. There is nothing I can do to change the situation, so I accept that I am worried and hurting and that it is ok to feel that way.
When I do have the urge to drink, I do something else. I talk here, even go into chat. I do crocheting or hand work. I'm not ashamed to say that I even eat things that aren't good for me, like earlier in the week I had ice cream for dinner. I haven't done that every night, but that night the sugar and chocolate was comforting.
My husband is my best friend.
In forgiving others, we are not exonerating them. They may not deserve exoneration. Rather, in forgiving others we are giving up our anger over the fact that what happened is not what "should" have happened or that our life is not the way it "should" have been.
Thank you hun, I've written another post on here, as I did go to the doc, she's given me 8 co codamol per day and taking me down 1 per week, but its really not going well, I bought my third packet today, I'm not going to tell the doc that cos altho she is really nice she pretty much said she couldn't stop me from buying the OTC. So am really not sure what to do right now. Are you over the addiction? Any tips?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tibette
x x x x
Im not going to lie to you and say Im really over the addiction cause in all honesty Im not. Everytime I see someone on TV popping pills or even the word 'Over Dose' mentioned I get an overwhelming urge. When times get rough the first thing I do is reach for the pills. I know this is wrong but it's almost a reflex. I've had a few slips ups but it's still early days.
I don't have any tips for you except you have to want to get better cause addictions are stronger than morals. If you know it's wrong and that's the only reason you want to stop you'll never get better, you have to want it. And I'll warn you that when you are almost completely weened off them you may get cravings for food that is really bad for you. So you may want to take up some exercise, but that's up to you.
Im glad you're taking a step in the right direction.
Ask yourself this: do you want to be fighting this addcition and worse in the future or do you want to stop it now? Do you want to wait till things get worse or stop now?
If the answer is stop now, you know what you have to do.
Just to reiterate what Shannon and others have been saying overdosing on cocodomol is very dangerous and the fact that ur LFT's have been ok so far just shows that uv been very lucky! I'm less worried about the small amounts of codeine and more concerned about the large amounts of Paracetemol! From what i've learned a paracetemol overdose can cause a relatively slow and VERY PAINFULL Death and past a certain point the damage becomes irreversible so please, please try ur hardest to get down and off this medication and let ur dr know of any overdose whatsoever!
I mean its either cutting or starving myself or binging, or over exercising or taking lots of co codamol. I'm so ******* complicated
